- DAVIDA NEMEROFF
- Bryan Webb is on the far right, almost looking as if he’s part of the band.
Constantines’ album Shine a Light shot out of Ontario, Canada, in 2003 like a musket ball of rock and punk. It’s been rolling thunder ever since. The songs charge at you rowdy and tight from a piston-fired impetus of bass and drums. Crankshaft guitars in their oil pan light off Bryan Webb’s graveled howl. “Make your love too wild for words, stumbling through the city with the ordinary birds,” he blares in “Young Lions.” If you’re isolated, Constantines’ music makes a mettle-filled companion. If you’re with a crowd, the crowd gets raucous. If you’re driving across South Dakota or Kansas, Constantines work well on repeat. Out of print on vinyl since 2007, Shine a Light was reissued by Sub Pop this past June, featuring a newly cut vinyl master, a 7-inch of B-sides, and the original gatefold artwork rephotographed to show how it aged in basements over the last 11 years. Constantines are touring again as well, and for that, the hammer and anvil in our ears are thankful. Bryan Webb spoke from his home in Guelph, in southern Ontario.
What American city would you compare Guelph to?
Imagine a smaller, Canadian version of Portland. Guelph is weirder than most of its surrounding cities of comparable size. We’re about an hour from Toronto. There are a few lakes nearby, and a fair amount of hippies…
Constantines play tonight at Neumos at 8 pm.
