INTERVIEW: CALLING ALL CAPTAINS: UNDERRATED CANADIAN POP PUNK HEROES
Calling All Captains: a name I am sure I have seen or heard. However, I was completely unfamiliar with the band's sound. June 2024: the music video for their song "wallflower" appears in my recommendations section on YouTube. The colorful visuals and the boys' undeniable energy and charisma hooked me instantly. Also, let's not forget about the most memorable part of the song: that acapella delivery of the first few words from vocalist Luc. Who is Calling all Captains? Thank you for taking the time to read my conversation with Luc (vocals), Brad (guitar, vocals), and Connor (guitar, vocals) of this amazing yet underrated Canadian Pop Punk band from Edmonton.
I watched your documentary about opening for The Offspring the other day. That was a bucket list moment! What else is on that bucket list of yours as a band?
Luc: Nickleback! They're next!
Connor: I think something achievable for us that we are looking at is getting an opening slot on a big tour. We haven't really had that as a band. We kind of headlined all of our tours. We are not picky. We just want to go as an opening band on a bigger tour. We would also love to play festivals in the States. There are lot of cool festivals we want to get on.
I know you said you are not picky but do you have any bands in mind?
Connor: Trophy Eyes! That would be cool! There is this one band whom we played a show with called Forever Came Calling. It would be sick to do something with them.
Luc: There is also another band I would love to get to tour with. Why not open for Billy Talent? Canadian legends. I want to open up. I want to expand our audience in 2025. We have a really amazing fanbase. The Captain enjoyers out there are nothing more than supportive. We just did a Black Friday sale and I think it was our best merch drop ever. It's kind of crazy to see the growth. 2025: I want to take it further.
Connor: We love Nickleback. We aren't joking about that.
Luc: There are different ways to look at what makes a show a favourite show. There is a favourite venue we've ever played. There is a favourite crowd we've ever had. There is the greatest show we've ever been a part of (all of the bands playing). Something that is sticking out in my mind is a show from the last tour we just did. I think one of my favourite shows was probably the one in Philly with our friends in Goalkeeper. That was a crazy show. There were 200 people there. The venue was completely packed. There was a person getting spun around like a helicopter in the pit. There is a video of this on our Instagram. That was a great venue with some great bands and a great crowd. That's the most recent show I can think of. I have the memory of a goldfish.
Brad: I think mine would be when we opened for Pierce the Veil. They have been scene legends forever. It was so cool to see them and experience a show of that magnitude. It was crazy!
Connor: I have two shows that come to mind. One, opening for Billy Talent. They're a band I have loved for a long time. It was a special show for me. More recently, on our last tour, we played in Boston for the first time. There was something about that show. When I think about the tour, that show was one of the highlights. I love visiting new places so that's probably one of the reasons. It was a very unexpected turnout in a good way. We made a lot of new friends. We saw some old friends. The venue was great. The staff was great. Really good vibes from the whole city. I think we showed up to the show 3 hours late which normally would make the staff not pleased with you. The staff helped us get everything ready just in time. I think we were soundchecking when people were coming in the door which is definitely not something you want. They made us feel at home.
Luc: We even blocked traffic to park the trailer and nobody got mad. That was so nice! Usually, people get mad.
Connor: I have been told Boston has angry people. I thought everyone there was really nice.
You mentionned playing Boston for the first time, are there any other cities or countries where you would like to play perhaps in the near future if possible?
Connor: We would love to get back to the United Kingdom. We did a tour there in 2017.
Luc: It was an England tour. We want to do the whole thing. We want to hit Scotland, Wales. Why not?
Connor: Europe would be really cool! Another place at the top of my list would be Australia.
Luc: Another one for me is Japan.
Brad: Germany would be sick!
Brad: Keep going! Early on in any band's career, it's hard to make it through the early stages to the good points. Between us and the people we know, there are so many local musicians who are way more talented than us, write better songs, and perform better and didn't take it as far as they could have. If you can get past the early band stages, it gets much better down the road.
Luc: If I could talk to my younger self, I would't necessarily tell him to change anything. I feel like we wouldn't be the band we are right now if...I don't know what I'm trying to say. You get it though.
Connor: "Don't join a Pop Punk band with these guys". No, I'm kidding. I have been through a lot of jobs in the past 7 to 10 years and spent a lot of time worrying about what I'm going to do when I'm not playing music; how to make money. I have finally come to a point in my life where I'm all in. Whatever jobs I get, I'll tell them: "This is what I do. If it doesn't work for you then, I'm gone." I would just tell myself not to worry so much. Just go all in. It's worth it. Figure out the rest later. It's a long road. Don't waste time. You can always get another job but you can't get your years back.
Whenever you are writing new material, are you ever worried of sounding too Pop or too Punk?
Connor: All of the above. We write what sounds good to us but we also worry that what we just wrote sounds too "this" or too "that". We don't worry too much. We write a lot of stuff that ends up not making it. I think it's important to write as much as you can and just let the music flow. When putting together an album, we put a lot of thought into what songs go best together. I think you could really hear a difference if you go through all of our demos over the past 10 years. You can hear different phases, styles of how we were writing at that time. There are songs I wrote 5 years ago that would have been great on an album then but probably don't fit with what we are writing now. I think it's important to put thought into how you present your music and what's around it in an album format.
Luc: I feel like when we're writing genre is never a worry in our minds. It's when the songs are finished, we're like: "Oh, what have we done here? We have to put all of this in a complete package that says Calling All Captains." Sometimes, that's kind of difficult to do when you're experimenting with a wide array of sounds. I think "(e)motion sickness" was a really good foot forward for having all of these different elements of our sound that we can develop in the future.
Speaking of "(e)motion sickness, are there any songs that almost didn't make the EP?
Connor: There was a song that was supposed to be on the EP that didn't end up making it. We are now working on it for the next release. That's what we are doing right now. We are in the phase right now where we have written a bunch of music. We are trying to choose what will be used for the next release. Lots of music gets left behind. One song that we weren't sure or caused extra thought was "sunbeam". We all really like the song but when you listen to all of the songs back to back, it's definitely an outlier in the way it's written and in the way it feels. If you listen to the EP in order, it gets you there to that sound without being too jaring.
Luc: If you go from "wallflower" to "sunbeam", I feel like people would think: "Wow, what's happening"?
Connor: We purposely put it as the last song. That last little bit, the piano part is actually Tim (drums) recording himself at home on his iphone. We put it right at the end because we thought it was a perfect way to close the whole EP.
Which song are you the most proud of on (e)motion sickness and why?
Luc: I'm pretty proud of "be cool". That song was very hard to get all of the different sounds to fit together. It starts off real hard with crazy guitars, pop punk verse, Hard Rock chorus. We got a random Hip-hop verse. Then, we got a breakdown that's very heavy. I think that's the song I'm most proud of. A lot of people try to fit all of these different elements together and sometimes, it just sounds like they're changing to a different song. This feels like a whole complete song.
Connor: I'm most proud of "one more day". I think it's the first Captains song where I did the full lead vocals over the whole track. I wrote all of the lyrics other than maybe a couple lines. I mean we write everything together. That one is close to my heart. We performed it a few times on tour when we could. Hopefully next tour, we can make it more of a regular performance.
Brad: I'm going to say "be cool" as well. I remember when we started writing it and it was just a riff. From what the song started at to what it turned into was a huge transformation. That one was very cool to see from concept to final product!
I noticed you have a necklace as part of the merch you are selling. What other kinds of items would you like to have as part of your merch in the future?
Connor: Socks! Beach towel! More jewelry would be cool! I have worked in construction. I always thought it would be cool to have a line of work equipment like hi vis vests, hard hats, gloves, Carhartt jackets.
Luc: Toaster! It would burn the flower into the toast! Wallets! Earrings!
Speaking of merch, do you have a personal favourite merch item you own?
Luc: Probably my Knocked Loose t-shirt that I got when I saw them live.
Connor: I have a bunch of Sudden Waves' (awesome band from Montreal) merch. They have my favourite designs ever.
What would you say is the biggest challenge you have faced as a band so far (on a musical and/or human level)?
Luc: As a band, I think a hard challenge for us is breaking out of this mid tier. We got to get on that next support slot. We got to get that influencer talking about us. I'm not saying we can't do it alone. We have been. We are doing it. It would be cool to get some extra help from someone who is a bit bigger than us. Challenge as a person: we all aren't young men anymore. Touring is very hard. It's really hard when you're getting inconsistent sleep. Driving all the time. Not eating right or on time. The general fog of not knowing what city you are waking up in sometimes. It's hard! If it was easy, everybody would be doing this. That's something I tell myself all of the time: "This shit ain't easy. That's why I chose it."
Brad: I think a big challenge for us has been a financial one. There are so many things we want to do. Every person in the band has their own day job and financial ability in their life to be able to do the things the band wants to do. There have been times where we were like: " Hey, let's do a 2-month tour!" Some people couldn't afford it. That's the hardest part. There are 4 people in the band and we are all different and have different situations. Getting all of those things to line up perfectly every time is just not possible.
Luc: There is a cool milestone that creates challenges. When your band gets bigger, you have to pay taxes. The cost of everything gets bigger. Your shows get bigger. The venues get more expensive. The tours get longer. The price of gas goes up. Crew gets bigger so you cannot sleep in somebody's basement. You have to get hotel rooms because you are paying people to be on the road. There are so many things (like a 2500$ merch order) that we didn't think about when we started as a band. It's going to be a new standard for us going forward; all of the expenses are getting higher. The shows are getting bigger. That's amazing! We are still not at the point where at the end of a tour we're like: "Hey, here's your pay." We're still doing this cause we love it. We chose this. We're passionate. We want nothing more in our lives than to play music. We're going to keep doing it.
You have already put out two music videos for songs from your latest EP. I can tell you put a lot of effort into your videos (The whole DIY aspect of the "wallflower" music video). What is your take on the importance of music videos nowadays?
Luc: Yes, music videos matter for sure. Despite everything being short form, you'll still need clips from a video. You'll still need somewhere for your community of fans to gather and consume your content. There is a reason why all of these Twitch streamers just have clips of their streams on YouTube. If people want to rewatch something or enjoy like a different form of content, they can. They have other people in the comment section who also like the same things. I think it's important but not in a necessary way that everybody is finding music through their recommended section on YouTube anymore. Everybody is scrolling on Tik Tok checking the promo posts. I think music videos still and will be a standard. There is a reason why all of these big Pop stars have million-dollar music videos. I don't think they would be doing the million-dollar music videos if it didn't matter as much. There still going to be daytime television. There is still video radio. There are react channels as well. There are so many things music videos are for other than just watching them. They're a big part of being a musician and helping people consume your content. Not everybody just consumes it by audio; they love to see who is singing.
Connor: Personally, I don't watch a ton of music videos. When I hear a song, my immediate thought isn't: "Oh, what's the video for this song?" However, if I see a really cool music video that speaks to me, it definitely adds to the allure of the band. I think music videos are important if you do them correctly. I think if you are just putting out random boring videos just to put out videos than you probably could have done without it. I think image is very important when you're a band.
Luc: I feel like music videos tell you what the band's music feels like almost. Everybody has their own interpretation when they listen to a song. When they watch a music video, they can see what the band's vibe is. One of my favourite bands is Thrown. I listen to their music and I'm like: "Yeah, Sick!" Then, I watch their music videos and I'm like: This is tripple sick!" The way they are presenting themselves as a band is very important. You get to see the rest of the picture.
Brad: I think music videos will always be an important part of music. It's a good opportunity for us to deepen the story behind our music. We have that in lots of our videos. Some of our videos are super personal and relate to our personal lives more than the actual songs.
What’s next for Calling All Captains? Full length in the near future? More music videos? New single?
Luc: A collection of songs in an amount we can't disclose.
Brad: We will have new music next year!
Any more tours lined up?
Brad: More tours! More music videos! More Merch!
Luc: 2025 is going to be a year! We aren't stopping!
Thank you for reading what is probably my biggest interview to date. Thanks to Luc, Connor, and Brad for being so cool and funny during our exchange. Yes, the band's popularity keeps growing and growing. However, they deserve to be heard and seen by way more people. I hope this article has made you want to help Calling All Captain reach that next level of exposure. Stream their music. Spread the word. I believe good songs made by passionate hardworking people should be heard by millions.
Your favourite interviewer who won't stop writing any time soon,
Ariane
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