Sep. 09, 2009 - Issue #725: Sex in the City 2009

I Am Committing A Sin

CAROLYN NIKODYM // carolyn@vueweekly.com

Burlington's I Am Committing a Sin (IACAS) has only been together for a year, has just released its first EP, Grow Past Their Promises, and the members' average age is a mere 19 years old. So it surprised me to hear guitarist Paul Marc Rousseau express his seeming premature frustration alongside his reverence for his hometown's live music scene.

"Burlington has a reputation for having one of the strongest music scenes in Canada. So many successful and influential bands have come out of there, like Silverstein, Death Divine, they're doing really well. It's too bad I feel like the scene's dying, and that's upsetting. Kids are stupid. People go to shows for the wrong reasons now. They don't go to shows to see bands; they want to hardcore dance until someone gets hurt. I have a bigger problem with how DJ sets by people who used to be in bands sell more tickets than the bands they used to be in. That shit sucks."

Obviously, IACAS has no problems getting in your face. In fact, the group seems hell-bent on it, taking an unblinking-though-tongue-in-cheek run at hot topics such as politics and organized faith throughout the EP—as if it weren't obvious from the band's name—and wrapping it in razor-edged progressive rock that's as literate and smart as it is aggressive and inciting.

"We definitely have a pretty major problem with organized religion. I don't think it was an initial tenet of the band ... but at the same time, music is an art form, and it's useless if you don't have anything to say. The big thing is there's a stigma that if you're an atheist you're amoral, you're a bad person, and we all think that's total shit. We obviously don't think we're committing a sin, we don't think anybody commits sin and that's the bottom line. We're a veiled political band."

Despite how much thought Rousseau et al put into song, it's again shocking to hear him talk about the songwriting process.

"It's enigmatic in a way. I'm not sure how songs come together. We get together and if by accident something is played that's like 'Oh, I don't think that's a song,' we try that out. If it comes together in 20 minutes, then that's a song. But if it takes more than one session to work out the skeleton, then it's probably not a good one, and we're not gonna use it. So we're pretty impatient, ADD songwriters. I think all the best songs are written quickly. And that's how we handle everything: that's how we record, that's how we eat our lunch. Do it quick or not at all." V

I Am Committing A Sin
Wed, Sep 16 (8 pm)
With Silverstein, A Day to Remember, Ten Second Epic
Starlite Room, $27

Thu, Sep 17 (5 pm)
With Silverstein, A Day To Remember, Ten Second Epic
Starlite Room, $27
All ages

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