Track By Tracks: The Mendozaz - The Completely Fictional History Of This Great Nation Of Canada (2025)

1. Fuck You: The Musical!:

We have a lengthy process when we put together an album. First, we write, then we do a quick 'n' dirty demo, then the final recording. The demo version of this song is pretty gritty (and very pissed off), but it was missing the grandiosity one usually associates with a musical. We added our version of an epic intro and boosted the choruses with "ooohs" and "ahhhhs". It's a very small detail, but it makes a huge difference. We enlisted some pals to sing backups on the choruses. Nothing brings people closer together than flipping the bird and spitting.

2. A Piercing Shriek of Death:

It's very important when writing about a tragedy to capture the proper emotion. If you don't take it seriously, you're doing a disservice to the people you're trying to remember. If you go overboard with heavy-handedness, you're making it all about you. No moment in this song is more important than the blood-curdling scream that occurred when those great white sharks burst through the ice in the dead of winter and ate those fishermen. It was crucial that we hit that high note of absolute terror, but also trail off in the way that a person would as they're being dragged into freezing cold water by an evil shark.

3. An American Werewolf In London, Ontario:

Every song has a thesis. But very rarely is it stated at the front of a song in spoken word. "Lycanthrope, but what I want to be is a loveanthrope". Our hero is well aware that he's a ferocious monster that goes on indescribably violent killing sprees every time there's a full moon. It's an inconvenience. It's a hurdle! And hurdles exist to be overcome! One good leap of faith, and he can be with his true love and express himself in ways that don't involve blood-soaked claws or consuming innocent people as they try in vain to crawl away. The guitar solo is a nod to "Blue Moon", one of the most romantic songs ever written.

4. Kokanee Joe:

There is evil in this world. But none more evil than a homebrewer that inflicts his half-assed beer onto people who want nothing to do with it. Taking the concept of a captive audience waaaay too far, this deranged tour guide leads people astray into his lair: a lair of transfer pumps, fermenters, and hops so old they are in need of preserving. Around the halfway point of the son,g our happy-go-lucky tour turns into a mass kidnapping. We went outside the box on effects with delays, fuzzes, and bitcrushers to capture the terror that comes with the realization that one is far, far away from home, and this beer was not refrigerated properly.

5. Late Stage 12 Gauge:

Every relationship is built on a foundation of trust. As soon as that trust is broken, the relationship is headed south. And once a relationship ends, you get to write a cool song about it! This song wasn't written about anyone specifically, but we wanted to capture the ludicrous levels of paranoia and accusations with clever wordplay and silly rhymes. Our song is silly, and so are you. We name-drop a bunch of stuff from the '90s because nostalgia is fun. Like us!

6. Inverted:

This is the song that does not belong. It's an earnest piece of self-reflection during a time of inner turmoil. Have you ever wished you could go back in time and fix the moments where you knew things took a turn for the worse, yet all you can do is try to sleep it off? We doubled down on the concept of being flipped upside down with reverse-tracked guitars.

7. The Bell Tower Killer:

Sometimes the undeniable chorus hook finds you. It's your job to catch that lightning in a bottle and channel it. If there's a thunderstorm, you probably shouldn't be hanging out in a bell tower. Ding-don,g you're dead, indeed.

8. The Unlikely Legend of Captain Fuchs:

The jury is still out on how to pronounce the captain's name. We spent a long time arranging this one. And each change made it more epic. Our drummer, Dic, began in a marching band, and he relished the opportunity to show off his skills. After about five takes, we said, "Okay, dude, that's enough," and he threw a stick at us with laser precision and said, "Don't you fucking dare stop recording". We had our same pals sing backups on this one, too, because there's nothing people love more than to scream profanity. We hope you'll sing along too.