Spirit of Music Profile: The Sessions

By Graham Dalik (October 12, 2007)

In recent years Canada has been rather quietly establishing itself as a hotbed for talented musicians.  Arcade Fire to Feist, MSTRKRFT to The New Pornographers, Canadian artists have received international praise from Austin’s South by Southwest to London’s New Musical Express, while remaining somewhat of a whisper at home.
 
The latest talent to emerge is The Sessions, a North Vancouver indie-electro quartet comprised of Josh Abel, Tobias Jesso, Martin Kottmeier, and Tristan Martin.  They’ve been busy over the last year recording material, playing regional gigs, and winning national competitions on their way to Germany, where in 2006 they became the first North American band ever to win the Emergenza Music Festival – the world’s largest battle-of-the-bands.  Martin Kottmeier, drummer for The Sessions, recently shed some light on the band, the local music scene, and the global music community at large.
 
“We all throw ideas out there for songs, then we stir ‘em around, quite like making soup,” Martin quips in regard to the band’s songwriting process.  And from this mix of different flavors emerges an incredibly catchy and dangerously danceable sound, combining elements of rock and electronica from all over the world.  Building off the traditional cues of a gritty rock and roll band, The Sessions also channel the fluorescent world of electronic music.  “I guess that comes from our love of dance music,” muses Martin, “we also listen to a lot of electro music like Daft Punk, Chromeo, The Presets...”
 
The last of these bands holds a particularly important place in Martin’s memory: “One day I was surfing on Myspace [web community] and I came across The Presets’ page, I really liked it so I showed the other guys and we all really got into it.  Then one day a few months later our managers contacted us about a show, opening for this Australian electro group called...The Presets!”
 
The Sessions are no stranger to the influential role the Internet plays in music these days, viewing it as a great way to get their music out to fans.  Today’s ability to tune into bands from around the world also helps explain a lot about how The Sessions formed themselves. “We have all grown up heavily influenced by the British music scene,” Martin mentions, noting that music from the UK “is almost always ahead of the times.”  Now though, it seems the lag time of interest between the trans-Atlantic avant-garde set and the rest of the world is shrinking, as new genres and styles beam to the four corners of the globe overnight.  The Internet has allowed bands like The Sessions to develop by providing musically curious souls the ability to absorb influences from bygone eras and far flung locations with ease.
 
Nevertheless, this fundamental change in how people fashion their taste in music doesn’t always spark overnight success for a band that is emerging in a city away from the epicenter of its influence. “For us it's a little tough… we have a very Brit Rock/electro sound and there isn't much of that going on right now in Canada.  People here are still very into that ‘Theory of a Nickelfault’ sound, or at least it seems,” explains Martin.  As well, an underdeveloped culture of concert going is another stumbling block for bands like The Sessions.  “The Vancouver music scene is a little dry in terms of people who go out to listen to live music, and support local bands.  However we have quite loyal fans!”  The Sessions are optimistic that the local scene is growing.
 
And while the home front may remain slightly sleepy for the time being, the band has had no problem opening eyes elsewhere, as witnessed in Rothenburg, Germany last year with the Emergenza win.  After winning local, regional, and national battle-of-the-bands competitions, The Sessions left over 8,000 other bands in their wake to earn themselves a 20,000 person concert on German national television, a slot on the Summer 2007 Vans Warped Tour in North America, recording studio time in Sweden, and a lot of new fans worldwide.
 
Still, for all the grandeur of international success, Martin’s favorite shows to date have been in Calgary at an all-ages concert hall and in Vancouver at the venerable Commodore Ballroom. Although, opening for both The Killers and Bad Religion as an unsigned band wasn’t too shabby either.  That was “really cool,” he says, “definitely a rush.”
 
The band is currently recording new material in Vancouver at Warehouse Studios with legendary producer Bob Rock.  Now, with some good old-fashioned talent and a little help from the Internet The Sessions will be packing dance floors everywhere, from the other side of the world to home.