Lately it feels like a new Ontario Hardcore band is popping up every week. The provincial scene hasn’t been this busy since I was a teenager, many, many years ago. With this massive resurgence of hardcore locally and worldwide it’s always nice to see people who’ve been in it for a while still here and making music. 

Windoc has been doing it for around 8 years now but some of their members have been in the game much longer than that. Windoc shares members with other Ontario based local bands such as BFD, Big School, Terminator and Zero. On July 5th Windoc released their first full length album “Human Error”, with a weekend of shows coming up for the album release, we had a chat with their guitarist Will Foran to get the details about this release, their message, and where Windoc is heading.

LETS START WITH THE BANDS STYLE, WHERE DID YOU ALL DRAW INFLUENCE FROM FOR THIS RELEASE?

“We have a wide range of influences. Our songs are rooted in hardcore but definitely take a lot of influence from metal. Hatebreed, 100 Demons, Merauder but also Napalm Death, Celtic Frost and Black Sabbath.”

WHAT WAS YOUR WRITING PROCESS THIS TIME AROUND?

“The pandemic stymied our plans for a while but when we finally started writing again we insisted on releasing a full length as we had set out to do ages ago. We jammed out the new songs over the course of a year or so. Once we have a riff or two that we like, it becomes a collaborative effort to get the song to a place where we're all excited about.”

WHAT WAS YOUR RECORDING PROCESS?

“We recorded with our friend Davis Maxwell (who also mixed and mastered the album) and helped us record our demo in 2016,  he’s been supporting Windoc every step of the way. This is the first time we spent more than one day in a studio - it allowed us to really dial in on each instrument and get this sounding exactly as we envisioned. Go record with Davis!

This release feels like a culmination of our entire time as a band, perhaps the best representation of what we have been trying to achieve musically and thematically all along. It’s also the first record the five of us have recorded together. We took the name Windoc from a boat that crashed into a bridge near our hometown. Maybe in some ways the weird name hasn't helped us, but lyrically we've always been prone to calling out the destructive nature of humans and society. 

The boat crash itself was a result of human error and so much of the mess we find ourselves in is from our own doing and the actions of corrupt leaders / figures of power. ‘Human Error’ felt like a title that would reference the name of the band but also encapsulate so much of what we write about in our songs.”

“ULTIMATELY I HOPE FOLKS ENJOY THE MUSIC AND CAN CONNECT IN SOME WAYS WITH THE LYRICS AND KNOW THAT THEY AREN’T ALONE IN THINKING THAT SO MUCH OF WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW IS NOT NORMAL”.

- WILL @WINDOCHC

“The system is broken, but anything created by humans can in turn be changed and torn down by other human beings. Windoc lyrics might give the impression that we feel hopeless about the future, especially given what we're witnessing right now from the actions of corrupt, bigoted, warmongering politicians, however we still believe it is truly never too late to be the catalyst for change you want to see. Don't support companies or organizations that are complicit in genocide. Join your community at a rally, on the picket lines and protests.

Boycott, divest, sanction. If you're fed up, do something about it. Free Palestine. Boycott List of Shame – Canadian BDS Coalition.”

SO WHATS NEXT FOR THE BAND?

“I don't want to make any promises about new music anytime soon after this, seeing as it took this long to release the LP - but we would love to visit new places and play our music alongside other cool bands. Two years from now will be the tenth anniversary of the demo so maybe we can plan something fun for that.”

You can listen to Human Error on all major streaming services and if you dig it, preorder the vinyl here. Flyers for their upcoming Ontario shows will be posted on our Instagram page @ontarioxhardcore checkout their linktree below and support Windoc by pre ordering the album.