The Most Serene Republic
Stand Up, Sit Down, Listen
2007-10-03
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Adrian Jewett of The Most Serene Republic doesn’t like the present too much. For him, life is about delving into the past and dreaming of the future. It’s about reading history books, eating blueberry pancakes and, most of all, making music. As Synthesis.net spoke with Adrian about music, love and scoliosis, he made it clear that The Most Serene Republic is more than a band; it’s his way of life. He, along with Nick Greaves and Ryan Lenssen, formed The Most Serene Republic in an attempt to find fulfillment that school and work could not give. “University was malnourished intellectually,” he says, “We felt sick and slept a lot. We’d come home to Milton [Ontario, Canada] for the holidays and work on tracks together. One summer we, and others we’d met, made Underwater Cinematographer. It was a reaction to feeling culturally and intellectually robbed of anything gratifying or permanent.” Now, four years later, the band has seven members, is signed to Arts & Crafts (they were the first band signed that was not directly related to Broken Social Scene) and is releasing its sophomore album, Population.
The new record is a whirlwind of sound ranging from clamorous to, well, serene. “It’s constant counterpoints throughout the whole thing,” Jewett says. “The music always comes first, then the lyrics. The words are based off the music. They are different things but go hand in hand. Opposites attract; they quarrel and they get along, both the music and the language itself.”
He compares songwriting to building a house. Nick, as composer, is “the master carpenter, the rest of us come in and design the rooms.” The result of this work is a unique collaboration.
“It’s very fast, it’s very jazzy and it’s kind of unisex. Emma has a very female, sensual voice,” Jewett says. “Mine is kind of androgynous in a way. We mold together to form this man-girl-boy. The music itself is very hopeful, yet disdainful. It’s not something you can groove to in a 4/4 time. It’s not music that makes you want to get drunk and get all horny. It’s one of those sit down pieces.” Jewett is passionate about not tailoring The Most Serene Republic’s music for public appeal. He hopes to bypass what he calls “the ways of the flesh” and focus on thought and social critique of the mind.
“Most people don’t actually go to shows for the band,” he explains. “They go to hear the music in the background of their lives as they try to meet someone, because they wish to have someone all the time. As younger folk, we used to do that ourselves but we got tired of it. There’s only so much you can stand of the sexy fashions and we decided to just go all brains and intentionally all brains.”
Jewett knows that many people do not share this mindset, but he hopes that the seven members of The Most Serene Republic can cause a positive influence to those willing to hear.
“Are people listening anymore?” he asks. “I guess a small few. We keep hope in our fans. We aren’t religiously devout people; we aren’t sexually charged rock stars. We are just these ghosts that walk around and look at the past. We try to keep as much hope as we can for those on their cell phones all the time. After every song they text message and they aren’t really even in the room, and I feel most times that I’m not even there in the room. If we can just keep our fascination with the human race, it’s history and it’s progression in the future; never the present though, we don’t like the present too much.”
Despite their rejection of “sexy fashions,” The Most Serene Republic’s fan base is constantly growing, a phenomenon that Jewett is not sure how to embrace.
“Popularity always changes a bands sound, it also changes character. In a way you have to be responsible with it,” he muses. “It doesn’t seem to appeal to me. I enjoy it and I’m flattered by it but at the end of the day I also brush my teeth and go to bed and I too am just a whiskey salesman traveling across the country in a van.
“On my part, I don’t see the point of pretentiousness or arrogance or ego, they’re just a wasteland of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bono ass shit,” he continues. “They know they’re the shit and don’t need to do anything else. It’s complete self-satisfaction and self-satisfaction is something I never wish to obtain because it makes you so uninteresting. There are so many people who feel so good about themselves. They go out, and they don’t even have to try and they’re boring as hell, yet they get the other people who don’t have to try so it’s a bunch of don’t-have-to-try’s. I am always trying to improve personally. We have this saying ‘repair thyself’; if you need to get in shape, work out. Success can be a positive way to keep you responsible, people are looking to you to help them think through their life, but you have to be careful with it.”
For the moment, Jewett isn’t going to worry about success, failure or any of the other side effects of being in a band, because right now he is doing what gives him fulfillment and purpose in life.
“Hope is our fuel, it’s what we run on,” he says. “I don’t even know what the rest of my life has in store. I really don’t. I know that we are here for this album and for another, and another one after that. I definitely know that I am not going to throw in the artistic towel. This is the only thing we can do. We feel like we’ve actually done something with our lives. There’s no high school teachery here. There’s no other crap. Even in the end it’s all about personal happiness and the happiness of those that you love around you.”
As for their music, all Jewett wants is for you to give it a shot. He says in closing, “Our music is far more interesting than us. Everything we have to say is in the album. We are you; we too like to drink and hang out and talk. We are hometown boys who just push for more, self upgrade. Get stoned and listen to it. Get really stoned [left in bold as per the artist’s request]. Wear headphones and lie down to listen to it, or sit up, whatever. Give it a listen; give it a chance.”
The new record is a whirlwind of sound ranging from clamorous to, well, serene. “It’s constant counterpoints throughout the whole thing,” Jewett says. “The music always comes first, then the lyrics. The words are based off the music. They are different things but go hand in hand. Opposites attract; they quarrel and they get along, both the music and the language itself.”
He compares songwriting to building a house. Nick, as composer, is “the master carpenter, the rest of us come in and design the rooms.” The result of this work is a unique collaboration.
“It’s very fast, it’s very jazzy and it’s kind of unisex. Emma has a very female, sensual voice,” Jewett says. “Mine is kind of androgynous in a way. We mold together to form this man-girl-boy. The music itself is very hopeful, yet disdainful. It’s not something you can groove to in a 4/4 time. It’s not music that makes you want to get drunk and get all horny. It’s one of those sit down pieces.” Jewett is passionate about not tailoring The Most Serene Republic’s music for public appeal. He hopes to bypass what he calls “the ways of the flesh” and focus on thought and social critique of the mind.
“Most people don’t actually go to shows for the band,” he explains. “They go to hear the music in the background of their lives as they try to meet someone, because they wish to have someone all the time. As younger folk, we used to do that ourselves but we got tired of it. There’s only so much you can stand of the sexy fashions and we decided to just go all brains and intentionally all brains.”
Jewett knows that many people do not share this mindset, but he hopes that the seven members of The Most Serene Republic can cause a positive influence to those willing to hear.
“Are people listening anymore?” he asks. “I guess a small few. We keep hope in our fans. We aren’t religiously devout people; we aren’t sexually charged rock stars. We are just these ghosts that walk around and look at the past. We try to keep as much hope as we can for those on their cell phones all the time. After every song they text message and they aren’t really even in the room, and I feel most times that I’m not even there in the room. If we can just keep our fascination with the human race, it’s history and it’s progression in the future; never the present though, we don’t like the present too much.”
Despite their rejection of “sexy fashions,” The Most Serene Republic’s fan base is constantly growing, a phenomenon that Jewett is not sure how to embrace.
“Popularity always changes a bands sound, it also changes character. In a way you have to be responsible with it,” he muses. “It doesn’t seem to appeal to me. I enjoy it and I’m flattered by it but at the end of the day I also brush my teeth and go to bed and I too am just a whiskey salesman traveling across the country in a van.
“On my part, I don’t see the point of pretentiousness or arrogance or ego, they’re just a wasteland of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bono ass shit,” he continues. “They know they’re the shit and don’t need to do anything else. It’s complete self-satisfaction and self-satisfaction is something I never wish to obtain because it makes you so uninteresting. There are so many people who feel so good about themselves. They go out, and they don’t even have to try and they’re boring as hell, yet they get the other people who don’t have to try so it’s a bunch of don’t-have-to-try’s. I am always trying to improve personally. We have this saying ‘repair thyself’; if you need to get in shape, work out. Success can be a positive way to keep you responsible, people are looking to you to help them think through their life, but you have to be careful with it.”
For the moment, Jewett isn’t going to worry about success, failure or any of the other side effects of being in a band, because right now he is doing what gives him fulfillment and purpose in life.
“Hope is our fuel, it’s what we run on,” he says. “I don’t even know what the rest of my life has in store. I really don’t. I know that we are here for this album and for another, and another one after that. I definitely know that I am not going to throw in the artistic towel. This is the only thing we can do. We feel like we’ve actually done something with our lives. There’s no high school teachery here. There’s no other crap. Even in the end it’s all about personal happiness and the happiness of those that you love around you.”
As for their music, all Jewett wants is for you to give it a shot. He says in closing, “Our music is far more interesting than us. Everything we have to say is in the album. We are you; we too like to drink and hang out and talk. We are hometown boys who just push for more, self upgrade. Get stoned and listen to it. Get really stoned [left in bold as per the artist’s request]. Wear headphones and lie down to listen to it, or sit up, whatever. Give it a listen; give it a chance.”
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