There’s a new band on the horizon... Actov Life. Though they’ve been around for years, the band has spent most of their time touring Europe and sightings at home have been few and far between. They’re about to return to Europe in late November, but not before they do a couple of warm up dates in Ontario to launch their newest CD. Though they seem to wear all the trappings of a “noise band”, these guys have recorded and released an album that is far from being noise. With a big time manager in London England and ears like Everett Ravenstein’s (Barenaked Ladies, Moist, Rush) working on their project, there is no doubt there will be much more from these guys in the future. I caught up with the Carl & Tim over a few beers at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto...

Mb: Hey guys, how’s it going?
Tim: What’s up...
Carl: Good to see you Mb.
Mb: So lets talk about this new CD. Where did you record it?
Carl: All the bed tracks were recorded at Chalet Studio by Everett Ravenstein, and did all the over dubs at E@R Studios which is Everett’s private studio. We did all the guitar over-dubs and vocals there.
Mb: So you got some tracks from here and there and pieced it all together?
Tim: Yeah, we did the bed tracks at Chalet. Then, we took a 24 track recording studio... we had a little space... it was a big old abandon factory. We set up the studio there and Bernie, our engineer, took over. We proceeded to do some leads and keyboards, and then we did the “sweetening” up tracks at Everett’s.
Mb: So this is the second CD from Actov Life.
Carl: Yeah it is. We did a three song EP in between, but this is the second full length.
Mb: Actov Life does alot of touring in Europe.
Carl: We’ve found a good following in Germany and Holland and England and we do a lot of work there. It’s happening there for us and we love it over there. Not that we don’t love Canada. We love it here. This is where we live and we’re hoping to play here soon too. Let people hear our music.
Mb: How do like touring Europe?
Tim: It is great. We did some really professional shows. We opened up for “BioHazard” on the last tour we did. That was almost a year ago. We been busy recording the last while. We were playing 2,300 seaters, sold out shows, mosh pits...
Carl: They treat us really well in Europe.
Mb: So you like playing better there than here?
Carl: Absolutely. We go over there and they treat us like... like stars. We get food and we get booze. (laughs)
Mb: So, world wide stuff... www.ActovLife.com which was set up by your management Future Management out of London England.
Carl: Yeah they set up a really cool web site for us. It’s working really well. We’re getting a lot of hits. Each day we’re getting more and more. They seem to be multiplying. People in America are listening. We like the world wide web. It’s a great way to get our music out to the people.
Mb: And you can go there and listen to some songs and get an idea about the CD...
Tim: Exactly... there’s lots of pictures and it keeps you up to date with our tour schedule so people can keep checking where we’re playing. All the info you need to know about Actov Life is there.
Mb: So you’re going to do a little playing here in Ontario before going back to Europe? To get the show tight again... is that the idea?
Carl: Yeah that’s the idea and to promote the record ‘cause we are going to be releasing it here. It will be a small tour probably 3 or 4 cities ...Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Kitchener, Hamilton... try to hit as much as we can and go from there. This is home, you know? So we want to get it out to the people here that’s the bottom line.
Mb: What about video?
Carl: We’re starting to think about that. Once the album is officially released and we can target in on what we think our single is. By the end of the year you should see a video by Actov Life.
Mb: What do you think the single is going to be?
Carl: Right now it’s a toss up between track two which is called “Me” and track seven which is called “Blow My Mind”. Both seem to be the tunes that people are warming up to the most. The whole album is pretty strong. There’s fourteen songs and we feel it’s all good material. But I think “Blow Your Mind” and “Me” are going to be the singles.
Mb: Traditional radio play? What’s going on there?
Carl: 102.1 the Edge is doing a campaign for us and 97.7 Hits fm, and see how it goes. Run it up the flag pole and see who salutes.
Mb: What else do you guys want to say to your fans and fans to be?
Carl: Fans to be? Check it out if you like it loud and heavy and you love to jump around and get your aggressions out. Come to check us out. And to fans? Thanks. Keep coming out and thanks for the support.
Mb: What about you Tim?
Tim: We’ll continue to burn basses at every show.