September 23, 2008

No need to rush

Montreal electric-indie-pop band Hexes and Ohs end their tour back home

by Johnny North

Juggling a 13-year business and personal relationship isn’t a problem for Montrealers Heidi Donnelly and Edmund Lam, the electric-indie musicians who together form the band Hexes and Ohs.

“We actually feel it’s easier [to have a relationship],” said Lam. “I played in a bunch of bands without Heidi and it’s fun in it’s own way, but sometimes in stressful situations, which come up often in a band, I think Heidi and I deal with it well. We’re more sensitive to each other’s feelings and temperament.”

After a three-year hiatus, the band is back with their second full-length album Bedroom Madness. The 15 tracks represent years of on-and-off work by the two. Once Lam was completely satisfied the album was released.

“We started writing the new album pretty soon after the first,” he said. “It was really just a matter of writing songs and production techniques, getting it to a point we were happy with. It took us a year and a half to record and produce the album. We took our time but it turned out better since we really had time to think about things and refine our work. I think there’s more life to this one, a lot more personality. It wasn’t a rush effort like our first album.”

There was concern among the two when they first started their Canadian tour. Travelling to places they’ve never been to before made them a little worried, but the trip ended up better than expected.

“Calgary in particular, we got to play with one of our friends from Montreal: The Winter Gloves,” he said. “We were worried about the nothingness for hours to hours in the Prairies, but nothingness is kind of interesting and beautiful in it’s own way. The differences are way bigger here compared to the East. There’s more of a quiet town mentality.”

Lam drives home the fact that while travelling and meeting old and new friends has made the tour memorable, he believes it would not mean as much without his partner.

“I couldn’t imagine doing it without Heidi. It’s like touring with a band and a vacation at the same time.”

Hexes and Ohs will be having a CD release show Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. at Club Lambi. They will also be performing at Pop Montreal at Les 3 Minots (St. Laurent location) at 8 p.m. Ticket info can be found at http://www.popmontreal.com