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Music

Adventure Club Continues The Wistful Noise

A summer full of good hair, good music and good people is what these Montrealers long for.

Call it euphoric, melodic or mesmeric—Adventure Club's music is simply impressionable. Stemming from Montreal, the two best friends have now circulated the globe playing festivals like Coachella, sold out venues months before gigs, created a loyal and vibrant fan base and can always find time to gush about Harvey Specter whom in their words "has great hair."

It's hard to gage how an interview at a festival will go, especially post-set, and when you see men demolishing mini eggs and Cheetos while laughing you can perhaps assume this isn't going to be a tear jerking Barbara Walters' exclusive. Sometimes it's nice not to take yourself too seriously and both Christian Srigley and Leighton James have that attitude. Just don't quote them wrong.

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"In a recent interview there was a very long quote that I know specifically was said by me, but Leighton was tagged as saying it. It was the best quote of all time," says Christian.

The quote was referring to a comment regarding The Chainsmokers and the AC-produced track "Selfie." It's not uncommon for tracks to be shopped around or "given away" especially in such a transient world like electronic music. While some artists come out only to then shy away and produce what is hoped to be a sound album (for example, Porter Robinson) others continue their road trek and track drops on the regular, one recipe does not suit all. And then there's Skrillex who is a downright machine and in a league of his own.

"We're always changing and our sets are always changing; electronic music is always changing. It's hard to keep up with it all plus tour and stay on point. You have to put music out every week it feels to get the wraps on an album, for us right now at least, it's hard. Of course we want to deliver a great album, but we're not about half assing things and who knows what we'll be into six months from now," furthers Christian.

Even with a hectic schedule, the trailer catnaps, the balls out stage-lunging antics and their ongoing large-scale exposure, Christian and Leighton are not about giving up their control to a huge entourage of agents and management reps.

"It's mainly Christian and I. We're a small team: Us, Robbie, Eddie, we still control all the feeds and emails, it's important to us. I'm still checking and updating that shit all time." Leighton states bluntly.

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"But it really comes down to Leighton and I. We can't get too big outside of our core group because we have people under us too, so we try to keep it all in shape," adds Christian.

And while the two have remained in control of their assets, their stage showmanship is continuously receiving tweaks. During their performance at this year's Veld Music Festival, Christian invited girls to "find shoulders" in the crowd and hop up on them. Within five minutes hundreds of burnt necks had muddy legs wrapped around them.

"We're never really comfortable on the mic though, it's hard man, hard to know what will happen. It's like 'heeey, how are you?'"

Leighton and Christian then proceed to reenact the most awkward onstage chatter, grabbing imaginary microphones and having their own conversation.

These two have crafted their own world together and through a batch of eye darts, smirks and hyena laughs, you get a sense of being in the basement playing Sonic while two dudes argue about who's going to have to get up first.

Shows like The Strain and Orphan Black are among the newest picks for Leighton, who admits he has a fond attraction to fellow Canuck and Orphan Black star, Tatiana Maslany. The two also like to create acronyms along the lines of "Alvin Carris."

Jokes aside, Adventure Club hasn't fallen into stardom, they've worked for it and are constantly pushing consumable, indelible anthems. Selecting songs for live sets is not a last minute task. You remember the track names because you remember the synthetic catch and release that comes with each progression. Fans sing along and people fall in love even if it is for a hot couple of minutes.

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"Our set lists are really important and we think deeply about each song, the transition, what we think will work, what we want to gamble on, how we're feeling, what will last, what the setup is like—it's really about making sure we offer depth in songs, keep things exciting, satisfy the crowd and bring it all together," explains Leighton.

And if you want to inspire Christian just take him to a place where there is water and boats.

Adventure Club is gearing up for this weekend's ÎleSoniq Festival, the newest electro-heavy event to take place in their hometown of Montreal. Although Christian now posts up in Toronto, it didn't stop the act from getting to choose their stage at the inaugural event.

Adventure Club performs as part of ÎleSoniq on Friday August 15 (8:30PM) on the Superheroes Anonymous stage.

Also make sure to get lost in Adventure Club's "Superheroes Anonymous" compilations, which showcases the work of other Canadian favourites like Ryan Hemsworth, Zeds Dead, Botnek and Hunter Siegel.

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