Despite only forming in spring 2010, sludgy Vancouver hardcore quartet Baptists have quickly become one of Canada's most exciting new bands. Much of this is thanks to an insanely heavy demo that landed them a deal with venerable punk and metal imprint Southern Lord for a self-titled seven-inch.
"We got a MySpace message out of the blue from none other than [Southern Lord founder] Greg Anderson. We honestly thought it was a hoax and thought someone we knew was pulling our legs," recalls Baptists bassist Sean in an Exclaim! interview. "It was quite funny because we were considering putting it out ourselves or putting [the songs] up on the internet for free. I think a friend of his had turned him onto us. Whoever it was, thank you, thank you, thank you."
Despite the straightforward nature of their songs, Baptists have also struck an element of technicality due to the complicated drumming techniques of former A Textbook Tragedy beater Nick Yacyshyn. "I think we're making music that is simpler in it's base form than our previous efforts, but because of Nick's drumming, we're able to explore areas within traditional song structure (verse/chorus/etc) and still keep it interesting," Sean explains. "There is a lot of similarity to the approach of a band like Converge, where the drums really help to define a riff. Some of the riffing on its own wouldn't make much sense, but coupled with the drum parts, voila! It works."
Despite the fact that members of Baptists also play in Ladyhawk, Hard Feelings and Sports, the project will not be abandoned anytime soon. "We will take this band as far as everyone can commit to," Sean explains. "With a full-time dad in the band, we have a hard time committing to touring, but short trips and one-offs are definitely in our future."
Baptists certainly won't be a one-release band either, with new songs already in the works. "We're currently writing a full-length that should hopefully be recorded by the end of the summer," he says. "The last couple songs we wrote came together very fast, and it's liberating writing in that way... We're writing fast and simple hardcore punk songs. We're definitely not writing an opus."
With time allotted for recording and pressing the record, Baptists expect that their full-length debut will be released in the late fall or early winter. For now, the Baptists seven-inch is available through Southern Lord.
"We got a MySpace message out of the blue from none other than [Southern Lord founder] Greg Anderson. We honestly thought it was a hoax and thought someone we knew was pulling our legs," recalls Baptists bassist Sean in an Exclaim! interview. "It was quite funny because we were considering putting it out ourselves or putting [the songs] up on the internet for free. I think a friend of his had turned him onto us. Whoever it was, thank you, thank you, thank you."
Despite the straightforward nature of their songs, Baptists have also struck an element of technicality due to the complicated drumming techniques of former A Textbook Tragedy beater Nick Yacyshyn. "I think we're making music that is simpler in it's base form than our previous efforts, but because of Nick's drumming, we're able to explore areas within traditional song structure (verse/chorus/etc) and still keep it interesting," Sean explains. "There is a lot of similarity to the approach of a band like Converge, where the drums really help to define a riff. Some of the riffing on its own wouldn't make much sense, but coupled with the drum parts, voila! It works."
Despite the fact that members of Baptists also play in Ladyhawk, Hard Feelings and Sports, the project will not be abandoned anytime soon. "We will take this band as far as everyone can commit to," Sean explains. "With a full-time dad in the band, we have a hard time committing to touring, but short trips and one-offs are definitely in our future."
Baptists certainly won't be a one-release band either, with new songs already in the works. "We're currently writing a full-length that should hopefully be recorded by the end of the summer," he says. "The last couple songs we wrote came together very fast, and it's liberating writing in that way... We're writing fast and simple hardcore punk songs. We're definitely not writing an opus."
With time allotted for recording and pressing the record, Baptists expect that their full-length debut will be released in the late fall or early winter. For now, the Baptists seven-inch is available through Southern Lord.