Christian Hansen is a man who plays in a band with his wife Molly Flood. Christian Hansen is also a band that features the man and his wife as its sole permanent members. It’s pretty confusing and not confusing at all. Formerly Christian Hansen and the Autistics, this new incarnation is more about celebration than responding to backlash about the name itself. I asked Hansen if it was a hint to a future of solo music making.

“The name change”, responded Hansen, “was because we needed to signify a change. The Autistics were dead, and I wanted to ensure the name was something that could go on without the Autistics. I plan on making music for a long time.”

Full disclosure: I have been friends with Christian and Molly for almost a decade. In fact, Molly was my first friend in University and we even went to this weird leadership conference together when we were in first or second year.

There was a fabled Warped Tour stop in Calgary where the lead singer of Coheed and Cambria was too drunk to play and got booed off the stage—Christian and I were there for that. We booed. Later we ate granola bars in my car as we waited out a massive hailstorm.

Our friendship has been and punctuated by music. One of my favourite moments of intersection was late one night when my friend Chelsea and I were doing some work on a theatrical set and Christian stopped by the theatre late at night with guitar and beer (and maybe pizza) in hand and played us a number of songs that would eventually end up on his lovely and understated record, The Super Awkward Album.