This year’s Battle of the Bands was a raging success thanks to performances by many talented musicians. The high level of the competition was evident by the difficulty the judges faced in deciding upon a winner. One of the bands that participated was No Locals. Arthur met with band members Carson Mangaard and Eric Reynolds.
Did you guys enjoy Battle of the bands?
Carson: Yeah, we had a great time playing.
Eric: It is fun playing in a show that is well organized and that you can look forward for a while and practice for it. It is different to open mic.
Carson: Yeah, sometimes people do not really show up. Sometimes you have to be put on the ground a few times to want to keep doing because it is so special when it really happens. Last year’s battle of the band was so much fun because everybody from residence came and we were really with the crowd and that was cool.
Do you think the Battle of the bands was well organized?
Eric: Yeah it was pretty well organized.
Carson: The sound guys were pretty awesome.
Why did you choose “No Locals” as the name of your band?
Eric: Inspired by a documentary called the Dogtown and Z-Boys where there is a group called “locals” and so we thought it would be funny to add “no”.
How did you get together?
Carson: Last year in line for food in the cafeteria in Champlain, I mentioned that I play guitar, and Eric is like you play guitar? And so we started jamming together.
When did you start playing music?
Carson: I have been playing since I was 4 years old. At one point I played violin, harp, and piano and then I picked the cello and took some lessons as well as guitar lessons.
Eric: Yeah that is longer than me; I have been playing guitar since grade 9 and then started playing Banjo four years ago. And then singing came afterwards.
How would you describe your kind of music?
Eric: Sort of landlocked surf.
Carson: It embodies a feeling rather than a particular sound, just chilling by the water. Something I would rather be doing.
What kind of music influenced your band?
Eric: Velvet Underground really influenced us, Creedence Clearwater Revival is huge and Neil Young has had a pretty big impact as well. I like a lot of Country; The Birds for example are amazing.
How often do you guys practice?
Carson: When we have a show we play a lot, for example we were playing the solo for the show every single day.
Eric: I cut my finger because of playing Banjo so much.
Carson: When we are into it we practice quite a bit.
Eric: I find that when we jam, it is sort of fun after-school work and take a break.
Would it be a possibility to incorporate other people to your band?
Eric: Yeah, we were trying to find a drummer for a while.
Carson: It is more about space and time and getting together to practice.
Do you guys think there are many barriers to enter to the music industry?
Carson: You definitely need a lot of experience. In Toronto it is a lot easier because I know the people you book shows with but here in Peterborough we are not as well known. Toronto has a pretty good scene, you can go and see some really good bands and you wouldn’t know about them unless you look finding for them.
Are you guys working on something new?
Carson: We have a bunch of stuff we are working on. We put poetry on top of chords.
Eric: We both like writing poems.
What are the plans for the future?
Carson: We have a show in Toronto with other band I have played with; including another band I am part of. And then we are going to try and get into Hillside Festival in Guelph, where Eric is from, which would be a pretty big deal for us.
Eric: It is one of those sort of festivals in which the atmosphere and the energy around it is great, and I have always gone since I was practically a baby. My mom and dad carried me around and I really love it there. It is funny because before meeting Carson we went to the same shows and were practically beside each other
You can follow No Locals on Facebook where they have posted some of their original songs.