Who is Mister Heavenly

We at the Rice Thresher love KTRU's yearly Outdoor Show: Not only is there free beer, tasty food and mind blowing music, but it gives us the chance to interview killer bands. After several hours of hyperventilation and a minor drooling incident, the Thresher got to hang out with Mister Heavenly, one of the Outdoor Show's headliners. We chatted about many profound topics, like music licensing, Abbie Hoffman, rural western Canada and shooting rats.

Rice Thresher: So Mister Heavenly, the band, how did you guys meet?

Nicholas Thorburn: You said Mister Heavenly, which one is it, the person or the band?

RT: The band.

NT: How we always meet? I've been asked that question too many times today.

Honus Honus: No no no, we answered one of those tear ads in a coffee shop.

NT: It was terrible.

Michael Cera: They were tear-orrists.

Joe Plummer: They answered a tear ad, I knew Ryan because I've known his sister, I went to high school with his sister.

NT: He dated my ex-girlfriend.

HH: I dated his ex-girlfriend so we didn't like each other.

NT: Who was, not to get weird, Joe's sister.

HH: I didn't want to drop that nugget.

MC: And your sister's my current girlfriend.

HH: Yeah and three-fourths of us are Canadian.

RT: I'm Canadian!

HH: Oh yeah, where are you from?

RT: I'm from Ontario.

HH: Oh that sucks.

MC: Where in Ontario?

RT: Like an hour west of Montreal, a small mill town. It's called Cornwall.

NT: I SAID Cornwall did you not hear that? We have documentation. I said that twice but it's OK, you were in a weird trance.

RT: What is your spirit animal?

HH: Mine is a —

NT: Don't say it.

HH: Drunk lima bean.

RT: Can you tell us why?

HH: No.

JP: Mine's a domesticated dog.

NT: Mine's the organ player from the Animals.

MC: You mean Alan Price?

NT: Yeah!

HH: And what's yours, Rudy (to MC)?

MC: Mine's a domesticated Alan Price.

NT: That's the Alan Price you pay.

RT: Who is your greatest influence as a band?

NT: Roy Orbison.

JP: I concur.

NT: Sam Cooke.

HH: And Glen Danzig.

NT: And Glen Gould.

MC: Eric Burton.

HH: And Elliot Gould. Have you seen The Long Goodbye? The opening scene.

MC: The catfood scene?

HH: That's probably the biggest influence.

JP: What a great apartment.

NT: And Cats the musical, and "Dr. Cats" the cartoon.

HH: Dr. Zhivago, not "Dr. Who", that confuses me.

NT: And not the Who.

RT: Studio performance vs. performing live? What's the difference?

HH: Clothing and happies.

NT: Temperature and applause.

RT: Speaking of temperature how do you like Houston/Texas/Rice?

JP: It's very humid here.

HH: I wanna go to the death museum.

NT: It is hot here. Two-fourths of us were in Toronto, or four-eighths of us were in Toronto, I should say.

MC: Or ... one-half of us.

HH: Oh. Einstein. Break it down. Super simple.

NT: He has a beautiful mind, we don't want to get into it.

HH: Yes it might crack.

NT and HH: Might crack. Mike Crack, that's his name. Mike Crack.

RT: I'm not going to ask questions about the "Arrested Development" movie that is supposedly coming out soon.

MC: Well you don't need to, I'll just talk about my career. All the various facets ...

HH: You know this is our last show with Michael right? He's quitting.

RT: Why are you quitting?

NT: We firing him let's be real.

MC: I don't like these types of interviews, I don't like this vibe.

HH: You guys got the last taste.

MC: Personality clash, I have to hide behind eyeglasses.

NT: You guys should check out Steal This Movie.

MC: Steal This Movie ... does that answer your question? They just asked my to play with them because the three of them recorded without a bass player so they someone to play bass when they played live.

RT: You guys all have other projects and bands you worked on before this, can you talk about ...

NT: Cornwall? Just giving a shout out.

JP: I sometimes play for Modest Mouse, and I have a band called Robot Horse, and that's it. Mister Heavenly. I think that's it for now. On paper.

NT: But in the cloud, you're big on the cloud computing.

JP: I do work with the Silver Wizard.

RT: What is the Silver Wizard?

JP: This guy named John Goff? Who plays with neurosis and he's a synth weirdo. And we play together.

RT: And how does it relate to cloud computing?

JP: He just sent me something to listen to this morning.

NT: I'm playing with the Philosopher Kings, doing an upcoming tour in May. And then in April, I've got an Our Lady Peace mini tour, we're just doing the east coast of the Mediterranean. And then in June, I'm going to be doing a Tragically Hip kind of opening slot.

MC: It's been so long since you've done that.

HH: I was a big WWI fan, just like historian style. That's how I first came across Joseph, because he kind of reminded me of a WWI trench hero.

MC: You were googling WWI lookalikes.

HH: Yeah yeah yeah, and I saw a photograph of Joseph.

NT: And we met actually at the Rotorouter convention, who are number one in the number two business, that's our slogan.

MC: The brown sound.

HH: Rudy —

NT: Can't fail.

MC: Well I just love having a good time.

NT: Which is a lie. He's miserable.

MC: And Rice College, is where I was going if I was at the right age.