“Let’s talk about false impressions,” said Patrick Kindlon early on in Self Defense Family‘s set at Parts and Labour, referring to the misconceptions some may have about him, specifically that he’s “arty.” “How arty am I?” he asked his bandmates rhetorically before answering himself. “Not at all. I look forward to SportsCenter every night.”
To illustrate his non-arty, sports-loving credential, he asked who won the hockey game that night. When told that Montreal had won, he added his analysis on the series: “The Rangers are the biggest scumbag team around so they will prevail. Evil always prevails.” I guess he’s not a Rangers fan. He went on to talk about further misconceptions and false impressions, such as someone asking him whether the room would be full of people wearing camo shorts. This was, however, not a camo short kind of crowd and Kindlon concluded that it was “right down the middle, neither art nor bro.” When a woman in the crowd shouted, “Just shut up!” he offered up the perfect retort: “Don’t tell me how to live.”
“Some people thought this would never happen … because one of us is a criminal” said Kindlon, referring to one band member who couldn’t make it across the border since he has a record. He noted that they sounded a bit different as a result, speculating that they were maybe “a touch more indie” though the guitarist described them as sounding “more graceful.” The band closed out their set with an extended number which nicely highlighted the “more graceful” side of the band though Kindlon instructed his bandmates to kick it up a notch towards the end of it. “We haven’t driven enough of these people away yet. Let’s rise up and really drain ’em!”
Though they might bristle at use of the word, “arty,” I’d have to say that there is at least a touch of artfulness about Self Defense Family’s output in the sense that they make music that is interesting and challenging and definitely a tad more arty than your average cookie cutter hardcore band. Self Defense Family proves one need not be overtly arty to make interesting art.