Steven - Who am I talking to and what do you do?
Yvo - Yvonne Moir, tenor sax in the Expos
Max - Max Rubino, Trumpet and newest addition to the band
Steven - So you guys have had a pretty busy year, what have you been up to lately?
Yvo - Lots of really cool things have been going on around here lately. I guess the first thing is the fact that we’re now a part of the Stomp Records family (www.unionlabelgroup.com) and we’re re-releasing our album “Old Friends”. It’s coming out on Sept. 26th and I think it sounds awesome. We actually got it re-mastered, so even if you have a copy of Old Friends from when we were “the Donuts”, check this one out too.
Max - Rock the up sale!
Yvo - haha… Whatever man, it sounds awesome. Anyways, we’ve been getting ready for this massive tour we’re doing with One Night Band.
Max - It’s good to love the band you’re touring with, or else you’d get sick of their shit pretty quick. High fives all around! These guys are really talented and cool to hang out with, I think it’s a good match up.
Yvo - Yeah, I can’t see myself getting sick of them too soon.
Steven - If you don’t mind my asking, what happened to the old horn section?
Yvo - I’ll take this one I guess…. Quick run down of the horns: Red (trombone) Rico (trumpet) and Mich (organ/tenor sax) were the original guys. Mich used to play the horn parts and his organ parts when he didn’t have horn parts. Rico ended up going to school and they needed someone to fill in. They called me and asked if I’d play a couple shows they had booked and of course I said yes. Over the course of the weekend I decided that it would be amazing to play full time with these guys and I think they wanted the same thing to happen, but didn’t flat out ask. For a couple weeks, I was practicing and playing shows with them and then we kinda asked each other “what’s going on?”. From then on it’s been wicked fun.
Max - Yvo called me up one day and asked me what I was doing in the fall. I told her I had school to finish off, but asked why anyways. She told me that the band was going on tour, and unfortunately Red couldn’t come because of his schoolin’. She wanted to know if I’d be into joining the band and skipping off the semester, there was absolutely no way I’d ever turn that down. I took a summer course to get some of my credits out of the way and agreed to become an “Expo”. So here I am.
Steven - Where are you touring to?
Yvo - Everywhere! We’re heading out across Canada, all the way to Vancouver Island to play beautiful Victoria and then south to California, across Arizona and Texas to North Carolina…. I think an easier question would be “where aren’t you going”. We’re hitting at least 20 states, cities like Nashville, Austin, Las Vegas, NYC and Boston. It’s going to be pretty crazy.
Steven - Any future plans?
Yvo - I think we’ll start with this tour and see if we’re still alive at the end of it. Future plans…. A lot of the guys are going back to school in January, so I think we’ll take that time to jam and write new songs. Hopefully we’ll have another record this summer and do it all again.
Max - Go to school and graduate so I can just do music for the rest of my life. I’m looking forward to touring and checking out all the places that because of playing the trumpet, I’ll get to see.
Steven - Any advice you’d give to young bands?
Max - Practice hard and if you like the stuff you’re playing, someone else will dig it too.
Yvo - Think about your band as a business and don’t let anyone rip you off or try to use you. But also you’ve gotta play as much possible and pay your dues. Gas money is a blessing. Thanks!
Interview conducted through email with Yvonne Moir and Max Rubino of The Expos (www.theexpos.ca) by Steven Edwards for Social Lubricant Fanzine. Check them out when they come through your town on their 50+ date North American tour. You can also check out One Night Band at www.myspace.com/theonenightband .
Contact: Steven Edwards @ stevensocial@hotmail.com