Woodhands ‘reclaim the phallus for keyboard players’

*This is a reworked reprint of an article I wrote for Chart Magazine in April of 2008.*

It’s hard to believe the funky electronic dance-pop of Woodhands comes from just two men. Keytar-toting frontman Dan Werb and rhythm section Paul Banwatt are aided only by a sea of cables, effect pedals and the energy of their raucous live shows.

It can often be difficult for a band to translate their live energy on to disc. Not so for Woodhands, explains Werb while discussing their new album, Heart Attack.

“The whole point of going to shows is to see these people grind out music. To see your favourite performer’s show, you see what they’re all about — show you where the music is coming from.”

Woodhands are among the growing trend of electronic musicians — along with the likes of We Are Wolves, Junior Boys and Holy Fuck — who address the disconnect between performer and fan by dropping the smoke and mirrors of the laptop for tangible instruments. “You got a guy with a laptop, it doesn’t matter how many other instruments you have on stage, in the back of your mind you’re gonna be like, ‘So, what is real?,’” Werb laments. “We build all of our shit on stage. There are no prerecorded samples. We build our songs right there. Everyone can see where they’re coming from.”

Woodhands have garnered recent attention for their use of a Casio AX-7 keytar. An instrument almost exclusively linked to the big hair and decadence of 1980’s synth pop stars such as Prince, John Tesh and Devo. Werb is among the new breed of electronic musicians who embrace the instrument, yet some have criticized the band for using it for the purposes of irony. Werb cautions that it is not a joke, it’s all just part of the live show. “Guitarists do it, and they never get shit for it. So I guess I’m reclaiming the phallus for keyboard players” Woodhands’ music is “groin centred” and performing onstage with an oversized phallus is one of the ways they connect with the audience.

Both Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! and Sarah Liss of Now Magazine describe the band as sexy, Werb doesn’t know where it comes from, but concedes it might have something to do with their live performance. “I love music, I love hard hard, bangin’ beats. I love Dirty synth lines, and when I’m performing I show that love. I let myself be overtaken by it… People say it’s sexy; it’s just like being in the moment and not giving a fuck what anybody thinks.”

Heart Attack’s sexiest songs, “Dancer”, about a pick-up artist on the dance floor and “I Can’t See Straight”, with it’s grinding synth fills, have been around in some form on the band’s MySpace page for a couple of years, survivors of Werb finally finding the right musical partner. “Last year I met Paul Banwatt,” he says. “Since then, we’ve written a lot of stuff together, and it’s been totally collaborative. The older stuff I wrote, we just adapt and change.”

It seems like the current incarnation of Woodhands is here to stay, which is why Werb is a bit hesitant to discuss the band’s first release, the decidedly more ambient Baggagetown EP. “We never really released it,” he explains. “We sold it at two to three shows. I’m proud of that, but it’s not our project. It’s a different project. That’s a testament to Paul’s influence, and my own growth as a performer.” Dan Werb, a Vancouver native has found a musical partner in crime in Banwatt and a vibrant musical community in Toronto, and has no plans to leave. By his own admission, “If your life gets crazy, I think the soundtrack to your life requires a drummer.” Judging by the tremendous crowd support and positive media the band has been receiving; Werb’s life is just going to get crazier.