After releasing their sophomore album Things Fall Apart (Sonic/Warner) in May of this year, The Novaks haven’t looked back. With numerous successful gigs this summer including an opening slot with KISS, this band is ready to throw down the hammer on their Canadian tour later this month.

^{From left to right: Mark Neary, Elliot Dicks and Mick Davis. Photo credit: Adam Penny}

As the old industry saying goes “You’ve got your whole life to make your first record, but you’ve got only two months to make your second.” With Things Fall Apart the Novaks threw the sophomore jinx into the fire and recorded their latest full length in just over a week at the Sonic Temple recording studio in Halifax.

This record is indeed a heavier, darker and dirtier effort than their 2005 debut. Taking the old school approach of recording live off the floor where the performances are captured as the band plays together, the sound is stripped down, raw and contains all the elements of pure Rock & Roll. Lead vocalist Mick Davis digs deeper into his vocal range and continues his swagger and monstrous riffs on lead guitar as well. Savage bass lines and vocal harmonies can be attributed to Mark Neary while Elliot Dicks pounds the drums with some of the fiercest beats heard in the last little while.

Working with producer Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar, Joel Plaskett) and keyboardist Ian McClagan of the Faces, Things Fall Apart demonstrates why this band is one of the best live rock acts on the East Coast and perhaps in Canada.

ECC’s Ian Finley spoke with front man Mick Davis last week from his home in St. John’s Newfoundland.

Ian Finley: Let’s start off with a brief history lesson for the ECC members who haven’t heard your story. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about yourself, your current band mates and how the Novaks met up.

Mick Davis: The band’s been on the go for a little while, even though we’re perceived as being a relatively new band, but we’ve been together for about seven years. We put out our first record in 2005 and we’ve had two years of touring for it and we finally got around to doing the second one which came out this May. Somehow we’ve managed to get heavier along the way and I think our best quality is sort of as a live band meaning a lot of people change their minds about us once they’ve seen us. We’re just trying to play some Rock & Roll music; we’re not trying to change the world or anything we just like to play Rock & Roll.

IF: Did the band start in Newfoundland?

MD: Oh yeah, we were down here when we were much younger and we just wanted to play and we made our own independent recordings and all that sort of thing. We got lucky because there was a guy vacationing here and we ended up signing with them and we ended up meeting Sonic [Entertainment] and those people so we made the switch a few years ago to Sonic Records.

IF: You started out as a traditional four piece band with two guitars, bass and drums and now you’re a three piece. What do you like about this stripped down sound?

MD: I love the traditional four piece bands like AC/DC with one guitar coming out of one speaker and another guitar coming out of the other, and it is a very powerful and full sound. First we were worried about it you know ‘Should we get someone else?’ Then we started rehearsing and it really gave us a kick in the ass to beef everything up so we got bigger amps and it sounded good. We felt that it would be silly to bring somebody into the fold this late into our career because they’d be overwhelmed with our f***ing nonsense because we know each other so well and we’re all part of the business you know? We just felt comfortable with a trio. There’s a lot of air in there like when I go for a guitar solo it’s just bass and drums but I’m really enjoying it right now.

IF: You’re influenced by a lot of “pure” rock like the Rolling Stones and the Faces. What initially drew you to ‘Rock&Roll’ and not, say alt-country, pop-rock or traditional Newfoundland music?

MD: I’ve always loved Rock & Roll meaning the earliest Rock & Roll I mean the stuff that drives me crazy is Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry’s my hero you know? I didn’t grow up with that stuff really so it’s not a nostalgic thing, but it’s just that’s the music I’ve found that drives me completely wild. Our band doesn’t sound like that as the music is obviously a lot heavier. Growing up I liked a lot of different things like the Tragically Hip, Sloan and Nirvana but the stuff that really gets me going is that 50’s music. I think what comes out of the Novaks from that era is just the attitude and the delivery. At least I’d like to think so!

IF: The new album Things Fall Apart was recorded ‘live off the floor’ and most bands would shudder at the thought of that and head straight for their computers. What made you as a band decide you were ready for that kind of commitment to performance?

MD: We really wanted to duplicate the live show. The first record was more of a studio effort and this one is more representative about what we do live, so it’s very ‘live’ sounding, it’s very natural with very little overdubs you know. I also feel like we’ve gotten better which is kind of the main point to it all and I’m glad about that because the band keeps on getting better and better as we play live. But yeah you’re right every performance on the record is basically the three of us playing together with minimum overdubs.

IF: At the beginning of Under Those Wheels you hear the engineer chime in to announce the first take. Is what we hear on the album actually take one?

MD: [Laughs] That’s a good f***ing question. The voice is Gordie Johnson's but I really don’t remember if it was take one. It’s quite possible that the bed tracks, the guitars bass and drums were the first take. Actually that song has the most overdubs of all the songs on the record, and those would have been done later, but it’s probably an honest thing with the guitar bass and drums.

IF: The album is definitely heavier sonically and darker lyrically than the first. Was this a conscious decision or just the way it came together when you were writing it?

MD: That was just the way it went I mean I write the songs and we pick our best work when we’re working as a band. We also tour a lot and open up for other bands and we want to be the most kick-ass band we can be so we lean towards the heavier songs. I think the feel of the album came about that way. I don’t think the darkness is intentional, but when you’re writing Rock& Roll you’re usually complaining or b****ing about something even you don’t want to send off those kinds of vibes. All you really want is for people to be dancing and having fun. You know the longer you live the more you get pushed around and you also learn to live with it. That’s what this record’s all about you know 'Things Fall Apart'. You know ‘Hell what are you going to do?’ You’ve got to carry on.

IF: The legendary Ian McLagan plays on your album and Joel Plaskett’s Ashtray Rock. Does he have a thing for East Coast Canadian bands?

MD: I don’t think he’d know anything about the [East Coast connection] because that’s really Gordie Johnson’s connection. Gordie lives in Austin Texas and has for years and so does Ian McLagan and they frequent the same studio. Oddly enough I think it’s Willie Nelson’s place and Gordie engineered some things there or they both were doing session work. I’m sure with Plaskett and with the Novkas, we brought up the Faces and Ian’s name, how much we liked him and it was just a matter of Gordie saying [country accent] ‘Well I know where he is, I’ll go get him!’ And that’s all it was, he offered us the chance to play with him and we said ‘Sure.’ It was an amazing experience.

IF: There’s arguably a lot of Thrush Hermit on the first record and there is a hint of it on Things Fall Apart. Are there any other Canadian influences in the Novaks’ music?

MD: Yeah, I haven’t really thought about it, but when I went to high school I really liked Joel Plaskett and especially Thrush Hermit and other bands like Urge Ovekill, who were pretty heavy at the time and playing riff rock on under-produced records and I took some of my guitar playing from that. I’m sure Plaskett and I could sit around and talk about records for eternity. But at the same time I can’t deny his influence and I’ve said that to him many times. One of the first shows I ever saw was Thrush Hermit and Plaskett really blew my mind because he was the first person I’d ever seen that was on stage absolutely giving everything he had. He was like Angus Young back then moving spasmodically and did he not stop for two hours. And these days I feel like that’s what has to happen to our band. We’ve got the opportunity to play in front of hundreds of people who’ve paid to see a show so we‘ve got to give it all we’ve got.

IF: Are there any Canadian or East Coast influences on our music?

MD: I think the influence is more of a lyrical one. The Novaks get classified as a straight ahead rock band all the time and I don’t think that’s fair to the lyrics. Even though my favourite songs are Be Bob A Lula and other tunes that don’t make any f***ing sense I feel like I couldn’t go on unless I had something to say to the kids. I don’t want to inundate people with messages either. We’re not a political band but we like being poetic or important and the bands I grew up with were like that. There was a lot of music that made me want to play guitar by I don’t want to write Strutter I wanted to write Coax Me. The Super Friendz were a wonderful group lyrically as well.

IF: So we’re calling you in Newfoundland where the band is based. Are there any advantages to working out of the Atlantic Provinces when so many bands head west to Toronto or south to New York and LA?

MD: None. There’s no advantage to living where we do [laughs], not for the band. For us we stay because it’s absolutely beautiful down here, it’s peaceful and we like that. There’s lots going on down here musically but it’s not connected to any circuit and there’s no industry here so we’ve got to get out. It’s fine and lovely out here, and you can grow and get large locally but then you can be as big as you want out here but you still haven’t made connections anywhere else. So it’s a b****, it costs a lot of money to get off this island, it’s long drives and ferry rides, but we do it because we like it. It doesn’t hinder us because we have the ‘get up and go’ attitude you know no matter where the gig is we are going to get there no matter how long it takes. So it’s not a disadvantage in that way. It would be if you’re lazy and you wouldn’t want to do it because you’d mind the extra day of travel.

IF: Are you saying that bands on the East Coast are more dedicated and committed because they have to travel so far to get known?

MD: I’m saying that we are. [laughing] A lot of people say “Why don’t you move, you live so far away.” And I say well we won’t turn down a gig just because we’re from St. John’s.

IF: Are you guys excited for your upcoming Canadian tour with the Arkells?

MD: Absolutely, it’s what we’re always waiting for the next tour. We can’t wait to play because that’s what we were born to do. This is the biggest tour we’ve had in a couple of years. We went across with Matt Mays the first time driving coast to coast and it was a huge trip. We’ve flown out west many times and flown to Toronto for tours of southern Ontario, but this is the second time that we’ve gone straight across from St. John’s. I can’t wait. I think it’s going to be a riot.

The Novaks begin their Canadian tour October 30th in Halifax. For complete tour information and to preview Things Fall Apart in its entirety visit thenovaksband.com.