Alvvays forever.
One of the most relevant Canadian bands of recent years is without a doubt Alvvays, who since their first album gained a loyal fan base around the world. In 2022 they returned with their excellent Blue Rev and I had the opportunity to talk with the vocalist, Molly Rankinabout the process behind this LP, what being in a band currently entails, and his upcoming visit to Mexico.
About the process behind Blue Revand the fears or challenges they encountered while creating it, Molly He told us the following:
We had more time to write the songs because the world was on pause and we put it together faster than the rest of our albums. I think I always have this fear of things not being good and I think it’s a common thing, you wonder ‘is this really good?’ and you don’t know how objective you are.”
Alvvays returned to the stage after the pandemic to open a concert of The Strokes where they arrived with the first look at their new material and even a new member.
We were very scared of what was going to happen, playing again after being inactive for so long and it was also our first show with abbyour new bassist, so we were hoping we wouldn’t have to stop a song and start again in front of a bunch of people.”
Now, after more than a year of touring, Alvvays will return to Mexico after eight years of absence to appear at the Crown Capital 2023.
We are very excited to return, we really have great memories of being there. The crowd was so wild and very responsive, it’s something you don’t get in many places. I remember them singing keyboard parts. In North America people sing the lyrics of the song, but not the keyboard lines (laughs) and it’s really cool things to witness. The other weekend, coming back to Canada from the United States, the border guard asked me where the best audience is from and I said, ‘from Mexico’.”
Later, they will travel to Asia and Oceania to finish the tour, but Molly He told me that maybe we won’t have to wait that long to hear something new from the band.
We never take a break from writing, we’re writing all the time and there’s a lot of stuff that didn’t make it onto our last record, so at some point it’ll probably see the light of day. There are a lot of ideas floating around at all times, it’s just a matter of getting them to a place where we feel good about them. How long will it take? Don’t know”.
Alvvays He has never done any collaboration and when asked who he would like to work with, Molly He shared some names with us.
Good question, The Cure it would be great. Any of the Dolly Mixture, Kevin Shields “That would be fine, but yeah, those would be the easy answers.”
I told him that the band Robert Smith I would also play in the Crown Capital, so it could be his chance to make it happen, to which he responded:
Oh my god, we’re probably not on the same day. “I think we might have a day off, we’ll see.”
Finally, I asked him for some advice for people looking to start a musical project. Molly Rankin He admitted that it is quite difficult due to the high costs involved from touring to recording, however, he also shared some words of encouragement with me.
Being in a band and especially starting out, all you hear is “no.” And you can’t get discouraged by that, it’s a constant thing, even for us. That’s part of the need to do something and try to follow something that you’re striving for. Do everything you can for yourself and impress yourself more than others to do those things and I feel like you will find a way to make what you want work.”
Alvvays will be presented next Friday, November 17 at the festival Crown Capital from CDMX, marking his second visit to our country. This will be the perfect opportunity for his fans to listen to songs from Antisocialites and Blue Rev after eight years of absence in Mexico.
