THE NEW SINGLE FROM TORONTO FIVE-PIECE JULY TALK IS A RAUCOUS, PRIMAL, STOP-START ROCK ‘N’ ROLLER; A DARK AND CONVERSATIONAL TALE OF A TWISTED LOVE AFFAIR.

SUMMER DRESS is the sound of whiskey-soaked Americana and Delta blues standing over dance-floor indie-rock with a chainsaw. It exemplifies the steamy dynamic – and sandpaper-and-silk interplay – between vocalists Peter Dreimanis and Leah Fay.
July Talk’s sound is augmented by a compelling, noirish visual aesthetic. Dremainis and Fay, along with bassist Josh Warburton, guitarist Ian Docherty and drummer Danny Miles, the members of the band write and record, shoot and edit every bit of music and film they put out under the July Talk name.
In March of this year the band were nominated at the Juno Awards (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammys) alongside Arcade Fire. They performed at the gala and gave a glimpse of the combustible, occasionally unhinged, live shows that have sent them from playing sweaty 500 capacity venues to the stages of some of the biggest festivals in Canada. It’s a show that they’re about to bring to the UK.
With July Talk’s ‘sandpaper-and-silk’ dynamic in mind, Dremainis took some time to consider a few choices we offered…

KITCHEN OR DANCEFLOOR AT PARTIES?
That would depend on the night and the city. Some of my favourite nights have been spent in strangers’ living rooms screaming along at the top of my lungs to anything from The Replacements to Michael Jackson records, and dancing until the morning sun starts breaking through closed blinds. That being said, there’s something endlessly comforting about curling up in a kitchen corner and getting to know someone you’ve never met while people come in and out for refills. When you’re on tour, it might be the only time in the day that you actually have the time to get to know someone. Talk about your favourite records, directors, cities or food, the differences between your home and theirs. It leaves you with a real memory of the place.

WIDE OPEN SPACE OR THE CITY?
I thrive in cities. If I think of places I want to live and it’s always places like New Orleans, Vienna or NYC. I think I like the pace of it all, the feeling in the middle of millions of people that no-one knows me at all. I love getting to know the areas and exploring the little versions of each country that have been fostered for decades by immigrants. I love the country too, but I go a little nuts after a week or so.

BOTH SUPPORTING MORRISSEY SOON… BUT: TOM OR CLIFF?
Got to go with Tom Jones on this one. There’s nothing romantic about that era / genre – so it’s not easy to love those guys. At least with Rod Stewart you can look at a band like The Faces and disregard the direction that his career went afterwards. With Tom, you just jump onboard and bring more than enough grains of salt.

EGGS: OVER-EASY OR SCRAMBLED?
This deserves an answer inspired by too many bad breakfasts on the road. You’ve got to go with scrambled. “Easy” is a very subjective word when it comes to eggs and if you order it too often, you will end up with more barely cooked glop on your plate than you had in mind. Scrambled is a safe bet pretty much anywhere in the world, rarely regretted.

LUST OR ROMANCE?
Romance, but I don’t think they have to be separate. There should be lots of room for lust in a romantic setting. If there wasn’t, there would be no such thing as a happy monogamous relationship. The best moment is discovering lust within someone you’re beginning to fall in love with. I feel like everyone starts out as a teenager thinking that they are the only one that wants to have sex. The world changes pretty dramatically when you realize that the opposite is true…

THAT VIRAL VIDEO OF THE CAT SAVING A BOY FROM A DOG… SO: TOOTH OR CLAW?
Oh man! I’ve never seen it but I just watched it now… That cat is badass! I would definitely take a cat attack over a dog attack any day of the week though. I got fucked up pretty bad by a dog as a kid and it sucks. Maybe I’ll just find a warrior cat like that one and bring it around with me. It will stop me from kicking a dog. No one wants to be the guy that kicks a dog. I’ll get my cat to do my dirty work.

STUDIO OR STAGE?
Stage. A close friend recently told me his theory that a band’s job is to get the closest possible recording to the sound of your band inside your head. The studio is a frustrating place for me, because I don’t feel like we’ve portrayed the essence of our band on record yet. We haven’t yet recreated the sound that’s in our heads. Our live show is such a frantic visual experience that I feel much more confident in its representation of the project. I feel like we can really hit the nail on the head on a good night… I know it’s a gradual process, and it’s amazing when art challenges you… so I love the struggle of trying to get there in the studio.

FILMMAKERS: THE COEN BROTHERS OR WES ANDERSON?

These are hard questions… I’ll go with the Coen brothers, because I’ve never waited over a week to see their movies. They have a way of creating totally unique characters that you somehow identify with. Anderson’s attention to detail is unmatched, but if I had to go without one of their filmographies, I’d have to stick with the Coens.

BRYAN ADAMS OR RYAN ADAMS?
I’ve always worried someone would ask me this… Damn. Ryan Adams is the most incredible songwriter to discover when you are a young person learning to write songs. His prolific output is so inspiring, you can’t believe he’s created this many great songs in such a short time. That said, Bryan Adams is a good old fashioned Canadian rock and roll icon. You can’t say no to that… We love finding the dodgiest Karaoke dive bars in each city we play and partying there after the show. There’s nothing like seeing an eccentric character rip through SUMMER OF ’69 or RUN TO YOU. So what’s my answer? Another cop-out? Guess so. Sorry.

WORK OR PLAY?
Work. I’ve been lucky enough to find myself in two jobs that I absolutely love. I can work a 15-hour day and feel so happy driving home. I work in music and film and love them both equally, in totally different ways. Everybody loves to take time to party, travel or turn their brains off, but it has only taken a day or two into any vacation I’ve ever taken to realize where I’d rather be. I love working as hard as I can to make a project the best it can be. Now… back to watching that cat video…

The SUMMER DRESS EP is released by Sleepless Records / Polydor on June 8th.