100% WoOl is Serge and Vivi. Serge’s weapon of choice is the bass, while Vivi inflicts upon her drum kit a series of violent yet aurally gratifying lessons. Sef put on his riot gear and caught the two in a rare moment of tranquility.
How did the band form up? What’s the back story here?
One fine day we were walking past the House of Wool on Queen West. Vivi goes “wool is particularly itchy and uncomfortable”; Serge says “100%”. Then we both proceeded down the porthole into dementia. Later that day in Cabbagetown, we noticed sheep in a store window, real window sheep. At that point, then and there on the corner of Gerrard and Carlton, we had our first jam with a balalaika and a djembe. The name 100%WoOL came straight from Vivi’s sketchbook: it was sketchy. We wanted to go with 100%antiWoOL but had problems with the negativity and pronunciation.
Both of you are artists who haev worked within a variety of media. What else have you two got on the go? Serge likes to go Active Surplus to buy acrylics, shiny objects, and sticky paper; sometimes he makes posters, sometimes he glues candy wrappers together in hopes that a giant candy bar will materialize. It never does. Vivi’s artwork is colourful and psychedelic. She’s into cartooning, illustrating and watercolours. Vivi is also an accomplished hip-hop dancer and breakdancer and is studying belly dancing. She also makes posters, and designed the 100% WoOl CD cover.
Name some influences!
You, pandas, pandi, circular motion, colours, faces, big smiles, drama, Faxe, Stiegl, Sonic Youth, strawberry, New Deal, samba and disco beats.
What’s your take on the Toronto indie scene as it stands today?
Toronto dances and sways. We engage in a deadly waltz.
I hear a record’s in the works. Deets?
Yo, yeah. Our CD release was in April. Our friends dd/mm/yyyy & G!V!E! play with us. The album is called “monkey vs. panda”. It’s got eight songs on it. We are going to re-record two of those songs as well as two new songs in the summer in a “real” studio. We are also going to release two dance remixes. You’ll find us in ‘œtha’? club, yo.
What are we, the Wavelength audience, in for?
The in-depth study of the cartography of Sheepistan, and lots and lots of dancing!
What one thing does 100% WoOl want, nay, need us to know?
The one thing that you need to know about 100% WoOL is that’¦well, you’ll have to talk to Vivi about that. Serge has too much Mongolia on his mind.