Spotlight On: Aukland

by Laura Rojas
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Aukland - TorontoOn Saturday night I attended Aukland’s show at The Garrison and it was a ridiculously good time. Featuring special guests Hisland, Of Gentlemen and Cowards, and Running Red Lights, the line-up proved to be a sweet compilation of some very talented local bands.

Aukland, consisting of Sean Sroka (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Jeff Campana (lead guitar, backing vocals), Andrew James Thomas (bass, backing vocals) and Dave Setton (drums, backing vocals) went on stage near the end of the night and entirely blew my mind. Previous to this show I’d only dabbled in their music a little bit, but I could easily see why there was such an energetic crowd awaiting their performance. Aukland’s catchy hooks, paired with harmonic “ooos” and upbeat acoustic strumming, combines to form the recipe for a perfect hit. Aukland’s music was an ode to the cold, pre-winter nights in the city- everything from the instrumentals to the vocals reverberated with amiability. Their music sounds like something bright and glowing and warm.

Aukland - Toronto BandMidway through their performance, the guys announced a surprise- they’d made copies of an acoustic EP, which they referred to as a “Paper Bag Sample”, available for purchase. Earlier in the day, they’d gotten together and decorated paper bags with watercolours. It was a cute, personal touch that everyone seemed to appreciate. I snagged a copy for myself which I’m currently listening to as I write this.

I was lucky enough to interview Sean, Jeff, Andrew, and Dave after the show. They were super friendly and seemed like such genuinely nice people. It was a total pleasure.

 

Read the interview below!

*****

Fresh Print: Great show, guys! Thanks for giving me a minute to interview you. First of all- Aukland. How did you come up with that name for your band?

Sean: We actually used to be called Seam about a year ago. We did some rebranding and started writing better music, so we just saw ourselves as a different kind of band. We were coming up with names for the new project and there’s a street – Aukland Road at Kipling station. I was a little intoxicated with my buddy one day and thought, “man, that would be an awesome band name!” When we were deciding on names, I brought it up and everyone thought it was pretty classy. We’ve all had mutual experiences at that street too, whether it was being picked up or dropped off. It’s the transition point from Mississauga to Toronto. We’re from Mississauga but we’re always in Toronto and we found that middle ground, which was Aukland Road.

Fresh Print: Well, it definitely adds character to your sound! What would you say are the major influences behind your music? And what are you currently listening to right now?

Dave: My major influences as a drummer right now would probably be Arkells, Kings of Leon, and Foals. I also listen to a lot of pop music. I try to educate myself on the opposite end of the spectrum. Andrew recently showed me Mother Mother. Actually, recently I’ve been listening to Ariana Grande. Like I said, I wanna hear the other side of everything.

Sean: I binge listen to things. When I’m into something, I only go for that. Right now, I’m back on that Kings of Leon train- the new album is definitely a thing with me. But influences overall would probably be Kings of Leon and Arkells. Originally, I like a lot of folk. There’s an artist called Peter Katz who was my favourite growing up and still is one of my favourites to this day. He was a big thing for me. I started off writing folk and then sort of developed from there.

Jeff: I’m actually gonna take a different approach to this question. When it comes to influences, yeah musicians are a big factor, but I’m heavily influenced by the people I meet- even my core group of friends and my parents. I study engineering at McMaster, so it’s almost like the opposite end of the spectrum. I get influenced by the people who encourage me and keep me going, telling me, “yeah you can totally do both” [engineering and music]. What I’m listening to? We come from a band that listens to almost everything and anything. I’m really all about this band called Motion City Soundtrack right now, same with Atlas Genius.

Andrew: I like a lot of Foals as well. I get bits and pieces from everybody in this band as well as friends who will share what they’re listening to, so I listen to a lot music that’s made up of what other people have given me. Foals is one of the biggest ones, Mother Mother is one of my favourite bands, and, I don’t play metal, but Protest the Hero. I love Protest the Hero.

Aukland - Toronto BandFresh Print: You guys did an Ontario tour recently, mostly playing universities and colleges. How did that go?

Sean: Yeah, in the summer we just played a bunch of places in Ontario. It went pretty well. We did a Southern Ontario kinda tour. I think the furthest we got was Sudbury. It was a 5 hour drive. But we did a pretty big circuit over the summer.

Andrew: The big thing about that was that we met some of the best people playing these shows. One of our friends, Matt, is from Sudbury and he’ll come down to our shows if we have a couple in a row. We’ll be like, “Matt, you wanna come down and roadie and hangout with us and drink some beers?” He always comes down. He’s coming on tour with us.

Sean: Yeah, we’re having a string of shows in January. We’ll be making a pretty good announcement about it soon. We can’t say much about it yet but definitely keep up to date! January will be a good Southern Ontario tour as well.

Fresh Print: Did anything crazy happen while you were on tour? Any weird stories?

Sean: Drunken stupor. I think we invented the drunken stupor.

Andrew: A better question is when did crazy things not happen? When we were on tour, we slept like two hours in Sudbury and had to drive all the way to St. Catharines for a 3pm acoustic show (an 8 hour drive) then played again at 10 o’clock that night, and then drove back. That was really fun. In Sudbury, a man’s head was kind of lit on fire.

Fresh Print: What?!

Andrew: He was fine. He was okay. We didn’t light him on fire.

Sean: I didn’t light a man’s head on fire but if you were to ask if I have a video of a guy’s head on fire, the answer would be absolutely.

Jeff: Also, Dave saved our lives that day. That was kinda crazy. We played in Sudbury. Our set time was 11:30 and we had to wake up early the next morning. I was the driver and I was really exhausted and Dave got me out of a jam on the highway. He yelled my name and next thing you know, we’re steering through traffic.

Fresh Print: You’ve played with big names before- artists like Dragonette, Ill Scarlet, and Carly Rae Jepsen. How did something like that shape the way that you carry yourselves on stage now?

Dave: I think you learn a lot about how to put a better performance on. We’ve been focusing more on the fact that we are performers, essentially, and how to make a better performance. We learned ways to get people involved in the show which is definitely nice.

Sean: We also learned what not to do, I’d say. You can’t do exactly what they do or live on that level. You kinda have to be a bit more personal and snag those fans. They’re really good performers and we’ve learned exactly what to do from them, but we’ve also learned that we’re not quite on that level. So we have to like, be immediately at the merch table right after, whereas they can take half an hour or whatever. It’s the little differences that matter. But I feel that overall, our backs are a little straighter when we walk on stage.

Andrew: You said that as your back was slouched.

Sean: Haha, but it really does make a difference! It gives you a bit of confidence when you’re walking among a crowd of people.

Fresh Print: So apart from music, what else do you guys do?

Jeff: I’m failing out of engineering. I would actually be an honour roll student if it wasn’t for this band. Unfortunately, my grades aren’t as strong as they should be. I would definitely like to take more time for schoolwork, but at the end of the day I love this band too much. It is what it is. I’m either really crazy or I love music that much.

Andrew: I’m really big into making frittatas right now. I love them. Frittatas, sandwiches. Those are my favourite. I also like to swim.

Sean: Actually, he is a pretty good sandwich maker.

Andrew: You guys haven’t even had my frittatas. When you do, you’ll be like “his sandwiches are good, but these frittatas…”

Sean: I go to Sheridan for advertising, and I work at Zara. I also keep writing music. That’s pretty much it. Oh, I also watch so much TV it’s crazy. I watch everything. I binge watch. Right now, I’m really into It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. There are like 30 episodes per season and in the past few days… I’m not even gonna tell you what season I’m on because it’s that embarrassing.

Dave: I go to school at Ryerson. I’m in Radio and Television Arts there. That’s what I’m doing. I work a retail job, too. I wish I could play more video games. I wish I had more time for movies.

Fresh Print: Thanks so much, guys! It was a pleasure talking to you.

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