The Canadian rock supergroup, Mounties, consists of Hawksley Workman , Steve Bays from Hot Hot Heat and Ryan Dahle from Limblifter. Workman had approached Bays and Dahle in 2009 about starting a band together while attending the JUNO Awards. The formation of Mounties took a few years for it to actually happen, though, and was not announced until 2013 with the unveiling of their first single, "Headphones." The trio released their debut album, Thrash Rock Legacy, soon after in March of 2014.
In our interview with Mounties drummer and singer, Hawksley Workman, he revealed how the unique writing process for this side project has renewed his love for music. The writing sessions for Mounties usually take place late at night after drinking some wine. They turned into jam sessions with the band improvising lyrics straight off of the floor. It becomes a healthy competition between the three of them about who will write the guiding lyric for the song. Workman explained: "I'm not f--king around with those guys when I'm in the studio. To me, if I'm not blowing their minds, then what am I doing?"
"Headphones" started with Ryan Dahle's outlandish guitar part. The drumbeat was something that has possibly never been heard on Canadian radio before so there was an innovative feel from the rhythm side. The lyrics were inspired by Steve Bays' love of antiquing. The band was at one of Bays' favorite antique shops when the dealer was trying to get him to buy a hi-fi unit. When Bays was in the studio after, he just threw his headphones on and sang the opening line of the tune:
"I got my headphones on like a '70s hi-fi"
Workman explained how the rest of the track formed in our interview, stating: "And then I came up with the second verse, the sideways Mohawk or whatever. It was just so obvious that there was a song there and as soon as Steve sang that, I think the song kind of wrote itself."
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