Canada dry

They write songs like Heroes of the Sidewalk,with lyrics like ‘Fill our bags up with booty,they won’t know what to think about us cutie,we’ll be the heroes of the sidewalks in our town’;they recreate a club scene in the woods for the video of their track Nighthawks — and everybody is hooked. Thinking out of the box is not the only thing Canadian indie pop band,Two Hours Traffic (THT),is known for — they have also appeared on American teen dramas like Gossip Girl,The OC,and One Tree Hill. Winners of the 2008 Independent Music Awards,the band will perform in Mumbai for the first time at the Hard Rock Café on March 29.

The four members,Liam Corcoran (lead vocals and guitar),Alec O’Hanley (guitar and vocals),Andrew MacDonald (bass) and Derek Ellis (drums),have released three albums and two EP records since the band’s inception in 2002. The name,however,had no musical origin; it is inspired by William Shakespeare’s “the two hours’ traffic of our stage” in Romeo and Juliet. In their mid-twenties now,the four THT members speak of romantic rejection as an “artistic catalyst” in lyrical composition. Brit-American rock band Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles are other sources of inspiration.

Their last album,Territory,spoke of alcohol abuse,grey areas of religious belief and confusion in relationships. “We’re of the evolve-or-die persuasion,” says O’ Hanley. “So whatever we write,we try to make it new”.

Two Hours Traffic will play at Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai on March 29.