INTERVIEW WITH

GRAEME PHILLISKIRK

WITHIN PUNK ZINEINTERVIEW WITH

MEDICTATION /GRAEME PHILLISKIRK BY EMAIL

FEBRUARY 01 ,2016COURTESY OF

MELANIE KAYE PRDickie’s untimely and recent passing shook not only those closest to him but also the punk world as whole, such was his influence and the positive impact that he had on the community. Whilst most of us are familiar with the major-ity of Dickie’s works, his final pieces have not been announced/released, until now.Following the demise of Leatherface in 2013, Dickie Hammond and Graeme Philliskirk (also of Leatherface) joined Hugo Mudie, Fred Jaques and Julien Blais (all of Montreal, Canada’s The Sainte Catherine’s) to form Medictation. Within caught up with Graeme Philliskirk by email to talk about Medictation and the meaning of it.

J.B: Okay let’s start off here on the story behind it all how did a dis-membered Punk Band (Sainte Catherines) from Canada come to start talking with members of U.K’s Leatherface? Was it from the support of the 2008 tour?Graeme – Yes, it was from the 2008 tour, Hugo and I worked on putting the tour together after the release of the Stormy Petrel. The side project Hugo was playing in, “Yesterday’s Ring”, came on tour with us, we had a great time.J.B: How did Dickie Hammonds tracks come about on the release?Graeme – When he heard about the possibility, that this might happen, he wanted to be involved. He had some ideas he wanted to offer, which helped get everything of the ground, way quicker. As always he was his usual enthusiastic self and really excited to work with the boys.J.B: Is the release “Warm Places” a tribute in a way to Dickie? Graeme: Yes, it is, we thought it would be best to have it that way. I mean it was the last thing he ever recorded, so it was important

Hugo Mudie/Photo J.B

Graeme Philliskirk/ Photo: R.S

for it to be. I know there are a few other things that should come off as a tribute to him that we are all talking about, also.J.B: So how did the name “Medictation” come about?Graeme: Hugo had the name for some time and really wanted to use it, we were fine with that so we went ahead and used it as the name of the band. I think he gets annoyed that some people keep dropping the “T”, by mistake though, haha.J.B: The overall direction you have on this release has some similar feels but slowed down a bit from both previous foundations of the Sainte Catherines and Leatherface, on this project it’s more rem-iniscent sounding of some of the earlier Husker Du’S? What was the inspiration behind the direction for this project?Graeme – Wow, that’s very interesting you have said that, because another guy has mentioned it, I spoke to the other week, very interesting. We never meant it to be. We were a little conscious of not going a 100 miles an hour on everything, Dick-ies style of playing is all over the record

and we didn’t want to be sounding too much like other stuff he had done. No doubt comparisons are inevitable.J.B: Lyrical creative process who wrote the tracks on this one? Was it a collaboration? It has some deep metaphorical meanings in there with tracks like (Fishing) and (Paranoid)?Graeme – Hugo, was left to have the last word on lyrics, Fred had

“There does seem to be, “Categorization” of Punk Rock these days, which I can understand a bit.”

Graeme Philliskirk/ Photo: R.S

an input, which was great and I also. The first track, “Memories of Youth”, came about via an email from me to Hugo. I told him a story about an old friend of mine who had just been stabbed, he was in a bad way and died a few days later. He lifted my words and filled some gaps in, that’s how the lyrics came about. THE last track, “Stalingrad”, was Dickie, it totally shows his dark humor and tells you how things actually were with him.J.B: Was Hugo the perfect fill in compara-ble to Stubbs Voice? From previous proj-ects a compliment to the direction of that tone and feel of the album? Graeme – Dickie and I never really looked at Hugo as a comparable to Frank-ie; he was a Canadian Punk from The Sainte Catherines, perfect yes! We could see why they would get compared, the tone and gravel, in there, but we like that sound! Hugo makes no bones about what he feels of Frankie’s work, in fact none of us do. Frankie has a massive respect for them also!I think collectively, everyone did their

very best on the record, very proud of it!J.B: The title is “Warm Places” with the cover of the pyramids is that homage to the under tone of the current state of political discontent in certain “Warm Places”?Graeme – It was more towards the idea of youth, growing up and experiences you have. We didn’t actually intend to do that, but it just went that way, as we talked and discussed things with each other. J.B: There’s quite a span in distance on this formation are there any plans to do maybe a North American/ European tour or special ap-

pearances at select Festivals? Say in Montreal?Graeme – We purposely left these points to talk about after the re-lease, but the feeling is pretty much what you have said. It would be wrong not to!J.B: Do you feel the newer direction of Punk has that Indie feel it to?Graeme – I think there has always been an element of that anyway, new wave or whatever people want to call it. There does seem to be, “Categorization” of Punk Rock these days, which I can understand a bit, I mean it is media marketing techniques at hands isn’t it???For me you can’t expect everything to stay the same, all of the time, no change allowed. You have to have diversity, younger kids have dif-ferent influences, and I mean wasn’t that what Punk rock was about?If we didn’t progress and move forward, punk would have been dead and buried years ago, but it hasn’t so surely, we are all doing some-thing right?I can remember in an interview, what Frankie (Stubbs), did and he said, “The age of our audience always stays the same”. Meaning even after 20 years of playing you have old, young, Mohicans, long hair, short hair, who gives a fuck, people are here and taking part, that’s what matters!J.B: And you guys decided to release on Paper and Plastic in the states? What’s it like working with Vinnie’s label?Graeme – So far it’s been great. The last time I saw Vinnie was when Less than Jake played with SNUFF, at the University in the North East, UK. Never for a second would I have thought I would be work-ing on a release with him, haha. He’s a great guy, he knows what it’s like doing what we do. I also have to mention Mark Vincent Bussey, who looks after the UK/EU side of things; he has worked really hard with us also, and is a fantastic Dude! A big THANKS to them both!J.B: Who was the producer on this what where was it recorded? The pre-production was done at The Bunker, Sunderland UK, in Stu-dio 13. I was actually setting it up while we were getting ideas down. Paul Reed a friend of mind helped out and pointed me in the right direction with the software. This really helped me get things moving.I knew Ryan Basstuzzi, from Yesterday’s Ring, he has a great tem-perament and a really good person. I had kept tabs on work he had

been doing for some time and also the Studio we used. It was Wild Studios, two hours’ drive out of Montreal; we set up camp there. It was the perfect place, with a great set up.I think we all had our input when it was necessary, I prefer it that way, it’s important, Ryan did a fantastic job!J.B: Any chance of maybe distribution in Canada through Stomp records?Graeme - I can’t see why not, I will investigate!J.B: We always end with a famous book or quote that inspired your life anything come to mind?There are too many, haha, one that springs to mind is, “Why is it us”? – “Because there’s no one else here lad”.

Dickie Hammond