Perhaps its not God or the devil in The Details, but as I recently discovered, it might just be music in The Details. Welcome to the new sound of music and it appears that The Details will attract a large audience as music hasn't been this good in Canada since our Billy Talent discovery.

By: Kindah Mardam Bey

Contrary to popular belief, it is not God or the devil in The Details, as a squeaky-clean manifesto would try to sway you towards; but as I recently discovered, it’s music that is in The Details. Or, at least, the Winnipeg, Canada indie-rock band who painstakingly discovered the name after much list making and questing for the right group name. Lead singer and guitar player, Jon Plett tells me how the search for a memorable band name is much harder than touring, or even producing an equally memorable debut album, on a balmy day normally set for the North American tradition of Thanksgiving. I have neglected to remember the rituals inherent charm of being a day off and absent-mindedly procured an interview with Plett on the traditional commemoration of being thankful….for something. To my pleasure, Plett and his fellow band members, Sean Vidal (guitar), Keli Martin (bass), Shaun Gibson (drums), have also forgot the day is intended for rest and are having a late brunch after two shows the day previous in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada as we talk about that ‘new band smell’ they so willingly admit to.

It’s true, even though Plett and the other band members have individually been in the game for some time, all ranging in age from 23 to 28 and having built some clout with other bands, eventually congregated in late 2005 and formed The Details. Plett explains ‘we’ve all been around a little while and each of us has toured before, but we are young enough to be considered a younger group; we’ve all brought something to the table. It helps to have experienced members, especially when we’ve got that new band smell to us.’

Plett seems laid back and comfortable in the group decision not to put any expectations on what will happen to The Details, they are also not eager to push the process along, but rather let it unfold organically. The problem is that The Details are really good, and their debut album Draw A Distance. Draw A Border. is a compelling collection of songs that will quickly Capture and Develop a strong audience. Plett tells me ‘the press have been really good to us. Getting noticed in a sea of rock bands is a process of course, but I like the pace; it’s growing noticeably but not in great leaps. I think a great leap would actually make me nervous. I’m happy with how it’s all happening.’

The Details have travelled extensively since their inception and becoming known for their tireless approach to the music, they may have ‘new band smell,’ but they most certainly have old-fashioned dedication to their music. It all started with Plett and Sean Vidal who had played in a band together previously, then the other Shaun (Gibson) got on board and Keli Martin on bass was the last to join The Details. Plett tells me Martin needed a little coaxing as the female bass player was much sought after and already performing five or six nights a week with other bands.

After converging into a fully functional band, with a trendy and apt name, they needed a sound, and preferably attached to some semblance of songs as well. Again Sean Vidal and Jon Plett got together and built a collection of twelve tracks that seem unnaturally cohesive and thematic for a debut. Convinced the songs were all part of a master-plan story, I dug further into the ideas with Plett, but with signature modesty he assures me that the band got lucky ‘we like to listen to bands that are lyric based. We didn’t decide what type of band we wanted to be, we really let the songs rule us on that, I think we got lucky in that regard.’

Slightly disheartened that this prism of tightly structured subject matter was a mere fluke, I continue to listen ‘me and Sean are the two main lyricists, but we bring an outline of a song to the band and then the band thinks about the song as a collective. We always come up with something that is a million times better than what I could have come up with on my own. Because we have two writers, it was a miracle we had a theme to our songs. Although, eventually we did see a theme to Draw A Border. Draw A Distance. developing; we wanted to talk about a persons’ evolution, of getting from point A to point B. I wrote about my own evolution over a five year span; looking back to see where I’ve come from and figuring out where I’m going.’

Plett further tells me he’d consider the band a success if his music made enough money for him to continue doing it. Coming from an artist who has been on the scene and learned, I had to laugh when Plett tells me the best advice he has received about the music business is to ‘get a good publicist,’ he expands his thoughts ‘apparently, I have learned this is an important step, one I didn’t realize before.’ Sound advice, as The Details have Vancouver based publicist Killbeat Music who won Independent Publicist of The Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards in 2006.

Ultimately, it will be the music that defines The Details, it will be their signature and their own style that will bring them to the foreground, of course dedication, and surrendering to the process are some strong attributes they seem to already possess in building a significant future career. Paying attention to those little details seems to have paid off for The Details already.

Jon Plett is reading

Miriam Toews

‘A Complicated Kindness’

You can find The Details debut Album Draw A Distance. Draw A Border. online at CD Baby, & Scratch Records, or wherever they are in concert.

To listen to some of the songs from The Details, go to their website at www.thedetails.ca and to read my review of Draw A Distance. Draw A Border. click here