After years of applying fresh experimental coats, Paint has finally come up with the perfect high-gloss performance finish.
"We have a new bass player Keiko Gutierrez who has joined us for this tour." says Paint's charismatic front man Robb Johannes, speaking while en route to the band's next gig.
"That was the missing piece for the last two years. It was Jordan Shepherdson on guitars, and Devin Jannetta on drums and we were together for a long time. But we spent two years trying to find a permanent bass player. The drums are the ocean that the band sails on and the bass is the anchor that holds it all together. It is nice to have that sense of permanency. Keiko is actually driving the car right now."
He adds that Kitchener, where 2011 release Where We Are Today was produced by Ian Smith (The Miniatures/Spirits), is like "a second home where the band feels most comfortable of any city outside Toronto."
Known for their ambition and admirable work ethic, Paint has also been dubbed one of the hardest working bands in Canada because they perform 200 shows a year.
From the school of U2/Nirvana with lush bits of Psychedelic Furs, Pulp and Suede-like Brit Pop, Paint's music palette is infectious. Rife with striking jangling guitars, melodious riffs, and pounding bass, the band's solid soundscape serves as the consummate backdrop for Johannes' impassioned intelligent vocals.
To honour its loyal fan base, Paint recently released a fifth anniversary five-disc deluxe edition of 2009's Can You Hear Me? complete with original album, live acoustic and electric sets, demos and interviews galore.
2013 DVD Capsulated, featuring a wry Andy Warhol-esque Campbell Soup cover, features a 10-song "video project" compilation from both Paint albums plus special "Making Of" documentary features.
Johannes, also skilled in visual arts and film, is a social/political activist. He loves pop culture, and creates intriguing imagery which gives Paint a very distinctive visual identity. With Toronto film maker Ryan Price, the pair culled provocative film footage from black and white vintage cinema for Paint's "Let Go" and "In Disguise." They also employed that same elegant black/white stripped down technique for songs "Gastown," and "Home."
Price and Johannes' Quentin Tarantino inspired music video for Paint's "Boomerang" is a contender for Hamilton's upcoming Film and Music Festival. The pair (with Ian Smith, on soundtrack duty) are now working on their next black and white film — "a twisted otherworldly, David Lynch/Twin Peaks-inspired" narrative called 11:11.
With the band more established, Johannes enjoys his evolving role as film maker.
"Ironically our band is called Paint but I think we like to leave the colours to the imagination of the audience," he says. "I have just always loved black and white.
"I think it is such a cool visual. It leaves so much to the imagination. Andy Warhol says it is sexier to not sleep with someone because your imagination goes places that your mind wouldn't. And I think black and white kind of does the same thing. It leaves more to the audience and I always like leaving it up to the audience."
Paint's next project includes an audience invite to a concert film/live album taping at Toronto's Cameron House.