by emily harris
photo courtesy of incase we crash
Canadian band Incase We Crash are breaking through the industry within their first five years. Their newest EP, Soul Paint, is a cohesive body of work as inventive and creative as the band themselves. Featuring heavy guitar riffs and powerful choruses, this EP is bound to wind up amongst other pop punk bands in your playlists. We caught up with Simon Austin, the lead vocalist and rhythm guitar of the band, to discuss this latest drop!
Congrats on the release of your EP Soul Paint! Can you talk to us about the overall creative process of this EP?
Simon Austin: “The start of the creative process for this EP actually goes all the way back to 2017 shortly after we released our first EP Constantly Changing. The first song we wrote from the EP was probably ‘Wolf Boy,’ which we actually played live a few times before its release. We went into the studio with Sam Guaiana in May of 2018 to record ‘Garden’ just as a single. We weren't really planning to do an EP, but after that session we were eager to do more songs with him, however he was booked up for another six months. So in those months between we recorded and released our second EP No Education, and then got to work on more songs to bring to the studio in November of that year. Sam Guaiana really helped us clean up the arrangements and bring life into them, especially on ‘Garden’ and ‘Soul Paint.’”
What was the inspiration behind the EP artwork?
SA: “The concept behind the EP artwork was a collaborative effort between us and the artist Alexis Lane. It definitely comes from the lyrics to Soul Paint, and overarching theme of ‘painting your soul with a different kind of gold,’ or better put, just a layer of invulnerability that protects you from the pain and struggles of life.”
The first single you released from the EP was “Garden.” What was the writing and recording process like for this song in particular?
SA: “The recording process of ‘Garden’ was a very unique one, as it was our first time in an actual studio. Thankfully we'd had some practice on recording and performing in a studio environment from self-producing our first two EP's, but it was very inspiring to work with a talented producer like Sam Guaiana. We really dived into the song, revised the structure, re-wrote lyrics and established an overall theme for the song, added some ear-candy parts and layered guitars + vocals etc. which was all stuff we hadn't really done before, and this experience definitely had an effect on our songwriting moving forward.”
Did you always feel like “Garden” was meant to be the first release into the new sound?
SA: “We absolutely felt ‘Garden’ was a step into a new direction for us, and was meant to be the first single from the EP. Out of all our songs it was probably the biggest departure from our older music, so it felt natural to take that step first. It was also the first song we recorded from the EP, so in our brains it was chronologically the first song to take full form from that release. Although we did briefly consider putting out ‘Wolf Boy’ as a lead single.”
What song from the EP were you excited for fans to finally be able to hear?
photo courtesy of incase we crash
SA: “We were definitely most excited for people to hear the title track ‘Soul Paint.’ It was nearly two years from recording to release for that song, and after recording it we had that feeling from day one that it would be a big track for us. Subjectively I think it's also our catchiest song we've released, and has the best energy of the whole EP.”
How has your sound changed since the release of Constantly Changing and No Education?
SA: “The biggest change in our sound from our first two EP's and the Soul Paint EP is probably the use of synths, ambience and dense vocal production. Those are elements that we wanted to incorporate, even in tracks like ‘Straight 2 the Head’ (the No Education version) we tried to incorporate those things, but it really took the help of our producer Sam to do it right. However, we're unsure if any of our new music in the future will be quite as synth/production heavy as this EP again.”
You’ve just recently been endorsed by Ernie Ball! How did this come about and what does it mean for the band’s future?
SA: “It has been a dream come true to join the Ernie Ball roster. We've been using their strings exclusively for years, and almost coincidentally our manager knows someone at Ernie Ball. It was an incredibly natural and mutual pairing, we want to use nothing but Ernie Ball strings for the rest of our lives anyways, so it's truly as I said a dream come true for now and for the future.”
Finally, describe your sound to someone who has never heard you before!
SA: “Incase We Crash has a one-of-a-kind sound that leans towards the ‘pop’ side of the ‘pop punk compass.’ We have big anthemic choruses, awesome guitar riffs and in-your-face vocals, so there's something for everyone!”