Attack in Black: For the Love of Music

Regardless of their small town origins, the guys from Welland, Ontario’s Attack In Black have managed to make a name for themselves in the Canadian music scene with the simple mantra of creating music they like. Promoting their latest album Years (By One Thousand Fingertips), band members Dan Romano, Ian Romano, Ian Kehoe and Spencer Burton are currently on a cross-Canada tour, and I had the chance to catch up with them in Calgary.

Back in 2007, things started to come together for the indie-rockers around the release of their first album, Marriage. Spencer admits though that it was a tough process because they had almost too much help, “With Marriage, there were producers and engineers and all these people telling you to do things you didn’t want to do.”

Regardless of the struggles, the band was recognized in 2007, winning a CASBY award for Marriage and for favourite new artist. It was an achievement they found flattering, but not entirely important. “I think our accomplishments are our songs,” says Ian.

Their latest accomplishment, the collection of songs known as Years (By One Thousand Fingertips), came together much easier than their debut effort. With only the helping hands of close friends, the band was pleased to be able to create the album they wanted. “We’re just happy to be doing something for ourselves, that’s it,” says Ian.

While the band may not have over-thought the album, many reviewers have commented endlessly about the band’s “new” sound, categorizing the tunes as “folk” or “acoustic.” Ian says he finds those reviews “weird,” and adds, “To us, reading that kind of thing seems like someone wrote it from space or something. What we make isn’t really anything on purpose ever, it’s just what happens.”

Folk or acoustic or not, Attack in Black’s latest album reveals a softer side to the band’s musical growth. Filled with mellow tunes like Messenger Bird, I’m A Rock and The Surface I Would Travel, Years (By One Thousand Fingertips) is a melodic compilation of songs that will please old and new fans alike.

In the end, according to Attack in Black, success is relative. With a grin, Spencer says, “We get to go touring all the time and we get to play shows for one hundred people. That to me is successful. Don’t have the mindset of wanting to be successful. That’s a bad mindset I think. Just do it for other reasons than that.”

Despite the reviews, amount of fans or level of commercial success, Attack In Black will continue to create what they call “rock and roll fury” – on their own terms.