You’re the drummer for The Famines, but tell me something that no one would expect that has nothing to do with music.

Okay, how about this: I am going to be doing research with a stimulus that has not been used in other studies the way we’re going to be using it. I have a feeling it’s going to be super interesting if the results yield any sort of success. It has to do with perception and the auditory system and we’re doing research in the brand new music lab at MacEwan.

You’re obviously quite academic.

Surprisingly yes. I never liked school in Jr. High or High School. I would always skip class to go skateboard or play in bands. Then, it was working at a record store that taught me I didn’t want to work retail for the rest of my life. So, I started taking general studies and was really taken aback by psychology and even furthermore by perception. Then, I got more specific looking at how people process different types of auditory stimuli. For example, how it differs in people with perfect pitch versus those who don’t. I guess I was a little bit of a late bloomer in the academic realm.

Let’s talk about your music. What have you done thus far with The Famines and what’s on the horizon?

We did 86 shows in our first year. We have three releases out and two of those areself-released. The big thing for the next little while is going to be writing a handful of new songs and get a whole new repertoire of jams to melt faces with. We want to make an LP and two 7 inches...14 songs is the goal. Plus, there’s a few labels that have shown interest so we’re keeping an eye on that as well.

You also collect records don’t you?

5000 at last count. It’s pretty ridiculous, but obviously amounts to nothing. It’s like “Oh man, I have that first pressing of that Stooges record, that’ll get some girl hot!” I mean really that’s as bad as Magic Cards or comic books. It’s just a different type of nerdism.

Good thing the only cure for nerdism is melting faces from a stage.