As far as rock bands are concerned, Trevor Tuminski believes two heads are better than one ... or three or four.
Singer-guitarist Tuminski, 24, and multi-instrumentalist David Swiecicki, 25, are the sole members of Winnipeg-based rock act Jet Set Satellite, whose riffy first single Best Way To Die has been heard frequently on MuchMusic and Canadian rock radio.
They've needed to add a few musicians for their current tour -- which finds them opening for Bif Naked tonight at the Palace -- but the pair have no plans to permanently swell their ranks. Simply, they'd rather have the headache of hiring tour musicians than the headache of arguing with a full-time drummer over issues of artistic direction.
"We really like our tiny democracy. We're getting really used to it," says Tuminski in a telephone interview. "There's a gearhead technical guy in every band and there's a mouthpiece in every band. (Swiecicki) is the gearhead and I'm the mouthpiece. So we sort of trim the fat, in a way.
"It certainly facilitates the songwriting process.... We incorporate all sorts of elements into the music and whatever we do inevitably becomes Jet Set Satellite music."
Which is as good a description as any for their debut album Blueprint, a heavily
produced modern-rock album that makes use of such seemingly incongruous elements as grungy guitars, ambient atmospheres and world-music percussion.
"We're just sound junkies," Tuminski explains. "We're not necessarily influenced by one band or another. We're mainly interested in a sound someone got in this song, or what a producer did here in the vocals, and we appreciate those elements in a wide variety of music and not just rock music. So, sometimes, with the world percussion, we might have drawn that from a soundtrack or a Peter Gabriel song and match it up with a big, dumb rock riff."
Blueprint came into being through a series of happy accidents. Tuminski had wanted to make a solo album and was told through friends about Swiecicki, who operated a home studio.
"We lived five minutes apart and never met each other," Tuminski points out.
They were introduced to each other and, soon after, work on Tuminski's solo record began. Then Swiecicki brought some of his own songs to the sessions.
"After we got the songs all together and they had such a common thread running through the mix, we realized it's not two solo projects any more. It's a band."
Enter Sarah Mc-Lachlan's producer Pierre Marchand.
Swiecicki, needing advice on miking an upright piano, sent a letter and a tape of the material to his producer idol.
Marchand didn't just have miking advice. He promised to send the tape to Vancouver-based Nettwerk Records, home of McLachlan and Skinny Puppy.
"He kept his promise and, a couple days later, Nettwerk flew us to Vancouver to do a showcase.... We were just blown away."
Nettwerk inked the pair to a record deal and sent them to Montreal to record with producer Michel Pepin early last year, even before the act had a name.
Tuminski still can't believe his luck.
"Dave and I are do-it-yourselfers and we were interested in putting out the album on our own. We weren't seeking any label interest. It just accidentally happened."
He laughs. "Welcome to the world of Jet Set Satellite."
