This is War

Revamped rock band has plans for John Mayer's corpse.

by M.J. Fine

Michael T. Regan (L-R) Jim Foley and Andy Paull (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

It's easy to get lost in the jaunty melodies and sublime harmonies of Three Cheers for the Invisible Hand, Canadian Invasion's third disc. "Pop Magic Fantastical Masterpiece" chimes and shimmers in all the right places, "The Last Time I Went to Church" boogies like the Dead and the spirited "Juvenilia" salutes Letters to Cleo.

But don't take all those sunny sounds at face value, or you'll miss the darkness that lurks in Andy Paull's often absurd tales of suburban malaise.

"We kind of joke that our last record was slow and depressing and that this one is fast and depressing," the singer-guitarist says over a few brews at Monk's. When you live your whole life in New Jersey, as Paull has, sometimes you can't help but wonder what you're missing.

"What I think the record is, in a lot of ways, is kind of nightmare visions of what my life could be or what it might have been," says Paull, who was raised in Cherry Hill, lives in Collingswood and teaches English at a high school near Trenton.

He sees himself in the characters he writes about. "Even though I haven't done those things or I never will do those things."

"Those things" include infidelity, overindulgence and ambushing John Mayer at the supermarket, burying him behind the house and building a basketball court on top of his remains.

For Paull, the singer he skewers in "Standing on the Shoulders of the Carcass of John Mayer" isn't just an easy target for his bland brand of blues and string of celeb exes.

"He's emblematic to me of this culture of, like, not really being anything," Paull says. "I think for a lot of people, that song seems like it's a red herring on our record, but I think it's perfectly suited to the theme of the record. Because what's his identity? He's just this guy, like, he wears T-shirts from the mall and sings songs that he thinks girls will like, and that their moms will like, too."

Michael T. Regan (L-R) George Groves, Chris Morita, Eric Miller (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Contempt for the mall-going masses comes through in Paull's wry lyrics, but for bassist Jim Foley, a Northeast native who's made Cherry Hill his home, it's not the setting that's corrupt but the mind-set. And that's universal.

"Everybody wants what they don't have," Foley says. No one fully appreciates what they do have, least of all the wasted teens and burned-out parents who populate Three Cheers, which came out last month on Transit of Venus.

Paull didn't set out to write a concept record. At first, he was just trying to keep his band alive. Canadian Invasion started losing members even before they recorded 2006's Songs for the Atco Ghost, and the stampede didn't stop there. Foley responded to a Craigslist ad in time to play on one song on that record, and soon after he brought in drummer George Groves, guitarist Eric Miller and multi-instrumentalist Chris Morita, all onetime colleagues at Disc Makers.

Their instant chemistry was a relief for Paull, the lone holdover from the original lineup. He'd written most of the group's songs, but with the departure of vocalist Matt Wanamaker, he had to learn to be a frontman. Paull — who'd sung only "Sidescrolling" on the last album — credits producer Brian McTear with helping him find his voice and refine the songs.

It's paid off, Foley says.

"People really appreciate the songs, be it people who share the same opinions that we do or people who are living those experiences right now, they all come to the show," Foley says.

"And they like the songs for different reasons, but they laugh at themselves, or they just feel good to be understood."

If listeners are just hooked by the hooks and miss the sentiments, well, there are worse fates.