The name of the EP, New Exciting Doom, takes its name from a line in the song “Exciting Doom.” Why did you decide to name the EP after this in particular?

I’m pretty utilitarian when it comes to naming songs. It’s my least favourite part. I don’t know why I don’t like it. Looking through the Single Mothers catalogue, The Drew Thomson Foundation album and EPs - most of the song names are unimaginative and purposefully to the point. Some people are very good at naming songs, it’s almost a craft in its own. There’s something so final about it.

I’m a procrastinator. I hate finishing things, all the fun is in the middle. I had a different name in mind going into the Smug LLC EP, but once it was actually finished it didn’t fit. I felt like the right voice with the wrong words coming out of it. New Exciting Doom just seemed to fit the EP as a whole, more than just the song it’s in.

“Exciting Doom” has samples of kung fu movies, including The Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung. What inspired these samples? What do kung fu movies mean to you?

There was a place in London, Ontario I would stumble into once in a while. It was on Dundas Street and changed names a few times, but I think it was called Moon Over Marin. I remember walking in there once and in the back a couple guys were sitting on a couch watching old kung fu VHS tapes on a TV from the ‘80s. They had their own little living room set up back there, at the back of the store. Rug, little lamp, TV, couch. I stood there watching it with them for a while.

This was probably back in 2007 or something. I didn’t have a job and spent a lot of my time hanging out at the library, killing time downtown and doing things that were free. I’d look in the library couch cushions for change and walk around downtown. It was fun. I stood there in the store for a while and watched these guys watch their movie and none of us said anything. It was probably 11 am on a weekday. They didn’t work there and neither did I.

I don’t remember much, my memory is pretty shot. For some reason, I remember that clear as day. I watch a kung fu movie every once in a while, but not as enthusiastically as those guys. I just liked the way that sample sounds. I’m a big MF Doom fan and like how he’d mash things together.

The last line of the first verse, “Nodding to the quarter notes and laughing like a clown,” becomes “Nodding to the quarter notes pretending I don’t care” at the end of the second verse. What were you thinking about when you wrote this song?

I guess there is so much doom out in the world right now it becomes overwhelming. I know I’m overwhelmed by it. Sometimes all I can do to get through my own life is try and concentrate on what I can do, what I can change. It comes off as apathy but it’s not. I guess that’s the direction I’m trying to point towards with that line.

How do you feel the new sense of doom is different from the old sense of doom?

I don’t think it’s different so much as it’s more present. More easily accessible. It’s everywhere you look, depending where you choose to look.

You’ll be touring the US with Off With Their Heads this fall. What are you looking forward to the most about these shows?

I’m really excited to start this new chapter and try something new. I’ve been wanting to explore a project like this for a long time and I’m very grateful to be thrown into it in this way. It’s a bit intimidating but I’m looking forward to being in new places and hopefully putting on a show people enjoy. I love playing music and singing songs or whatever I do and being in an environment with other creative people who want to see you succeed is really wonderful.

Which part of New Exciting Doom are you proudest of?

I recorded all of this in a little corner of my one bedroom apartment. I’m pretty proud that I could just stop tinkering and actually finish the thing. You can tinker forever.