Band:	The Auditor General
Album:	Club Anthems for…

Bio:
The Auditor General started with Jamie Smith writing/recording songs in his bedroom while living “away” in Halifax, N.S. After returning to his hometown of Thunder Bay, ON, Smith, bassist Dave Angell and a host of others have concentrated their efforts and now live in a giant Victorian home that they’ve converted into a recording studio. During the later part of 2008, Jamie and Dave, along with guitar phenom Justin Sillman and rhythm makers Josh Hogan and Ian Mackay, laid down tracks for their debut. Their 1st effort “Club Anthems for the Slightly Disenfranchised” was released in January of 2009 and Auditor fans in Thunder Bay have been singing along ever since.

The band is taking to the road in March, 2009 (with friends Wives Tale) on their 1st western Canadian tour and they plan on spreading the music of The Auditor General all over North America until the end of time.

CBC Bandwidth has recently recorded The Auditor General in concert for their program as well as “Canada Live” featured on CBC Radio 2. Smith, Hogan and Sillman also form 60 per cent of Norris, a tech-metal band that has played with the likes of Converge and Origin to name a few. Read more about Norris.

Listen:  The Auditor General - “Pour Melanie Allons y”
Listen:  The Auditor General - “Club Anthems for the Slightly Disenfranchised”
Listen:  The Auditor General - “Rebel Cell Reanimation”

Interview:
Q: What genre of music would you describe yours as?

A: It’s always hard to describe your own music in terms of genre because it sounds different to us than it does to the listener. I’m really influenced by old country, indie and doom which is why on some tracks there is that ridiculously distorted guitar tone and long drawn-out chord progressions. I suppose it’s just alt-country at the end of the day.

Q: What inspired you to write the songs that you did?

A: Lyrically I am inspired by everything from dialogue I hear at parties (Like in “The Ballad of Ron Mexico” when I say “dogs fighting dogs” I heard that at a party while two friends of mine were discussing Michael Vic. The whole song just sort of came together after that) to books I’ve read (The Dostoevsky novel “Demons” has been translated as “The Possessed”, “The Devils” and “Demons” throughout it’s history which is where I got the title for my song as I was reading that book at the time). Musically the songs don’t usually come from inspiration but rather a very long, arduous process of me sitting with my guitar for months just noodling around until I stumble onto something I like. I’m probably the slowest song writer ever. I read about people that have written classic songs in 30 minutes and it blows my mind. I wish I had that kind of inspiration. Maybe I’ll have to start doing hard drugs…?

Q: What was it like recording an album with no label support?

A: We have been extremely fortunate because we live in our own recording studio so there was never a funding issue to get the album done. It has been difficult in terms of promotion, booking and all the other non-fun stuff in the music business because no one knows who The Auditor General is and so the onus has been on us rather than managers, PR people, etc. to fix that. I would much rather have us do it ourselves than have a major label backing us though because the way our current situation is we are completely free. This liberty means responsibility though and that can be difficult when all you want to do is play music. It leaves very little time for that rock star lifestyle you imagined as a kid.

Q: What are your touring plans?

A: We’re touring West to Vancouver starting March 6th. After that me and Justin are touring with our metal band Norris in May so The Auditor General won’t have another tour until July or August when we’ll go East. After that we’ll had back East in September and October to try and play all of those big events like Pop Montreal, Halifax Pop Explosion, etc. That’s about as far ahead as we’ve thought. Me, Josh and Dave always talk about a European tour but we’d have to be pretty established before we do anything like that. I think The Auditor General will probably tour Canada as much as possible until everyone in the country knows who we are.

Q: What is your feeling on the state of Canadian music?

A: I think the Canadian music scene is incredible. In Thunder Bay I see a Canadian band at least once a week passing through here that I’m impressed with. The diversity of these acts is something to be proud of as well. Last week I saw Tom Fun Orchestra and this week I’m going to see Molten Lava. Both are Canadian. Both are unbelievably talented but they’re on the opposite ends of the spectrum musically speaking. I sometimes wish though that Canada was a little smaller geographically speaking or at least had cities closer together so it wouldn’t be so damned expensive to tour. Awww……poor us eh? Such a hard life…..

Q: What are your goals with this release?

A: Our first goal is to sell 500 copies of the album because that’s how many we pressed. Baby steps. Baby steps….. other than that I think the real goal is to make a living at this. If I never had to work a day job again and could just focus on music that would be the greatest thing ever. I’m not looking for fame and fortune I’d just like to live comfortably playing shows until I’m old.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theauditorgeneral

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