NOBRO: (l-r) Sarah Dion, Lisandre Bourdages, Kathryn McCaughey, and Karolane Carbonneau. Photo by Camille Gladu Drouin. Courtesy of Sixmedia.
Interview – NOBRO’s Kathryn McCaughey on taxes, rock ‘n’ roll and snake’s blood
When I reach NOBRO’s Kathryn McCaughey she’s just been engaging in that most glamorous of rock ‘n’ roll activities, working on band taxes.
It seemed an appropriate starting place for the conversation about the Montreal quartet, which seems to on the verge of making music a full-time gig – something that the guitarist/vocalist and I talked about, along with hockey, cats, and that time she drank snake’s blood in Jakarta, some of which made it into the following.
Anyway, a few things you should know about NOBRO:
• McCaughey formed the band in 2014 following a stint in a band called Uncle Bad Touch (it’s an American Dad thing)
• they released a series of smokin’ EPs before setting a sizzling full-length, Set Your Pussy Free, out into the world
• Set Your Pussy Free made this year’s Polaris Prize long list
• song titles “Set That Pussy Free,” “Let’s Do Drugs” and “Eat Slay Chardonnay” tell you everything you need to know about their sound (and that’s a good thing)
• NOBRO has played Vancouver twice, once opening up for PUP and another time for Alexisonfire and The Distillers
• On Sunday June 23 they’ll playing their first headlining show here, at the Biltmore Cabaret, as part of the Westward Music Festival. NOBRO tickets are $22.50 (plus service charges). Other bands at the festival include Cherry Glazerr, Mick Jenkins, Debby Friday, Devours and more.
And now, to business.
The unglamourous life
Shawn Conner: No one tells you when you start a band about the paperwork.
Kathryn McCaughey: You think you’re starting a band but you’re actually starting a business. You have responsibilities and stuff. It just sucks.
SC: Do you have to return any COVID payments for being in a band?
KM: No, it’s more like remittance and stuff like that. We’re incorporated now so we have to do this all the time. It’s funny because when I was on the phone with the CRA just now there was a technical issue and he said, “I can transfer you to like the technical department.” And I was like man, I have maxed out all my tax-related things for today.
I always think about the beginning of like the world, how one single cell split into two and that led to evolution and the variety of life and the rise and fall of civilizations and the invention of computers. It’s just amazing what we’ve done. And then you’re on the phone talking about bullshit taxes.
SC: The debut album was basically 10 years in the making. Do you still feel pretty close to it? Or do you have a batch of new songs that you’re eager to record?
KM: We have six songs on the go. We just keep writing and writing and writing. But yeah, I’m ready to move on. I feel like making records, making music, when you’re in it you’re so in it and it feels so nice to be out of it. But, yeah, we have some new songs. Hopefully we record them soon. Hopefully all of our dreams come true. [laughs] I don’t know.
SC: Well, speaking of dreams, is there a dream tour or dream gig? You posted a video on Instagram of you singing for a spot at Coachella.
KM: If we could make touring part of our income stream – [A loud meow sounds in the background.] Sorry, that was my cat, he agrees with me. If I could just bartend once a week for fun that would be the dream. I’m going to stick with that as the goal that I’m going to set for myself just because if you get too lofty the expectations are too high.
View this post on Instagram
NOBRO loves rock ‘n roll
SC: Bruce Springsteen once said that with every song he writes he’s always trying to write “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” by the Animals. You’ve said that your young mind was blown by seeing the Joan Jett video for “I Love Rock ‘N Roll.” Would you say that you’re always trying to write your version of that song?
KM: We definitely have pillars that we centre our songwriting around and one of them is like that, giving into an unbridled spewing of playing music. It’s so addictive too. It’s hard to walk away from this lifestyle, for better or for worse.
SC: You reference drinking snake blood in one of your songs (“I Don’t Feel Like It”) and in an interview you talked about the real-life incident in Jakarta that that was based on. How did you feel after?
KM: I felt kind of scared actually. I was for so much of my life living in the impulse zone and my brain and didn’t think about things for a long time. And when you drink the blood, you also ingest the venom. It just can’t enter your bloodstream or else you die. So after I drank it, I was like, Oh my God, what if I have an ulcer that I don’t know about, or a cut in my mouth that I don’t know about? So I spent the night on edge.
SC: I imagine alcohol was involved. Was it an especially nasty hangover?
KM: Immediately after I was pretty nauseous, just because it’s a lot of blood. Like, a lot of blood. So that was really gross. But I felt fine the next day. Just like, oh, that’s kind of crazy. And then just kind of moved on.
