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.
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.
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