My Just Deserve: Everything Hardcore, Emo and Alternative Music-related: hardcore

Showing posts with label hardcore. Show all posts

Monday, 27 February 2023

Locater 'Clandestine" album release show review w/ Guilty Sleep, Agapito.

Nicholas Gammon and Brendan McLean of Locater playing at the Goodwill Social Club, February 25th 2023. Photo by Justin Fisher

Locater (FKA Louser) played a release show in celebration of their new album 'Clandestine', which was released February 17th, 2023 on No Sleep Records. This is a bit of a recap and review on the shoegaze/punk show, plus some pictures that I took that I liked.

The show opened with the band Guilty Sleep, a newcomer to the indie/shoegaze scene. They just finished recording some music with Griffin of Winnipeg easycore act, A Grizzly Fate on the board. Guilty Sleep consists of guitarist/vocalist Eric Ducharme, guitarist/vocalist Haise, drummer Liam Sewell (of Co Komono/Seweller/Jupiter Meltdown) and bassist Nick Paluck (of Jupiter Meltdown).

Guilty Sleep perform at The Goodwill Social Club. Photo by Justin Fisher

Guilty Sleep play a blend of grunge and emo influenced shoegaze, with lush guitar soundscapes, big drums and even a telephone mic akin to Deftones. They can make you feel floaty, but also have some fast-paced songs that make you want to jump or mosh. They'll be a band to look out for in the future when they start releasing music. I absolutely loved their set and I can't wait to see more of their stuff. Despite the band name, the bombastic, spontaneously loud sound of this band will not make you want to sleep.

Agapito was the next band of the night, and I went in blindly, having never heard anything. They absolutely blew my mind with their mixture of post/progressive hardcore with a rock and roll energy. Agapito is more-or-less a supergroup, with a former member of Comeback Kid and Mike Peters from Cancer Bats on drums. I didn't get any pictures unfortunately, because I was so entranced by the bands performance. From the lead vocalists' rock and roll attitude to the colourful melodies used on both the guitars and the basslines. There was even a point where the rack tom fell over because of how hard this bands' music hits! This is a band you NEED to see, where the live experience is going to be so much different from a studio release. Keep an eye out for more music and shows from them, and also check out Cancer Bats if you're not familiar with them.

The last band was Locater, of course. Bit of backstory, they used to go under the name 'Louser' until early February 2023, but due to legal issues, were forced to undergo a name change. The band released one 'self-titled' EP under that name, but Clandestine was released right after their name change, after signing to No Sleep Records. The band consists of core members Nicholas Gammon on vocals, Sean Kaye on bass, Nick 'The Fonz' Fondse on guitar and Jesse Hardie on drums. For the release show, Brendan McLean (who has played with Elder Abuse/Higherlows/etc) hopped on 2nd guitar. Some of the bands these core members have played in include: Witchtrip, Ceilings, Elder Abuse and Badfriend. Locater's style is a mixture of grunge and shoegaze, reminiscent of bands like Narrow Head, Teenage Wrist and Nothing. The show itself was intimate, with an awesome vibe when it came to the lighting. I was talking to my photographer friend Brittany Lambert after the show, she was saying when it came to editing, the lighting was a challenge but one that she enjoyed. The projector visuals on the ceiling added a nice effect to the show. The setlist included a good handful of the great tracks from Clandestine, as well as some classics from their 2019 'self-titled' EP including Vitamin L.

Saturday was an amazing night, full of seeing some great friends and even better music. Thanks to Locater, Guilty Sleep and Agapito for the great hangs and the awesome photographers (Brittany, Matt) working the show, as well as the Goodwill for hosting a great weekend of music. Cheers everyone.

Locater Spotify

Agapito Spotify

My personal instagram

Holdfast/Brittany Lambert Photography

Matt Friesen Photography

Saturday, 14 January 2023

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!

Thursday, 12 January 2023

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

Wednesday, 11 January 2023

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)

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

Tuesday, 10 January 2023

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.