Lonely Parade: The WL Interview

Purveyor of: Anything-goes art-punk

File next to: The Breeders, Speedy Ortiz

Playing: Wavelength Monthly Music series, Saturday May 26, 2018 @ Bike Pirates. All ages! Get your tickets here!

You never know what to expect from Lonely Parade. The Montreal-via-Peterborough trio is one of Buzz Records’ latest signees, playing noisy, no-fucks-given indie rock that twists and turns at the blink of an eye. From their Bandcamp debut Sheer Luxury through to their new Buzz single “I’m So Tired,” they have played with genres spanning surf rock, art rock, punk, blues, jazz, and everything in between. Wavelength’s Jarrad Robinson caught up with Charlotte Dempsey to talk about what the band has been up to lately, and where they’re headed next.

After self-releasing a few records and EPs, you’re now working with Buzz. How has that been so far?

It’s been great so far! It was a bit of an adjustment not just being accountable to ourselves, but it’s been good to actually have structure to the way our band operates instead of just throwing our music around and hoping for the best. We’re really lucky to be working with Buzz, we’re getting so many dream opportunities and everyone we’re working with has been really kind and supportive.

At any given time, your music could be described as punk, blues, no wave, surf rock, grunge, math rock, or any combination of the above. How important is it for you to keep listeners on their toes by mixing things up so much?

All three of us listen to all kinds of different music. Though we do have some shared favourite artists, the three of us have disagreeing taste at times and this influences the way we each contribute to a song. We’ve never really tried to sound like anything specific.

The lyrics of “I’m So Tired” address the exhausting cycle of depression, anxiety and self-loathing that so many people find themselves caught in. Do you feel some catharsis in being able to take these frustrations and put them into song?

There’s definitely a level of catharsis to it – sometimes I don’t realize how quiet I am in daily life and there’s something relieving about just raising your voice in general. Helps when the words to match are exasperated and blunt. 

Since August of last year, each of you have released solo EPs. Did it just so happen that you all put them out around the same time, or did you decide you each needed some space to your own thing after being a band for so long?

The three of us sometimes feel pressure to write “good” songs for Lonely Parade. At band practice we often scrap songs for being too “simple” or “poppy”. Writing and recording solo EPs allowed us to each experiment with home recording and gave us the privacy to write extremely personal songs. The close release dates were not planned.

You have relocated from Peterborough to Montreal pretty recently. How has the city been treating you?

We haven’t played a ton of shows here yet, but we’re all enjoying the fruiteries and public drinking. It’s fun to live in a big city.

What can listeners expect from your forthcoming record?

Very angsty songs.

You played your first out-of-country show at Iceland Airwaves last year. Do you have any plans to further tour outside of Canada soon?

We’ve got some U.S. dates on the horizon, which is a long time dream of ours.