Whiteman likes being able to settle into a smaller venue, though. In fact, when members of Broken Social Scene went out earlier this year to “buy bigger, better amplifiers”, Apostle did the opposite. “Now I play a little tiny practice amp, so I guess it balances out,” he said, during a brief phone conversation last week.

Their music also seems to translate better to a more intimate setting, though describing it can be a challenge in itself. The reason being, Apostle of Hustle has a distinct Latin influence missing from every other band on the Arts and Crafts record label, including BSS.

It all started during a two month vacation to Cuba, where Whiteman became enthralled with the rhythms and instruments he heard. After purchasing a Cuban guitar called a tres, it wasn’t long before it found its way into Whiteman’s own music.

The Cuban influence didn’t fit with the “celebratory massive thing” that BSS is though, so the formation of Apostle was the next logical step. The two bands seem to be heading in very different directions, too, as Whiteman, with bandmates Dean Stone and Julian Brown take their music beyond the indie-rock audience. The tour they’re doing, for instance, is co-headlined with an Inuit throat singer named Tanya Tagaq.

But being a core member of two touring bands also makes life difficult, and the hardships for Whiteman are evident.

“I don’t really have a personal life,” he said very matter-of-factly. “There’s a few people in my life that really matter to me, and I just keep connected to them. But, that’s kind of it.”

Still it’s an exciting time for him, and with Apostle, Whiteman is remembering what it’s like to build a band from the ground up.

They’ve even managed a wide range of fans.

“It’s awesome, because they’re a crazy cross-section of people,” explained Whiteman. “It’s really an eclectic bunch of people that gravitate towards what we do.”

From fans of world music, to indie rock and beyond, their base keeps on growing, too.

Now, they’ve finished recording a third album, Eats Darkness, which will be out some time in the new year, and Whiteman truly sees it as a turning point for the band.

“These guys have been my friends, and we’ve been playing music for eight years, but because of the thing that happened to Social Scene, our two previous records, we’d kind of get together and jam, do a gig... but last year because Social Scene took a break... we got to go out and tour a lot. We played a lot together. So this new record, we recorded it way faster than previous records, and it’s the sound of us being a band.”

Between Apostle of Hustle and Broken Social Scene, it looks like Whiteman will be busy for quite some time to come; still, he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“If you live long enough you go through your dark night of the soul, so I had that,” Whiteman said as he was ending our conversation, “but I’m very blessed that I don’t have to have another gig besides working music... I’m a lifer, man! I’m long-term!”

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