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Fast Motions The Balconies are quickly becoming unstoppable by Alex J MacPherson
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laying more than one hundred shows in a single year is an accomplishment for any rock band. Considering the distances involved in touring North America, as well as the physical and emotional demands of a long night of performing, spending a third of a year on the road is extremely daunting. But that hasn’t stopped the Balconies. After ascending to the national stage in 2012, the Toronto-based power trio spent most of the next two years on tour. In 2013, the band played about 130 shows. “It’s so funny,” laughs Jacquie O. Neville, the group’s statuesque lead singer, whose ability to churn out propulsive guitar riffs is eclipsed only by her striking presence behind the microphone. “Every time I tell people that, they’re like, ‘Holy crap! When did you sleep?’ That’s the thing: we didn’t sleep.” After forming in Ottawa, Ontario in 2007, the three members of the Balconies spent several years refining their sound before moving to Toronto in search of success. In 2012, the power trio released its debut, a cheaply-recorded and hyper-energetic EP titled Kill Count.
Over the next year, Neville and her bandmates — drummer Liam Jaeger and her bassist brother, Stephen — played shows across North America and Europe. They toured with several high-profile bands, including Rival Sons, Big Sugar, and Wide Mouth Mason. For a young band with big ambitions, it was “a pretty big deal.” Late last year, after hundreds of sweaty rock shows, the band retreated to Toronto’s Coalition Music Studios to cut their debut full-length. According to Neville, the band was pleased with how a year’s worth of hard living and hard rocking translated onto tape. Whereas Kill Count
“Sharing the stage with huge acts definitely forces you to set the bar a little higher,” she says of the sessions that produced Fast Motions, which was released in January. “You want to challenge yourself. You want to constantly evolve and experiment with sound — what works, what doesn’t work. I just feel like that year we learned so much from these incredible people. I wouldn’t say it was a conscious effort to change our sound, but we did start noticing a progressive shift over the course of the past two years, just from touring experience.” Fast Motions channels the raw exuberance of Kill Count into a
…I look back on this and it reminds me of where I came from. And that’s the most important thing… jacquie O. neville
was conceived as a low-budget collection of unhinged pop-punk rock songs, Fast Motions is more diverse and more measured — but just as much fun.
cleaner and more sonically sophisticated package. Part of its success can be attributed to the band’s experience, both on the road and in the studio. But Fast Motions’ punchier Continued on next page »
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