Hidden Cameras

On the strength of the excellent ‘Ban Marriage’ single, we decided to contact Hidden Cameras frontman Joel Gibb.

>Please introduce yourself and your associates.
Hi this is Joel from The Hidden Cameras, I write all the songs and organize everything related to the band. Each member of the band is an artist in their own right, either visual or musical. Although I highly orchestrate the music, the band gives the songs life and we perform them as a group. There are people in the band like Maggie, Mike eb, and Luis who bring on-stage energy. They dance and generally have a good time. Then there's more serious members like Mike Olsen (cello), Owen Pallett (violin) and Matias (bass/drums) who make the songs sound tight.

>How did Hidden Cameras come about?
I was asked to play a show at my friend's art gallery called West Wing Art Space. They liked my 4-track recordings and wanted me to play some of the songs live. So I asked a bunch of friend's to back me up and it went from there.

>What’s the ethos behind Hidden Cameras?
It's sort of unspoken. It is the kind of band that anyone can be a part of. It was casually assembled and balloons to large proportions depending on the show we play in Toronto.

>What do your dancers bring to the experience?
The dancers are there to make the show a show. They also encourage dance among audience members.

>What would you like to achieve with your music?
Hard question to answer. To realize music that I imagine.

>Apparently you have played in porn theatres, churches and old folks homes - how true is this and how important is the setting for a gig to you?
This is all true, bars are boring and in Toronto especially there are not a lot of good live venues in the city. Playing in a church it's not smokey, people come to listen to music. It's clean, there's a lot of space, there's no annoying bouncers, there's no worry about whether the club paid you correctly, there's a grand piano and pipe organ AND it's a new location for the audience to visit in the city and a new setting for the band.

>What other kind of places would you like to play?
Cathedrals, the street, theatres, anywhere.

>Any particular countries you'd like to visit with the band?
Israel.

>What inspires you lyrically and musically?
My life, it's cliché or even passé to say this but really it's the people I meet and the experiences I have.

>What is your future plan for recording?
New record soon actually, it will be harder and there will be more dynamics.

>What motivates you to record and gig?
Good question!

>If you weren't in a band just what would you do with your evenings?
Write songs, it’s what I’ve always done.

>Hidden Cameras' Six Records for a Desert Island?
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On; Neil Young – Decade; Suicide – Suicide; Scott Walker - Scott 4 plus Nancy & Lee and Donovan compilations

>Hidden Cameras' Desert Island Book & Luxury Item?
Dictionary. Private jet

www.thehiddencameras.com