Tag Archives: pezz

#1265: Pezz (Billy Talent) – Square Root of Me

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Last year, 31st May, the people of Billy Talent did the thing that I, and I’m sure many a fan, was waiting on for the longest time, which was finally releasing their first first album Watoosh! onto streaming services. By that date, I was already well accustomed to the record, having had it in my iTunes library since about 2009. Thanking my sister for downloading it from Amazon for that one. And even then I’d known four songs from it since at least 2005. But last year was when it became much more accessible for everyone to hear. Watoosh! was the only album Billy Talent made when under their original name of ‘Pezz’. The music wasn’t as heavy, but just as energetic and melodic. Some would say “weirder” for whatever reason. But I know it’s an album that I prefer to the last couple that Billy Talent have released recently.

‘Square Root of Me’ is the ninth song on Watoosh! The title’s one that I haven’t been able to come to a conclusion too. It doesn’t appear in the lyrics, just like every other song on the album, though at least on a few others their titles have some sort of relation to the subject matter. In ‘Square Root…’, Ben Kowalewicz sings about being a full-grown adult and reminisces on the days when he’d get beaten up by bullies and swear that he’d get his revenge one day. The first verse is the same as the second. Well, there’s a one-word difference in the second. And after that the song’s changes to a minor key, an instrumental break settles in, after which Kowalewicz and guitarist Ian D’Sa harmonize the line “I like you anyway” until the song fades out. The whole shifting-movement-halfway-through-the-song structure is one that’s used on every track on the album. But the songs are different enough that it doesn’t become a massive issue. Very noticeable once you recognise the pattern though.

I’m not sure what else I could cover about this one. I find myself singing along to almost every element in the track, whether it be D’Sa’s various guitar riffs and chords, to bassist Jon Gallant’s lines and obviously the vocals. Each part has something in it that my ear immediately latches on to. The thing I’ve always admired about Billy Talent is that even though they’re primarily a punk band, D’Sa incorporates a lot of jazzier chords in his playing that sets they’re whole thing apart from the rest. So there will be a chord slipped in with a note that stands out more than the rest that enriches the whole listening experience. I’m sure there’s plenty of those in this, if only I knew music theory. It’s pretty much guaranteed that Billy Talent won’t perform any of the Watoosh! songs live, if you were to go and see them. In their words, they were a totally different band then. And that is the truth. So I’m glad that at least a few more people will be able to hear their older music now, rather than have it be this thing that only the “true” fans knew about. It’s pretty good stuff.

#924: Pezz (Billy Talent) – Nita

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I’m waiting for the day when the band members of Billy Talent collectively say “Fuck it,” and make their very first album, Watoosh!, available for all to stream. Before they named themselves Billy Talent, they went by the name Pezz and made that record before another band with the same name complained and forced them to change the moniker. I’ve seen fans ask them to play Pezz songs live, and I believe an answer in response was along the lines of them being Pezz songs and not Billy Talent songs. Basically saying that they’d outgrown them and don’t hold them in any high regard. Though in my view, I’d say the album has aged really well. It doesn’t sound like it belongs to any particular time. The tracks are unlike anything the band would do after the name change, which I think adds to the charm. And it’s not as groan-inducing as much as other bands’ earlier material can be.

‘Nita’ is the third song on Watoosh!, featuring probably the most zaniest vocal performances that singer Benjamin Kowalewicz has laid down on tape. I remember being ten years old, laughing out loud when he abruptly goes into motor-mouth mode only a few seconds in, and having to pause it and repeat it because I thought it was so strange. Eventually I let the track continue, and it continued to draw me in. The verses are led by these jazzy progressions, Ian D’Sa pulling off these licks while Jon Gallant and Aaron Solowoniuk lay it down on the rhythm section, all while Kowalewicz performs a spoken-word verse where he details a meeting between himself and a lady – who I’ll assume is the ‘Nita’ in the title. The song moves into the pre-choruse where the track forcefully changes into a more punk-like performance, before exploding into the wordless chorus and falling back into the verses again. There are a lot of melodic changes within this track, too many that I could type paragraph and paragraph about each one. It’s only right that you hear them because the way I write wouldn’t do them justice.

The song is a real us against the world type of song. Guy meets girl, they talk about the strangest things but like each other more because they feel comfortable doing so. They’ll laugh at the people walking to their jobs thinking “suckers” while they sit on the curb and talk rubbish. Sounds like a very carefree affair. What seems to get to the guy the most is the little things she says that stick with him, all of which are listed throughout the majority of the track. But then we reach the song’s ending where the line “You swore you’d never leave my side” is repeated, implying that it’s all coming from a point where the relationship has ended. A bit of a bittersweet one after all, but the fond memories remain. You see? There’s genuine emotion in this song. Free Watoosh!, Billy Talent. Get it out there.

#790: Pezz (Billy Talent) – M & M

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Here it is. The return. The Music in My Ears is back with the M’s. Looking through my phone, there are a lot of fine songs to cover. Today, we start with ‘M & M’ – a track that was the first of 17 on Billy Talent’s first ever album, the one they made before they were even known as Billy Talent. For a few years, the band from Canada was called Pezz. They released an album in 1999 called Watoosh!. The group went away afterwards, changed the name and image and came back with a completely different style.

Around 2004/2005 I was really excited about Billy Talent. I was on their official website a lot of the time and trying to find where I could listen to their songs. Came across a fansite on Geocities which had a list of their rare tracks available in a very low quality and in .wmv format, and Watoosh! was on there. Only the links for ‘M & M’, ‘Fairytale’, ‘Nita’, and the cover of ‘New Orleans Is Sinking’ worked. I think that site was also where I found ‘Beach Balls’ too. If only I could remember that website’s name… As someone who discovered Billy Talent first and then found out that they made this years before, I was very surprised in the best way possible. The whole first ‘official’ Billy Talent album was perfect in my eyes as a nine-year-old. And those other songs convinced me that this was a band who couldn’t write a bad track.

‘M & M’ was inspired by the group of goth kids who used to come into the HMV store where singer Ben Kowalewicz worked back in the day and is something of an observation and a look into the minds of the kids of that subculture. It doesn’t seem to be too different from the whole emo scene of the mid-2000s. Kids still loathe their parents, they’re made fun of because of their extravagant makeup, and they have a fascination with death. Instead of the usual heavy approach that Billy Talent would be known for on their first album, Pezz take things on with, dare I say, a bit of playfulness. The group play with the tempo a bit more and add a bit of skip to their rhythms. It’s like a strange ska-punk song. And then halfway through the track takes a bit of a dramatic turn and ends in a way that you wouldn’t have guessed when it first started. That happens a lot throughout ‘Watoosh!’ I still really like that album to this day, even though the members of Billy Talent don’t acknowledge it that much.

My iPod #351: Pezz (Billy Talent) – Fairytale

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For those of you who don’t know, Billy Talent used to be known as Pezz and produced a complete style of music under the moniker. Instead of the heavy, hard punk, post-hardcore rock they are recognised for their music went down a completely different route taking influences from ska, indie rock and a bit of hip-hop too.

Under that name they released one album labelled “Watoosh!” (a name which I can only think is the onomatopoeia of the noise a whip makes when used) in 1999. “Fairytale” is the second track on this album, and was one of the first four songs I heard when I found about Billy Talent’s past (albeit in very low quality). The other three being “M&M”, “Nita” and the Tragically Hip cover of “New Orleans Is Sinking”. Was the music different? Of course it was. But in a good way. In fact, at that point I was amazed that even when they weren’t Billy Talent, I still liked every song that they made. This was at a time when the first album was the only thing the band had to show.

I really liked “Fairytale” when I heard it for the first time. It was less angry and more brighter than Billy Talent material. Ian was still a maniac on guitar, Jon and Aaron still owned the rhythm and Ben had a bouncy rapid-fire vocal delivery that you would rarely hear today. Overall, it’s a very positive and energetic track about wanting to be in a relationship, but only being able to dream about it or something. Which probably sums up the title. Billy Talent used to be of those bands where the song titles never appeared in the song, you see.

My iPod #97: Pezz (Billy Talent) – Bird in the Basement

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“Bird in the Basement” is the title of this song by Billy Talent when they were in their Pezz phase, but the phrase doesn’t appear at all. It’s not sung by anyone, no one in the studio says it or anything. It’s the same for the rest of the songs on the album. Maybe it’s a phrase that only the members of the band are able to get. They probably won’t play any of “Watoosh!” any time soon though, so we’ll never know.

I mentioned how I came to own “Watoosh!” in my post for “Absorbed”, the last track of the album. However, I knew about the album since I was about ten years old. A Billy Talent fan uploaded the songs on their fan site but they were in terrible quality, and were eitther in wma or wav files. I just didn’t listen to this song until my sister bought the album for me in 2009. I think the link for it was broken.

As for the meaning of the song, it’s quite hard to say. I’m thinking it’s about a relationship where the couple feel that ‘everything is fake’ around them even though to other people, they are the problem. They are oblivious to the whole situation though, and look forward to sticking with one another when everything turns to crap.

This is my one hundredth post. Hooray! To anyone who reads this, thank you. You are the reason why I feel like I haven’t been wasting my time since February, when I started this thing.

Until tomorrow.

Jamie.