The Lovely Feathers were born and raised in Montreal, Canada. Together the band witnessed the historic Meech Lake Accord, the 3rd & 4th stages of Quebec Separatism, the infamous ice storm of 98, the decline & subsequent rebirth of the urban economy, and a decade-long turf war between The Hells Angels and Rock Machines. The Lovely Feathers somehow managed to survive this unfolding of history, yet each member emerged with a unique and radically different sense of reality.Since he was a boy, Mark Kupfert (guitars, vocals) has been plagued by perpetual self-doubt, and severe paranoia---these combined to give way to his typically warped perception of reality and generally unbalanced personality. Kupfert insists he originally conceived of the Lovely Feathers out of his spiritual torment. My consciousness is split, he says I feel like Im half Ancient Greek Hermeneutician and half celebrity-obsessed media slave. I Love the Classics, like Petrach and Cicero, yet Im also passionate about weekly tabloids. Unfortunately for Mark, the bands music does not reconcile the paradoxes at the center of his being so much as they serve to strengthen them.Bass player Richard can attest to that. He has been friends with Mark since pre-kindergarten. In high school, they made their first foray into music together when they founded a twee-pop band in Marks garage before ultimately having an awkward falling out that saw them part ways. Richard was a dazzling hockey player and fled Montreal on a scholarship to play for a prestigious US school. I admit, I remember very little from that time, except for waking up a few years later with a bad headache and a criminal record in the state of New Hampshire.One evening, deep in the throes of winter , the two unexpectedly bumped into each other on a windy street corner in the old port. After a long, tense moment they embraced and wept. Mark anxiously exclaimed that he was playing a show in a week and needed a bass player. Richard smiled and thought to himself what a lucky accident. I quit my horrible park services job, cleared my record in New Hampshire, picked up my bass and followed my old friends towards death or glory states Richard matter-of-factly.And then there are the Brothers Suss-Buzaglo, the irreplaceable backbone of the strange ungodly beast, part pterodactyl, part eccentric dream-puppy, which we call The Lovely Feathers. Though they share a mother, the two are more disparate than Cain and Abel. Older brother David is a classically trained concert pianist while younger brother Ted grew to be a blood spitting, grunge drummer, immersed in Montreals hardcore scene. While David was emerging as an expert on East Asian politics at McGill, learning Chinese and becoming Canadas two-time foreign Mandarin speaking champion, Ted was breaking up bar fights after Expos games and learning to play drums like a meth-addicted cyborg from Night City. That is, until Mark bribed them to play drums and keyboards with him alongside Richard and Mark S., in what he promised would be a one-time only performance. I had been debating whether I should start interning for the UN war crimes tribunal, David recalls when I got that fateful call from Mark. Even then, I never expected to end up in a band playing to wild, unwieldy audiences night after night. On the other hand, Ted maintains he was engineered to play the drums, I cant imagine doing anything else I hate everything else except raven-haired riot girls.After only a few months of playing shows to packs of horny spellbound hometown teenagers, we found someone crazy enough to actually give us money and invest in our career says Mark of the summer of 2005, which was spent lacing tracks at Studio Plateau in Montreal for their debut album, Hind Hind Legs. The album was produced by Jimmy Shaw of the bands Metric and Broken Social Scene, and Drew Malamud, whose engineering credits include DFA1979, the Dears, and Stars. Shaw, who brought the Feathers along during Metrics sold-out Fall 05 tour, says of the band: Somehow in all their poppy grandeur, the Feathers manage to convey feelings I never even knew I had. Their music portrays the canopy of life with clarity and heart smilesof yeah, I also completely relate to Marks self-hatred and Richards massive guilt.Along with fellow Quebecois band Islands (new group formed by Unicorns front man Nick Diamonds and drummer Jaime Tambeur), The Lovely Feathers enthusiastically signed with the fresh new label Equator Records, which will release their album on May 2nd. Look for The Lovely Feathers on tour throughout North America this spring, where theyll be spreading their blossomy, energetic and painful message to nobody and anybody who will listen.
