The world according to BROOD

They don’t look like brooders: The guys in Elliott BROOD are actually happy fellas. Supplied

Toronto trio Elliott BROOD has evolved from a niche “death country” act, to alt-country aficionados in the past seven years.

Originally founded as a solo project in 2004 by Mark Sasso, lead vocalist, banjo, guitar and harmonica player, he was eventually joined by guitarist and bass pedaler Casey Laforet, and drummer and classically-trained pianist Stephen Pitkin.

All three push themselves to play multiple instruments and sing, which means they sound like a much bigger band than they actually are.

“Its only three people but most people are kind of wowed (when they hear us), like you know, ‘What’s going on here?’” remarks Sasso, over the phone from Hamilton. 

They started out, as most musicians do, passionate but broke. So to release an EP they placed burnt CDs and handmade photo books in brown paper bags - and Tin Type Records was born.

“We were like, we’ll make 100 ... and we just kept making them. Next thing we know, we made 5,000 by hand.” 

Ironically, they’ve since signed with Paper Bag Records.

However, Sasso still appreciates the DIY aspect of record making that took precedence in the early 2000s. 

“At that time music was changing, you were able to create stuff by yourself by hand,” he says. “That freedom was pretty great. We still design everything ourselves and we enjoy that.”

Their drive has definitely paid off. After receiving loads of critical praise for its third release, 2008’s Mountain Meadows, the band was shortlisted for the prestigious Polaris Music Prize.

The band kept its cool and didn’t pressure themselves into making a new record right away. 

“Over the last three years, I think we’ve grown as musicians and performers and writers. So I think (we’ll) probably write a better record. We feel as though we have,” he says.

Though the words “heavy” and “banjo” together may rightfully scare most, hoards of country-phobes need not worry. Nothing is classically country about BROOD. Rarely do they dabble in twang, opting instead for a folksier route a la Bob Dylan or Neil Young.

Inspiration for the long-awaited followup, the recently released Days Into Years, came from an impromptu trip taken during a touring break in Europe.

Hoping to avoid the expensive toll routes between the Netherlands and Barcelona, the group took back roads, where they stumbled upon the Étaples (Military) Cemetery.

“We were just going to kind of meander through France and see what we saw, then after (Étaples) it was just like ‘OK, we have to go to Juno Beach, let’s go to all these historical sites.’ It kind of gave us a different view of life.” 

Newly enlightened, they vowed to make an album inspired by military history.

Though it’s distinctively sombre, Days Into Years broaches topics of war and death respectfully, as a sort of tribute album to the lives lost in battle during the First World War.

“You have to approach it almost like an actor. For this record, it was just like, ‘What would you be feeling? What would you be doing?’ It’s our most personal record I feel, of all of them.”

Published in Volume 66, Number 9 of The Uniter (October 26, 2011)

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