HOLLY CULP
Arts Editor

Google asks, “Did you mean volcanoes in Canada?”

Uh, no.

Volcanoless in Canada is probably the most severe victim of Saskatoon’s serial bassist Enver Hampton, whose M.O. is to play in every band ever.

“I wouldn’t say every band ever,” countered Hampton. “But I am helping some folks out just trying to keep busy playing bass all the time.”

As for the name of the band, it helps them out.

“It’s not a real word, ”˜volcanoless.’ You can’t find that shit in the dictionary,” said Hampton, “which works to our advantage if you type it into Google.”

Odd band names like theirs make one wonder where the name originated from, but unfortunately there is not a good story behind it, aside from the obvious fact that have we don’t have volcanoes in Canada.

“It sucks because we haven’t come up with a funny lie for it yet,” said Hampton. “You live in Canada and you don’t really hear about volcanoes but there are volcanic belts that are dormant in B.C. One meaning of the name that I’ve always enjoyed is that there are volcanoes in Canada but they’re dormant, and we’re like a rock bank but we play with acoustic guitars and it kind of lends a different sensibility to the whole scheme.”

The Saskatonian band has toured fairly extensively in the past two years across the U.K., U.S. and of course, all over Canada.

After a summer full of “one-offs and weekends,” as Hampton put it, Volcanoless is getting set to take a bit of a break after their upcoming shows.

“The next year or so, it’s got some layers to it,” said Hampton.

“We’re actually going to take a little bit of a break; we need to save money, both personally and as a band.”

The prospect of a new album to follow their previous record The Way Forward is currently holding strong.

“We’ve been talking to someone in Toronto and we want to get out there in January or March next year and start working on either an EP or a full-length album,” Hampton said. “I think November and December are going to be big months for us in terms of writing and learning how to write together; learning how to love each other.”

For a band that has been so active, they have yet to establish a concrete songwriting pattern that works with their complex musical style.

“It’s interesting because we’ve never actually achieved any kind of songwriting groove. Songs come to us in all kinds of different ways, shapes and forms. It’s really hard to coordinate the three acoustic guitars and the bass at the same time so there’s a lot of deconstruction involved. We want to be able to go into the studio with a lot of material so that we can pick and choose. We’re going to be working with a producer this time, which is exciting.”

This past summer the band had the pleasure to play Warped Tour, a dream come true for some members of the band.

“We just played the Edmonton date,” said Hampton. “We were lucky enough to get on the bill; it was a privilege to play kind of thing so we didn’t get paid. But it was rad. We sold tons of CDs and got in front a bunch of new people.”

VIC’s next show in Saskatoon will be this coming Saturday at Louis’. Those who haven’t seen them play can expect an energetic show.

“Expect a lot of dancing, maybe some sing-a-longs if you know the words,” said Hampton. “We try and keep the shows somewhat interactive. We also tried to keep it eclectic with the band that we brought in: Molten Lava. They are like Death From Above with more hardcore, metal and progressive influence. And then Def 3 and Factor are opening as well, so there’s going to be some energetic live hip-hop.”