Let’s start at the beginning. Your band first got together in 2001, correct?

Kat Taylor-Small: Yeah, 2001 was the year that Justin and I met, and we formed the band immediately thereafter.

How’d you guys meet?

Kat Taylor-Small: Basically through the Toronto music scene, which is pretty insular. Everybody kind of knows everyone in it. I was playing in a band at the time called Deep Dark United, and Justin was in Do Make Say Think but he also had a solo project called Someone is Flying, which is kind of his singer-songwriter thing. My band and his band played a couple of shows together, and it was kind of a backstage hanging out kind of thing, and that was that.

How did everyone end up in Toronto?

Kat Taylor-Small: Well, Justin is originally from a town called Ajax which is just outside of Toronto – about a 40 minute drive. I have a different story – I was born and raised in England and then moved to Montreal where I went to high school and started out as a musician. Then I moved to Toronto for University and basically just stayed. Justin was my reason for staying there after I finished school, and it's my home now.

Your album in 2006, Ampgrave, was fabulous and had a lot going on, and I was surprised to hear you guys so stripped-down on the new album. Why did you decide to move in this new direction?

Kat Taylor-Small: When we first started the band it was a duo, and it was more similar to the way it was now. But as we started writing songs, we had access to all of these horn players and organ players – mostly through Do Make Say Think – that we thought it would be fun to really fill out the sound and have the other musicians play with us live. When we wrote Ampgrave we wanted to bring that in. It kind of had a soul vibe, which is what we were going for at the time. We changed our direction after it started becoming very difficult to coordinate all of the musicians in that band. So we decided, “Why don’t we just go back to the duo?” [Justin speaking in the background] And Justin was just saying that the horn players never showed up for band rehearsal. [laughs]

Have you found that there’s been a drastic change in perception of your band? Constellation records has this reputation of being thinker-person’s music with all this instrumental stuff, and now you’re on Vice Records banging out Slayer covers.

Kat Taylor-Small: Even when we were on Constellation we never really fit in with that very dramatic, kind of drawn-out roster. When we joined they were trying to branch out a bit. We were surprised that they wanted to put Ampgrave out but we were thrilled that they did. I mean yeah, we often did get audience members – especially throughout Europe - expecting us to be a bit more Godspeed-y or A Silver Mt. Zion-y and especially Do Make Say Think-y. But at the same time Constellation is a pretty punk rock label when it comes to their attitude about things. And Vice is so all over the map when it comes to musical styles, and I think what they look for is just something a bit more unique. They’re looking for something just a bit more different or edgy, and I think that’s why we fit with them pretty well.

Tell us about this new record, where did it come from, songwriting wise? Was there actually a lot of anger guiding it?

Kat Taylor-Small: Did you say anger?

Yeah.

Kat Taylor-Small: No, I wouldn’t say anger at all. I mean, we’re a married couple, and a happily married couple. And most of those songs are about love more than anger. And that's like the title of the record: Threats/Worship. You can categorize each song around the concept of a threat or worship. And worship is all admiration and love, and the threat isn’t necessarily angry, but more like a call to arms – “Come on everybody, let’s do this!” I’m going to hand the phone to Justin…

Justin Small: We’re racing back to Toronto 'cause we’re singing with Fucked Up tonight. They’re getting nominated for this thing called the Polaris Prize that they have here in Canada. I just wanted to add to this...I kind of liken it to the idea like how you meet a metal dude in a band, and they’re usually the most well-adjusted, easy-going folk, and I think it’s because they get their anger and aggression out through the music. That’s kind of where I thought Threats/Worship came from. Whenever we get done practicing or done with a performance, I feel great, like a release has happened. I think it’s got quite a bit of positivity behind it, even if the approach is aggressive.