Childhood pals take Immaculate show on road
By Mike Devlin

There is trial by fire, and there is tour by fire. Local noise-pop trio Immaculate Machine came into its own by way of the latter last year.

"Something about lugging things upstairs at various bars across the country really brings you together as a band," jokes singer and keyboardist Kathryn Calder.

Indeed. But for Immaculate Machine, having two childhood friends in your band also helps. Calder, 22, met fellow members Brooke Gallupe (vocals, guitar) and Luke Kozlowski (vocals, drums) in their early teens when all were students at Vic High. Gallupe and Kozlowski had also gone to Quadra elementary school together, so when the three friends started jamming seriously in 2001, the chemistry was immediate.

Now, with all three just finishing up studies at UVic, the vibe has carried over to the band's live shows, which have been a thing of beauty locally over the course of the past year. "We have these moments on stage where we are thinking, 'What the hell is going on?' but we've known each other for so long, we all have kind of an idea where we're going. I know what they are thinking, so it usually works out in the end."

The group threw itself out on the road last summer during a two-month tour that stretched from one coast to the other, a huge undertaking for an independent band. Calder say the group learned many things about itself on the Trans-Canada highway, one of which is that they really do like Toronto - so much that they are deciding to move there for six months starting in June.

"I wasn't expecting to like it," she stresses. "I had this idea that Toronto was going to be really, really awful. But I think our enjoyment had to do with the people we met. Everyone seemed really interested in what we were doing. When we left Toronto, the day after we started thinking, 'We should really come back to Toronto.' As the tour progressed we kind of thought it would be fun and live there."

The band has six weeks of touring to get out of the way first. Immaculate Machine embarks Saturday on another national tour to support its newly-released debut, Transporter , which pops and zings with the band's usual flair for the unusual. Each member of the trio adds lead singing and songwriting contributions.

Calder, who is a classically trained pianist, does double duty on instruments, playing bass on the keyboard with her left hand and melodies on the keyboard with the other. it gets even trickier when it's her time to sing, she admits.

"Certain are harder than others with the bass lines. I try and dance around, too, but it doesn't work out so well."