The Betrayers
Betrayers are not party-poopers. Despite the title of their recently released debut album, Let the Good Times Die, singer and guitarist Travis Sargent insists the title is tongue-in-cheek. “It’s not the gloomiest album ever, but it isn’t exactly G ‘n R, y’know?” The band simply thought it was funny, thinking one could “throw on this record and bum all your friends out,” Sargent says. Even visually the album offers a paradox – a woman laughing vivaciously, dressed in vibrant colors, the style of print and font resembling a bastard sibling to The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, in a world where the apple of Brian Wilson’s eye stomped on his heart instead of agreeing to a cruise in his Camaro.
So what, if not gloom and doom, is the band’s M.O.? According to Sargent, “We wanted to make a party album that was a bit darker and had a bit of desperation in there.” Start the party and kill it as well – a two-birds attack with fuzzy guitars and crunchy beats replacing the stone. And the attack plan is clearly working.
Accompanying Sargent in the five-member band is bassist Justin Zawada, drummer(s) Joe Stagliano and Scarlet Welling-Yiannakoulias, and the easiest-spelled-last-name organist Terry Fairfield. Following the December release of the album, Betrayers garnered an impressive amount of press and hype surrounding their tunes and live shows. There’s an understanding around their hometown of Edmonton that if you want to make it into their show, you better get there early, as staple venues such as Barber-Ha and Wunderbar hit capacity quick. And their prominence is expanding beyond the borders of their home province. Previous tours have yielded admirable results, with Victoria-based label Shake! Records releasing a cassette version of Let the Good Times Die and mail-order demands for the album coming from as far away as Norway and Greece.
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Rock ‘n’ roll hit perfection in its infancy
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The possibilities that will reveal themselves through this summer’s touring plans are unknown. On top of performing at some Alberta festivals (Hot Plains, Bermuda, Golden West), Betrayers will join fellow Edmontonians The Lad Mags and Victoria’s The Backhomes for some road time. The tour is tentatively titled The Sea to Sky Revue. “[It] will be set up like a classic touring roadshow,” explains Sargent. “I guess the common theme the bands share is a love of psych, garage and bubble gum music. It’s looking pretty great so far, and it’s been nice putting our heads together with those other bands [to plan] it all out. The rock ‘n’ roll brain trust.”
So the gang has plans and ambitions, and they are anything but gloomy. “I think the goal for us is just to be able to carry on making records that people like, and to be able to go on tour and not have to worry about whether or not people are gonna show up. It would be great to tour the States or Europe on the next album. I’ve got pretty realistic expectations,” Sargent says. The humble bastard – visions of ‘hard work’ and ‘humility’ floating through his head – surely a band with a name like Betrayers has to have a grander scheme. Sargent admits he’d accept being “adored by all of Edmonton. Is a key to the city too much to ask for?” Aha, their nefarious plot thickens. But like any plot, it’s never as good without characters that compel you, and Betrayers plan on doing just that, bringing their psych-rock blitz with a tried and true consistency.
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“The music that holds up best over time is early rock ‘n’ roll,” proclaims Sargent. “How does that work? Usually when something is invented it gets tinkered with and improved over time but rock ‘n’ roll hit perfection in its infancy. As they say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so we try to play music in that vein in the hopes it’ll still sound good fifty years from now.”
