Steve Lambke of The Constantines talks to the Gazette

The newly reunited band’s Atlantic finale

Fun fact: not a single member of The Constantines is named Constantine. • • • Photo supplied

As The Constantines gear up to play their Nov. 14 reunion show at The Marquee, the Gazette had a chat with guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist Steve Lambke about the band.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the early 2000’s indie rock band, in Lambke’s words, “We formed the band in 1999 or so; Doug and Bry had grown up playing music together, and Dallas and I had played together in a number of bands. We all got to know each other a bit playing all-ages punk shows around southern Ontario. When we started jamming and writing songs together it just sort of clicked. Will joined after a couple of years and thing kind of took another leap with his input”.

He goes on to describe the band’s sound as “drawing on a bunch of punk and post-hardcore music” but later “combined that experience with some rock and roll and classic soul influences”.

When asked about the band’s success, Lambke remains modest as he says that “Any thoughts of ‘making it’ were pretty far from our minds at the time we started and I’d say we’re still pretty uncomfortable with such discussions. We just wanted to be a kick ass band and play some shows and make some records, and I think that’s still the healthiest way to think about it”.

Despite being uncomfortable with measuring their success by lists – the band’s sophomore release, Shine a Light, was mentioned as one of the 100 greatest Canadian albums of all time in the book, The Top 100 Canadian Albums – he still thinks that it’s “super nice to be mentioned in such company and to be thought of as good and worthy in your field”. When asked about the upcoming tour and the band’s plans for the future, Lambke says that “we definitely missed playing together! Something very unique and special happens between the five members of this band that doesn’t happen in any of the other music any of us play. It’s a certain energy and attitude that is hard to describe. Rock and roll bands operate on a mysterious chemistry; it’s rare and surprising and wonderful when it happens. We haven’t talked about our next plans yet, so I’ll have to just leave it at ‘we’ll see’.”

The band is excited to return back to Halifax for the concert and Lambke expressed even more excitement about their opening act: Jon Mckiel – “I hear his current band is killer, so it should be an excellent set. As for the Cons, this is the last show of our tour, so I’m pretty stoked to go out with a bang”