Editor's note: After writing an initial review of False Heroics' debut album for Amie Street (read it here), I was amazed at what my research turned up regarding the band's unique story, especially that of lead singer and songwriter Adam King. I got in touch with him shortly thereafter to learn more...

Amie Street: Earlier this year you released False Heroics' first full length: Buy MP3 Album . For the uninitiated, can you give us a brief history of the band from inception to first LP?

Adam King (False Heroics): I was in Grade 13 at a high school in Brantford, and really hadn't been back in Canada very long when Jon (drummer) and I started jamming. I think Jared (bass) and Mike (guitar) heard us perform at a coffeehouse, and afterwards ended up quitting the band they were in to join Jon and I. It was quite the scandal. The lead singer from their old band had a bit of a grudge against me for it, I think. Maybe still does. I hope not though...

Anyway, we were called Pure Nard, of all things, when we started. (Now the name of the little record label I run.) We played a bunch of all ages shows in gyms, church basements and such before finally changing our name to the False Heroics and putting out the Stars Gone Black EP in 2003. We did a couple tours--one around Ontario, another out through Quebec and the Canadian East Coast and it felt like we were starting to pick up some momentum; getting CD orders coming in from all over and playing a lot of shows.

But then, just as we were getting ready to record the album that would become Buy MP3 Album , Mike was diagnosed with germ cell cancer. It was pretty advanced--all through his body. So, False Heroics went into hiatus while he was going through chemotherapy, and we just kept slowly working at the album as we had the chance. Mind you, tons was going on. We were doing post-secondary degrees, Jared got married; I ran for Canadian parliament and got married, then ran for city council in Brantford as well; Jon became a professional photographer while we weren't looking. It's hard to keep track of everything. Eventually, Mike's cancer went into remission, and we started back at the band, finished off the record and started playing shows again. That basically brings us up to the present.

AS: And what's been the reaction to the album so far? I have to assume it's been mostly positive.

AK: We've just done a few limited pre-release copies, actually, so not a whole lot of people have heard the album yet, except those who've gotten the album off Amie Street, and we're just in the process of making the album available over the internet via iTunes as well. Yeah, response has been really positive from people who listen to it, but we haven't really done a bona fide release yet, so even some of our friends haven't gotten it yet. We just want to do it right, and haven't had the money to do that so far. I'm pretty encouraged by the way people are reacting to the album though.

AS: You were born in Ontario, but spent much of your childhood in Bangladesh. How did that come about, and how has it affected the way you approach life in the band and beyond?

AK: My parents moved to Bangladesh in 1987 as Baptist missionaries, so being 4 years old, I naturally went with them. It's definitely had a profound influence on the way I look at the world. And of course, it'd influence any kid to experience multiple cultures, but I was there through dictatorship, political uprising, new democracy... I mean, how many Canadian kids have gotten bucked off a water buffalo, gone to Hindu and Muslim wedding festivals, seen the house across from theirs get torched by an angry mob, or watched a gun fight from the roof of a church? It wasn't always fun, but I feel like I've got a wider, better experience of the world for having been exposed to everything I was. I'm really grateful my parents took my siblings and I there. If I'd lived back in Canada, I doubt I'd have been inspired to do half of the things I have.

AS: Describe Brantford, ON.

AK: I came to Brantford in 1999, and it's a strange town. Archaeologists say Brantford (or really, the location Brantford is now at) has been inhabited continuously for the last 10,000 years. It was once the 3rd largest industrial center in Canada. The telephone was invented here. Now, it's just this strange little economically-depressed city that ironically has the most millionaires per capita in Canada. And meanwhile, the city's downtown development strategies have apparently made Brantford the poster child for 'what not to do' in urban planning schools. So much of the downtown was deserted that a couple of years ago the guy who'd been buying them all up finally just decided to cover the storefronts with plywood painted with silhouettes of people shopping. Not sure if anyone was fooled... Maybe the mayor (haha). But, at the same time, there are a lot of exciting things starting to happen in Brantford. I'm trying to make sure I'm in the thick of it.

AS: You mentioned running for Parliament (in your early twenties). Politically, if you could change 1 thing locally in Brantford, ON and 1 thing on a more national scale, what would they be?

AK: If I could change one thing politically in Brantford, it would be to give the people and especially those at City Hall a sense of vision for what Brantford is, and what it could be. There is so much potential that's going untapped in this city. They could be taking advantage of our rich heritage and and capacity for innovation to have a really unique, creative place to work and live. Instead it's just seems like the city's just slowly wandering into their future, with no focus or purpose.

Nationally, if I had to pick one thing to have happen, I think it would be for the Canadian parliament to switch to proportional representation*. If that happened, people would finally have real choices at election time and real change could start happening. Government would mean something to normal people again, because we could actually have a real say in what our government is like.

* For what this means, click here. To understand how this would differ from Canada's current system, click here. -Ed.

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