SoulDecision

SoulDecision

October 15, Concord , CA

......The Vancouver trio SoulDecision are looking for acceptance in the crazy hullabaloo of boy-band mania, dominated heavily by their Stateside counterparts Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync . Canadian sales of SoulDecision's debut album, "No One Does It Better" are pushing over 80,000. With its lead single Faded already topping the charts and a follow-up song "Ooh It's Kinda Crazy" fast on the rise.
..... Most recently, MCA Records in the U.S. has climbed aboard the SoulDecision bandwagon, giving "Faded" an opportunity to crack the Top 25 (No One Does It Better will be out Stateside in August). .....Completing a cross-Canada extravaganza with Prozzak and Winnipeg duo McMaster & James, soulDecision are prepping for the forthcoming Psykoblast Tour headlined by teen sensation Christina Aguilera. "The first tour we ever went on was with Prozzak/McMaster & James," Bowman says. For a bunch of guys who started out in 1991 under their first name Indecision . Because of their mix of rock, soul, hip hop, and electronica, they couldn't decide what style they were. After the name-change to soulDecision, things began to come together: Their very first single Tonight was nominated for the Best Dance/Hip Hop release at the 1997 Pacific Music Industry Awards. Signing to Universal Music Canada in '99, the band honed their songwriting skills in Los Angeles, refining and exploring differing styles and sounds before committing No One Does It Better to tape. A lunch meeting with producer Charles Fisher (Savage Garden) brought the group to Australia with co-producer/engineer Femi Jiya (Prince, Tevin Campbell, Ben Harper) acting as engineer.
.....With a mellow sound and fantastic following, Soul decision seems on its way. We Interview the band backstage at the Concord Pavilion during their tour with Christina Aguilera.

......INTERVIEW with SoulDecision

Q: How did you get the name "soulDecision"? Where you were known by a different name before also?
A: Indecision for Seven years. Loved that name. There was a lot of bands with a name like this, but we knew it from day one, but we were like whatever, we figured if we got out there first, it would be okay. So in Canada we got ourselves a little name, and then trying to get into the States, the record companies are like, "I don't think so, you should probably change that because it's going to be hassle." So, we cried, we kicked, we screamed, I don't know - it was our manager came up with something decent, soulDecision because we were trying to keep it similar - when we were playing hockey on the play station.
Q: Just like that?
A: Well we kind of kicked it around for a couple of days and looked on the Internet and there was nothing on it and so said okay, we got the web site. I think there was an act of God involved somewhere.
Q: So Canada since 1994?
A: No, 1991. If that's from the record company file? That's a bunch of lies. It's 1991. We're already too old for the kids, but I think good music is good music. We've been telling people our age for the last four months and they're stilling buying our records.
Q: Is this your first tour through America?
A: Yeah. We've done radio.
Q: So what makes you different from the other so-called boy bands?
A: Number One we aren't a boy band. If you could find one boy band that writes, and produces and plays instruments then there you go, but since I figure we're the only ones that do that. We don't dance. Of course, play the guitar. We put ourselves together and definitely went through the process of trying to get a name for ourselves. And writing, recording, producing - we were never put together. It's a band, it's not a boy group. They should be called boy groups because they are a group of boys that sing and dance. The question is a funny thing, is because if we were doing rock, there wouldn't even be a question of this. Do you know what I mean? It wouldn't even be questioned, but it is just because of the type of music that we're doing, there is automatically a stigma as to what has been put out to the public already is just kind of manufactured shit. Realistically, that's all that's been done. I mean for the last 20 years, maybe Duran and Duran and the Wam. You know Savage Gardens and bands like that. I can understand why they look at us like that, but it ain't. Especially, when they see us live, they understand quickly.
Q: A misunderstanding by the music media! Yeah. I don't think they understand. They have never seen us perform live. Read the credits. When they get a press sheet, they see our picture - I mean a press photo is a press photo right?
Q: It would be like here we go again, another label.
A: I think the bottom line, that God willing and everything, that we will be the ones that will be around five years after the market has died and the record companies have simply exhausted this marketing bit, and we'll still be around, because we're writing the songs and doing what we're still doing now.
Q: Do you have a favorite song from your new album?
A: Gravity
Q: Did you just shoot a new video for "Gravity"?
A: Yeah. We are definitely happy with it. Yes, it looks very tasty. Ken has a juicy role it - picking up the chicks.
Q: You use a lot of nice girls in your videos?
A: Especially in this one. We have Playboy bunnies in there. We upped the level because figured this would go live. We're trying to get the guys to buy records too. Just like Blade Runner - there's a directors cut of this video. That I would like to see, because I know that there's a lot of tasty shots that got edited out. It was pretty funny on the set. Some things we had to change around just so it would be Disney and Nickelodeon friendly.
Q: Do you have to keep your lyrics G rated?
A: We never have. Labels press their feet - we had the word 'f**k' and we had to take that out. Eminem is whipping up and down the airwaves going beep, beep, beep.
Q: You can't even play their songs anymore.
A: The bottom line is that I guess a record company would just be worried that if there was an excuse for them not to stock the record, they wouldn't that to be the excuse. It also means that the whole rap rock thing with Eminem, that that is there whole stick I guess - to be full of animosity and swearing every second word. That's not pop. That's the whole thing. For us that's not what we are doing. That's why we are the bad boys of pop. If Michael Jackson can say he was the king of pop. He was long long dead. His career was already finished and he just made himself the king of pop to try to resurrect the shit that wasn't there no more. It's a joke. Everybody laughed at him. So, because Elvis wasn't the king of rock. Elvis wasn't the king of rock, he was the king of ripping off the black music there.
Q: Do you have different points of view come into your music?
A: I think so. I think that's the whole reason why the album sounds the way it does, and why the songs sound the way they are is because we all have such different opinions. I think that's why we don't sound like everybody else.
Q: Do you feel like you might limit yourself by just writing about girls? A: We don't just write about girls. I think it just happened to be frame of mind at the time when these songs were going down and important things are happening in your life. I don't think it dictates whatever. We have a song called "Masturbation", which I guess are technically about girls.
Q: Who are your influences? Dave : Duran Duran, Tori Amos, 80's pop music. Trevor: 50's, 60's and 70's pop rock, and country, Motown, Ken: Abba, like 70's funk shit, Earth Wind and Fire, Commodores stuff and then the 80's I was like Motley Crew, Judas Priest .
Q: The song Faded was already popular in Canada?
A: It was number one. It did really well for us out there. We had put that out - oh my god - it's coming up on a year ago in November of last year is when we came out with in Canada and it first went to radio.
Q: Is that when you started feeling popular?
A: Yeah, I guess. January to March, when the album first came out we dropped the album on February 22nd we happened to be on a fairly alright profile tour across Canada, which I think it really helped.
Q: Does Canada have a pretty good music market?
A: Considering it's size, it's very healthy. There's more people in this state than there is in all of Canada. There's over 25 million people in California, something like that. So it's about the same. If you think about it, Canada has come out with a lot of very great artists. It's pretty good - I'm not complaining. A bit more of rock and roll country instead of pop.
Q: Have you toured with N'Sync ?
A: We are going to tour with them after this tour. The 21st we have our first date in Atlanta. It's going to be nutso. Apparently we play Meadowlands and it has something like 65,000 people both nights. It's going to be out of control.
Q: What do you think music fans will get from your album?
A: Lots of bang for their buck. Lots of songs. It's not an album where you flip through it, and I like this song or that song. You put it in from top to bottom and from what people have been saying, that's what they say, that they listen to it from top to bottom and they enjoy it so.
Q: So you started from scratch and played a long time ?
A: That's the difference like when a band is put together and stuff like that, the management company will arrange for studio time, they will arrange for the people that have to be there. If you need a keyboard player like that. That doesn't happen with bands like us. We have to arrange. We have to get there, we have to get all the stuff. There was no one there. Then we got out manager, and that was one extra person. But we still don't have people around. We still do a lot of the stuff ourselves. I think its better that way. You can keep track of it and we keep ourselves in control of our own careers and not anyway manipulating. I think it's important. I think you have to do that. There are so many horror stories out there where people are letting their financial or their business affairs or musical affairs in the hands of other people and people get fucked and many bands have been fucked. Many artists who are tremendous artists have been screwed. But that going down here.
Thank you for the Interview, I wish you the Best, take care

By Randy Cohen