Startographers

Startographers are an alternative rock band from Austin, Texas featuring members of Magnet School, Honeyrude, and Schatzi. With an array of influences including indie rock, dream pop, post-rock, shoegaze, post-punk, and brit-pop - they have a unique sound that&#39;s driving &amp; vibrant but also full of lush guitar textures and captivating vocal melodies. Their debut LP will be released fall of 2022.

Startographers, an alternative rock band from Austin, Texas featuring members of Magnet School, Honeyrude, and Schatzi, will release their debut LP titled &quot;Static Calls&quot; on November 18, 2022 via Shifting Sounds. The new LP will be available on limited edition opaque Purple 12&quot; Vinyl in N America, UK, Europe - plus an exclusive Japan release on classic black vinyl with bonus track by Stiff Slack Records. With an array of influences including indie rock, dream pop, post-rock, shoegaze, post-punk, and brit-pop, Startographers have a unique but also familiar sound that hearkens back to the Creation Records era of music from the early 90s. The songs are melodic and driving, vibrant and anthemic, with a sense of nostalgia, full of lush guitar textures and captivating vocal melodies, not to mention the arena sized hooks. Check out the first two singles released from the forthcoming LP below and make sure you check the album out in full when it drops on the 18th. Fans of Ride, Oasis, Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel and the like should find something to love in these new songs.

Static Calls

L.S. Dunes

Newly formed supergroup L.S. DUNES, featuring drummer Tucker Rule and bassist Tim Payne (Thursday), guitarist Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), guitarist Travis Steever (Coheed And Cambria) and vocalist Anthony Green (Circa Survive), have just announced their debut LP titled "Past Lives" set for release on November 11, 2022 via Fantasty Records.
Unshackled from the expectations and aesthetics of their already successful careers, L.S. DUNES super-charge their heavy anthems on Past Lives with punk energy into a sound unlike anything that has come before it. From the gripping, theatrical opener “2022,” and the crunchy, frenetic earworm “Like Forever,” to the pummeling, expansive “Permanent Rebellion,” and the disarming album closer, “Sleep Cult,” Past Lives is an electrifying and emotional ride.
Past Lives was produced by Will Yip (Turnstile, Circa Survive, Quicksand) and recorded at his Studio 4 Recording in Philadelphia, PA. Going deep on issues of fearlessness, dependency, nonconformity, and impermanence, writing for the album was a collaborative effort.
After the shock of the pandemic shutdown, the close friends and mutual admirers urgently realized that ‘tomorrow’ is not promised. “We never knew if we would ever get to play these songs together, in fact none of us lifelong musicians really knew if we’d ever be able to play music for a live audience ever again,” Iero recounted. “Permanent Rebellion” is about taking back what is rightfully yours.” Rule added, “We wanted to do something where you can hear all our bands in it and yet, not have it sound like any one in particular. Our roots are punk rock and hardcore, and the vibe is hope for all the lost souls.”
The seeds of L.S. DUNES were planted during rehearsals for Thursday’s Christmas livestream event in 2020 which included friends and acquaintances from some of their favorite bands. The chemistry at the serendipitous, impromptu jam sessions was instantaneous. With the addition of Circa Survive’s vocalist Anthony Green, it was organically clear, this time, the music formed the band.

Past Lives

Soul Blind

Soul Blind are a hardcore-adjacent shoegazey/post-grunge band from Hudson Valley, NY channeling elements of 90s grunge, shoegeaze, and post-hardcore, currently signed to Other People Records.

Hudson Valley, New York post-hardcore/grunge-gaze/alt-rockers Soul Blind have just announced their debut LP titled &quot;Feel It All Around&quot; set for release on November 11, 2022 via Other People Records. The full length album will feature 11 new tracks and serves as a follow up to their 2021 EP titled &quot;Third Chain&quot;. The band entered the studio in early 2022 with Grammy-nominated producer Will Yip (Title Fight, Turnover, Movements) at Studio 4 Recordings. Soul Blind write songs that are filled with layers of distortion, feedback, and rich melodies, often combining the best elements of 90s shoegaze, grunge, alternative rock and post hardcore. The band have already released the first two singles from the forthcoming LP titled “Stuck In A Loop” and “System (Failing)” which can both be streamed below.

Feel It All Around

Fleshwater

Fleshwater is a new band featuring members of Vein.fm who make heavy/atmospheric rock in the Hum/Deftones/etc realm, incorporating elements of grunge, shoegaze and post-hardcore, similar to more recent bands like Modern Color, Soul Blind, and the like.

Grunge-gaze / post hardcore band Fleshwater, featuring members of Vein.fm, have just announced their debut LP titled &quot;We&#39;re Not Here To Be Loved&quot; set for release on November 4, 2022. The album follows their 3 song 2020 Demo and will feature 9 new tracks, with the first single, &quot;Kiss the Ladder&quot; released with an official video that can be streamed below. Fleshwater&#39;s music is atmospheric, heavy and 90s alt-rock/shoegaze/post-hardcore inspired, more akin to bands like Deftones, Hum and more recent bands like Modern Color or Soul Blind.

We're Not Here To Be Loved

Arm's Length

Arm&#39;s Length are a 4 piece emo-rock band from Quinte, Ontario Canada that hearken back to the driving anthemic emotional punk rock of the early 2000s.The core of Arm’s Length is Allen Steinberg (vocals/guitar) and brothers Jeremy Whyte (vocals/guitar) and Jeff Whyte (drums). Steinberg calls the band’s origins “white suburban kid energy”: he and the Whyte brothers went to different high schools in Quinte West, but after meeting Jeremy at a party and agreeing to jam, they discovered a shared (and, in those parts, rare) love for emo and post-hardcore bands like Counterparts, I The Mighty, and The Hotelier. Allen and Jeremy, aged 16, recruited Jeremy’s younger brother Jeff, then just 13, to drum for the pair. By the time Steinberg and Jeremy were graduating from high school, their songs had become more serious. They saved up and recorded the four song 2019 EP What’s Mine Is Yours in Hamilton, Ontario.The underground emo scene picked up on the release and single “Watercolour,” which topped a million streams. They followed up with 2021’s Everything Nice, a six-track EP made with producer Anton DeLost(Seaway, Bearings, Stage Hands). Within a week, Pitchfork had reviewed the EP. That’s when Steinberg says “the collared folk in the emo community” took notice: the band signed with Wax Bodega and booking agent Jason Parent. With only six local Ontario shows under their belt (including a friend’s wedding), they played New York’s Le Poisson Rouge. Fans began uploading full videos of their spring 2022 sets in Chicago and Toronto on YouTube. The band added Benjamin Greenblatt on bass and started prepping their debut full-length.

Arm’s Length have announced their debut full-length album Never Before Seen, Never Again Found, due for release on October 28 via Wax Bodega. The upcoming album, produced by Anton DeLost (Seaway, Bearings, Stage Hands), is everything that captured the attention of curious listeners from the band’s first EPs but elevated - from the heart wrenching themes to the nostalgic emo sound present throughout the 11 track endeavor.“Never Before Seen, Never Again Found tells a story from start to finish,’” explains vocalist and guitarist Allen Steinberg. “It’s a combination of sounds and topics we’ve experimented with before, but we think we’ve taken things to another level through song structure and more vivid storytelling. We truly hope anyone listening can relate to these songs and feel something when they listen.” Alongside the announcement, Arm’s Length has shared the lead single from the album “Object Permanence”. On the track, Steinberg explains, “This is one of our darkest and most heavy songs yet. We still sought out to keep all of the melodic aspects and tried to get better at storytelling in our lyrics. We hope you can resonate with the song in some shape, way, or form. Blue beyond belief, baby.”Fans can watch the music video for “Object Permanence” now.About the LP:Never Before Seen, Never Again Found is the debut LP from Quinte West, Ontario band Arm’s Length. Along with its title, titanic emo punk compositions, and melodic beauty, Never Before Seen, Never Again Found feels like a defining record of a new generation of emo because of where it’s from: three young people grappling with the brutality, confusion, and deep-rooted family traumas of 21st century life amid the funerals, farm fields, and stripmalls of a rural, small-town Ontario community, with little hope of getting out.

Never Before Seen, Never Again Found

Dad Hats 

Dad Hats are a four piece indie-punk band from Nashville, TN who write emotionally driven 90s inspired melodic punk rock songs with sing-along catchy pop hooks.

Nashville indie punks Dad Hats have announced their second LP, Spill, set for release in February 2023 via Mind Over Matter Records. The band has just shared their video for their first single &quot;My Favorite Show Is The Weather Channel&quot; which can be streamed below.“Growing up, Channel 25 was the Weather Channel, which I watched a lot. I think because I was scared of tornadoes and thought if I learned everything I could about the weather I could stop being scared. It worked for the tornadoes, but it doesn’t work for everything,” says vocalist Craig Turner.“My Favorite Show Is the Weather Channel was one of the first songs we wrote for our second full-length record,” continues Turner. “I think it’s a great exemplar of the overall intended mood of the album: “Why do I feel like everything is falling apart?”. This song is meant to paint a picture of anxiety, stress, and burnout sneaking up and sabotaging any progress made. The impossible task of trying to get your shit together. The lyrics likely come off as a bit disjointed, but that’s kind of the point. It doesn’t tell a story. It’s about me trying to chill myself out when it’s never that simple.”RIYL: The Wonder Years, The Menzingers, Pup

Spill

Narrow Head

Narrow Head is a rock band from Texas formed in 2013, heavily influenced by 90s alternative rock, grunge, post-hardcore and shoegaze. The band self released their debut LP &quot;Satisfaction&quot; and eventually signed to Run For Cover Records, releasing their sophomore LP &quot;12th House Rock&quot; in 2020. Their 3rd LP &quot;Moments of Clarity&quot; will be released in February 2023.

Texas grunge-gaze rockers Narrow Head have just announced their new album titled &quot;Moments of Clarity&quot; set for release on February 10, 2023 via Run for Cover Records. Along with the album announcement, the band has just released lead single and title track &quot;Moments of Clarity&quot; with an official video that can be streamed below.About the new LP:Solitude, melancholy, and revelation bleed into each other throughout Narrow Head’s, Moments of Clarity, transporting the listener through a vast terrain of emotional spaces. Traversing the depths of towering, churning riffs, bouncing, lock-grooved rhythms, and crystalline, gorgeously constructed hooks, the Houston-based outfit puts on a masterclass in the art of writing songs that match the pain, pleasure, and confusion of modern living. Each track is sentimental without being precious, heavy without unnecessary griminess, pop-forward without letting the listener off the hook easy: these songs ask for some form of hurt or desire to be paid back to them in return, some promise that the listener is putting equal skin into the game.Moments of Clarity’s title track lyrically evokes images of numbed psyches and deep loathing, yet all the while holds out a sense of forgiveness in not knowing how to get better, a sense of forgiveness in the fact that, “it’s ok to say you want more.” “Moments of Clarity” tunnels through a thick morass of sticky rhythms, eventually exposing a melody so triumphant and stadium-sized in its confidence that it almost seems to channel the ghosts of Oasis’s Knebworth 1996.With Moments of Clarity, the band’s third full-length, Narrow Head dashes away any shadow of romantic nostalgia or indulgent self-deprecation. Channeling equal parts pop-star conceit and weathered sobriety, the band has, in the truest and most basic sense, arrived at a record that only they could have written. Moments of Clarity does not speak to or build upon the past. Rather, it cuts straight to the heart of the matter, taking the struggle, brilliance, and mystery of contemporary life as its direct subject.RIYL: Nothing, Teenage Wrist, Soul Blind, Quicksand, Hum, Smashing Pumpkins

Moments of Clarity

Palette Knife

Palette Knife are a relatively new emo/indie/pop punk band from Columbus, Ohio who already have one LP under their belt. The band formed in 2018 and released their debut LP for Take This To Heart Records in 2021, featuring melodic emopunk anthems with math like guitar parts similar to bands like Charmer, Hot Mulligan, Into it Over It, Tiny Moving Parts, Origami Angel and the like. They are gearing up for their sophomore LP set for release in January 2023.

&quot;New Game+&quot;, the sophomore LP from Columbus, Ohio emo/rock band Palette Knife has been announced for release on January 20, 2023 via Take This To Heart Records. Their sophomore LP encompasses a vast array of rock/emo tunes that are reminiscent of scene stalwarts Into It. Over It, Tiny Moving Parts, Origami Angel, Charmer or a more intricately guitar based Modern Baseball. The theme of New Game+ interweaves classic 16-bit tropes of “Death Screen” and “Pause Screen” seamlessly into the LP sequencing. The slow-building, fast climaxing ode to lockdown 1st single “Jelly Boi” is spacious as it crescendos into a fast-paced guitar attack outro. On &quot;Damn Son, Dim Sum&quot;, the 2nd single from the new LP, the band gets right to it for two and a half minutes and churns out a riff-y pop-punk classic. Closer “…And That’s A Rock Fact.”, does what closers do and puts an empathic foot down on an entire piece of work that encapsulates what a rising rock/emo band is capable of.Stream the new singles below and be sure to click the pre-order link to pick up a copy of the different bundles the band is offering.

Game+

Goddamnit

In 2011, Philadelphia&#39;s Goddamnit formed with a desire to make music that harkens back to the &quot;golden era&quot; of punk and post hardcore. Meshing the emotive sounds of bands like Jawbreaker and The Promise Ring with the ferocious intensity of Quicksand, Goddamnit offers a fresh perspective on a genre that Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike carried the torch for in the early aughts.

Philadelphia, Pa indie/punk rockers Goddammit will release their upcoming full length LP titled &quot;All This Time is Yours Now&quot; set for release on 12.09.22 on Creep Records and Sell The Heart Records. The band spent a week with Chris Pierce behind the board and then had Alan Douches at West West Side Music master the thing. We figured why stop there and had John Yates at Stealworks do the art and layout. In 2011, Goddamnit formed with a desire to make music that harkens back to the &quot;golden era&quot; of punk and post hardcore. Meshing the emotive sounds of bands like Jawbreaker and The Promise Ring with the ferocious intensity of Quicksand, Goddamnit offers a fresh perspective on a genre that Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike carried the torch for in the early aughts. The album can currently be streamed on their bandcamp page.

All This Time Is Yours Now

Omni of Halos

Swedish alternative rock group Omni of Halos will launch their debut, self titled studio album in November 2022. A guitar-driven explosion of noisy pop music, ”Omni of Halos” contains the four tracks from the band’s latest, digital-only EP ”Care Free” from 2022 plus six new, until now unreleased songs. For the first time available on vinyl via Lövely Records, this collection of skewed, bittersweet, and beautiful tracks was recorded and produced by Per Stålberg from Division of Laura Lee in Welfare Studios. Offering a unique mixture of distinct vocals, vibrant rhythms, and rich pedal steel guitar melodies, ”Omni of Halos” stands out from its kind while still communicating a sound firmly rooted in the expressive soundscapes of the alternative ’80s and ’90s. The album was mixed by John Agnello, known for his work with Dinosaur JR, Sonic Youth, and Kurt Vile, to name a few. The artwork for the album is made by Sebastian Murphy from Viagra Boys.&nbsp;
”Omni of Halos” is released on all streaming platforms and vinyl on the 18th of November.&nbsp;

American Thrills

American Thrills is an indie / punk rock band from Connecticut featuring members of The Tired And True (Eulogy Records) and Shut up and Deal. Founded in mid 2020, during a pandemic, the band came together to write their debut self-titled EP. The EP was engineered by Nick Bellmore (Make Do And Mend, Hatebreed) and Mixed/Mastered by John Naclerio (Brand New, My Chemical Romance). The band’s unique blend of upbeat punk rock with hooks for days and a sprinkle of Midwest emo caught the attention of New School Records (No Trigger, Twenty2), who released the EP in late 2020. The band followed up their debut EP with &quot;Old Things&quot; their second EP for New School Records in 2021, and eventually signed to Wiretap Records, who will be releasing their debut LP &quot;Parted Way&quot; fall of 2022.

Connecticut indie/punk rock band American Thrills are releasing their deebut LP &quot;Parted Ways&quot; on November 18th via Wiretap Records (US) / Disconnect Disconnect (UK). The album was recorded with Nick Bellmore (Hatebreed / Make Do And Mend) and features 9 blistering songs of emotionally driven melodic punk rock and roll, with big guitar melodies and sing along anthemic hooks, sitting somewhere between The Menzingers and Hot Rod Circuit. Check out two singles from the forthcoming LP below.

Parted Ways

Gatherers

Gatherers is a melodic emotionally charged post-hardcore band from Bayonne, New Jersey founded in 2011. The band has released 3 full length LPs, their 3rd being released on Equal Vision Records, and a forthcoming LP (2022) set for release on No Sleep Records.

New Jersey band Gatherers have announced the release of their 4th LP, titled &quot;(mutilator.), set for release on November 18, 2022 via No Sleep Records. The band just shared their latest single “suffocator” the newest offering off their forthcoming LP. The new song bursts out of the gate with a driving force that pairs with the explosive vocals and subtle electronics bubbling in the background, providing another taste of the sound of the forthcoming project. “suffocator&#39;&#39; follows lead single “gift horse,” which features vocals from Geoff Rickly (Thursday), both of which can be streamed below. Gatherers possess all the attributes that so many bands making heavier rock strive to master and incorporate into their sound. On ( mutilator. ), the five piece effortlessly blends melody with dynamic and fluid movements between guitars and drums that push the speakers to their limits, and softer reflective interludes that further highlight the incredible range of singer Weinberger’s vocals. Gatherers don’t operate like most other bands. Since forming in 2011, the band has continually defied the constructs and constrictions of genre, and refused to succumb to convention. That’s something that’s been amplified on this fourth full-length, ( mutilator. ) While its 11 songs are another natural progression and evolution for the five-piece, it also marks something of a turning point for the band – after releasing 2015’s Quiet World and 2018’s We Are Alive Beyond Repair, they put out the single “Sick, Sad Heart” in April 2019 before parting ways with their label for those past two releases.Yet while many bands might have balked at the uncertainty that being unsigned entailed, Gatherers took it as an opportunity to make the exact album they wanted to make, not least because they weren’t on anybody else’s timeline. As a result, it afforded them much more creative freedom while also allowing them to build on the sounds and textures they had begun exploring on that standalone track. “This is the first time in two albums that we were really just able to take our time with it, and do and hear what we wanted on a record,&#39;&#39; says guitarist Anthony Gesa. “At the same time,” adds Weinberger, “our mantra for this record was to not overthink anything. We spent a lot of time listening and talking to each other – asking what kind of vibe we were imagining – and I feel that was very beneficial, because it kept us all dialed in to the same headspace.”The result is a less a collection of conventional songs than of dark clouds of feeling and atmosphere – a set of bruised, desperate, searching songs that Weinberger refers to as “a panic attack in slow motion.” That’s accurate. There’s a gentle yet ominous grace to the likes of “boxcutter”, “black marigolds” and “our last days, numbered like a rotary dial”, and a scorching, ragged and visceral beauty to “ad nauseam, i drown”, while nefarious, nihilistic shadows hover over “twelve omaha solemn certainty” and “masalette” burns up in an apocalyptic, apoplectic rage. It’s proof that, while Gatherers may have moved away from the more traditional post-hardcore template of their earlier records, the swathes and swirls and layers of sound present on these songs are just as powerful.

( mutilator. )

Action/Adventure

Chicago’s Action/Adventure is the pop-punk band you didn’t know you needed. The dynamic five-piece are all multi-instrumentalists who have been playing together for nearly a decade. Comprised solely of BIPOC, their mission is to create #PopPunkInColor and ensure pop punk is a genre where everyone is represented on and off stage. Action/Adventure has gotten attention from alt scene tastemakers like Alternative Press and Kerrang!, garnered nearly 20k monthly listeners on Spotify, over one million plays on TikTok and even secured a slot at the final Vans Warped Tour in 2018.Typically landing somewhere near melodic hardcore, Action/Adventure collectively writes music that slides along the vast spectrum of pop punk. Poppy lyrics and melodies bring an air of familiarity that are simultaneously bringing a fresh perspective through a new lens and gripping riffs and thrashing breakdowns that you can nod your head to, they draw inspirations ranging from Fall Out Boy to Senses Fail and Four Year Strong.Action/Adventure has now successfully planted their flag into the national landscape of the pop-punk scene following a nearly overnight viral success of the impactful music video for their powerful 60-second single “Barricades” on TikTok. The video details specific discrimination that each member has faced as a group of entirely BIPOC while playing at pop-punk shows. Within three weeks the guys had one million-plus views of the video and an email from their dream label in their inbox.

Chicago Pop-Punk / Easy-Core five piece Action/Adventure are gearing up to release their debut full length LP titled &quot;Imposter Syndrome&quot; on November 11, 2022 via Pure Noise Records. One listen to this record, and that’s clear. It&#39;s emotive and erudite, sophisticated and serious, fun but also full of the trials and tribulations, insecurities and uncertainties that make us all human. All that is channelled into these 10 impassioned and precise, vigorous and spirited songs. The fact that it hits so incisively and profoundly demonstrates why – even if they use the term with tongues firmly in cheek – pop-punk for adults is the perfect description.“This might be our first album, but we’ve all been through the wringer, and I hope people hear that we have real stuff that we’re dealing with – whether that’s being in a band, being a person of color in the scene or chasing a dream that seems so hard and unattainable. I really hope people can feel what we’re feeling.” says Evaristo. You can stream the first 4 singles from the forthcoming LP below.RIYL: Four Year Strong, Story So Far, Knuckle Puck

Imposter Syndrome

Dazy

Big room hooks with bedroom production. That’s the ethos of James Goodson, the, well, everything behind Dazy. Since releasing his first single in August of 2020, the Richmond, VA-based songwriter has been using Dazy as a vehicle to make the kind of music that he always wanted to hear, and he’s been making a lot of it. By the following August, Dazy had already put out enough material to release MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD: The First 24 Songs (Convulse Records), a sprawling collection of the project’s first year. Now, Goodson has set his turn-and-burn approach to the side in service of crafting something that was initially antithetical to his whole mission: Dazy’s debut full-length, OUTOFBODY.

Dazy—the moniker of Richmond, VA-based musician James Goodson—today announced his debut album OUTOFBODY will be released on October 28th, 2022, via Lame-O Records, with a cassette version available via Convulse Records. Along with the announcement comes the release of the first single “Split,” an infinitely tuneful track that combines buzzsaw guitars, a bouncy backbeat, and an indelible chorus that’ll have listeners singing along after first spin. OUTOFBODY, recorded by Goodson at home and then mixed/mastered by Justin Pizzoferrato at Sonelab (Dinosaur Jr, The Pixies, Wild Pink) is available for pre-order at the link above.Composed of 12 songs that clock in at just over 25 minutes, OUTOFBODY both encapsulates and expands on everything Goodson set out to accomplish when he began releasing music as Dazy: big room, widescreen hooks with homemade, bedroom production. The guitar fuzz is still thick, the harmonies are still rich, and the drum machines still thump across the album, while newer elements like 12-string acoustic guitar and mellotron are introduced in its quieter, introspective moments. Created in Goodson’s spare room using a couple of small amps and Garageband, OUTOFBODY incorporates his love of punk, college rock, Britpop, and jangle pop, answering the question of what if a Ramones album was a collaboration with Kevin Shields. Throughout, Goodson reflects on life’s constant shifts, uncertainties, and the seemingly never-ending feeling of being pulled in different directions. Check out the new single &quot;Split&quot; below along with its accompanying single &quot;Rollercoaster Ride&quot; also included on the new LP.

OUTOFBODY

Single Mothers 

Dine Alone Records and Canadian punk outfit Single Mothers are excited to announce the Friday, October 28 release of Everything You Need (pre-order), the band’s latest full-length offering since 2018's Through A Wall. Relying on frontman Drew Thomson’s songwriting for the very first time in the band’s long and compelling history, Everything You Need is a set of songs written prior to the world shutting down in 2020. Everything You Need is definitely a different sounding record from the last three, but no record Single Mothers has ever released has sounded like the previous one. Each release has had a different lineup and this is no different.
The title Everything You Need comes from a convenience store Thomson walked past almost every day during the pandemic, and he was drawn to the poetic moment he thought it represented. “Everything you need,” he says, “is just such a beautiful name for a place that sells lottery tickets and cigarettes and Coke Zero and Oh Henry’s.”
The store is now gone, closed and the sign isn’t there, but listening to this new record, over all that the world has gone through in the last few years, made him think about how “Everything You Need” can sometimes be anything at all. That along with his sobriety that has spanned six years informs the music found on this new showcase and the ever-evolving nature this band is built upon.
Single Mothers broke up in 2009 and have been playing shows ever since. That’s been the bio of the band for the last 13 years. Single Mothers started when lyricist Drew Thomson quit his job at ReMax in 2008, walked into a bar in London, Ontario and recruited a random table of musicians. They’ve broken up since, a few times, but keep putting albums out and they keep playing shows. “Single Mothers isn’t anyone’s band to break up anymore, really,” says founder Drew Thomson. “There have been so many members over the years, I’ve even quit and it kept going without me.”&nbsp;
The vision for Single Mothers had been designed intentionally to survive without Thomson if it had to. Enamored by fellow Canadians Broken Social Scene and their loose structure, Thomson thought he could lean on that aspect and have a band with no real members at all, just people in and out whenever they wanted. “I used to think it was my experiment, but I don’t feel like it’s just mine anymore. If I quit, someone else could pick it up and keep going. It’s happened before and maybe it will happen again.”
Thomson left the band in 2010 to start gold prospecting in Kirkland Lake, ON and Single Mothers went on without him. Eventually, he came back for a few shows and they opened for Touche Amore. Jeremy Bolm offered to put out their first real release under his new label Secret Voice. After that things started taking off quickly. Single Mothers began a rigorous touring schedule, especially for a band that wasn’t supposed to be a band, and for a few years, the lineup more or less settled. International tours with Title Fight, The Bronx, Quicksand, Touche Amore, Enter Shakari, Off With Their Heads, Cancer Bats and many more and festivals such as Pitchfork Fest, Redding &amp; Leeds, 2000 Trees, Primavera Music Festival, Halifax Pop, SCENE Fest, Riot Fest, SXSW, Pukklepop, Festival d'été de Québec, Pouzza Fest, Rifflandia, Sound And Fury among others kept Single Mothers busy.&nbsp;
As far as abandoning the notion of a band with no members and releasing this new album, Thomson says “There just isn’t the type of time we used to have. When you’re young, the currency of evenings and weekends has a different weight to it. 14 years later, now, if I were to quit my job, walk into a bar and start a band, it would look like a midlife crisis. My friends are busy, they have lives and kids now. So I decided to write this myself.”

ReleaseWave