The Witzard

"I've always been big fan of Metric . Their lyrics are always so impactful and their music delivers so much genuine emotion, from sadness to elation and all the complications in between. What struck me the most about "Other Side" was the beauty of the lyrics and the vocal melody. Those were the two elements I tried to be faithful to in my cover; although, I ended up giving the melody a bit of my own flavor when I sang it," film and television composer, multi-instrumentalist, artist, and illustrator Silas Hite wrote within a recent email. He's of course, referring to his recent cover of Metric 's "Other Side" from their 2015 album, Pagans In Vegas —founding members Emily Haines and Jason Shaw recently re-joined forces with with their long-standing Toronto -based musical collective, Broken Social Scene , to prep their first proper album in some seven years, Hug of Thunder . Silas Hite did the vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and keys himself...

"Whoopsy daisy never lazy, so I heave-ho / Whippin' sh*t like DEVO , whip it good (That thang!) / Whippin' sh*t like Elmer Fudd and Mr. Fudd slang / Listen to my guitar twang as I sang," Zev Love X tactfully rhymed on KMD 's "Constipated Monkey" from their shelved 1993 album, Bl_ck B_st_rds . The Witzard 's favorite demented beat-maker Darko The Super sampled a bit of Zev Love X 's "Constipated Monkey" verse for appropriately-titled "Whippin' Sh*t Like DEVO" from his landmark 55th album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Darko! but I'll let him explain the rest: " Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Darko! samples and is inspired by my favorite New Wave band, DEVO . My dad was the one who got me into DEVO , which is his favorite band. He has their debut Q: Are We Not Men? album cover tattooed on his leg. The album cover I chose to make parodies the original and utilizes the #2 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft , Darko ...

"This is the oldest song on the [Love & Loss] EP . I wrote the lyrics on a plane ride almost eight years ago and I recorded the majority of the music back then, as well. The guitar solo I played on my uncle, Mark Mothersbaugh's sweet '72 Telecaster , when I was still working for him. He was nice enough to share his fantastic guitar collection. The chorus of this song (with beautiful harmonies sung by Sam Nelson , Ricky Nelson 's son) came together just a few weeks before the release. I sat on the song for years before realizing the obvious problem—it was missing a chorus! I played all the instruments myself on this one and the vocals were my first take. Something about that first pass just had the right emotion," Silas Hite wrote within a recent emailed statement concerning his composition, "Not Afraid of The Knife." Hite is a self-described " Emmy -winning film and television composer" and illustrator, as well as the frontman of ...