Sabertooth prefer music that rules over music that’s cool
From Pilsner-hoisting beard metal to Christian rap cookie-cutter garage and every imaginable take on indie pop Calgary’s local music landscape has ebbed and flowed as myriad genres have risen and fallen in popularity. Throughout it all however local quintet Sabertooth have openly ignored the trends focusing instead on a subgenre that’s arguably been uncool since ’98 — that party-loving beer-soaked hyphenate known as pop-punk.
Comprised of vocalist Ryder Thalheimer guitarists Tyler Wilson and Mike Riach drummer Josh Boley and new recruit Nick Lake Sabertooth are a tight-knit group that just want to write rad pop songs and have fun. “We thought we should try to make it a fucking point that we’re a little more positive” Riach says of the band’s inception. “We didn’t feel that we had the same angst as a lot of punk bands. We had some pretty good families at the time. We had good friends and good parties. We were fucking enjoying life.”
The band’s commitment to fun proved infectious as they quickly developed a local following. Then in 2011 they released their debut album Making Light of a Shitty Situation via Toronto’s N.C.J.T. Records (an acronym for hilariously No Contracts Just Trust). The record — a collection of home-recorded rough-around-the-edges burnout punk anthems — sent the band on a sprawling two-month North American tour.
“I loved it it was a great time. It sucked like everything else but it was good” Thalheimer says. “It seems like we’re having to prove ourselves over and over again especially out on the road…. We don’t really look that cool. When we all get out of the van we don’t look very together. We’re always losing our patch cords and shit and half the band doesn’t even own their own gear.”
Though Riach and Thalheimer would both hit the road again in a heartbeat the members of Sabertooth have been busy with school full-time jobs and side projects including Unfun Skin Colour Dweeb Skabiis and numerous other local acts. Because of that the band’s been relatively inactive over the last year or so.
When Riach finally did start working on new material with Wilson at their fabled now-defunct Sixth Street party house the songs took a whole new direction. “I think we were kind of done listening to Screeching Weasel so we were kind of done drawing our influence from the kind of three-chord easier pop-punk.”
Thalheimer’s lyrics too have become simpler and more to the point. “I just try to cleverly disguise all my feelings in the lyrics” he says. “But I tried to be way less wordy in the lyrics than I usually am. I try to be more exact and specific. I focus a lot on melody because I just want to write really poppy songs.”
This weekend the band will release Morning Breath a four-song 7-inch that demonstrates Sabertooth as a brand new entity. Masterfully captured by Vancouver producer Jesse Gander the songs are imbued with fresh energy a collision of fantastic guitar interplay a reinvigorated rhythm section and Thalheimer’s vocal delivery at its most melodic and deliberate.
Don’t think they’ve stopped having fun however. “You can’t take yourself too seriously playing punk rock” Thalheimer says. “I don’t want to be completely blatant about fart jokes but I still love them. I’m still immature.”
<a href="http://sabertooth-punk.bandcamp.com/album/morning-breath" mce_href="http://sabertooth-punk.bandcamp.com/album/morning-breath">Morning Breath by Sabertooth</a>
