STYROFOAM ONES

Heavy Bass Driven Rock

They describe their sound as “heavy bass driven, Hall and Oats sorta rock-and roll,” and their profession as a perfect balance between chasing dreams and keepin’ the hustle alive. They acknowledge the cultural diversity of the city and thrive in the creative nest that is Kensington Market. Their varying musical backgrounds and desire to produce “waist-benders” has ensured that they have remained true to their roots, as well as themselves. They keep the realness alive.

 

Meet Styrofoam Ones.

 

Despite having come together slightly over a year ago, Clay Jones, (drums) Josh McGuirk, (vocals/bass) and JR (vocals and keyboard), produce smooth sounds and a musical integrity that has created a buzz across the country, justifying their following of truly genuine fans.

 

The trio recently stopped into the Earwaks studio for a rooftop photosesh and a one-on-one where they divulged their inner works, and what sets them apart in a city full of musical hopefuls.

 

 

 

 

 

It seems like Toronto’s music scene is incredibly oversaturated at times. What sets you guys apart from the countless other musicians.

JR: I think the important part to what we try and do is to still keep it as musical as possible.

Josh: But simple at the same time, I think one of the things that we try to do as a band is to play as a three piece.  We’re not just making grooves and ya know, we put our time in.

 

How has your reception been thus far?

JR: Oh man, I guess I think we’ve been lucky, we’ve been pretty damn lucky to be performing in Toronto. We’ve had such good reception, wicked fans, wicked people that support us from all ends of the spectrum. I mean all the clubs that we’ve played at to even all the people that come and listen to us.

Josh: It’s been really good, reception’s been great.  I think that personally for all of us as well, we have a group and a circle around us of people that are creating things and making things and its inspiring.  It keeps the fire burning and we’re all feeding off each other.  We’re all trying to make, whatever this is, work.

JR: For me, a big thing is that the band fully represents Toronto.  I think the reason why people are listening is because people can relate a lot to this music specifically. And the support for it is wicked, cuz the words, the music we bring is definitely a mash up of what Toronto represents. And I think that’s what we see it as too.

 

How would you describe your sound to someone visiting Earwaks.com

Josh: We’re like heavy bass driven Hall and Oats with funk and soulful bass driven sorta rock and roll, I guess. Dance punk.  Ya, dance punk.

JR: It's slower, but its still dance floor ready. Its waist-benders too, I know there’s neck-benders, but there’s waist-benders too. (laughs)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 If you weren’t in Toronto, which seems to be an important factor in your music, do you think your music would still be the same?

JR: I think so.

Josh: I think its really important who you surround yourself with, and I mean Toronto has a bit of a “screw face capital”.  Everybody always uses that term, and yeah, there are a lot of haters, but there are a lot of haters everywhere. The people that surround you are the ones that really matter.

JR: Well that’s the thing.  As long as people are understanding to the type of music that we’re doing, know that what we do is what we say and represent. A lot of it is pure struggle, we even struggle to rehearse and practice.  We’ve each all come from different backgrounds in some sort of way, and when we go to say Kingston or somewhere else,  people have perceived our music really well. And I think they just can relate to it and they are looking for something that they hear from Toronto.

Josh: I think there are a lot of great bands and music being made here right now, and I think that people of Toronto can choose to push it up and push it into the next stratosphere, I think that can happen.

JR: And that’s what were building, were definitely building from the ground up.  Our location is prime for it.  We’re located in Kensington, and we’re still trying to reach elsewhere, but it doesn’t mean that we can't stop doing what were doing in Toronto. It is a playground.  I think that’s the thing that were forgetting -- Toronto is a playground for us, and we have to constantly work that hustle. We’ve done a couple events in the past where we did it ourselves.

 

Is that something you would wanna keep doing -- everything yourselves?

JR: As long as we always know where we’re coming from, and know the fact that we did build it up that way, versus going blindly, and reaching for something that is less tangible. Work with what we already have, build that infrastructure and then go from there.

Josh:  Nobody’s gonna do it for you, that’s the bottom line.  You gotta fuckin’ do it yourself man. If they do decide to do it for you, hopefully you can still have the control.

 

Yeah, you don’t wanna have to question peoples motives and shit right?

Clay: If people are doing it for us, like our artwork and stuff, they can see that we’re pretty genuine and they’re happy to do it for us.  And when you start doing things to make money, that’s when you start to lose control. As long as we’re working with people who feel you’re genuine .

Josh: I just wanna play, man.

 

How important do you feel it is for bands to be involved in the communities in which they live?

JR: First of all, our studio it located in Kapisanan, which is a youth culture center for Filipinos.  Whatever we do, especially in Toronto, we’ve been surrounded by community from the get-go, people that are doing shit in Toronto, and that’s so important in what we do because it drives it forward.

Josh: Lyrically, we’re not just talking about partying and drinking.   I’ve always been inspired by artists like Joe Strummer, or lyrists like that. People who are talking about realness.  And I don’t think music and politics have to go together, but there can be a balance. You’re speaking your mind, you're telling people through your experiences about what has happened, or what’s on your mind.  It’s inherent in art, it’s a dialog that you start with people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did the union with Kapisanan come together?  You could have any space as your rehearsal space, right, but yet you’ve picked something in Kensington, a huge creative nest in the city.

Josh: Basically, it just came up for rent, and its like “yo, we record there, we rehearse there, it’s a hub of activity”.

JR: I think that was the first step in becoming involved with people in the community, cuz we were surrounded by musicians that are also doing it.

Josh: We walk out of the studio when we wanna take a break, hit up one of the bars, and it's like you belong there.

 

What do you guys hope to accomplish through your music, through your band, Styro1’s?

Josh: I dunno, we wanna play shows for people, and hopefully people dig it.

JR: Indirectly, this music has been a journal for the past year of our lives. We've played in the most fucked up places from Scarborough to a U-Haul, and you know this is defiantly what Josh said.  The live component is definitely a part of our journal too. Even when you make the music it's definitely a journal for where we stand right now, and even with the EP.  I think you’ll see the two-year process of what we’ve seen in Toronto, and it relates.

Josh: Seen in life, not even in Toronto.  It is a journal, and I think the one thing about the EP is everyone can sound better, and you can sit there and tinker for fucking years and never put anything out. We are. This is what we sound like right now and wer’e gonna put it out. We’re not bound to that, it doesn’t mean we have to stay like that, but it's like having a true record of where we’re at right now. Fuck it, put it out, let people eat it, or not eat it, whatever.

 

What can we expect from you guys in the near future?

Josh: In June & July we'll be doing an east cost jaunt of Canada. We’ll be going to Europe sometime later in the summer, Paris and London. We're putting out the EP in the summer,  getting the show on the road, seeing what the people have to say.

JR: Honestly for us, we practice all the time and sometimes we have a show the next day and were supposed to be having a set.  We don’t, we jam.  For us it's all about warming up to each other, it's all about warming up to each other to play. I think it's trying to capture all the shit that’s in our heads all together. And just trying to build on our musicality man, we have such different backgrounds, even our influences.

Josh: It's pretty awesome, cuz I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface on that yet.  Ultimately for us a band though, lets just see where it goes. Looking back at last year, it was like the pre-party.  We played some awesome shows with some awesome bands, and just grew. It would be awesome to be doing this all day, every day.