Tele - U of A Interview

Tele - U of A Interview

Tele visionaries combine rock, electronica for big, beefy sound

Tele - The Gateway, The University of Alberta
Simon Yackulic, Arts & Entertainment Writer
Thursday, 3 April 2008

With songs ranging in style from the rough and raw fist-pounding distortion of "Notice" to tunes such as "Monster" that have openings reminiscent of a classical sonnet, pinning down a good descriptor for Tele's musical stylings seems a little troubling. Even the band tends not to talk about it much.
"We sometimes describe it, in a general way, as extreme," explains keyboardist Zack Antel, speaking from Grande Prairie, where he, vocalist/guitarist Matt Worobec, bassist Brendan Berg, and drummer Derek Allard had just pulled in during their Canada-wide tour. "If we're doing a big song, we really make it quite big, and if we're doing a more sparse song, then we try to play that up."
As Antel acknowledges, both their classic rock lineup and keyboard-driven pop-rock tracks evoke comparisons to other bands. To him, "any of the British bands or electronic [musicians]" are considered to be major influences on the band as a whole, and each individual band member has their own personal taste in tunes that affects the musical output: Worobec listens to singer-songwriter pieces to boost his creative edge, while Antel notes his own preference for symphonic material. The net result is the unique sound coming from this Winnipeg-based four piece.
Creative sound engineering also plays a part in the strong sound that Tele creates. To create a keyboard sound that many a casual listener would swear is a distorted guitar, the inventive musicians ran keyboards through guitar amps with guitar effects and distortion, creating a sound described by Antel as "beefy yet also cut." While this has been done before by other bands, it fits in perfectly with Tele's existing sound and creates stronger riffs than a normal keyboard could achieve.
"I love that dirty, fat synth sound, like the band Holy Fuck or Justice—that really thick sound," Antel explains.
Tele is currently independent of any label, despite having received the praise of Chart magazine, where they were touted as "one of Canada's top breakout bands of 2007." While recognizing the advantages a label could bring the band in terms of promotiown and advertising, Antel finds the current arrangement is working really well for the band. Being accountable to only themselves, they remain "in complete control of [their] own destiny" and able to distribute their music extensively over the Internet. The band also looks forward to their return to the stage in Edmonton, where they've found success before.
"We had a blast [the last time we were in Edmonton]," Antel mentions. "The crowd was really energetic and really into it. We're just hoping to repeat that and just put on a really high energy, high emotion rock show."