• AOL
  • MAIL
    Sign In / Register
  • Main
  • News
  • Features
    • The Hit List
    • Spinner Interview
    • Potent Quotables
    • Music Appreciation
    • Artist Blogger
  • Songs
    • MP3 of the Day
    • Play Full Albums Free
    • What's That Song?
    • Northern Exposure
  • Videos
    • The Interface
    • Video of the Day
  • Radio
  • NXNE
  • Send Us Feedback
  • Vince Neil

    Watch Motley Crue Super Bowl Ad
  • Taylor Swift

    Watch Taylor Swift Beatboxing
  • Nicki Minaj

    Get Nicki Minaj News
  • Adele

    Watch Adele in Our Studio
  • Ringo Starr

    Read Ringo Starr Interview
  • Janet Jackson

    Super Bowl Halftime Bloopers
  • Kellie Pickler

    Read Kellie Pickler Interview
  • Chris Brown

    Chris Brown 'Wins' Unwelcome Award

Spinner Exclusives

  • The Interface - Live Performances
  • Mp3 of the day
  • Free Radio 30,000+Stations

Features

  • Best Songs 2011
  • Top Albums of 2011
  • Sad Songs
  • Music Geeks in Film
  • Best Opening Lyrics

Hot Categories

  • Between the Notes(22)
  • Junos(71)
  • Northern Exposure(60)

All Categories

  • Monthly Mixtape(1)
  • A Day in the Life(5)
  • All About Jazz(96)
  • Awards(229)
  • Free MP3 Download of the Day(1669)
  • Around the World(205)
  • Between the Notes(36)
  • Book Club(94)
  • Celebrity Doppelganger(18)
  • Clash of the Cover Songs(49)
  • Coming Out Stories(23)
  • Concerts and Tours(6838)
  • Count Five(83)
  • Exclusive(5969)
  • Guest Blogger(133)
  • Holy Hell(1015)
  • I Fought the Law(111)
  • I Freakin' Love This Song(252)
  • In House(12)
  • Listen Up!(18)
  • Movies(424)
  • Music Appreciation(123)
  • New Music(856)
  • New Releases(612)
  • News(12244)
  • PhotoSynthesis(88)
  • Picture Book(31)
  • Politics as Usual(61)
  • Pop Culture(91)
  • Potent Quotables(776)
  • Q + A(492)
  • Quizzes & Trivia(6)
  • R.I.P.(454)
  • Road Report(61)
  • Rock Almanac(366)
  • Rock Hall(44)
  • RPM(258)
  • Spinner Says(15)
  • Spinner Interview(212)
  • Television(240)
  • The Chum Bucket(777)
  • The Hit List(1387)
  • Twisted Tales(194)
  • Video(1781)
  • Video of the Day(1222)
  • What's That Song?(134)

The Rural Alberta Advantage Interview: SXSW 2010

  • Posted on Mar 11th 2010 1:56PM by Jason MacNeil
  • Comments
Email This
Rural Alberta AdvantageToronto pop rock trio the Rural Alberta Advantage has turned a lot of heads since their first trek to SXSW last year. The band's 2009 debut album 'Hometowns' resulted in the trio of Paul Banwatt, Amy Cole and Nils Edenloff receiving critical acclaim and signing to Saddle Creek Records in the US.

Following SXSW 2010, the band will mount a two-week European tour in May before starting work on the next album. Spinner talked with Nils Edenloff about open-mic nights, Tragically Hip's Gord Downie and the importance of structure.

Describe your sound in your own words.

It runs the gamut from different influences. We come from different places musically. I heard the term rustic pop, folk punk, I'm not sure which one I'm super-pumped about. I guess we're a ramshackle indie rock group. You think it would get easier but at the end of the day it's better we have trouble describing our sound.

How did the band form?

Basically it started from an open-mic night here in Toronto. Paul and I were hosting the open-mic night and it was probably one of the most depressing open-mic nights we had ever seen, like no one would come out to it. So as a result of that we had to get a bunch of material together. That's kind of where, in essence, we developed our sound in a way because we had to come up with hours of material for these open-mic nights. He was playing drums, I was playing guitar and that's pretty much how the band formed. We had a couple of different lineups but Paul and I were the core members. Once we incorporated Amy into the group, everything clicked.

Who are some of your musical influences?

I've always been drawn to the singer-songwriter where melody is the key. I'd be lying to say Neutral Milk Hotel hasn't been an influence. But guys like Leonard Cohen ... Gord Downie's solo stuff is so beautiful in my mind, his first album 'Coke Machine Glow' is so great and has a big influence on me. That's sort of where I come from, the melody-based thing. Our songs don't stray too far from that although we go about it in different ways. At the end of the day the songs can be stripped down on an acoustic guitar and played at an open-mic night.

How did you decide on the band name?


It came from an email my brother sent after I moved out to Toronto. Back in Alberta there used to be a provincial slogan called the Alberta advantage -- it was basically promoting Alberta and how it's the land of opportunity with oil and gas and has a lot of jobs out there. So I grew up with this memory of the slogan. I grew up in Fort McMurray, so the ideas of oil and gas were engrained in my mind. So I sent him an email and asked him what he was doing for the weekend. He said he was going out to our farm with some friends to explore the rural Alberta advantage. It was funny, by him putting that word in front of that phrase it changed everything and brought back memories I had growing up. That was around the time the band was forming and I was writing these songs about Alberta in one way or another. It seemed to go hand in hand, it's a loving tribute to where I grew up and the songs are as well.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Sunscreen -- I'm very fair, I'm a Northern Alberta boy.

Are you looking forward to SXSW?

We're super-pumped for it. Last year was probably one of the best experiences we ever had. You hear about bands going down and nothing happens, they don't even register on the map. We met Saddle Creek down there and got a ton of press. Basically it was a launching pad to everything that happened last year. It was pretty amazing. It's going to be nice to go down again and play at all these parties without the huge weight there was before. We played in the States a bunch over the last year. We felt like small fish in a big pond -- not that we still don't feel that way -- but we feel a little bit more comfortable in it.

What would you say is your biggest vice?

Structure. I think I need structure at so many points. I'm sort of trying to enforce structure on a life of touring which is hard. I went to school for engineering so that part of my brain is fighting the creative, cool, free-going side.

The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?

I'm going to have to say the Beatles. I was just listening to them. I had my iTunes on shuffle and they just came up, so I'm going to have to go with them. I have more Beatles than Stones in my collection.

What's the craziest thing you've experienced on tour?

There have been enough near misses in terms of touring and driving that I just like to block those out. When we went across Canada in February and out to the Olympics we realized how dangerous it can be with the amount of touring a band has to do. Touring can be really fun but it can also be very scary. Those road warrior moments are pretty crazy and I would rather block them out.
  • Filed under: Concerts and Tours, Exclusive
  • Email This

Spinner has you covered! Trip the road to Austin with us.

  • SXSW 2010
  • Band Interviews
  • SXSW Radio

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

Follow US

Facebook
Twitter
RSS
  • Contact Us
  • Send News Tips
  • Advertise with Us

Listen to Full CDs

  • Aretha Franklin, 'Knew You Were Waiting: The Best of Aretha Franklin'
  • Knaan, 'More Beautiful Than Silence'
  • Leonard Cohen, 'Old Ideas'
  • The Big Sleep, 'Nature Experiments'
  • Various Artists, 'Golden Gate Groove: The Sound of Philadelphia Live 1973'
  • Play More Albums Free

Northern Exposure

Our weekly MP3 column brings you the best new songs by Canadian up-and-comers, from Braids to Flashlight Radio

Download Free MP3s

Concert Listings

Who's hitting the road, Jack?

  • Foo Fighters
  • Maroon Five
  • Against Me
  • F---ed Up
  • Death Cab for Cutie

Free Radio

Choose from thousands of free radio stations from all over the world.

Listen Now

Sessions

Damon Albarn and friends bring their 'Plastic Beach' party to the Sessions studio

Watch Gorillaz Live

Also on AOL

Quick Links

  • 20 Best Hip Hop Albums
  • 9 in '09: Ones to Watch
  • Best Album Covers Ever
  • Best Opening Lyrics
  • Madonna: Unretouched
  • The Best of SXSW 2009
  • Worst. Songs. Ever.

Also on AOL Music

  • AOL Sessions
  • The BoomBox
  • Music News
  • Music Videos
  • Musica Latina
  • New Music Releases
  • Online Radio
  • PopEater
  • Song Lyrics
  • Spinner Poland
  • Spinner Spain
  • Tour Tracker

Blogs on AOL

  • Asylum
  • Autoblog
  • BloggingStocks
  • Cinematical
  • DownloadSquad
  • Endgadget
  • Joystiq
  • JSYK
  • Lemondrop
  • Styledash
  • TMZ
  • TUAW
  • TVSquad

More on AOL

  • AOL Video
  • Black Voices
  • Breaking News
  • Pixcetera
  • Singles
  • The Topics You Love
  • Wallet Pop
  • Winamp Media Player

More on AOL

  • Celebrity Gossip
  • Free Games
  • Horoscopes
  • Mapquest
  • Money
  • Movies
  • Radio
  • Television

Help Links

  • Advertise With Us
  • Mail
  • Privacy Policy
  • Search
  • Terms of Service
  • Trademarks
  • Advertise With Us
  • Help
  • Privacy Policy
  • Shopping
  • Terms of Service

Download and listen to free music, internet radio and MP3s; or watch free music videos, concerts and live performances. Use the music search function and read the music blog to find information on new, established and indie rock recording artists. Get free music downloads on the MP3 blog and more on Spinner Canada.