Veal - November/December 1999
by Sarah Chauncey
Who: Luke Doucet (vocal & guitars), Howard Redekopp (bass & vocals - CD), Shane Hayes (bass & vocals - live) and Chang (drums).
What: ultra-cool ultra-pop.
Where: Vancouver
Why: Because every person I know in Vancouver raves about them constantly (and besides, who isn’t in search of the perfect pop song?).
To Contact: Alex DeCartier, Square Dog, (416) 534-6422.
It’s rare that an entire city agrees on a favorite up-and-coming band, but it seems that Vancouver has collectively decided on Veal. The four-year-old band headed into Vancouver’s Blue Wave Studio with co-producer Michael Philip Wojewoda to record their second album, Tilt ‘O Whirl. With the veteran Wojewoda behind an old API console, the band spent three weeks working to get as live a sound as possible. They then went to Smilin’ Buddha Enjoyment Complex and Uncle Vinky’s House of Snakes, where bass player/engineer Howard Redekopp took over the engineer’s chair. After all the tracks were down, the trio ventured east to mix at Box Office Poison with in Toronto. By contrast, Veal’s debut album, Hot Loser was recorded ‘guerilla-style’ in a basement over a period of days, shortly after the band’s formation. Because they didn’t have a history at the time, Doucet recalls, “There weren’t enough options” with regard to songs that wound up on the CD. “There’s sort of an unadulterated charm to the first album, but this one is a little more focused.”