A sleepy Jeff Innes confesses that he’s just woken up to speak to us about his band Yukon Blonde’s new sophomore album, Tiger Talk. But we’ll forgive the crooner — he was up until the wee hours playing in New York the previous night. Yukon Blonde, a punchy, energetic, pop-punk group, hails from Kelowna, B.C., but they haven’t been home since they released their self-titled album in 2010 (which also landed them on the list for the Polaris Music Prize). Their latest effort was recorded on the road in their van, and the amped-up power-pop and vocal harmonies are sure to get the even the most rigid of crowds dancing along at their back-to-back shows in Toronto this weekend.
 

Tiger Talk definitely sounds like a change of pace from your previous stuff. Did you approach this album any differently?
Yeah, I guess we were all in a mood for something different, something else. The first record is written in a similar fashion, it’s hard to explain. This one is a little bit different because we’ve been touring since our first record came out, and we haven’t really gone home. So a lot of the demos are done in those few hours that we have to ourselves in the van or a day or two off here and there. It’s really interesting.

Yeah, you guys are on the road a lot, eh? How does that affect the songwriting process?
In every way imaginable. All of Tiger Talk was pretty much written on tour.

Can you describe your sound for those who might not have heard of you guys?
That’s kind of interesting. I think there’s a guy, somewhere in the midwest…

Just some guy?
Yeah [laughs], I don’t know who he is, I forget who he is, after a show, he was like, “I didn't know what to expect and I didn’t even know if I wanted to come see you guys, but you guys are like the perfect cross between the Traveling Wilburys and The Buzzcocks.” And ever since he said that, it’s the only comparison that’s ever made any sense.

Listening to some of the older stuff, there’s a lot of different sounds — some tunes have a classic-rock vibe and others have a more pop sound. I’m curious to know who your musical influences are?
I like everything, it’s pretty bad. There’s something in every genre I love. The last couple of years I’ve been into Afrobeat and New Wave and post-punk stuff. Before that it was just David Bowie on 24/7. And The Kinks. I can’t live without The Kinks. And the Talking Heads, those are two of my favourite bands.

Your songs are really danceable, but there are also some pretty jagged lyrics behind them. How do you balance both sides?
I’ve never really looked at songwriting as a challenge, only when I set myself up to make that challenge. There’s a song on the record called “For LA,” and I just picked the four most unlikely chords I could think of and put them together and then tried to tie them together with melody. I try and be in a situation where I can document them as they are. I don’t like messing with the lyrics too much when I get them. I get an idea spontaneously, and the lyrics are all f****d up [laughs]. I like to just roll with it.

What did signing with Dine Alone Records bring to the table?
They’ve been good on their word. They didn’t give us a bag of money and say, “Here guys, go buy some drugs.” We recorded the record independently, we saved up all our money and recorded this record. And they loved it and wanted to put it out.

I know when you and Brandon and Graham started a few years back with Alphababy you had a totally different sound. Why reinvent yourselves?
Oh, ’cause it sucked! That was like, seven years ago. Well, okay, when we started that band, I was 19, I had no idea what I was doing! Like that EP You Gentle Crustacean, it’s horrible! We were kind of a local band and having fun, we never got around to recording anything else. It was so weird, and got so polluted. So we just decided to axe it, start a new band, new music, new everything.

What can we expect from the show at Lee’s Thursday and Friday?
To have fun! It’s gonna be crazy, we're excited.
 

Win tickets to see Yukon Blonde!

We have two tickets to Yukon Blonde’s show at Lee’s on April 12 and two for April 13 to give away. Just email davidpaterson@postcity.com to enter.

Yukon Blonde are:
Jeff Innes — vocals, guitar
Brandon Scott — vocals, guitar
Graham Jones — vocals, drums
John Jeffrey — bass

Yukon Blonde play Lee’s Palace, 529 Bloor St. W., 416-532-1598, on April 12 & 13.