BOY - Toronto

In the basement of a nondescript Megacity lowrise, down a narrow, low-ceilinged hallway, to a dingy, tomb-like rehearsal space, walls bedecked with countless band posters elbowing each other for space, a lengthy strand of tiny Christmas lights snaking around the water-stained ceiling, and the floor a checkerboard of frayed squares of leftover/discarded carpet. Amidst the three drum kits, baker’s dozen amps, and an army of mic stands and cables, Whitehorse, Yukon’s Stephen Kozmeniuk stands and surveys the band he has handpicked for his sophomore album, Every Page You Turn. Manning the drums is Nanaimo’s Maurie “Tank” Kaufmann: “Maurie’s the quiet one,” Kozmeniuk says. “I found him withering away in Nanaimo, cold and hungry for something more. He’s adorable in that sickly, needy way... like a chipmunk with a disease. Hell of a drummer, though, that’s for sure.” Handling bass duties is ’Peg City’s notorious heartbreaker/producer Steve Payne: “Steve and I have seen a lot over the last year. Cavemen, free beer, girls, the ocean, propellers going out on planes we were on.” On one guitar, Rolla Olak, another Vancouver Island native: “I met Rolla while he ... more...