In The Know...11 Questions With Tom and Patrick Keenan

Saturday night at the West End Cultural Centre promises to be one of brotherly love. Songwriting brotherly love that is, with The Brothers Keenan – Tom and Patrick – each releasing their brand-spanking-new albums.

For Tom Keenan, it’ll be Romantic Fitness, his debut into the folk-leaning, singer-songwriter ring; for Patrick Keenan, it’ll be Washed Out Roads, his much-anticipated follow-up to the well-received, college-charting As Constant as the Northern Car. Both brothers have a way with the song and craft unique, thoughtful, and indisputably appealing tunes.

Rising Winnipeg band Royal Canoe start the evening off, making this a great night to sample many local indie-music flavours.

I recently caught up with Tom and Patrick and peppered them with my patented brand of 11 Questions. In the process, I exposed some revealing things about the two brothers, including: their opinion on the most-underrated band in the city (Tom: Royal Canoe; Patrick: Melissa Hallett); their least-liked bus route (Tom: Charleswood Express; Patrick: whichever one is driven by Dr. Cyclops); and, naturally, which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle they prefer (Tom: Donatello; Patrick: Michelangelo).

No one ever says Leonardo. So unloved.

1. Where are you right now?

Tom: Winnipeg, touring a play to schools.
Patrick:  At my home in Winnipeg, trying to be two places at once

Let’s talk Winnipeg…

2. Who is the most underrated Winnipeg-based band?

Patrick: The Girl With X-Ray Eyes A.K.A. Melissa Hallett. She has some of the
weirdest, most poetic music in town, but nobody seems to know about her.
Tom: Royal Canoe - They're amazing.  Great songs to begin with, then the band Matt Peters has put together is a Mennonite supergroup.  Mostly Mennonite supergroup.

3. What is your favourite local venue?

Tom: The new West End.
Patrick:  The New West End Cultural Centre is the best for an upwards of
medium-sized room.

4. Where do you shop for music?

Patrick: Into the Music, Folk Fest Music, Music Trader, Sonus Musica. Haven't been to HMV in a dog's age, but next time I wanna buy a DVD I'll go there.
Tom: Into the Music, Sonus Musica, Music Trader, and lately I've been ordering records from Drag City.

5. Where is the best place to catch a bite?

Tom: Black Sheep Diner for breakfast.  So many contenders for the other meals.  I recently went to Pizzaria Gusto and was impressed.
Patrick: I gotta say I'm leaning towards Inferno Bistro, which has great nouveau
French Cuisine with a fantastic wine list, yet reasonably priced and with
humane service.

6. What is the worst bus route?

Patrick:  The one that the crazy driver who looks like Dr. Cyclops drives.
Tom: Soooo many contenders.  Let's say the Charleswood Express.  Not that I have much call to go to Charleswood.

And some hodgepodge…

7. What is one piece of equipment absolutely essential to your live show?

Tom: My Nova VT Amp.  Made by Sears in the '70s, modified by somebody (I'd like to think Gar Gillies); you can't turn the overdrive channel past 2 or you'll blow your balls off.
Patrick: The audience. That was a trick question!

8. What are your top-five, all-time, desert-island records?

Patrick: I'd bring the Beatles, but their songs are permanently stuck in my head
anyway, so...

• Don Ellis - Live at Monterey
• Faith No More - Angel Dust
• The Church Choir EP
• Radiohead - In Rainbows
• And no one should go crazy on a desert island without Shostakovich's 10th symphony by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Mravinsky.

Tom:

• Beatles - Abbey Road
• Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks
• Bob Dylan - Greatest Hits vol. 2 (see, I'm cheating by picking the double album compilations)
• Joanna Newsom - Ys
• The Clash - London Calling

9. What book(s) are you currently reading?

Tom: I just finished The Sea by John Banville.  Beautiful.  Sad as shit, though.  And I'm in a constant state of reading By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart.
Patrick: Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life by Carol Sklenicka

10. PC or Mac?

Tom: Mac, though sometimes I feel like such a poser, since I don't really see how it's better.  I'm a God damned artsy-fartsy follower.
Patrick: Mac! Tom just doesn't know, man!

11. And finally, a toughie…who is your favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, or Raphael)?

Tom: Donatello.
Patrick: Michelangelo. Nunchucks, chilling and eating pizza, snappy one-liners.
He's got it all.