Praise

Photo credit: Farrah Skeiky

Praise are essentially a hardcore supergroup. Hailing from Baltimore, Maryland and forming in 2009, the band has had members of Turnstile, Angel Du$t, Have Heart, Anxious, Mindset and numerous other east coast hardcore bands who have all been an influence on the scene, or have toured with each other. Praise's current members are Andy Norton (vocals, also in Champion), Anthony Dye and Austin Stemper on guitars, Chris Bavaria on bass and Daniel Fang (also in Turnstile and Angel Du$t) on drums.

The band draws much influence from the emo and melodic hardcore bands of the mid-80s Revolution Summer movement - think of Rites of Spring, Beefeater, Embrace, etc. Their 2nd release, 2016's "Leave it All Behind" serves as an excellent homage to this sound (especially Rites of Spring), while giving it their modern punk spin on it, something they'd further explore within the years to come within all of their projects, and Praise's next album, 2022's "All In A Dream". Personally, if I were to refer anyone to listen to this band (which you should, of course), I'd tell them to listen to Leave It All Behind first, but both releases are fantastic alone too).

To date, the band has 3 studio albums and a handful of singles released, their first 2 full lengths coming out on REACT! Records and the most recent being on Revelation Records. Due to band members being in other big projects currently (Anxious and Turnstile being the main 2), Praise don't get to tour a whole lot, and if they do, they generally tend to stick to the east coast, but they have some big shows planned for this year, including the Gorilla Biscuits show in Baltimore, with Be Well also on the bill.

These guys are incredible, definitely give them a listen if you haven't already, if you love that Dischord Records/Revolution Summer Emo stuff + early alternative punk e.g. Husker Du, from the 1980s. These guys are doing that sound well.

Below are some links that you can use to support the band.

Praise Bandcamp

Praise Spotify

Praise Apple Music

Praise Merch

 

I Would Set Myself On Fire For You

 

Photo credit: Unknown

I Would Set Myself On Fire For You was an experimental screamo band out of Atlanta, Georgia. They formed in 2001 and broke up in 2007 after releasing 2 full-lengths, both on Stickfigure Records. They were very interesting both live and on recordings as they utilized violins, cello, violia, and synths in a similar fashion to the stylings of bands like Vowel, Respire and We Came Out Like Tigers, to mention a few. IWSMOFFY consisted of vocalist/violin/viola/cello player Lindsey Leigh Harbour, vocalist/guitarist/synth player Tyler Walters, vocalist/guitarist Stephen Matthew Newhouse, bassist Justin Karl Lane and drummer Paul Hobson. Lindsey is currently in the gothic-type act Women's Work.

 The screamo scene had recently lost a lot of bands around the late 90s and early 2000s - Jerome's Dream, Saetia, I Hate Myself to name a few - due to breakups. The scene needed some fresh blood and IWSMOFFY responded - though they always seemed happy to remain a cult band as more bands would come around the same time such as Circle Takes the Square, and even years later with the introduction of the newer wave of post-hardcore bands including La Dispute, Touché Amoré and Defeater.

Photo credit: Unknown

The band had the uncommon trait of not performing live with vocal microphones, instead opting to shriek, shout and scream at the top of their lungs for the bulk of their performances (everyone in the band had vocal duties). In this case, i'm not going to say that this way of performing is unique to them, as bands such as Jeromes Dream, and later on I Wrote Haikus About Cannibalism In Your Yearbook and Flowers Taped to Pens would (sometimes) perform in that way, without mics in some capacity.

 Both of their releases - self-titled and Believes in Patterns, are great examples of sometimes math rock and avant-garde music influenced hardcore music, clearly with a ton of passion with every scream they belt out and every odd chord they strum. They are an extremely fascinating band to me and I would've loved to see them, but the next best thing we have is Youtube footage, I guess.

I Would Set Myself on Fire For You is for fans of, really anything with odd time signatures and lots of screaming and noise! Jeromes Dream, The Brave Little Abacus, I Hate Myself, Joshua Fit For Battle, Saetia, City of Caterpillar and Circle Takes the Square are some bands that fans of this might also like. 

Below are some links to their music.

IWSMOFFY Spotify

Apple Music

Discogs

Bandcamp - Through Stickfigure Records

 

 

 

Anxious

 

Anxious in 2021. Picture credit: Mitch Wojcik

Anxious is a new melodic and emo hardcore band from Connecticut, USA, hot off their debut LP "Little Green House", released in January 2022 on Run for Cover Records. It topped my personal favourite albums of 2022 list for a while, and ended up remaining in my top 3 when I made my final list of best albums. It is a great combination of modern emotional and melodic hardcore, comparable to bands such as Basement, Turnstile, Fiddlehead and One Step Closer. From more accessible pop-punk influenced songs such as 'In April' and 'Growing Up Song' to the albums' more fast-paced tracks, including 'Let Me', the album has something for everyone.

Anxious is currently brothers Grady (vocals) and Sam Allen (bass), Jonny Camner on drums, Tommy Harte on guitar (as of 2021) and Dante Melucci on guitar. Former members include Ryan Savitski (also of One Step Closer) and Sam Walter. Grady has played in fellow melodic hardcore band One Step Closer and helped with vocals on the new Praise album "All In A Dream". All current members of the band play in the more strictly hardcore leaning act Last Straw. and current members Harte and Melucci are also in Broken Vow. That's a lot of cross-over!

The band first showed promise with their 2019 promo, followed by an EP "Never Better", a live EP leading into some singles starting in 2021, dropping their debut LP in early 2022. In late 2022, Anxious would drop two more great singles "Where You Been" and "Sun Sign", hopefully in preparation for another EP or batch of songs.

The band has played insane bills with bands such as Mindforce/Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, a  Gorilla Biscuits show in April 2023 + tours with Knuckle Puck/Hot Mulligan/Meet Me @ The Altar - and are currently preparing to embark on a tour with Webbed Wing/Drug Church/Prince Daddy & The Hyena! If you happen to be anywhere near any of those dates (they will be posted in the links below), definitely check those shows out.

I am extremely happy to see this band getting some well-deserved recognition, whether it be in the form of being added to a great bill/tour or on big playlists on streaming services, etc. For fans of bands like Koyo, Praise, One Step Closer, Turnstile, Drug Church, Citizen, etc.

Below are some links in which you can use to support the band!

Anxious Website with tour dates and merch

Anxious Bandcamp

Anxious Instagram

Anxious Spotify

Anxious Apple Music

Broken Nose Mall Santa

Photo Credit: Broken Nose Mall Santa

Broken Nose Mall Santa from Brandon/Winnipeg, is the product of many PBR's, some Lagwagon and Seaway records and 4 guys who can crank out some mean-sounding 3-chord rippers.

The melodic hardcore 4-piece formed in 2014 with members in both the heavy metal and hardcore scenes. Until 2015 they were Jonathan "Jono" Lesyk on drums, Matt Friesen on bass, Carson Penner and Jordan "Gord" Heaman, both on guitar and vocals. They played their first show at a venue called The Pink House, in Virden, Manitoba. This show was headlined by 1971, a doom-punk band from Kenora, and Albatros, an experimental screamo band from Quebec. Jono moved in 2015 and they played a Halloween show as a three piece with Elder Abuse, dressed as Trailer Park Boys. They would soon hire Josh Schneider on guitar and vocals and Carson Penner moved to drums. This would cement their permanent lineup. Their main influences included classic 90s melodic hardcore bands such as the aforementioned Lagwagon and Face to Face, plus many notable modern acts across different subgenres including The Menzingers, Gaslight Anthem, Modern Baseball, Seaway, Trophy Eyes, Walter Mitty and His Makeshift Orchestra and Four Year Strong

Other notable shows that BNxMS would play include multiple shows with their good friends in Elder Abuse, Prinport (including Better Days Fest 2019 which was the one and only time I ever saw Broken Nose Mall Santa), a local access TV show called Rocker's Corner (to my knowledge, the footage doesn't exist anywhere), Ennsy Fest and an opening slot for Edmonton hardcore act Mortality Rate in Brandon.

The band recorded their first EP, "Ditch Picnic" in 2016 with Jordan Voth (now of Ricochet Recordings). According to members of the band, all the vocals including any gang vocals and harmonies were done in one day, causing them to be very hoarse near the end. They filmed and released a music video for the song "Worst", produced/directed by TWO OH FOUR/Nic Herzog in Elkhorn. Below is the link to that video, on BlankTV's YouTube channel.

Broken Nose Mall Santa released a second EP, a split with Rough Surf from the east coast. They also released one more single "Manthem", and were supposedly working on some more material which never came to be before they hung it up in 2020. They played their last show in late 2019 at Bulldog Event Centre with Elder Abuse.

Members have also played in Ramskull, Torn From Flames, and Mal Aggression, and Matt currently is a large concert photographer, regularly attending events at The Handsome Daughter, The Goodwill and The Park Theatre to photograph, notably shooting performing acts such as Ken Mode, Simple Plan, Citizen and more, You can see his photography on his Instagram account @used.turkey, and watch for a website from him this year! 

There's two for-sure things for any emo-music influenced hardcore punk: beer and relatability. Broken Nose Mall Santa executed these two ideas so well, in my opinion. From the catchy gang vocals at the back-end of 'Worst', to the Free Throw-esque song titles they throw on 2016's Ditch Picnic; with titles like 'Frig Off Barb'. Thanks to Matt Friesen from BNxMS for helping me clean up on some facts about his band!

Photo credit: Broken Nose Mall Santa

Ditch Picnic, 2016.

Below are some ways in which you may support the band. 

BNMS Spotify 

BNMS Instagram 

BNMS Bandcamp  

BNMS Facebook 

Also, Carson's current band Ramskull: Ramskull Spotify

Ramskull Bandcamp 

Matt's Photography Instagram

Loathe

Picture Credit: Olli Appleyard

I have a circle of music nerds in my life (shoutout to Sloan if you're reading) who have coined the term "shoegaze metal" as a subgenre. It's a somewhat useful genre tag if we want to divide the more pop/indie-influenced acts of the 90s from My Bloody Valentine and Lush, and the other heavy acts from this era, such as Spiritbox, Thornhill and Holding Absence, who all have some influences of post-rock along with some taste of nu-metal and metalcore. Loathe takes a little bit of everything from what i've mentioned so far to make something quite unique to them: a live show packed with everything from early hardcore Deftones-esque jams to ambient soundscapes.  The band is for anyone familiar with and for fans of bands such as The Devil Wears Prada, Code Orange, Deftones, Static Dress, Slipknot, and Holding Absence, as well as video game soundtracks and experimental ambient music.

Starting in 2014, Loathe was formed in Liverpool, England by members Kadeem France (vocals), Erik Bickerstaffe (guitar/vocals/keyboards), Connor Sweeney (guitar/vocals), Shayne Smith (bass/vocals) and Sean Radcliffe (drums). They released their first EP in 2015 and a full-length album in 2017,  both released on Sharptone/Nuclear Blast. Shayne and Connor would leave the band in 2018 and 2021 respectively; Shayne would be replaced by Feisal El-Khazragi (of Holding Absence). 

This Is As One, their second EP, was released in 2018 and their 2nd studio album, 'I Let It In And It Took Everything', often referred to as their best work was released in February 2020 on Sharptone. The album employs influences of metalcore, post-metal/shoegaze and even certain industrial metal elements, and is on basis, a concept album that is extremely well done. This will certainly be an album that artists draw influence from for years to come. In 2021 they would drop the follow-up (or rather the extension) to this album, The Things That They Believe, which was completely made up of ambient tracks. As of recent, the band has participated in Download Fest, is playing Sick New World Fest later this year and has toured or is touring with Underoath, Periphery, Holding Absence and Oceans ate Alaska, among many others.

Loathe is one of the best bands to come out of the heavy scene in the past decade, and have leagues of talent in their lineup. If you're a fan of any modern heavy music and still haven't checked out I Let It In And Took Everything, it's not one to be slept on.

 

Photo Credit: Pulse Media Photography 

 Below are some links you can use to support the band.

Loathe Website 

Loathe Merch 

Instagram 

Bandcamp 

Spotify 

Apple Music

Flowers Taped to Pens

 

Photo credit: Unknown

Over the years, the emo and hardcore punk crowds have made a huge fuss about what scenes/waves bands belong in (e.g. 3rd wave emo, or 5th wave emo), or making up subgenres for the hell of it. It's quite funny to see even though I happen to be guilty of it myself. But there's one subgenre term associated with this band and many others in the 4th/5th wave emo scenes (e.g. Algernon Cadwallader, Midwest Pen Pals) that sticks out to me as the most humorous: the "twinkle daddy" genre tag. It's quite descriptive to be fair, being just another term for midwest emo with kinda scream-y vocals. As far as I can tell, this tag originated on Tumblr (as do most things in the scene) and it just kind of stuck. 

Flowers Taped to Pens was a band who fit well into the twinkle daddy movement, with lo-fi production and Jeromes Dream-esque high-pitched screaming from all of the members. The band was formed in San Diego, active from 2013 to 2015 and consisted of Connie Sgarbossa (SeeYouSpaceCowboy...) on vocals, her brother Ethan Sgarbossa (SeeYouSpaceCowboy..., Staining The Twilight Black) on guitar and vocals, Erik Jensen on drums and Silas Smith on bass guitar. They also had members who were in the bands Meryl Streaker, Avira and René Descartes.

The band released 3 EP's, a self-titled full length, a demo and 2 splits (with Nevasca/American Memories/Daycare + with Bread Club/Beds/Skull Kid). They also released a compilation of everything they recorded, entitled "Friends 4ever", which they sold at their last show. 

After the band breakup, Connie and Ethan (on drums now) would form SeeYouSpaceCowboy in 2016 in their home city of San Diego, with members Taylor Allen and Jesse Price. SYSC... has had various lineup changes but is now currently Connie and Ethan, Taylor on bass, Timmy Moreno and AJ Tartol on guitar and drums respectively. The band plays a somewhat more dissonant form of hardcore punk and mathcore, with Connie self-describing themselves as a "sasscore" band. SeeYouSpaceCowboy has toured with Counterparts, Wristmeetsrazor, and are playing some shows with Amity Affliction and a tour with Silverstein 2023.

It's one thing to have 1 band that influenced a lot of young emo artists (Flowers Taped to Pens is a pretty obviously direct inspiration for Tyler Odom's Your Arms Are My Cocoon project, for example), but to have 2 bands that have influenced a ton of young emo and hardcore artists, is an accomplishment in it's own. Looking for a band along the lines of Midwest Pen Pals, Mechant Ships, Father Figure and Your Arms Are My Cocoon? Check out both SYSC and FTTP.

Below are some links you can use to support both Flowers Taped to Pens and SeeYouSpaceCowboy. Also included are the tour dates and ticket links for the upcoming Silverstein tour with SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Dayseeker and One Step Closer. See you at a show!

FTTP Last.fm

FTTP Bandcamp

FTTP Facebook

FTTP Spotify

SeeYouSpaceCowboy Bandcamp

SYSC Instagram

SYSC Spotify

SYSC Website

Silverstein Tour w/ SYSC, One Step Closer, Dayseeker

Dead Tired

 

Photo by Nick Ball

Dead Tired are the more hardcore punk-influenced offshoot of vocalist George Pettit's Alexisonfire (alongside the other notable Alexisonfire offshoot, Cunter, who also have members of Moneen). Signed to New Damage Records, they take inspiration from everybody from Iggy Pop to D.R.I. The Hamilton, Ontario outfit has released 3 full-length including the avant-gardesque, bonecrushing 'Satan Will Follow You Home' from 2022. The band currently consists of Pettit (Alexisonfire) on vocals, Theo McKibbon on drums, Marco Bressette (Threat Signal) and Franz Stefanik on guitars, and Nick Ball on bass. Former drummer Chris Whetstone also plays in Born Wrong.

The band formed after Alexisonfire announced that they'd be going on hiatus, and they and released their debut self-titled album on April 7th, 2015. In the years following, while balancing other bands and personal life (including George becoming a professional firefighter), they would go on to release a handful of singles leading up to 2019's Full Volume. 

 Come 2020, where things would start slowing down, Dead Tired were featured in the Amazon Prime show 'The Boys' (Season 2, Episode 5) as a band performing live on stage. Just a fun fact about that show, it is completely filmed in Toronto, Canada, so it's nice to see them get bands that are local.

 Fast forward to 2022, where they would hop on bills such as Past Present Future Fest and Anti-Fest, a festival/show held by punk rock act Anti-Flag, along with Cancer Bats and more. They also played a show with L.S. Dunes, which was their first show in 3 years.

With influences ranging from thrash metal and hardcore punk, to a more avant-garde "cosmic/noise punk" heavily influenced by the likes of Kyuss and Cave-In on 2022's Satan Will Follow You Home, Dead Tired is an essential band for any fan of any heavy Canadian band, whether it be Alexisonfire, Moneen, or Fucked Up. 

 Photo by Nick Ball

Below are some links in which you can support them by listening to their music or buying merch. Cheers! 

Facebook

Instagram

Bandcamp

Dead Tired Merch

Spotify

Apple Music

Tyler Zanon (Youth Fountain)

I'm happy that I get to do a write-up on Tyler, as he's one of my favorite songwriters in the alternative/heavy music scene currently. I thought it would be a good time to get this one out of the way!

Picture by Ed Abarca

 Bedroom Talk (now known as Youth Fountain) started as the solo pop punk/emo/post hardcore project of Tyler Zanon, who was influenced by bands such as The Used, Movements and Senses Fail to write heartwrenching, hardhitting tracks dealing with mental health, failing relationships and more. Tyler wrote and recorded a demo with the songs 'Blooms' and 'Grinding Teeth' sometime in 2017, as well as posting covers onto his YouTube channel. In late 2017, Tyler would get together with Cody Muraro (Parting Ways, Take The Earth Beneath Us, currently Real Friends), who grew up in Kelowna with Tyler and was originally meant to be just a special feature according to a source close with Tyler. The first Bedroom Talk songs that featured both Cody and Tyler were 'Worried' and 'Grinding Teeth', They would change their name to Youth Fountain soon after and were signed to Pure Noise Records, releasing a self-titled EP in the summer of 2018. Later into 2018, Youth Fountain would start playing shows with bands such as We Were Sharks, Abandoned by Bears, No Liars and more.

When 2019 rolled around, Youth Fountain started releasing handfuls of more teasers and singles for their upcoming debut full-length, 'Letters to Our Former Selves', released in summer 2019 with multiple popular music videos and singles. That year proved to be an extremely busy year for the boys, playing both one-offs with bands such as Calling all Captains and A Grizzly Fate, plus tours with Can't Swim, Free Throw and Seaway. 

In late 2019, Cody Muraro announced that he would be leaving Youth Fountain to pursue other musical projects, but Tyler announced that he would keep the band going as a solo project with him as sole singer with revolving musicians rounding out the rhythm section as he had been already doing. This leads to 2021, the year after we lost live music. The Chicago-area pop punk band Real Friends announced the Cody Muraro would be their new vocalist, replacing Dan Lambton who had left the band in early 2020. Tyler released some singles and an acoustic EP (re-recording of some tracks on Letters) to lead up to the release of their sophomore album, 'Keepsakes & Reminders', which was revealed to the world on November 5th, 2021.

Picture by Kyle Pigeau

2022 was also a very busy year for Tyler and Youth Fountain, more recordings being released (covers of 'www.nevergetoveryou.com' + 'Light Switch' + a deluxe version of Keepsakes & Reminders) plus tours with Four Year Strong/Knuckle Puck, Cory Wells and Belmont.

From what I can tell, 2023 is going to be another big year for Tyler, as he wants to release an acoustic EP, and go on another Canadian tour! 

Tyler Zanon is one of Canada's freshest and finest songwriters in rock, and with touring experience in Canada, USA and Europe with many other pop punk and emo bands (including with some who have in some way possibly shaped his writing style), Tyler is proving to be one of the scene's next biggest things within the years to come.

Below are some links for Youth Fountain which you can use to listen and support them.

Youth Fountain Bandcamp

Youth Fountain Twitter 

Merch

YouTube

Instagram

TikTok

Website

Spotify

Co Komono

Photo credit: Mikey Jablonski Photography

Co Komono

Co Komono is another band that is local to me, in the Winnipeg, Canada area. They are a 5-piece pop punk group who are influenced by a varied range of genres, including easycore, deathcore, indie rock and math rock. They have seemingly coined the subgenre term, called 'bummercore'. Active members are Jordan Skelly on vocals, Zach Skelly (also in Steady Glow and A Grizzly Fate) and Caitlin Brakel (formerly Epirus/Crisis Averted, currently also in Lowlife) on guitars, Nick Paluck (also in Jupiter Meltdown/Guilty Sleep) on bass and Liam Sewell (also in Jupiter Meltdown/Seweller/Guilty Sleep) on drums.

Co Komono was formed in late 2017 as a project between Zach, Liam (who went to the same high school) and Nick, under the name 'Memorial Brigade'. Derek Westra would join on guitar in early 2018, followed by Zach's 14-year-old sister Jordan, in the summer of 2018. Zach and Jordan come from a musical family, with their father Paul Skelly being the lead vocalist and guitarist of hard rock band X-Engine-X, who have notably opened for Godsmack on a Winnipeg date.

 

Memorial Brigade would play their first show in late 2018 and released multiple singles such as 'Kasper' in 2019. They would later release an EP called 'Fall of The Marginal' in 2020. 

Despite the world as we know it changing around this time, they persevered and started writing more music for a possible full-length, which will be released this year. They played a few more shows under the Memorial Brigade moniker when live music returned in 2021, notably the Manitoba Loud Music Awards and Cowboys Emo Night, but announced that they would be changing their name to Co Komono in January of 2022.

In June of 2022 they announced that they would be parting ways with Derek Westra. Caitlin Brakel, who had been playing in Epirus and Lowlife at this time was announced as their new member.

Over their short career, they have played many stages big and small, including Bankside Music Festival (alongside previously mentioned X-Engine-X) and The Burton Cummings Theatre (TJ’s Gift Foundation’s Rockin’ for Choices concert). They are a local music scene staple and have been one of the tightest bands in the community - especially as of current.

Co Komono is simply put, a talent powerhouse. The experience they have between all their former and current bands - e.g. Epirus, Jupiter Meltdown, A Grizzly Fate - makes the band super tight, very unique to the scene and is a pleasure to watch live. They have big things including a full length coming in 2023. I would like to thank Jordan Skelly, lead singer of Co Komono, for helping me write this.

Below are a few links in which you can use to support them, and follow their consistent posting schedule where they will be announcing new shows and music very soon.

Instagram

Website 

Facebook

Spotify

YouTube

Apple Music

Bandcamp

Last.FM

Here is one of their awesome merch designs designed by Tengkorak Kucing.

 

 

 

Jeromes Dream

 

Credit: Johnathan Velazquez Photography

Jeromes Dream

I would imagine Jeromes Dream has a better writeup on Sophie's Floorboards than I could ever do justice, but if it isn't already clear enough - Jeromes Dream is one of the most unique sounding bands of the past 30 years, in my honest opinion. You have to understand, at the time they were coming up (the late 1990s), everybody was trying to sound like an Earth Crisis or a Hatebreed - but Jeromes Dream was NOT trying to emulate absolutely anybody (in the words of Jeff Smith)

Jeromes Dream is a band I hold in serious HIGH regard as one of the best creators of heavy music of all time as far as sounding nothing like their contemporaries go - along with Touché Amoré, Full of Hell, Converge, Lightning Bolt and any Mike Patton project. The thing is that, unless you were part of the very niche late 90s-early 2000s screamo scene, you may have no clue who these guys [Jeromes Dream] are, or at least have no idea what their music sounds like past my constant rambling about them. Seriously, Jeff Smith is one musician I'd love to interview.

Jeromes Dream is Jeff Smith on vocals and bass, Eric Ratensperger on drums and Loma Prieta's Sean Leary as a guitarist after their reunion in 2018. Nick Antonopoulos was their guitarist for the band for the majority of their career but parted ways recently. Initially formed as a 3 piece in Connecticut, they were active from 1997 to 2001, and again from 2018 to the present. Members now live in California and Connecticut.

With that said, what am I talking about? Surely this band can't be more special than Orchid, I Hate Myself, Indian Summer, Heroin, Antioch Arrow, etc, right? The issue is I don't how to explain it, but Jeromes Dream just really resonates with me differently, not to say Orchid doesn't (and the Orchid/Jeromes Dream split is BADASS, by the way), but it's just a different feeling for me. It really feels like I'm saying a whole lot of nothing, so I'll get into the tofu of it. On their early material, Jeff Smith has a delivery that I can only call a 'high pitched chicken shriek'; Jeff Smith screaming at the top of his lungs with some emotionally straining, angry, traumatic lyrical content to boot. See: the lyrics to 'It's More Like A Message To You'  

"We had one night, not enough time 

We all make mistakes, there's nothing I can do

It's just a part of life, welcome to my life. This is me."

 

On the bands' "later" material, specifically 'Presents' (their last album before their breakup), the instrumentals are far more mathcore and post-hardcore influenced, and Jeff Smith completely changed his vocal style to a rawer, more abrasive "shout" (think of Converge/Lightning Bolt vocals) and his lyrical content about... a lot of stuff. I can't quite tell what but it's definitely interesting. That's another thing that kept me hooked about this band, was the mystery of their lyrics later in their career. Here's one of the most enjoyable sets of lyrics, from the song 'Double Who? Double You!' 

"Georgie's girl likes to fuck! 

She loves it! Really does! 

Her green grass is blue-green, green grass. 

Doin' the Dew Dude's dew dude!"

Jeromes Dream has released 4 studio albums (3 if you don't include the remaster of Presents that was released in 2021), with much of their discography produced and engineered with Kurt Ballou from Converge. They have also released many splits (notably with Orchid and Usurp Synapse). Everything they recorded up to their 2001 breakup is on a compilation entitled "Completed 1997-2001", easily found on streaming services and Bandcamp, give that a listen if you can. It starts off with Presents and goes into their earlier stuff, into some unreleased material. There are quite a few mathcore and screamo-influenced gems which helped pave the way for a lot of other chaotic bands in the 2000s-2010s, having themselves been influenced by these kinds of bands that came before them, e.g. Garden Variety, Shellac, Sleepytime Trio and Honeywell.

 

 Jeromes Dream are the result of three emotional, traumatic east coast kids who just wanted to make some chaotic music to get their stress out. They have persevered through failing relationships and a "sudden" break-up - as Jeff Smith puts it - but with the addition of guitarist Sean Leary, they continue to tour to this day, supporting post-hardcore bands Pianos Become the Teeth and Touché Amoré as of recent - bands that they themselves influenced. 

Below are some links to their music and ways you can support them. Buy merch and go to shows if you can! 

Website (merch)

Bandcamp 

YouTube 

Twitter

Instagram

Spotify

Apple Music

Jeromes Dream 'We're All Dead' T-Shirt Design (on Jeromes Dream website).

 

 

A Grizzly Fate

 To start this entry, we first have to define a subgenre. What is easycore? Simply said, it's a form of hardcore that employs elements of pop punk. This includes riffs and breakdowns in major keys, poppier and happier hooks (just a focus on hooks in general) and on occasion, synthesizers and sampling. Bands who have been put into this subgenre include A Day To Remember, Four Year Strong, The Wonder Years and Settle Your Scores.

Photo credit: Brittany Lambert (Holdfast Photography)

A Grizzly Fate

The first band on here is Winnipeg's own A Grizzly Fate, the pop-punk/metalcore crossover act. As of 2023, the lineup includes vocalist James Blicq, guitarists Avery Dominguez and Zach Skelly, bassist and producer Griffin Jenkins and drummer Rohit Saini. All members have an expansive variety of influences including The Wonder Years, Capstan, Four Year Strong and the entirety of deathcore as a whole. With members having experience in different music scenes across Manitoba - Griffin has played in the emo pop-punk band Still as Scarlet with fellow former AGF member Ryan Van Dale; Avery played in Planeshifter up until 2020 and Zach plays in Steady Glow and Co Komono. Another former member of the band is Carlton Flanagan, who currently is the vocalist of Planeshifter.

James and Avery had the idea to form an easycore band as far back as 2014. After going through many members in these very early days (with James and Avery as the 2 constant members), they settled on their first lineup under the band name 'Underachiever', in which they played their first gig with Alone I Walk at The Ellice Theatre (R.I.P.) in October of 2015. Underachiever would release one song before their name change, entitled 'Fuck You, Frank'.

Within the next few years, they would play various shows at venues in and out of Winnipeg, including house shows, with varied lineups. It wasn't until 2018 where they would solidify the rest of their lineup and rebrand as A Grizzly Fate, about the same time when they released their debut single "Sleep When You're Dead, Kid". Since then, they have released a full length album ('Treading Water') and 2 more singles. In the past 5 years, A Grizzly Fate has opened for many larger bands including Cancer Bats, Calling All Captains, Youth Fountain and Capstan, as well as classic locals such as Prinport and Broken Nose Mall Santa.

Don't let the band's grizzly, fierce nature of their sound scare you away, these are some of the nicest men in the Canadian punk music scene. Check these guys out when they go back to performing live in 2023. Thank you to James Blicq for taking the time to answer some of the questions I had for him about the band.

Here are some links to their music and merch/social media pages.

Facebook

Instagram

Bandcamp

Apple Music

Spotify

YouTube

 Last.FM

My Just Deserve: Tuesday, January 10th, 2023.

 Welcome, I hope you've had a great start to your new year (hopefully better than me; i've been struck down by a cold but it seems to be getting better 😌). My name is Justin Fisher, or 'Fish' as some people like to call me. If you're reading this you're probably looking for reviews or new bands or something like that. Those will be coming soon as I start writing to develop a style of posting! In the meantime, here's what this blog will look like, for the most part:

Music reviews: I won't be reviewing absolutely everything new that I listen to, because there's so much, and most of that is just filler stuff that I have nothing positive or negative to say about. I would like to focus mainly on local (I'm in Manitoba) and Canadian scene reviews, for the most part, though. Saying that, I want to also share every local concert poster that I come across. Stay tuned!

Interviews: I would eventually love to pick the brains and have a convo with certain musicians, either in the local scene (e.g. Jordan + Zach Skelly, the guys from Storyteller, etc) and others outside of the local scene (Jeff Smith from Jeromes Dream, Mikaila Delgado from Yours Truly, Chris and Chuck from Hot Water Music, Tyler Zanon from Youth Fountain, Nathan from Boysetsfire and the guys from Touche Amore come to mind.) As I live in Winnipeg, there's also potential for interviews with local promoters and venue owners (Park Theatre, The Goodwill, St James Lanes), that I'd be quite interested in talking to.

Personal music/band related stuff: I am currently in a post-hardcore 5-piece band called Courriers, and we're currently writing our debut ep. We have a single (a cover) coming out very soon and will share it here when it's done! 

Radio: I host a hardcore/emo oriented show on Wednesdays from 3-4pm (CST) on UMFM 101.5. The show is called Suburban Home. I play everything from the founding fathers of emo - Rites of Spring - to local Canadian bands and small Australian bands, even classic screamo stuff from the late 90s.

https://umfm.com/programming/shows/suburban-home

Alright, I think I'm done talking about myself here. What a Howard Stern, eh? If this finds you well and you're not already, please consider listening to Suburban Home, and come join the fun where i'm mostly active on my instagram @justinfishermusic // @courriersband + feel free to follow my lastfm account: https://www.last.fm/user/percussionistjf

I'll post a few times within the next week or two, and if I find any demo or obscure music links, i'll make sure to post those as well.

P.S. The new blog name is a Touche Amore/La Dispute reference.