Cult shoegazers, Movieland, have released a rarities and demos collection, titled Then & Now, through Vancouver’s 604 Records. It is the first installment of 604 Decades; the label’s newly launched archival series, officially looking back at Vancouver’s rich, if unexplored, arts history. Keep reading below to find out more.
Order Then & Now here: https://movieland1990.bandcamp.com/album/then-now
Stream it here: https://ffm.to/movielandthennow
At the heart of Movieland is singer-guitarist Alan D. Boyd, an Edmonton-raised musician who briefly moved to Montreal to play bass in garage rock legends the Gruesomes before settling in Vancouver in 1991. It’s here that he started working at Benny’s Bagels alongside drummer Justin Leigh. After bonding over British bands like The Stone Roses and Slowdive, the pair reached out to bassist John Ounpuu to start creating their own gain-blasted, heart-swelling hypno-jams. “We were doing long songs, and they were noisy,” Boyd sums up the earliest Movieland material.
Recorded at the now-defunct Downtown Sound, their four-song debut cassette (now kicking off Then & Now) reflected leather jacket rebellion in tracks like “Rant” and dangerously mesmerizing epics like “Everything.” Boyd recalls, “Things got loud; bass amps exploded; speakers got kicked in.” Their sound was rooted in 12-string jangle and distortion, influenced by the dawn of Vancouver rave culture and late-night hangouts. “There were a lot of drugs in Vancouver at that time,” Boyd contextualizes. “I never really liked weed, but everybody seemed to smoke it; and there was an interest in psychedelics amongst the people that we were all friends with. It definitely informed what we were doing, that cannot be denied.”
By the time Movieland started writing their second demo, Boyd had moved into “The Mansion,” a crumbling rental in Vancouver’s upscale Shaughnessy neighborhood that housed a mix of derelict musicians and artists. “The neighbors called the police the day we moved in because they thought we were breaking in,” Boyd laughs. “We’d rehearse and throw massive parties, but nobody heard anything outside because the house was really well soundproofed.” Deep within the walls of “The Mansion,” Boyd began crafting a series of experimentally layered shoegaze songs on a borrowed Tascam 8-track, including the entrancing “I Relate.” “It’s about being in a flux state after meeting somebody,” Boyd explains. “Playing that kind of angsty, self-referential music in the ‘90s—when next door the grunge scene is happening—felt very different. Very exposed.”
A small but dedicated fanbase bought tapes and attended off-the-grid indie shows, but Movieland struggled to gain broader exposure. They never landed a breakthrough gig, despite an A&R scout showing interest at one performance, and ironically signing the opening band. After Ounpuu and Leigh left to form the pop-driven quartet Pluto, Boyd connected with bassist Cam Cunningham and drummer Clancy Denehy to track two final, melodically gain-freaked Movieland anthems—“Build Me a Dream” and “She’s a Mountain.” Boyd embraced the playful nickname “My Bloody Alantine,” thinking, “If I’m achieving that on an 8-track, then I’m pretty happy.” However, by 1994, Movieland felt stagnant. Boyd recalls, “I stood on the Cambie Bridge… and said, ‘What a lovely place, but it doesn’t feel like I can get anything done here.’” Shortly after, he sold his belongings and left British Columbia to roadie across Europe for SNFU, eventually settling in the UK.
While the trio hadn’t reached the top of the marquee when they were active in the early ‘90s, the stunningly psych-spiraled melodicism found on this collection proves that Movieland should have been a blockbuster. When Jonathan Simkin, founder of 604 Records and one of Movieland’s biggest boosters, reached out years later about the old music, Boyd rediscovered tapes and live footage to compile Then & Now. This nostalgic project has reignited his shoegazing spirit, with new Movieland tracks on the way through 604 Decades. “It’s a good time to do this,” he shares. “People who were part of that scene will get a kick out of this again.” This release marks a significant moment for 604 Records, launching the 604 Decades project to celebrate Vancouver’s rich, often overlooked musical history. By spotlighting Movieland and other local acts from the ‘90s and early 2000s, the label aims to revive memories of a vibrant alternative music scene. Future releases will include an album by Pure in 2025, further expanding its mission to unearth Vancouver’s hidden musical narratives.
Follow Movieland:
https://www.facebook.com/MOVIELANDband
https://www.instagram.com/movielandband/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6VFQ1YUZsKowCvVfmyddsG