Demander is ready to make music's Future Bright

Although the word “demander” generally suggests a somewhat unapproachable attachment, this New York City band is pleasant to listen to, both musically and in conversation.

Karen Kanan Corrêa and Sivan Harlap have been playing together under the name Demander for about five years. Dave Kurutz joined the two in 2008. The three of them are just about ready to release their new album, Future Brite, and are excited about their current busy schedules. From filming their music video to performing at CMJ while keeping in touch with their friends around the world, Kanan Corrêa agrees when Harlap says, “It’s just so much better to be busy than not.”

Demander, whose music has been compared to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Strokes, refrains from defining their sound. “We sound like us and I don’t look for other bands to try and sound like,” Kanan Corrêa, logically explains.

Harlap agrees but also said that someone made a comparison that Kanan Corrêa, especially liked and that was Metric. The band doesn’t look to be like anyone else because they’re “not everyone’s band. And who would want to be, really?” Instead, they believe the comparisons come from the energy that they exert when performing live. Demander keeps busy and energetic by remaining inspired.

“You need to keep being inspired or else you just forget why you were doing it in the first place.” Kanan Corrêa’s positive attitude is geared at the fact that, along with creating and performing music, comes responsibilities. While she has been focused on creating Demander’s website, Harlap and a few artistic friends are putting the finishing touches on the album art and merchandise designs.

They tend to divide the tasks, and carry on that trend when writing music, too. “We really don’t know how to jam,” Kanan Corrêa says. Harlap agrees. “Some bands can jam, but we like structure.” That’s why Corrêa and Harlap write most of the music to be performed along with Kurutz. Because the three members of Demander are such close friends, they construct fun projects to coincide with their music.

This past weekend, for instance, Demander took a trip to New Jersey with some of their friends to film a music video for “Math,” a song on Future Brite. This video and photo shoot was set to take place at “this crazy fire wood swamp area” behind Harlap’s brother’s house. Regardless of where they are, Harlap was just genuinely excited that she got to cook for everyone.

To show her culinary talent, Harlap pulled out a pre-packaged dinner for that night. Kanan Corrêa was quick to brag about Harlap’s talents: from cooking to owning her own bar. “Our band appreciates real food,” Harlap says, and shared how the band researches restaurants and places before going on tour to know what’s around. And when they don’t know the area- well, they have friends and fans that are willing to help them out.

“We keep in touch with everyone… We’ll go to a different country to see one person.” This seems to be working, considering that these people they keep in touch with start a community which grows and then they have this “group of people that we go back to see.”

The band looks far into the future when talking about traveling to Mexico, Iceland, and Europe. “We did about ten dates in Germany in 2007 and fans still write to us and send us links to festivals and places to play there.”

For now, though, Demander wants to focus generally on the release of Future Brite. The band wishes to wait a few months after that before planning to tour other countries. With all of the energy Demander is putting into their album, the upcoming tour around the Northeast and Midwest, and the successful CMJ shows they played last week, they share advice that can be applied to just about anything: “See what comes and always leave room for change."

-Lauren Hafley