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While most artists might cringe knowing their first artistic statements would be released to the public 15 years later, Vancouver rock band 54.40 approves of the new Columbia/Sony CD, The Sound Of Truth (The Independent Collection), which compiles 1982's Selection EP and 1984's Set The Fire.
"We've all sung the songs as a band in the van or tour bus, driving from venue to venue," says co-founder and bassist Brad Merritt, demonstrating obvious fondness for the independently-released material on the since defunct MO=DA=MU label.
"It's been a reference point for us, in terms of making records since then, and it is right now, going into the making of the next record," says Merritt who formed the band with lead vocalist-guitarist Neil Osborne. "It was a very DIY kind of approach. Also, there was a lot of naivete that we had naturally. You didn't call it a career back then (laughs). We did all sorts of things which made the record different," he says, citing the percussive use of a Coke bottle and bits of metal on "Around The The Bend".
54.40 made its recording debut in 1981 with a four-song LP, Things Are Still Coming Ashore, on the Modern Dance Music collective of local musicians, otherwise known as MO=DA=MU. The co-founder of the artist-run label and co-producer of Set The Fire, Allen Moy, whose band Popular Front had dissolved, eventually became 54.40s long-time manager. Another familiar name in the Set The Fire credits is producer Dave Ogilvie, who went on to produce Marilyn Manson's Antichrist Superstar with Trent Reznor, among others.
"Dave was the assistant engineer/coffee maker at Mushroom Studios, just came in from Montreal," recalls Merritt. "We were all in our early 20s, and he was the nerdy guy with glasses running the tape machine. We were working with Lindsay Kidd -- he did Queen records in England and he was the house engineer at Mushroom -- and he didn't get where we were coming from.
"We had this narrow focus, our manifesto, our ideas, so we excused him and pointed around and said, `YOU!!! Do you know how to make this thing work?' and Dave Ogilvie nods. We promoted him on the spot, and he started turning the dials and pushing the faders and that was Dave Ogilvie's start in engineering and producing."
Flash forward and 54.40 has just returned from England, where its latest studio album, Trusted By Millions, was released on Birmingham indie label Revolver. In June, the band flies to Toronto to play some Ontario dates and the Grand Prix in Montreal, before boarding a tour bus to play across Canada.
;54.40 has demoed 12 songs and is finalising the producer. Recording of the new album might begin as early as August, for release in early `98. Merritt describes the direction as "rock `n' roll, as opposed to rock." If 54.40 doesn't make it into the studio in August, it will in October, following some September college shows and its first tour of Australia, where Trusted By Millions will be released on Epic/Sony.