Local band Black Treacle is making an impression in the music scene, and it’s easy to see why. Their sound is dreamy yet heavy, and instantly transports the listener to a time of basement block parties and Sony Walkmans, a time where tapes of The Cure, The Charlatans, and The Smiths lined teenagers’ shelves. Black Treacle’s music is melancholy, unique, and it imprints itself on those who hear it.
Vocalist/guitarist Ray Nufer—who is also a third-year Camosun Visual Arts student, and Nexus student editorial assistant—says that the band started as a studio experiment and blossomed from there.
“We played our first show in January, so we’ve been performing live for about half a year,” says Nufer. “After our first year, we released an album… Harry [Breeze, guitar/bass synths/vocals] comes from a recording background, and he was the one who got me interested in tape machines, envelope filters, and other kinds of vintage equipment. Harry brought his recording background to Black Treacle, and I brought a great deal of lyric writing and songwriting—I come from a writing, poetry, and art background. So what I personally bring to Black Treacle is a lot of the visuals, the photography, illustrations, sometimes animation, so together I think we make a pretty great team.”
And along with drummer Andrew Brown, each band member has been influenced by different music, which helps give Black Treacle—who are playing at this year’s Good Party fest, which is free, although donations for charity will be accepted—its unique sound.
“Harry is really ’60s, ’70s inspired, and I’m a lot more ’80s, ’90s post-punk inspired. We want people to listen to us and feel like they’re listening to a lost eight-track recording.”
Even though Black Treacle is fairly new on the music scene, they have already had some very memorable musical experiences. For example, the band’s first gig was supposed to be in a little apartment in Chinatown; it got shut down at the last minute and the band hit social media looking for a new space.
“So, someone answered who had just started putting on painting parties in the basement of Archer Gallery… This person had never hosted music events, we had never put on a live show. But we went there and saw how big and beautiful a space it was, he had lights, we had our own sound equipment, plus one of Andrew’s friends who knew how to drum tech, and all the bands collaborated to make a proper show space, and over 200 people came to the show, like everyone who had heard of Black Treacle and at least 100 more. It turned out to be a really, really big night, and we played fabulously.”
Nufer says that they still have people approach them about that performance, but the band’s first love will always be the studio.
“We’re a group that was born in the studio, and that will always be our main prerogative, but I personally really like performing,” she says. “Harry and I both agree that we’d like to keep performing on the west coast, where post-punk and alternative rock are pretty well received. We don’t really have ambitions other than just keeping it local and staying true to our creative selves.”
Good Party fest
Friday, September 13
Saturday, September 14
Sunday, September 15
Free, Vic West Community Centre