{"id":95997,"date":"2023-04-28T13:18:52","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T17:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/?post_type=interviews&p=95997"},"modified":"2023-05-03T12:21:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T16:21:23","slug":"tunic-a-noise-driven-force-of-punk-nature","status":"publish","type":"interviews","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/interviews-panm360\/tunic-a-noise-driven-force-of-punk-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunic: A noise-driven force of punk nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Known for their very own brand of angular and caustic tones, Winnipeg\u2019s noise punk champions, Tunic, are back today with their third full-length, Wrong Dream<\/em>, via Artoffact Records. After releasing two albums in 2021, Quitter<\/em> and Exhaling<\/em> (the latter being a compilation of EPs and singles), the trio was able to delve deeper inside themselves to excavate an array of fresh new sounds and yet unheard structures. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new album, Wrong Dream<\/em> does not feel pre-chewed in the slightest. Quite the opposite actually; it feels so whole and complex that you might start to think you\u2019re going to choke on it. An ambitious album that shows they can convey deep emotions while also being as heavy as ever. I had the pleasure of speaking with the group\u2019s singer-guitarist, David Schellenberg, about creating songs with intention, the joys of touring, and the timelessness of music.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>: How did the pandemic affect the band? Did the fact that you had to stop playing live for a while change the way you’re writing songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David<\/strong> Schellenberg<\/strong>: Yeah, Tunic played about 100 shows a year before the pandemic. We toured a lot and that was a big part of who we were. Sort of just being road dogs. And then, sort of being broke because of it. So, because we always had a tour coming up, we would write as fast as possible and, this time, we were able to think through arrangements or be a little more cognizant of what we wanted the band to sound like. I actually wrote a big chunk of this record by myself, in my basement. I never had any recording software before, so that’s something I dove into during the pandemic, so it was a completely new experience of how we work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>:  Do you usually write everything the three of you together as a unit?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David<\/strong> Schellenberg<\/strong>: Typically, I would just bring like a riff or two, and then we will go from there, and sort of see where the music took us, if you will. Whereas this time, I was delivering maybe about 60% baked ideas, and then we fleshed them out. So I guess, more and more like a traditional band would work. I already had songs, like a singer-songwriter has, not that I would call myself that! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360:  Your new album, Wrong Dream<\/em>, seems to have longer songs and seems to be slightly less sonically abrasive. Is this something that came about organically or something that was intentional?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David<\/strong> Schellenberg<\/strong>: It was pretty natural. To be honest, the last two records before Wrong Dream<\/em> we made with my friend Jace Lasek at Breakglass studio in Montreal. And for <\/em>everything we did, I just wanted it to sound like Converge. I wanted it to sound as blown out and as heavy as possible. And we did a really great job of doing that. Then when we worked on Wrong Dream<\/em> we had these more thoughtful arrangements and we wanted to maybe have some more thoughtful production to it. So it was a decision that we made to show that we aren’t just a one-dimensional band. I think when you play out in the street, you don’t want to be giving people the exact same thing. So it was just time to kind of show that we can still be that heavy, abrasive band, while also occupying a different space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>: Do you usually prefer being in the studio, or playing live shows?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Schellenberg<\/strong>:<\/strong> That’s changed for me recently. I’ve always hated the studio because I always played in a band with musicians that were much better than me, so when it came for me to track a part, I would just get really nervous and really anxious. And I love touring because it’s just, like, a moment, and then it’s gone. And if you fuck up, who cares? But now I’ve really come to fall in love with the studio and sort of creating these pieces of art that live forever, because, you know, we practice and we write and we make this art so that it can be a completed project and sort of be this thing that stays forever and so, I really switched my gears and I now much prefer the studio because the longevity of the project is there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAN M 360<\/strong>: You seem to put a lot of effort and focus on the visual side of the band, like the music videos, for example. Do you usually come up with the concepts or do you let the collaborating artists take the lead on that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Schellenberg<\/strong>:<\/strong> Yeah, a lot of those concepts for all the older stuff, thinking back to Disappointment<\/em> and Boss<\/em> and the Exhaling<\/em> videos, like \u201cFade Out\u201d and all that stuff, are just like: \u201cHow can we make a music video for $100, $200?\u201d \u201cThe Whispering,\u201d video was all my ideas that were helped, like, broadly about 80% by Jen and Adam, who worked on that video with us. The video for \u201cMy Body, My Blood\u201d that Torin Langen made, he just took it and ran with it. That’s all him. I can’t take any credit for that! And that has been my favourite thing that he’s ever done, that we’ve ever made. So all the ones that feature real people are from me and all the ones that are animated or sort of higher budget are from other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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