ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 26, 2006
By Steve Newton
Telemarketers and home-maintenance sales reps—ya gotta hate ’em. Many a tasty meal has been disrupted by a call from some creep yearning to collect the dust mites from my rugs.
So when the phone rings and a cheery voice announces that “It’s Ted from Red Shag Carpet,” I’m seconds away from a surly response and enthusiastic receiver slam-down.
Then I realize that it’s just Edmonton alt-rocker Ted Ani dialing in for our prearranged phone interview.
Judging by the name of Ani’s quartet, I’m guessing Red Shag Carpet has a dive-y practice space that uses the plush, ’70s-style floor covering to conveniently soak up spilled Old Style and camouflage roaches for future recovery. But the group actually took its moniker from the basement carpet it trod on during its first-ever gig, back in high school.
“We don’t have any around anymore,” Ani says. “We used to chuck some around in the van, but it kinda got dirty disease, so we try to stay away from the stuff.”
The members of RSC like to keep their trusty ’88 Ford Econoline tidy, as it’s been their home during extensive nationwide tours. The group currently has its sights set on a Western Canadian jaunt to promote the release of its new CD, Lift and Drop, the follow-up to its self-titled debut of 2003.
“We did the first one before we toured at all,” recalls Ani, “so it was really just like, ‘Let’s get in the studio and see what we’ve got.’ We didn’t have a chance to play those songs in front of many audiences, and we didn’t know very much about making music, but in a sense that was kinda fun.
“The second one we did with [former Veal and current Shout Out Out Out member] Nik Kozub as producer, and he’s really helped quite a bit. It’s a lot edgier, I think, and we grew a lot as musicians. Probably the main difference is that on the second album all four of us are writing tunes, and all four of us are singing.”
The result is 10 pop-rock tunes that range from the quirky to the accessible, sporting catchy guitar riffs and driving piano. Lift and Drop’s buoyant first single, “So and So”, has been getting airplay on Sonic 102, the commercial Edmonton station that Ani describes as “a great catalyst for the local scene”.
Ani–whose band plays the Media Club on November 2–says he’s also happy with the support the group’s received from his hometown’s college station, CKUA. In fact, he’s just generally pleased with the current state of the music scene in Alberta’s capital city.
“It’s a really good place to be,” he raves. “There’s a lot of good bands comin’ outta here. There’s the Shout Out Out Out thing that Nik’s involved with, it’s getting great press—and great press for Edmonton, actually—across the country. And there’s Whitey Houston, Our Mercury.
“There’s a big emo scene as well. Like there’s the band Ten Second Epic, which is having huge shows in Edmonton now. So it’s goin’ pretty good. I really hope the city kinda keeps building on this.”
