Vancouver's Smash Boom Pow record with Converse Rubber Tracks

Day one of the global Converse Rubber Tracks program in Vancouver and we’re sitting in the control room of The Warehouse Studio with Smash Boom Pow watching and listening to the Thundercats intro scene. During this time, the engineer and the band talk about what they want to walk away with to make sure they’re on the same page for the session. Studio time in any capacity is a precious commodity making every interaction very direct and to the point.

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Next, the band goes in to set up and dial in their instruments before getting down to work. Based in Vancouver, Smash Boom Pow consists of two brothers, Zane and Ulysses. Their fresh and energetic sound can only be described as an unique blend of rock and roll, pop, punk and electronica that’s live triggered through an analogue synth bass.

Here’s the little conversation we had with the brothers about their experience in the Converse Rubber Tracks program thus far.

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Please introduce yourselves.

Ulysses: Hello I’m Ulysses.
Zane: My name is Zane.
U: We’re brothers, and we’re Smash Boom Pow.

Tell us about your experience with Converse Rubber Tracks so far.

U: I found out about the program just by going through Twitter. I just saw it and I thought, that’s cool, why don’t I enter? Even though I usually don’t win anything, Zane always wins stuff, so I’m actually really surprised and very happy to be here.

Z: [Ulysses] told me, I applied to this thing, and I was like cool man. Then we forgot about it for two or three months, and then we got an email.

Now you’re here!

U: Yeah, and now we’re here. We just came out of the Peak Performance Project boot camp which was a good primer for this session. Coming out of that, I think we’re going to be able to get a little more from this studio session than we would have otherwise.

Z: Kinda utilize everything a little more. Maximize stuff.

Did you guys ever go to school for music?

Z: Well our dad actually does a lot of vocal work; both of our parents are very musical.

U: Yeah our dad got us going for sure. He bought us our first instruments and got me writing my first song and stuff. From then on, however, it was pretty much all self taught.

Z: I did about 10 years of lessons actually.

U: Yeah he’s definitely better than me, but I played guitar in my bedroom a lot. I’ve also been in bands for years. There was this one band called Johnny Tango that was with some friends of mine. We were a band for two or three years so I got some practice there too.

‘Do You Feel’ was the last album you guys released and it was completely DIY. Tell us about the weirdest place that you’ve ever recorded?

U: We mainly recorded in the apartment of the producer we had for that album. He had this massive box with an amp containment box that’s meant to kill the sound so we could actually record pretty loudly. We did a lot of vocals in his apartment as well. Unfortunately, the floors are kind of paper thin so he did get noise complaints in the double digits during the process of recording.

Z: Someone tried to take him to court once.

So what are you guys recording here with Converse Rubber Tracks today?

Z: A song called ‘All I Do’

U: ‘What I Do’

Z: ‘What I Do.’ I don’t even know the song name.

Is it going to be a single for your next album?

U: It’s just a track that we really like.

Z: I think we’re just gonna release it as a single; I think it’s good as a stand alone track.

U: I agree. I think it’s just gonna be a tasty treat for our fans to listen to.

Z: Because unfortuantely, our EP had to be pushed back so this might be nice to be able to release in between.

U: A little snack in between meals.

Z: We haven’t released any new material for a while so this’ll be good.

[am2_see_also]

CONVERSE Inc. has unveiled their new Converse Rubber Tracks global program, which is offering free recording time at 12 legendary recording studios around the world. Throughout the registration period, over 9,000 up-and-coming international artists applied for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and a total of 84 acts – representing 28 countries – will record at participating studios and become part of music history. Starting this month, studios, including Vancouver’s The Warehouse Studio, will host chosen artists throughout a two-week period.