THE SINGLE LIFE WITH THE MARVELOUS DARLINGS
BY MATT DIXON, NOVEMBER 2011.

Marvelous Darlings hail from Toronto and play old school pop music. They have put out a bunch of singles & 7"s over the years but they are finally compiling them all together onto one record entitled <<Single Life>> which is out on Vancouver's Deranged Records. I recently spoke with Ben Cook of the Darlings and also guitarist of seminal Toronto hardcore outfit Fucked Up about the single life. He was a good sport to go along with all of these silly questions.

MATT: Marvelous Darlings, is the single life the good life?

BEN COOK: I think it's probably better than being married, but worse than being in a steady fun relationship. Know what I mean?

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MATT: Worst date you have ever been on:

BEN COOK: I went out with some chick once, and we ended up back at her house. I was so not into it at this point that instead of just being straight up and telling her I faked that I took some pills earlier and pretended to pass out unconscious. I woke up a bit later, and snuck out. There was also a time where I went on a blind date, and picked up this girl who kinda lived in the projects in Scarborough (Toronto suburb), and I thought it was her on the corner where I was supposed to pick her up but it turned out to be a hooker who got in my car. I politely asked her to get out and I had made a mistake. The actual date was whatever. The highlight was the hooker mistake, for sure. Probably would have had an awesome time together.

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MATT: So youre releasing all of your rare and out of print stuff onto an LP called <<Single Life>>, hence all the stupid singles questions... . Were people hasslin you too much for your stuff and you decided to throw it all together onto a record to shut everybody up? How did it come about?

BEN COOK: Ya, I guess only a certain number of nerds who follow your stuff are the ones nabbing up all the 7"s, because they aren't pressed usually more than 500 or 1000. This gives some more people the oppurtunity to get it on 12" or cd, or cassette or digital. And also it gives the people who bought all the singles (aka the cool people) a chance to have them all on one record because listening to every single and flipping it over and having to change each record... that's boring.

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MATT: Let's talk singles of the 7" variety. What was the first punk 7inch you ever owned?

BEN COOK: I think it was a Judge 7", Straight Ahead bootleg 7", or something like that. Maybe the Breakdown demo 7". I forget.

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MATT: Toronto. City of singles....?.... Okay, I'm reaching on this one. But let's talk about the city you call home and the punk scene that has taken over. Career Suicide, Brutal Knights, Burning Love, and of course Fucked Up among others. Your thoughts on the city?

BEN COOK: My main beef with Toronto is that it takes like 5-8 years for people to realize a band is amazing and the city is super lucky to have them around, by this time they are usually broken up or onto a shittier project. If Toronto was a brain it would be an incredibly slow one. Other than that, I love it here and I am very proud to be from Toronto. Wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Sucks about the winter though..

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MATT: The end of civilization will be caused by:

BEN COOK: Single dudes.

MARVELOUS DARLINGS ARE TIRED OF HEARING SINGLE LIFE PUNS
CHECK OUT THEIR MUSIC AND BUY THE RECORD. GO TO MYSPACE.COM/MARVELOUSDARLINGS

THANK YOU CHRIS & 230PUBLICITY

Feeling down in the dumps in his second year of university Matt Dixon took things into his own hands and started to interview bands, put on little shows throughout his native Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and started this little webzine that could. He likes to listen to rad records and watch films at Charlottetown's only art-house theatre, the beloved City Cinema. Current Listening: Buried Inside, Q & Not U, Tallest Man On Earth, Lucero, The Transit.

E- MATT (AT) JUNNNKTANK.COM
H- JUNNNKTANK.COM/MD

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