Feature Friday - Blood Farts
Name
Blood Farts
Pronouns
ALL
Bio
The Blood Farts are a staple of the global music scene, with fives of followers chomping at the bit to hear more. With an ever-growing number of catchy originals and musical guests commonly joining them, you won’t want to close your ears. Jillian is their fearless leader, with the pipes to push through whatever song we make her cover. There is the talented Raimundo Jose “The Coyote” Cox-Casals on violin and every other instrument playing next to Jacob, a moustache who doesn’t realize he’s been playing the bass upside down. Lastly, there is Ella Boon, a breakdancer by day and guitarist by night. We desperately, pathetically hope that you have a good time as our audience.
Instagram
@blood.farts.music
Where in Montreal are you located?
Where the Plateau meets the sunset, just around the corner, through Montreal ouest to Montreal est, here, there, and everywhere… Place Des Arts.
What do you love about your neighborhood?
Rooney, Lee, the neighbours, IGA, the Taiwanese lady at the corner store who always guesses my age when I’m buying wine, but most importantly the ability to be loud. In our three years of living in our apartment, we have only had the police called on us once.
What’s your favourite art space in Montreal and why?
Our apartment. It is where we practice, write songs and do arts and crafts. We are homebodies but we love when friends drop by. It’s full of our trinkets, hats, and items left from the hoi polloi. My favourite part of it is our hat wall. Which is exactly how it sounds, a wall of different hats. Our favourite nook to meet people however is the Yellow Door Hootenanny on Aylmer. It’s an acoustic open mic with lots of interesting folk.
Describe your art in your own words.
“Pastiche, camp, collage of what we love about music”, says Jillian. While Ella describes it as “silly and uncouth, ornery at times”. Jacob outright believes their music to be “evocative and powerful”. Ray on the other hand describes it as “Scattered, fusional, and very enjoyable for the mothers in the crowd”.
What have you been working on recently?
We’ve been booked and busy with shows, benefits, and community events and loving it. After nearly three years of being a band, we are finally recording our originals this July. Stay tuned!
What sparked your passion for music?
Jillian says, “its capacity for creative expression” while Jacob describes his passion for music as “necessity”. Ella feels her passion was sparked by “Abbey Road” at a young age, and Ray… well… He also feels his sonic genesis is thanks to “the wicked workings of The Beatles”, but also “good ol’ Celtic fiddling, and K-pop boys”.
Describe your sound.
Though our style plays on pastiche, we have an utterly original sound that blends folk, country, rock, pop, and r&b with a scent of Ireland. In other words, Bwamp bwamp, bwamp click!
What does your creative process look like?
Each of us have a different creative process. First Jillian takes a shower. Then, Ray cooks Thai food, while we sit around and stare at each other until a musical epiphany comes to mind. Jacob asks Jillian what the chords are, and finally, Ella asks Ray if she should “play up here or down there”.
Who are your biggest musical influences?
What we feel makes our sound quite unique is each of us bringing our own personal music inspirations into one rash of a sound. All of us grew up listening to the Beatles. Vocally, Jillian finds inspiration from Haley Williams, Madonna, and the chicks. While Jacob gets his groove from the likes of Justin Timberlake and Shakira. Ella mostly plays acoustic guitar, so she is inspired by the rich acoustic sounds of Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, and Ani DiFranco. Ray attempts to sound like Elton John, Shakira, and Baroque countertenor superstar; Philippe Jaroussky… And let me tell you… He succeeds.
What do you love about playing live?
Adoring crowds, fame, and fortune. Most of all, when it’s over and you are really sweaty but you feel good and you are finally getting to chill out and drink and people want to meet you and make friends with you.
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