Driveway Travelling Light

Driveway is a new group from Toronto made up of ex-MAdE frontman Jason Taylor, ex-MAdE bass player Chris Sytnyk, drummer Robin Mason (Superhalo, Statistics), and Corey Matheson (Haggis) on banjo, pedal steel and guitar. These seasoned musicians have combined their influences that include Whiskeytown, The Jayhawks, Lucinda Williams, Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Pixies, and Sonic Youth to form this ƒ_-rock bandƒ_T. ƒ_oSome people are trying to call us alt-country, but thatƒ_Ts ƒ_-cause they are looking for an easy description. They hear a pedal steel and automatically assume ƒ_-countryƒ_T. Alt-country is a buzz word right now and the problem with buzz words is: one, they are hard to shake and two, they fall out of fashion. Weƒ_Tre just a rock band.ƒ__ says singer/songwriter, Jason Taylor of Drivewayƒ_Ts sound. Drivewayƒ_Ts self-titled debut was recorded independently and released by Curve Music. ƒ_oWe wanted to with small labels because we want to start out organically,ƒ__ says Taylor, ƒ_oIƒ_Td like the band to find and define itself.ƒ__ On their debut CD Taylor is the main songwriter; however the band is free to add whatever they feel. ƒ_oIƒ_Tll write a song and hash it out a little bit at home, just to get the overall structure of the song, then I bring it in and everyone puts their own thing on it,ƒ__ says Taylor, ƒ_olet the song after it has been ƒ_-sort-of-writtenƒ_T end up Drivewayified. The guys add all the magicƒ__ Driveway was lucky enough to get U.S. producer Keith Cleversley (The Flaming Lips, Urge Overkill and Spiritualized) to agree to produce some of the songs on the album. Taylor and Sytnyk established their relationship with Cleversley on the last MAdE album. Cleversley produced MAdEƒ_Ts Television Heart album. ƒ_oKeith has almost no ƒ_-amazingƒ_T gear, but he can pull off amazing recordings in spite of this,ƒ__ explains Taylor, ƒ_okind of like the guy who can whittle Michelangeloƒ_Ts ƒ_-Davidƒ_T out of a tree stump using only a jack-knife.ƒ__ The rest of the album was produced and mixed by Torontoƒ_Ts Lurch. Mason said ƒ_othe whole recording experience of the making of our record will stay with me for a long time, it was amazing.ƒ__ The guys in Driveway all have many years of recording and touring experience. Universal Music Canada and MCA in the U.S. released MAdEƒ_Ts first album, Bedazzler and Universal Canada distributed their second, Television Heart. The group broke up after the Universal/Polygram merger took place in 1999 after the albums received critical raves, but failed to sell well. Taylor said, ƒ_oAfter that I just wanted to get back to basics, back to my roots and just make music. Driveway was formed in 2002. ƒ_oI was writing for a couple of years, I remembered Robin from the old days and Chris was the bass player for MAdE, we put this project together and it was just the three of us for a while.ƒ__ The group put an ad in the back of a local magazine looking for a guitar player. ƒ_oWe only got one call and that was Corey Matheson,ƒ__ laughs Taylor. ƒ_oI remember talking to him on the phone and he said ƒ_-Iƒ_Tm from Nova Scotia, I play pedal steel, lap steel, piano, guitarƒ_݃_T and I said ƒ_-holy S@#t dude, Iƒ_Tll be over there in like five minutes.ƒ__ ƒ_oWe have all been in many bands before, some of us have even had a modest amount of success, but no matter what, we are in it for life, and I think to some degree this can be heard in the music,ƒ__ Taylor said, ƒ_oThereƒ_Ts something real about the music, thereƒ_Ts something magical when we are on stage together. I think the magic comes from the fact that music ƒ_-isƒ_T us, not just ƒ_-inƒ_T us. We are in it for the simple reason that we have no choice.ƒ__.