Now let’s welcome to the TVD Writers Telethon Stage an up-and-coming band out of Canada, The Rest, whose new release ‘All At Once’ is now out on Auteur Recordings. We chatted with front man Adam Bentley earlier in the week, so how about we roll that tape first…
(Yea, I’m literally channeling Jerry Lewis at this point.)
“My first clear memory of being enthralled with vinyl records revolves around an early obsession with The Beatles when I was 6 years old. My obsession began with a radio program called the “Beatles Brunch”, which was hosted by a famous Canadian DJ by the name Don Daynard. I would religiously wake up every Sunday to listen to the show. I began my ritual by putting on my Dad’s old, coiled, huge muffed headphones (that I still use) and then would spend the next hour in a state of pure joy.
Shortly after, I found that we had The Beatles on vinyl, and that I could play them as much I liked without waiting for the show. Now, I don’t want you to get the idea that the concept of recorded music was something new to me; it wasn’t, as cassettes had been quite prevalent in our house, and the record player was in constant use, but for me their wasn’t much of a reason to use these mediums, that is until I couldn’t get enough of The Beatles.
Shortly after finding these records I began to take them up to my room where I scrawled my grade-one insignia, “Adam B” across every sleeve. This was done to establish that these albums belonged to “Adam B” and not “Adam K” who was in the same grade. I then played them on my fisher price record player until I knew every word. Now I could sing along to every track, how awesome! I then recorded (what I guess could be considered my first album) on my fisher price tape recorder. This recording consisted of me singing along to my favourite Beatles songs with John, Paul, George, and sometimes-even Ringo giving me back up.
Now here comes the part that I still find a little strange; instead of showing my friends The Beatles version of the songs I would show my own. I desperately wanted everyone to love The Beatles as much as I did, but I wanted them to experience them the same way I had. I guess that this is still a desire of most people have, as we want to have our favourite artist heard or viewed in a way similar to how we became familiar with them, to make sure people come away with the same feelings we initially had.
I tried to transfer my moments by having my friends hear my recordings of myself singing The Beatles—I guess this was my favourite way that I experience them, and had no idea that the events leading up to that experience would be needed by the other individuals to feel my same joy. This was why all of my friends didn’t like The Beatles the same way I did, my six-year-old voice confused many a child about how they felt about The Beatles. I kept recording though, even with the disinterest of my peers, until I finished off the tape with an original song called “Going To Atlanta Georgia”, written because I was going there. Even one of my friends, Paul Koehler (look him up), got involved. The tape was sent off to Paul McCartney for evaluation, but I never heard back from him.
Mr. McCartney I want my tape back.”
The Rest – Drinking Again (Mp3)
The Rest – Blossom Babies Part Two (Mp3)
The Rest – Everything All at Once (Mp3)
