New album Listen Up! out now!
Overflowing with attitude, Excuses Excuses is an alternative/punk rock band from Ontario, Canada. Packed with raw passion, energy, and a hint of good ol' Canadian grit; the trio, comprised of guitarist/vocalist Kyle Wilton, bassist Trevor Bowman and drummer Jason Nicoll, is driven to empower millennials to find strength in self-expression and individualism, and encourages people to live their lives to the fullest potential in our restrictive, modern society. Since their fruition 2016, the band has been developing their version of punk-infused alternative rock inspired by Canadian modern-punk bands, like PUP, The Flatliners, and The Dirty Nil, along with all your favourite stadium rock bands like Green Day, Billy Talent, My Chemical Romance, and Foo Fighters.
Over the past two and a half years of being a band, Excuses Excuses has self released two EPs, rendering them multiple top ten spots on Earshot! charts throughout the country, landing them on CBC radio, and helping them grow their following and online presence immensely. After sharing the stage with a few influential Canadian acts, such as Bleeker, Scenic Route To Alaska, MONOWHALES, cleopatrick, Texas King, and We Were Sharks, and finishing their education; they decided to release their sophomore EP, Catch Me If You Can, on June 1, 2018 and hit the road to work on building rapport in the industry in addition to honing their skills as a live performing act. In the past year, the band toured extensively throughout Central Canada and Canada’s East Coast, playing over 75 shows in roughly 25 cities.
On their sophomore EP, Catch Me If You Can, they build on the creative foundation laid down on their 2016 five-song debut release Frame Of Mind, and the ensuing year spent honing the band’s incendiary live show. Catch Me If You Can’s six songs also mark a coming of age of sorts for Excuses Excuses, as— having left their teenage years behind—the band delves into more complicated lyrical themes and, by extension, an overall harder hitting sound. Recorded at Chalet Studio north of Toronto with producer Justin Meli and drum consultant Jordan Gauthier (YC Drum Company), the songs took shape around Nicoll assuming a full-time role in the band and represent the first true examples of Excuses Excuses’ uncanny ability to balance raw power with impeccable melodicism.
“There was a lot of learning, adjusting, and evolving occurring since our first EP,” Wilton says. “Trevor and I have been writing songs together since we were 15, so we naturally share similar influences. Jason’s influences added a bit more straight-forward rock flavour to the mix, and we were also greatly inspired by the bands we’ve played with. The bottom line is we wanted our new material to sound more powerful, and more versatile at the same time.”
While each song on Catch Me If You Can contains deeply personal reflections on the state of the world, “Rebel Without a Clue” and the title track best represent the EP’s overarching message of empowering members of their generation to find their own path rather than following society’s norms. As Wilton explains, “The EP is a commentary between a soul-seeking character and their own conscience, contemplating life changes, mental illness, drug abuse, and the uncertainty that revolves around becoming adults in today’s restrictive society.”
Indeed, although there has been much hand wringing about the decline of the electric guitar within the overall music scene, Excuses Excuses are eager to join the ranks of Canadian bands such as July Talk, PUP, and The Dirty Nil proudly cranking it up to 11 on the international stage. Catch Me If You Can is their entry into that conversation, and now that they are on their way, there will be no looking back.
