Have you ever had the sense that someone is always watching you? That’s how Toronto’s indie pop band The Coast said they felt as they toured around Canada with their debut album Expatriate, having noticed that in nearly every town there was some part of it named after the Queen.
This was the inspiration behind the title of their new album Queen Cities, according to guitarist and keyboardist Ian Fosbery. The album will be hitting stores Sept. 14.
The band recently toured Canada, the United States and Europe.
Fosbery said touring is a big step for any band, and when someone is young and has no money it is a great opportunity to see the world.
Along with the benefits of travel came many funny stories from the road — everything from vocalist Ben Spurr sleeping in a ditch, to their bus breaking down hours before a show, to bassist Luke Melchiorre being involuntarily sexually accosted in Brooklyn, NY, Fosbery said.
No matter where they were the band was always having a good laugh and enjoying every minute of it, Fosbery said, especially once they hopped on stage.
“I really like playing live,” Fosbery said.
“Getting up and playing your music for people is really fun,” he said, adding he knew it sounded cliché.
While the band was touring they were also working hard on Queen Cities, which Fosbery said differs greatly from their first album. Along with wanting more distinct guitar parts the boys wanted to add more keyboard playing and avoid wandering vocal lines.
“We wanted to write more concise love songs,” Fosbery said. “We wanted it to be more poppy.”
Fosbery said his favourite song on the new album kept changing. However, he said the song “Mohawk” sticks out to him as the first demo that the band listened to that he thought was really cool. He said he remembers thinking, “This is something new, something we haven’t done before.”
Fosbery said the band is feeling good about Queen Cities and believes it reflects a period in their lives.
“We’re not trying to change the world with our record; just putting it out there,” Fosbery said. “Hopefully people are into it.”
The Coast will be playing at the Ottawa Baseball Stadium Sept. 11 at noon.