Jason Darr :: vocals, guitar & programming
Paule Sperman :: bass
Jerrod Maxwell-Lyster :: guitar and backup vocals
Rob Shawcross :: drums
Blatantly, brutally honest, Out Of Your Mouth frontman Jason Darr is a rarity in the see-noevil,
speak-no-evil Canadian music scene. As vehement and unapologetic as their creator, the
songs on the Calgary band’s Vikrecordings/BMG Canada Inc. May 18th debut, Draghdad are an
intense build of hard rock, industrial reinforcement, stand-out lyrics, and big, catchy, killer
choruses.
From the heavy crunch of the lead track, "Thanks For Nothing," through to the selfexplanatory
"Wank," the stalker situation of "Stray," and self abusive snobbery of the melodic
"Beautiful When You’re Mad," Out Of Your Mouth offers a no-words-barred cathartic attack
for the band and all who listen. "I want to reach people the way music reached me when I
was young," says the singer. "I want people to be able to identify with this – whether it’s love
it, hate it, smile, frown. I want people to feel it."
OOYM is good old fashioned aggressive, in-your-face music that doesn’t neglect knock-out
hooks. Simple yet irresistible "Bla Bla Bla" and "Kaboom" are a perfect kick-off to the "twisted
freak show" that follows. We warmed your ears up with "Thanks For Nothing" at radio.
Now we’re walloping your senses by a torrential downpour of adds at radio for the official
first single, a fiercely frolicking cover of Madonna’s "Music" and an in-your-face heavy add at
MuchMusic right out of the gate. The dark, yeah sometimes disturbing video, shot by TWO
THREE FIVE FILMS’ harv (Something Corporate, Closure, Live), is but the tip of the iceberg
with what Out Of Your Mouth has in store for this country.
The story of Out Of Your Mouth is filled with twists and turns, potholes and landmines,
producers and record companies and oh… did we mention a few name changes. It began with
the Flu, a Calgary band that garnered attention from U.S. and Canadian record labels. Winning
a local songwriting competition at C-JAY92 with "Beautiful When You’re Mad" from its
second independent album, Peculiar, Flu was awarded a showcase spot at Toronto’s Canadian
Music Week 2001.
A showcase in a Toronto club proved the band had its chops. Business cards flew at them in
droves, drinks flowed like a kid’s nose at a skating rink. A&R execs from south of the border
and Canada salivated at the chance they saw before them. Not soon after, a showcase in New
York landed major label demo deal in their laps and studio time with David Ogilvie (Skinny
Puppy, NIN). Like a page out of the ‘rock n roll’ textbook, a full recording never resulted and
the band was at the market shopping again.
Never timid, Zomba Canada felt something in the bones of the music they’d heard, flew to
Calgary and signed the band in 2002. Enter producer Gavin Brown (Three Days Grace, Billy
Talent, Thornley), and there was light. Headstrong and self-contained (he plays nearly every
instrument), lead singer Jason is keen enough to succeed to listen to words of wisdom. "Gavin
musically produced the shit out of this band," Jason says. "I had no idea that we could
improve that much musically. I was that fat-headed and arrogant. I thought we were great. I
thought, what the f#@k do we need a producer for?"
A slight issue with trademarking the name Flu sent the band back to the chalkboard and
another round of ‘Name That Band’. Lists and lists later, Jason settled on Triple Six just to get
going on the album. Confused yet? Add to it a line-up change, replacing all but one other
member of the band. With Paule and Jason remaining from the zygote known as Flu, Triple
Six entered the studio with Jason on vocals, guitar, programming and bass; Paule on drums and
Jerrod Maxwell-Lyster on guitar and vocals.
And into the studio they went. All the songs were written, but with Gavin’s help they became
less sound-based and complicated, and more song and vocal-hook based. In fact, "Beautiful
When You’re Mad," "Ugly" and "Bug" were on Peculiar, but in pre-production for Draghdad
evolved into brand new renderings. "We took the best part of each song and wrote new
songs," Jason says.
With everything on track, the band completed their debut, Draghdad, adding at the last
minute, a ballad called , "The Dream", that Jason had written and recorded on his own in the
basement as a tribute to his mother who had died in Feb 2000. He also added some expletiveheavy
original phone messages, as a "bonus," and humorous closing to a heavy album.
Just two more changes – The band hated the name Triple Six. They really did. So before the
album was mastered, and after Zomba joined the BMG team (and the band became a BMG
signing), Triple Six stuck it’s head in the oven and lit the match. After tortuous rounds of once
again ‘Name That Band’… one of the members cracked, screaming out "I can’t believe that
came out of your mouth." And Out Of Your Mouth was born and christened.