“If two men just ain’t right, then I’m living in a world that’s upside down…” Matt Rogers, lead vocalist and songwriter of Montreal-based LGBTQ indie-rock band Fleece, croons on “Upside Down,” a song off their gorgeous new LP, Stunning and Atrocious. With this album, the band isn’t holding back on sharing their roadmap for how they see the world.
In fact, Fleece has never paused, even for a moment, to define themselves or add labels to their experience, instead opting to open up and be. This band is au naturel and it shows, right from their earliest days and rise to notoriety through their rice cake-munching “How to write an Alt-J song” viral video (which amassed 12 million views). Since that video, that notoriety has only amplified.
Subsequent releases and antics have added fuel to this fire and grown large and dedicated followings on Spotify, Instagram and TikTok, resulting in worldwide audiences and millions of monthly streams. The band’s recent singles “Upside down,” “Do U Mind? (Leave The Light On),” and “Love Song for the Haters” have each leapt past the 2-million stream mark. Along the way the band found themselves on tour across North America multiple times, supporting renowned bands Tokyo Police Club, Born Ruffians, Mt. Joy, and others as their demand as a headliner grew in these same markets.
Tell us about the genesis of Fleece. How did you get to where you are now?
We started off as a five piece with five boys and it was kind of bro-ey and now we’re queer as fuck.
The addition of Megan and Jameson was a good one, but sometimes they’re annoying, and now annoying is our brand.
How would you describe the highs and lows of being an artist?
The highs are very inspiring. And the lows are when we’re not together. Generally whenever we’re together we have a really good support system with each other and I’d say majority of the time we’re really high together. This is not a euphemism.
Tell us about Stunning and Atrocious, and how it came about
It took four years to make. And involves a lot more collaboration than previous projects with Fleece. The name came at the end of the project. It was kinda an inside joke and then we realized it totally encapsulates the era we just went through while recording, personally as well as sonically.
What’s a musical guilty pleasure of yours?
Drake
MIKA
ABBA
Les Mislerables
The Wiggles
Fart Soundtrack (Ethan’s Fave)
What are some sources of inspiration for you?
Feelings and sound textures. Most of the songs are kind of like journal entries.
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
Tame impala
Bon iver
Johannes Brahms
Kacey Musgraces
Charlie Crockett
Adrienne Lenker
James Blake
Favorite activity to blow off some steam?
I love steaming my clothes!! Usually gets lots of steam out. Matt loves the bath house.
Some others are: Ironing. Making tea. Steamed brocolli and dumplings. Any steamy sport 😉 haha
What are some things you do to deal with anxiety and creative blocks?
Anxiety: breathing! And therapy. And sometimes weed honestly lol (matt and jamo)
Also just reminding yourself that pressure you put on yourself is self imposed.
Creative blocks: just try something new. Pick up a new instrument. Listen to a song you like, copy the structure. See your friends. Go for a walk and look at the world and show up to see what it shows you. Yeah.
What’s the future looking like for you?
Stunning and Atrocious
What inspires your visuals, videos, looks etc?
We love colours. We love humour. We love culty images. We have kind of recognized what people like about fleece and continue on that path of queer, colorful, silly and sincere.
What is the most embarrassing memory and most proud moment of your career so far?
Alt j vid might be most proud and embarrassing at the same time.
Ethan sent a nude to his therapist once. Pretty embarrassing moment of his career.
One time i poured a beer on ethans drum set for no reason on tour. I dunno. Im doing better now. (Matt)
Opening for mt joy at the danforth music hall was pretty cool.
Also the fact that leave the light on has 250k views on youtube is pretty lit.
One time Megan had a nip slip onstage. Is that embarrassing or awesome though?
What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Matt: If you can’t be good, don’t be bad. (David Rogers)
Jamo: Figure out what you wanna learn about (Ian Chisholm)
Ethan: Farts are pretty cool (Howie Mandel)
Megan: Let your doggy be a good doggy (Jane Slemon)
Where do you think the music and entertainment industry is headed after this past shutdown?
Big parties. Lots of independent music
