Hamilton rock trio the Marble Index tours England behind debut CD and gets a boost from a Big Shiny Tune

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FEB. 17, 2005

By Steve Newton

When I hook up with Marble Index guitarist-vocalist Brad Germain, he’s on a cellphone at the Rivoli, a hipster-approved Toronto restaurant-bar, “waiting for the world of sound checks to start”. The tinkling of glasses is heard in the background, which leads to the frivolous question: what’s he drinking?

Since Germain is a shaggy-haired, 25-year-old rocker from Hamilton, I’m guessing he’s got his paw wrapped around a double shot of tequila, or at the very least a trusty Canadian brew. But when he replies that he’s just sittin’ there sipping a Diet Coke, I’m at a loss for words.

As it turns out, Germain’s no teetotaller; he’s just taking a break from booze after imbibing too much in the U.K. He recently returned from England, where his group–which includes bassist Ryan Tweedle and drummer Adam Knickle–toured behind its self-titled debut CD.

“We had the good fortune of playing with a lot of up-and-coming British bands that are starting to get quite a buzz,” he explains, “so we were playin’ for good-sized crowds, and getting a lot of press. We went over better on this tour than we did the last time we were there, for sure.”

The Marble Index have been getting well acquainted with the land of warm beer; last year the band holed up there with producer John Kettle to record the album’s 12 tracks.

“We had a couple of options when it was time to make the record,” explains Germain, whose group takes its name from an old Nico album. “We were doing it with our own money, so we didn’t want to spend too much, but we went to England and met with him [Kettle], and it was within our budget to do it. There were a couple of studios we already worked at in Hamilton, but we weren’t really feelin’ the vibe around there.”

The result of those sessions is a raucous, engaging guitar-bass-drum explosion that bodes well for the youthful Steeltown trio, which performs with Canuck guitar-rock quartets the Waking Eyes and Boy at Richard’s on Richards on Wednesday (February 23).

The group has been through here a few times already–including opening for last year’s sold-out Pixies gigs at the Commodore and Plaza of Nations–and has seen some positive breakthroughs on the Universal Music Canada label. Its first single, “I Believe”, hit the top 30 on Canadian rock radio, and garnered a fair amount of local airplay on CFOX.

“We’ve already had a lot of good things happen for us off of this,” notes Germain. “Like, they put ‘I Believe’ on Big Shiny Tunes Volume 9, and stuff like that. So we’re just gonna keep on makin’ our music, and really stay focused on that.”