Jarrett Evan Samson is completely taken aback when the Georgia Straight calls to set up an interview with Shipyards, the East Van noise collective he founded last winter. After a brief conversation, in which the local guitarist jokes, “I’ll be the fat guy in the Neil Young shirt”, he agrees to meet at a Main Street coffeehouse the following day, if only to indulge his curiosity about how the relatively obscure project caught the attention of the media.

“So, I have to ask: why?” Samson inquires, moments after strolling into the café, with bandmates David Mattatall, Peter Plett, and Charles Ferguson in tow.

Given Shipyards’ limited track record, it’s a fair question.

With only a few shows under its belt, the experimental outfit has yet to make any major waves in Vancouver’s vibrant noise scene, but given the accomplished musicians in the largely improvisational project (including current and former members of local groups like Collapsing Opposites, Greenbelt Collective, Role Mach, and i/i), it’s a pretty safe bet that the group is destined for something great.

Following in the footsteps of avant-garde–leaning acts like Acid Mothers Temple, Fushitsusha, and the Dead C, Shipyards offers an eclectic mix of freeform sounds characterized by industrial static and atonal drone. It’s a bit of a mind-fuck if you’re not familiar with bands that use traditional instruments like electric and bass guitars in conjunction with manipulated recordings, feedback loops, and drum machines. Not only is the production style highly revered among those who champion sonic artscapes, it’s rapidly gaining acceptance in the indie-rock set.

“Right now we’re laying the groundwork,” says multi-instrumentalist Mattatall. “We’re just throwing ideas out to see what sticks. It’s an area of discovery. I think our sound will become more formalized with time, but not necessarily less ad-lib.”

While most bands in their infancy tend to lock themselves away in gloomy rehearsal spaces until their sound has coalesced, Shipyards has decided on a much different route.

“We’re starting from ground zero, so I thought to myself, ”˜What would be more fascinating than to document how a band grows and changes?’ ” Samson notes. “We’re doing a series of EPs called Learnin. It will cover everything under the guise of the Shipyards—everything we record is going to get released, just to put it out there.”

The idea might seem a little masturbatory—especially considering the outfit has yet to establish a steady fan base to collect such an output—but Samson and his cohorts hold steadfastly to the concept, convinced that any material a band releases is relevant, regardless of its artistic merit.

Mattatall drives this point home. “Albums are an artifact of being in a band,” he states. “All we’re doing is creating more artifacts. It actually doesn’t matter if you’re the greatest band in the world.”

If Shipyards’ ambitious release series sounds time-consuming, it is nothing compared with the other ideas the group has in store.

“People can only see you if you play shows, and it can be hard to get shows,” Samson muses, as the others around the table nod in agreement. “So we’re really working hard on starting up a legal venue in the city.”

Mattatall is quick to clarify that statement. “More specifically than just a legal local venue, we need a legal, all-ages local venue,” he says. “That is something so critical that Vancouver is missing. The younger generation can’t be alienated. We need to be able to allow someone under 18 to come in [to a show], in order to grow the [music-scene] base.”

The outfit’s grievance is nothing new. Musicians in this city have been grumbling about the lack of venues, all-ages or otherwise, for as long as anyone can remember, but with the recent closure of the Emergency Room and Peanut Gallery—two pivotal underground rooms that acted as a platform for local noise artists—the members of Shipyards feel that now is the time to challenge Vancouver’s “No-Fun City” standing.

“I’m not saying ”˜Let’s take over the city,’ ” Samson points out with a laugh. “I’m not proposing that every second house is going to be a punk house, where you’re going be able to go see 16-year-old kids play with their first shitty punk band every night. But there’s got be something, and there really isn’t right now.” -

Shipyards plays Little Mountain Studios on Friday (March 13).