RLMDL [Interview # 105 // Jordan]

1)      I’ve always had my ideas, and like to think of your name as being “Real Medal” for some reason, but what does the RLMDL mean?

   People have come up with a lot of crazy definitions/associations for the name in the last year or so, it's always interesting to hear a new one like that! The real way to say/read it is "Role Model". While I kind of love the idea of people making up their own definitions for it, it does have the potential to get more confusing than it already is...

2)      Are you a local celebrity?

    Certainly not!

3)      You use both Band Camp and Sound Cloud.   Which do you prefer?

    Bandcamp is great and an extremely easy way to put out your own music directly to the fans. Soundcloud is fantastic, but in a much different way... I think it's a larger network of music fans that are more geared towards streaming and sharing. All in all I like both, but for different reasons I suppose.

4)      It seems as if a number of the bands I’m listening to lately have come from Canada.  Does Canada really love the shoegaze/dreampop?

    It's not huge by any means... in Toronto, where I live, there does seem to be a growing number of shoegaze and experimental outfits emerging in the city recently, which I think is amazing, but on the whole you really have to dig deep to find some of these artists. I'm sure it's the same everywhere, but there are a lot of different musical tiers going on... the mainstream in Canada is typically dominated by homegrown folk, indie, alt-country and rock, but also dubstep and the radio stuff. At the same time, however, there are a great deal of underlying movements and fan bases that people don't always hear about. Blogs and promoters like Silent Shout and Weird Canada cover some of the more interesting music coming out of Canada these days, a lot of it from small bedrooms and apartments, while cities like Montreal and Toronto consistently have great music coming out of them, it's sometimes just a matter of seeking the music out yourself.

5)      Having that electronic side to your music, do you see yourself as someone who would cover existing shoegaze songs but just kind of remix them with added effects?

    Some shoegaze songs would be great to cover or remix... My Bloody Valentine's "To Here Knows When" would be good one to experiment with... all in all though, I find the most interesting covers are usually done best when the artist covers something outside of their own genre... I'd love to put a different spin on something by a folk artist like Roy Harper, or a song like "Days Go By" by Sean Nicholas Savage... great tune!

6)      Final thoughts, plugs, etc…?

    Plug: Our new album "Before Then Was Now" is available now on Bandcamp, iTunes, and most online retailers. For anyone in Toronto, we'll be performing at the Drake Hotel on August 16th opening for LA's Soft Metals (see Facebook for details). Thanks for the interview!