Interview by Arye Dworken
Photography by Marni Horwitz
The Lovely Feathers, a Montreal collective whose sound epitomizes rock’s joyous, carefree side, are paradoxically inspired by weighty guilt. And the band would be the first to admit this. For example, bespectacled guitarist/vocalist Richard Yanofsky dropped out of medical school to join the band-but the possibility of having “doctor” as a title still haunts him. “The toughest part about leaving school was that I felt like I betrayed my grandma,” Yanofsky once admitted. “She had an inconceivably horrific adolescence; I mean she narrowly escaped the clutches of fascism for God’s sake. And nothing would make her happier than to see her grandson enter a stable profession like medicine before she dies. But I had to go and ruin that one and only hope of hers.” It’s rare to read a band interview and come across a reference to matriarchal expectation, but such is the case with an indie rock band that feels dreamt up by a younger, hipper Woody Allen.
The scrawny, energetic Mark Kupfert, sharing the guitar and vocal duties, harbors his own separate guilt. “I used to be a very spiritual person,” he tells me, “and I’m not sure that being in a rock band fulfills that side of me.”
The other remaining Lovelies (also nice Jewish boys from Montreal), Noah Bernamoff and brothers Ted and Daniel Suss, don’t feel the same level of guilt as Yanofsky and Kupfert-but they’re not completely worry-free: Daniel, who speaks fluent Mandarin, still wants to attend law school, and feels somewhat insecure about playing a genre that isn’t classical. Brother Ted finished only one year of college but will assuredly go back, and Noah’s mom doesn’t want her boy growing up to be a debauched rock star and reminds him to be careful when he leaves home to tour.
But all this talk of guilt shouldn’t sway you into dismissing Hind Hind Legss as a guilty pleasure. On the contrary, indulge yourself. As far as pop-rock records go, it’s a decadent pleasure.
How did the Lovely Feathers start up?
Richard: We met in high school on our Israel trip.
Mark: But we were in different schools. There was the party Hebrew school that did a lot of drugs and there was the academic Hebrew school, which was into studying and sports. I was in the academic one.
Richard: I wasn’t.
Who brought up the idea to start a band?
Mark: I saw a sign in McGill for a battle of the bands-
Oh my God. Is this a true story? Or an episode of Saved By The Bell?
Mark: I had started playing guitar not too long before then and discovered that rock chords weren’t complex. We formed a band like a night before the contest. We hardly practiced and we didn’t really know our songs. In fact, during our set, we gave up playing them, dropped our guitars and just starting rapping. But oddly, it worked. This girl who organized the event came up to us and told us that we had great stage presence and that we needed to do something real.
Richard: A few shows later, we realized that maybe we had something here and we should take it seriously and flesh it out.
Mark: And as time went on, we heard people comparing us to great bands: early Elvis Costello, the Flaming Lips, Weezer, Talking Heads…
Richard: The Unicorns.
I read in the press release that one of you speaks fluent Mandarin?
Daniel: I do.
Because Mandarin totally comes in handy in Montreal. And who started medical school?
Richard: I did. I’m on a leave of absence after the first year.
How do your parents feel about this band?
Richard: My parents wanted their son to be a doctor, but I’ll still finish medical school one day.
Daniel: My parents love it. They always wanted to start a family band, so this is a vicarious experience for them.
Noah: My mom makes it very clear to me that I should not do anything stupid.
What’s the plan for the Lovely Feathers, considering this band is a happy accident?
Richard: We have no idea. We’ve learned so far that things are very tentative. We’ll do some touring after the record comes out but other than that-
Mark: We’re looking forward to touring. I think the real way to get the Lovely Feathers experience is to see us live.
Now that the band is transitioning from a seemingly happy accident to a proper band, have your outlooks changed?
Richard: Of course we want to be successful. We want people to love our music. We wouldn’t be doing this otherwise. But I also started medical school because I know I can’t be a musician for life.
Mark: My parents keep reminding me that I’m always getting older and this is my opportunity to do this. I will never be able to be in a band later on in life.
This is unusual to me – I’ve always interviewed people who claim they’ve always wanted to be rock stars. In contrast, I feel like you guys wanted to have careers with paychecks and stability.
Mark: Well, we can’t lie about it. We don’t feel this sense of entitlement like we should be a huge success because we’ve always been driven to do this. Although, we are now taking it very seriously.
How has the initial press been?
Noah: Canadian press has been very supportive and encouraging. Although the Eye Weekly, oddly enough, called us a Franz Ferdinand cover band.
Richard: Which makes zero sense.
Yeah, I don’t see that at all.
Mark: There’s nothing sexy about our record.
Five Canadian Jewish guys playing pop-rock? What isn’t sexy about that?
(Laughs)
