Black Lungs

It’s like the Canadians are rubbing our faces in it. First they gave us Alexisonfire, which in turn spawned the soulful, acoustic sounds of City & Colour and now AOF axe-man Wade MacNeil has delivered a top-notch record with his side project Black Lungs.

Wade was kind enough to donate some of his rare downtime to us…

Interview w/ Wade MacNeil (Vocals/Guitars)

of Black Lungs (Canada)

Hey Wade, how are you today

man? 

I’m great Mr Chambers, how are

you? 

Ha ha, I’m good man. Mr Chambers

is a bit formal though dude, you can call me Cam if that’s easier? 

Nice, ha ha. I was trying to get

a little informal with the operator before… she’s called me like,

three times today for all these interviews and yeah, she wasn’t having

it, ha ha. 

Both Alexisonfire and Black

Lungs are off the road at the moment, what’s been keeping you busy? 

Well, I’m kind of actually going

nuts doing shit for both of them at the moment… just not in the full

on, touring sense. 

The Black Lungs record just came

out and we’ve been doing shows all round Ontario and we’ll also

be doing the Warped Tour in Canada. We’re actually playing this Sunday

as well! Alexis are working on a new record right now too, so it’s

just music, music, music, man. 

Considering how much time you’ve

feel a little strange to be chilling at home? 

It’s a bit of a mind fuck really.

When we came back home and to not play every day… man, we’d been

on tour for five months straight up to that point and yeah, to get home

and not see the guys every day and wake up in my own bed… it’s a

strange feeling. 

It’s strange to wrap my head

around because we’ve kind of stopped dead and just taken some time

away, we didn’t even practice, no nothing! But I’ve been loving

it and just barbecuing every day, ha ha. 

Living the life man, ha ha. 

Right on man  

For those that are new to Black

the sole original members, correct? 

It’s kind of gone through a

couple of different incarnations, but its definitely frustrating trying

to find people to play. I did as much as I possibly could on my own

and I’ve just had whichever friends I could play shows for me… it’s

been a revolving door of Ontario musicians.  

Taking into account how busy

the light of day? 

It’s actually been done for

close to two years, with the artwork and everything, but with Alexis

touring so much there was no point putting it out if I wasn’t able

to do anything with it. 

So yeah, it’s just been sitting

on the shelf and now I’ve got more than enough songs for another one.

Now that Alexis have some time off I’m finally able to tour the record,

so I’m just glad it’s finally out there. 

Usually you’ve got four other

showing the rest of the world your songs? 

Definitely man. It’s like that

whenever you play a show or put a record out… it’s definitely all

on me. It wasn’t someone else’s voice, it was my voice. I’d be

like, “oh yeah, I definitely fucked up that guitar part”, ha ha. 

Whether it’s praise or criticism

it’s all on my shoulders so it’s a little stressful, but I didn’t

really think about that kind of thing in the studio. Fuck it, ha ha. 

Who are some of Black Lungs

way compared to when you’re writing for Alexis? 

The thing that makes it clearly

a Black Lungs song is the simplicity of it all, and lyrically I wanted

to strip the songs down and just make them easy to grasp. They’re

simple songs… that’s the aim, you know, just three or four chord

songs that would sound great even if there wasn’t stuff on top of

it.  

The message is still the same

even though everything is stripped down… I just wanted it to make

the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and I definitely didn’t

want to go off on the deep end and make it too complex.  

Now correct me if I’m wrong,

acting as your band for Black Lungs live shows yeah? 

Well, this Sunday I have two of

the guys from Bedouin Soundclash playing with me and then the organ

player from The Archelles, who are another band from around here. We’ve

got some shows coming up with Anti Flag and then the Warped Tour, where

I’ll have a few of the guys from The Creepshow playing… they’re

this great psychobilly band from around here and then one of the Bedouin

Soundclash guys again.  

Is it hard to get all of you

have a different line up for every show, ha ha? 

Yeah man, completely different

line up for every show. Last weekend was with different people too.

I had Ian from Attack In Black playing drums and Ian’s dad Dave played

lead guitar, ha ha! 

It’s awesome coz he wailed,

ha ha. I phoned Ian’s place to see if he was available and his dad

Dave answered and yeah, he wanted to play so I said “sure Dave, come

have a solo”… and he did! 

The record’s been receiving

were you anticipating for it? 

I wasn’t really sure. It’s

a bit of a stretch from Alexis and I think that a lot of people would

be surprised that I eve know how to sing, so I don’t know, I guess

I was going into it with lowered expectations, ha ha. 

If it gets  a good review

I’m like, “that’s nice”, even if they say something that doesn’t

make sense and compare me to The Clash or something, even if it’s

not the truth you’re like “yeah, good times”, ha ha. If someone

cuts you down then you’re like “fuck him, what does he know”.

He probably doesn’t even play music, ha ha. 

You just do it because you want

to do it and because you’re passionate at the end of the day, so I’m

not too concerned.  

Your voice is instantly recognizable

more traditional punk and rock n roll? 

I don’t know. I want people

to know it’s me but at the same time I don’t want to use the Alexisonfire

trump card, you know? That always comes up in interviews, like, “you’re

doing a solo project, is it like Dallas’ solo project”? So those

two things almost do me a disservice.  

It’s kind of funny though, at

a show the other week this kid came up to me and was insulting Alexis

and saying he wasn’t into it but then he was like “loved the show”

and then he’d go back to cutting down Alexis. You can tell me once

you don’t like the band and I’m glad that you like Black Lungs,

but take it easy, ha ha! 

August and September sees you

any other touring plans for the rest of 2008? 

Well, I have a headlining tour

in the UK after the summer and then hopefully we can get over to Australia

sometime in the fall, so that would be October. I’d love to spend

a whole bunch of time in Australia you know? Just play one show and

then just hang out.  

The Canadian and Australian governments

seem to like each other so it would be pretty hard to extradite me,

ha ha.  

We’re going to finish up

with a quick few questions if that’s cool man? 

Of course! 

Favourite place you’ve travelled

to with the band?  

I don’t want to sound insincere

because I’m doing an Australian interview, so I wouldn’t want people

to think I say this to everyone, but Australia is definitely my favourite

place to play. It’s like Canada on Spring Break! 

It reminds me home, expect that

it’s a home that’s way more beautiful and has an interesting accent.  

What’s your favourite gig

that you’ve attended as a fan? 

One of the most eye opening things

I’ve ever seen was The Misifts playing when in was the ninth grade…

that’s what got me into punk rock. There were people getting into

fights and it was long enough ago that there were still Nazis at shows

and then the Sharp skins were beating up the Nazis! 

It was dangerous and wild and

I wanted to be around that more often. It’s started my love affair

with punk. It was weird people and there was loud music and it was dangerous! 

Favourite album at the moment? 

My favourite at the moment? Oh

my god! Ha ha 

The new Constantines record man,

I’ve been playing that like crazy so I’ll have to go with that! 

Most ridiculous thing you’ve

done for a dollar? 

Ha ha ha, I’m not that guy.

I’m not that guy that drinks tons of hot sauce or maple syrup, nothing

that outlandish. I’ve never done anything for one dollar though, I

set my sights around $100! 

Best hangover remedy? 

Greasy food man! Bacon and eggs

and a huge fountain of coke!  

Most embarrassing onstage experience? 

When we started the Warped Tour

about two years ago man. As soon as we started I jumped off the drum

riser and didn’t just split my pants down the crotch, but I pretty

much ripped my pants in half, ha ha. 

I don’t know how it happened!

Aside from being lit on fire I can’t think of anything worse, ha ha.

It was like I was wearing ass-less chaps! One minute I was on the drums

and then I jumped and then bang, I was wearing ass-less chaps, ha ha. 

That’s all we’ve got time

for man, anything else you’d like to add? 

Listen to Otis Reading man. 

Wade.

For everything Black Lungs related head to the bands Myspace page.