Bogart!

In from the cold

By Steve Venegas

Two of the members of Bogart and I are in a pub on 4th street enjoying good brews, bad pub music and discussing various topics, including but not limited to punk rock, touring, Calgary’s music scene, and literature.

“I just finished reading the latest Margaret Atwood,” singer Meisha Louie tells me.

“I really like Dave Eggers,” says guitarist Matt Hagarty.

I’ve seen Bogart before, playing at venues across town over the past year. They’re made a mark on the local music scene with their fast, aggressive rock and roll music. So it might comes a surprise so a few that they’re literary types.

“Eggers is a pretentious righter,” Hagarty tells me. “He knows he’s being self-indulgent. It’s kinda ironic and kinda the point.”
The band consists of Meisha Louie (vocals), Matt Hagarty (guitar), Justin Landstorfer (drums), and Colin Hess on bass (their “permatemp”).

In spite of only being together for 12 months, Bogart has managed to achieve goals that take many bands years to accomplish. They’ve signed with a label (Meter Records), toured (from Victoria to Winnipeg) and recorded an album, “In a Post-Oil World, there is not High-Octane, but for now we are...”.

Street Rock:
These days, punk is a tricky subject to broach. It tends to be about what is or isn’t punk, what should be considered punk and what shouldn’t. Lately, the lines have been blurred when it comes to defining this genre.

“I think right now I’m more confused about that than ever,” says Hagarty. “In high school I was in a pop punk band. My last band was called punk. All my bands were decidedly punk and that’s what we tried to sound like. With Bogart, this is the first time where we just play rock. I don’t think we’ve ever made a conscious choice to write a punk song. It’s just really hazy to me.

“I think right now punk is more like aggressive rock,” says Louie. “If you’re aggressive onstage, then you are a punk band. I don’t categorize us as a punk band, but I can see how people could perceive us as a punk band. If you’re independent and aggressive, than you are definitely what people would call punk.

Rock Grrl:
Louie is not exactly an overbearing personality. She’s soft-spoken in person and is not what you would call tall. But in her slight frame she packs an awesome energy just waiting to be set loose, almost like the living personification of a bear trap.

These are all excellent qualities for someone to have when dealing with rock and roll. This music scene has always been something of a boys’ club, and girls seldom venture into the locker room. It’s a worry for female-fronted bands that the singer may be singled out and the rest of the band left out of focus. Louie doesn’t worry too much about this “No Doubt syndrome.”

“Within the band, there aren’t any problems. I suppose if I didn’t do my share of the loading on and off stage, at the band space, etc, or if I wasn’t basically managing the band, then there would be room for a few sucker-punches about me being too girly or something.

“There is a lot of teasing, and giving of hard times in Bogart, but me being a girl has never been a part of that,” says the songstress.

“I think that’s just going to happen with any female-fronted band. I’m not worried about it affecting the band or anything, because we all really respect what each other does. Without one, the band can’t really exist. But when that sort of thing happens, no one’s pissed or anything, they just make fun of me.”

Audio-Historical Unity:
I ask them what they enjoy about the Calgary music scene and it’s burgeoning success. I inquired about the feeling in the air that something big is going to happen in Calgary soon. Hagarty says that he just enjoys being part of the story that is the ongoing history of Calgary’s music scene.

“Calgary has its own history, and if nothing else we can be a part of that. That’s why I like Calgary right now, a lot. It feels like we’re doing something. If we broke up and didn’t sell one album, and never spoke to each other again, at least we’d have that. It’d be cool to hear people talk about that. People talk about the Republik and how great it was, in 20 years I’m sure I’ll be talking about the Night Gallery. It doesn’t change. You get your small part.”

Adds Louie, “It’s cool to be learning stuff. I’m happy to be part of it right now, building it into something good.”

It’s nice to see the old commie/punk values of unity and solidarity aren’t lost.

Bogart To The Future:
With so much success already behind them, it’s interesting to hear what plans they have for the future.

“For the next little while, our only focus is promoting the album,” says Hagarty. “Eventually get a video and go to Europe someday. We want to make everything we can happen now.

“We’re young enough that it wouldn’t kill us to work as hard as we can. If we work as hard as we can now, it will get easier hopefully, and then we can just do what we love. But if we slack off now, it will always be hard.”

But the ambitious nature of Bogart’s members doesn’t just end with going down the same old paths; they plan to forge their own way.

“In pushing the album, we going to try new stuff, like we’re entering the 100 Dollar Film Festival,” says Louie. “We’re going to play live at the film festival, it’ll be a whole new audience that we’ve never played for before. Hopefully enter the Eddies. Just touring and video play. Hopefully go to Europe in the next year or so.”

We finish off our beers, bid adieu and then head off back to their nearby apartment. I brave the arctic conditions and think the next few months are sure to be interesting for Bogart. I just hope it’s more welcoming than the weather.