Josh Hinch, Mike VanCouter and Nick Predhomme make up what may be one of the hottest new bands to emerge out of the Chatham Kent/Windsor area in some time. Combining a rapid fire intense attack and growling vocals with complex melodic interludes, these three heavy metal monsters are an aural treat and the band to watch in 2021. We chatted with the band about what they’ve been doing and where they see themselves headed in 2021 and beyond.
You guys are progressive metal. Is that an appropriate label?
Nick – There’s this guy Nick Nocturnal, he’s a YouTuber and he just did a Twitch stream and shouted us out. He did a review of our song Witch Machine and everyone in his stream was saying that we were prog core or prog metalcore so I think that’s what suits us best.
I can hear that in your music. Honestly I think there are way too many genres but you guys definitely have a progressive sound. How did you guys meet?
Josh – Actually, I played in The Silence factory as a session bass player for a little while with Nick and that’s how Nick and I met. We’ve been buddies for a while now and we’ve always wanted to play metal together.
I met Mike a couple years before Nick but Mike was in a different metal band at the time and I was just hanging out while they were jamming. Later I forgot his name and was looking on Facebook for him and couldn’t find him and one day he just popped up on my friend suggestion and I thought, “Yes! There’s that guy I was looking for!” Mike and I started getting together and jamming and then Nick popped in and started writing with us and that was the start of it.
You started out as a four piece, isn’t that right?
Josh – Yes we did actually but we didn’t think it was the right feel we were going for. Kyle did a great job and the chemistry was great, but it worked better with the trio and we just decided to stick to that.
What sort of influences would you guys say have created your sound? What sort of music do you guys listen to?
Mike – A lot of great metal influences for me that reflects all of us in this band. A big band recently I’d say is Spiritbox. Veil of Maya is a band I’ve listened to for the past ten years as well as Born of Osirus, they’re basically kicking ass out of Sumerian Records.
Nick – Yeah, Spiritbox is a kick ass band out of Canada, they’re from Vancouver.
Josh – Yes, much respect to them. My dad actually got me into Rush and when I was young started listening to Rush and just all kinds of progressive rock from that era like Yes, and Genesis. We steered into that progressive metal/rock. But we also were listening to Deftones, Tool all that new metal stuff a little bit. That’s basically our origins.
Yeah, I can hear that in the music, that’s what I was looking for. I was wondering which one of you is into Rush and of course, it’s the bass player. It’s a great sound. You haven’t been together very long. You guys just actually played your first show last fall, didn’t you?
Nick – That would have been our second show
Josh – Well, yeah, we had a small house party.
Mike – It was a Halloween party.
Nick – It was at our old singer’s house. So the first guy that we mentioned earlier, Kyle, we used to jam in his house. Now it’s Josh and Mike’s place that they rent. We just did a little Halloween banger and played a show with a few friends. It was really awesome, and intimate. We played at Meteor in Windsor the week before Halloween last year. You could play shows if everybody was wearing masks and sitting down. It was really weird, yes, but it all worked out at the end of the day.
You guys put out a video and a single just after that as well, The Witch Machine. That’s a really well produced video. Who did the video for that?
Josh – Our good friend Brian Santos, shout out to you brother. He killed it. He did such a great job helping us produce it and the editing was just was immaculate. With him also being a musician in a really amazing local alternative like progressive rock band, he really just put pulled it together really, really well for us. We were super impressed and he’s been shooting videos for a couple other upcoming bands too, so it’s good to see that business kick for him. He really deserves the recognition for sure.
Thirteen thousand hits on Spotify so far.
Nick – I think it’s over fifteen thousand now.
Are you guys planning on producing an album this year?
Josh – Yeah, I would say so. Kind of working on it piece by piece.
Nick – We have at least a few songs completed but we’re still in the studio. This week I was supposed to hit Red Dragon in Windsor and do some drums for our next single which is going to be out soon, more details later. But for sure. I mean, a record would be great. If not this year, then certainly early next year or mid next year. All depends right?
You guys are kind of hitting the pavement running with this too right? You’ve already got merch out and a pretty good following already in a short time. What’s the metal community like in Windsor?
Josh – I would say you have a couple really solid bands. We have intentions to play with Among the Rest, they played our first show with us and they’re a great upcoming alternative rock or alternative metal, like metal core. And then we also played shows with Devils by Definition. They are awesome, so they’re good to keep an eye out for too. There’s a lot of really awesome talent in Windsor and the Detroit area.
What do you guys hope for this year? I mean, besides the obvious, we all want live music to come back. Do you have any plans beyond just plugging away writing and recording more music?
Josh – Actually, we have to start working on our visas for Germany and to get in the States. We’ve got a couple buddies in the states that have been helping us with our media, and targeting ads to the right people. We want to tour the U.S. That’s the big gig that we really want to accomplish this year, if it’s feasible. I would say putting an album out, we’ll be doing it. Other than that, I would say we want to stay as independent as we can.
You mentioned Germany – they are huge metal fans. Do you have any interest there already? Or is it just, you know, one of those places that you’re thinking about?
Josh – Oh, we have a little bit there but it hasn’t blossomed yet. Our sound would suit well for Germany or so I’ve been told by other musicians that are touring and have told us where we can fit in and what our niche is. It would be ideal for us to get some international touring; I think this year would be our main goal.
Well, it’s been really good talking to you guys. Wish you guys the best of luck. Your most recent single is The Witch Machine. People can find your music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. Do you have a website?
We have a site that basically merges our YouTube page, all of our social media and connects everything. But you can find that through our Instagram page or Facebook and I believe our Twitter right now as well. In the bio, you can get our Merch through Shopify. So it’s pretty basic platform. It’s been great talking to you as well. Thanks Dan for having us, we really appreciate that.
I’m looking forward to hearing more music from you guys and hopefully we get to see you play this year.
Josh – We’ve got one more song coming out soon and we can’t wait for more live music again. We all miss it.
