The Good Depression

Photo Credit 📷 : @davidpraph

Hamilton based band “The Good Depression” have been riffing across the Canadian Ontario scene since 2016 bringing a fusion of groove based southern rock flair, with breakdowns, feedback, and unpredictable mathy rhythms that haven’t been written this brilliantly since Every Time I Die.

Influenced by many other heavy bands of the early 2000s like Converge, Norma Jean and the Red Chord, they proudly wear their influences on their sleeves but it is apparent in their playing that they have carved out their own distinct sound. At one point during “Snakes and Charmers” you can even hear a DJ scratch so it’s fair to say this band isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of hardcore with a touch of experimental style.  Constant tempo changes, mathy riffs, heavy breakdowns dripping with feedback, gritty vocals screamed at one second turn to warm vocals being sung at the next. What more could you ask for?

These songs will burrow into your brain and live there rent free. Their recent release “Something Violent In The Way” is a super fun 8 minutes of dialed in energy that you can’t bottle or contain. “Our recording process for ‘Something Violent In The Way’ was with Davis Maxwell and it was a great one, as it always is. We had enough time to experiment with different recording techniques and try new things. An example of that is re amping drums through a pedal board with fuzz and delay. The album was also mixed and mastered by Davis.”

“THIS RELEASE IS SPECIAL TO US BECAUSE AS THE WRITERS, YOU CAN SEE THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUND OF THE BAND. IT’S ANOTHER NOTCH IN OUR BELT AND WE’RE ALREADY PUSHING OUR COMFORT ZONES BY WRITING NEW MATERIAL THAT ISN’T AS SIMILAR AS THESE SONGS. IT’S EXCITING TO US. THE ALBUM EXPRESSES THEMES OF LOSS AND TRAGEDY, AS WELL AS SOME PLAYFUL THEMES.”

JUSTIN - @JUSTINHEBB

The upcoming release date for Oxblood is June 14th and all of these singles (from Something Violent In The Way) are on it as well. 

When asked about their writing process:

“The writing process for this album was different from the last. Some of these songs were written during 2020 & 2021 and the restrictions made us find other ways to send ideas back and forth via computer, whether it was tablature or midi drums from logic pro. When we eventually got back into the practice space we definitely hit the grindstone and started writing things that we wanted to hear. Our influences of music released in that time definitely had a play on the writing process”.

As for what's next?

“We will keep writing and most likely releasing singles for the time being. We plan to make up our U.S. tour dates that were kiboshed in 2020 by the borders closing. We would love to play as many shows in different places as we can in a year, I think that would be the next milestone for us. If we can go as far from home as we can, and people have fun and dig the music then I believe that's a goal we have checked off.”

We are impatiently waiting for their next release titled “Oxblood” which will be self released on June 14th but until then go see The Good Depression live in Ontario at these upcoming dates listed below and checkout their first teaser release from Oxblood right here!

Saturday July 20th 

OTTAWA -The Dominion Tavern 

Pandemonium Fest 

Saturday August 10th 

BRANTFORD - Rye Field 

Rye Field Studios

Checkout their Bandcamp : The Good Depression

Writer : @just_reidz

Editor : @letsgetpivotal

06/11/24