PRESENTED BY CHERYL

Everybody might be working for the weekend, but Edmonton pop-punkers The Weekend Kids are working longer and harder than anyone else on the weekend. The band has spent plenty of weekends playing shows, recording albums and going on tour in order to spread its message far and wide.

Whereas other bands are formed, The Weekend Kids were born. Consisting of three brothers and a cousin, the band went through a number of different names and styles as its members grew up together and became more adept at their instruments, eventually settling on its current identity—consisting of the edge and energy of lighting a cigarette at a gas plant.

"We've spent years experimenting with music, playing shows, and building up a sense of what we wanted as a band," explains guitarist Pete Nguyen. "In the past year we started fresh as The Weekend Kids."

That fresh start and wealth of experience informed all of the decisions the band made while recording its debut album Of Friends and Foes. Foregoing the usual studio experience, the band holed itself up in a makeshift studio for long hours every weekend for a month in order to capture the band's true essence.

"We spent time with producers and engineers in the past and went to legit, expensive studios to record albums in the past and we've learnt a lot from the experience, but in the end the final product always sounded not as energetic and spontaneous as we are live ... there was something missing," says Nguyen. "We kept things simple, and kept everything to a complete minimum; there were no doubled guitars or vocals, no back tracks, no vintage mics and gear, extra effects or added instruments—it's exactly how we sound live."

That do it yourself ethic represents everything the band does—from recording to making the CDs, to touring and promoting, the members do it all. It takes a lot of energy to do everything DIY, but if you listen to the music on Of Friends and Foes you'll realize that energy is something the band has in spades, in addition to a healthy independent streak.

"DIY is the purest form of sending a message," says Nguyen. "It's the rawest form of what you write and play and present without anyone telling you that it's not going to work a certain way, or that it's not standard to do this and that. You begin to ask yourself questions about why you're doing this instead of just paying someone and letting them deal with it. DIY really makes you trust what you do—it's your baby, and you take responsibility over it."

http://www.THEWEEKENDKIDS.com


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