Written by Ian Blechschmidt

New sound? Check. New album? Check. Blondie cover? Check and check. Looks like Ripped is ready to...well, ready to rip. Sandy (vocals) and Moooooooody (guitars) talk to Indiesoundz about production, film, and...Burlington? Read on...


In your various bio sheets, you give a lot of credit to the various producers that you’ve worked with (e.g., Mike Hanson, Ashton Price); is production a particularly important part of Ripped’s music?

Production is of great importance in our music and we give credit where credit is due. When we work with a Producer, we are asking them to come up with a cohesive sound that accurately reflects the song. The music is too personal to us and we are not the best listeners to what we write — an outside observer is of the most importance and when they bring out a song to its best, then they have done a their job.

Has working with people like Mike and Ashton had a big effect on the way you make music?

Yes , they make us think of things that we would never have thought of. Although the ideas are ours, they help bring them out and create new methods of writing styles. Our song "Make it Happen" was originally a dark goth song. Mike Hanson saw it as a pop song and it worked!

Your sound has changed for the new album — why is that? Was this a conscious decision?

Yes , this was a conscious decision. We did not want to duplicate our sound from before because we are always changing and growing and wanted the music to change and grow with us. We gave Ashton about 20 songs to choose from, and another 10 from artists and producers that we liked, and together we created a flow for the album. There is a definite flow in the album, you can hear the styles change as the album plays through.

You cover Blondie’s “Call Me” on the new album; why did you choose this particular song (besides the fact that Blondie rules)?

This song was chosen because we could make it our own. This does not sound like the original and has its own dimension that was not there in Blondie version. We love Blondie and they are our greatest influence — they have everything in their music and we are impressed by that ( punk, new wave, rap, reggae, ska, pop, rock, disco ). And yes....Blondie rules!

You use the term “gothic” to describe your version of “Call Me;” do you feel that there’s generally a gothic/industrial feel to your music? What inspires that element of your sound?

We have a strong goth influence from The Sisters of Mercy and other dark sounding bands. Our record has element of goth which helped us get Dave Ogilvie to mix one of our songs ("Show Me") and still remains one of our favourite sounds. Our record can not be all goth because we have many dimensions which are reflected in this record and this is just one of them.

The Burlington/Oakville area seems to be a big producer of really good southern Ontario talent (Finger Eleven, Grade, and, of course, you guys); why is that?

Yes and there are many many more in the woodwork. I believe it is because of the practice space: there are over 12 different rooms in Burlington that are fully equipped with PA, Amps & Drums that can be rented by the hour. Kids and adults don't have to rely on parents and neighbours letting them practice and disturbing them. We can practice and jam without spending tons of money on renting a warehouse and taking a lease. This is the most perfect city to be in if you want to work on music — lots of rehearsal space and 1/2 hour drive from Toronto.

A lot of your music has made it into various independent films — why do you think your tunes fit that venue so well?

Mood, atmosphere & vision. We often write music with a movie or visual sequence in mind which allows it to adapt easily to film.

If Ripped were the subject of their own movie, would it be more like A Hard Days’ Night or Detroit Rock City?

Great question....but....I can not say that we have seen either of those movies. If we were to have a movie done, then we see it being a lot like Madonna's Truth or Dare: very personal and emotional, involving the whole cast and giv(ing) you the dirt on and behind the stage. (It would) concentrate on the story behind the tour and show the step by step evolution of the performance.

You’ve got the new album, Blow Your Mind, coming out in the spring — is there anything else you’ve got coming up that you’d like people to know about (e.g., show dates, etc.)?

Performances starting April and the CD release part will be early in May. See us at the Vatikan (1032 Queen st. W, Toronto, Ontario) on Saturday April 9. This will be our first performance for Blow Your Mind.