The Stills: despite the name, this band is going places—fast

Interview, Sept, 2003 by Joan Jett

The Stills are a new kind of rock band with an old kind of ethic: putting the music first. In just a year, the moody, melodic, and ambitious quartet has won a groundswell of fans with just a handful of songs. As these Montrealers prepare their full-length debut, Logic Will Break Your Heart (Vice), they are redefining for themselves what it means to be a rock band, by emulating artists they grew up idolizing: the Clash, the Pixies, Radiohead--bands with Integrity. The Stills love rock 'n' roll but can't stand the hype, so who better than Joan Jett to find out from the group's singer, Tim Fletcher, and drummer, Dave Hamelin, why being the next big thing might be the next-best thing to being good.

JOAN JETT: Hey, Tim. How are you doing?

TIM FLETCHER: Not too bad.

JJ: You're in Brooklyn?

TF: Yeah, I'm at our record label's office in Williamsburg.

JJ: Right--and Dave, you're in Montreal?

DAVE HAMELIN: Yeah. We live in Montreal, but we're sort of based out of New York now. Are you calling from New York?

JJ: I'm out at the beach on Long Island.

TF: Really? Like on the beach.

JJ: [laughs] No, I'm in a house, but it's on the beach. I understand that you guys have a pretty strong ethic about what it means to be in a band.

DH: Well, most of the bands we like don't pander.

TF: That's why you want to play music--because you want to be like the bands that you loved. There are certain things that we just won't do. Like, let's say you're inspired by the Clash--you're not going to want to play MTV beach parties, are you?

JJ: You know, it's really good to hear you guys say that because I think that too many people [in music] today are ready to do anything for a little bit of fame. It's all about the pose.

TF: The problem is that the media portrays a lot of the young bands coming out of the New York scene right now as being part of a style more than anything else. But we don't want to get into that game.

DH: Yeah. I mean, the Clash subverted the whole pose thing because they dressed up, so you can play with that element, too. But you have to be creative about it.

JJ: And do your own thing. So, who are some of your influences?

TF: The Clash, the Specials, the Smiths, the Pixies. Also Tom Waits--he's the best in interviews. He just makes things up. His interviews are almost as interesting as his songs. They're so colorful, you know?

JJ: Yeah. It's great to be able to be like that.

TF: Tom Waits is a sharp guy. Nick Cave, too.

DH: Also, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

JJ: [laughs] Well, I heard your EP [Rememberese, Vice], and I really like it. Now you're working on your first full-length record. How's that going?

TF: It's starting to come together. It's just bass and drums right now, but I can feel it building. I think it's going to be really, really great.

DH: It's turning out really well. I don't think it's going to sound like the EP. We have one tune that even sounds like a Bjork song.

JJ: Wow!

TF: It's definitely like a centerpiece weirdo thing, but there will be more of that throughout the record. It will be different, for sure.

DH: Yeah. We essentially write pop songs, but we try to subvert them in an interesting way.

JJ: Subversion--I like that you keep using that word. Listen, it you don't like any of these questions, just say, "Screw that one."

DH: Okay, we'll say so. [Fletcher laughs]

JJ: Well, if you could work with anybody, who would it be?

TF: Frank Black [from the Pixies].

DH: It'd be fun to work with Frank Black for a day. I think he's a pretty weird guy.

TF: [to Hamelin] You'd probably go insane.

DH: Yeah, he probably wouldn't like us too much.

JJ: [laughs] Why do you say that?

DH: I don't know--he seems like he's pretty into doing his own thing. I think that's why the Pixies broke up. [laughs]

JJ: That's a hard question--screw that one. [Fletcher and Hamelin laugh] So, why are you guys called the Stills?

DH: We were going to be called Die Berlin, but we thought it was a bit too dramatic. There was this electroclash scene in New York at the time that was all about Berlin and Krautrock, and we didn't want to get jumbled in with that. So we picked a name with "the" in front of it so we could get jumbled in with every other band on the planet.

JJ: The name sort of reminds me of photography, like a black-and-white picture.

DH: Exactly. That was the intention.

TF: We were also thinking of a still in the backwoods, where you make moonshine.

JJ: [laughing] Right. How did you guys start working together?

TF: A few years ago, one of our friends was having trouble in London, and he needed some money. He told us to go to his house and take one of his personal belongings and pay him for [whatever we took]. We chose this four-track recorder and sent him $100. Dave and I started passing the four-track back and forth for a week at a time. We started writing songs and inspiring each other, so we sort of grew together.

DH: It was symbiotic.

TF: Symbiotic--that's the word. After two years, we got in touch with our friends from Montreal who were living in New York. We came down and started a band with our bass player, Oliver [Crowe], who we'd known for years. And then we called [guitarist] Greg [Paquet], who was a vague acquaintance. We were like, "Well, he's kind of weird and quiet--maybe he's good on guitar." So he came in, and after three songs we were like, "He's in!" It was perfect.