Stalwart Sons

A real nice one here. Stalwart Sons are an emo trio from Calgary, Canada and this here is their first stab at an LP. They nailed it pretty hard first time out too. Obvious frames of reference would be gruffmo like True North or Twelve Hour Turn and mathy indie-rock like fellow Canadians North of America.

There's not a whole lot of variation on that theme here, but there really doesn't need to be; there's just enough going on in each song that it remains interesting, but they don't really deviate from what they know best either. In particular I enjoyed 'Canadian Rail Road Epitaph' (trainmo!) with it's soft, insistent jangle, the poppy math of 'Flags & Bells' and the jumpy squall of 'Wisdom Teeth'. Its mostly consistently good throughout though, but admittedly it does sort of slog around the middle before getting to the aforementioned tracks.

Good record, a good one for winter too (particularly with song titles like 'Northen Lights' and 'Frozen Ground', zo Antarctica-mo). Also props for the totally Midwestmo album cover. - Collective Zine

For its recent cross-country jaunt, Calgary’s Stalwart Sons adopted the title “Earnest goes on tour.” One would be hard-pressed to come up with something more fitting; Jim Varney was surely fist-pumping from beyond the Pearly Gates. Yet while heart-on-sleeve sincerity typifies this post-hardcore trio, there are plenty of other factors that make this LP a satisfying gut-punch. On top of Rites of Spring-style melodic aggression, these 10 songs are imbued with classic rock-informed riffs with more bends than the Bow River. Frontman Kevin Stebner shreds vocal cords like his life depends on it, bassist Matt Learoyd injects a pop sensibility with his catchy, bouncing lines, while drummer LeeJay Dunphy keeps it simple and rock-solid throughout. No frills, ironic inside jokes or unnecessary gimmicks are to be found here, just timeless tunes pressed onto wax from Stebner’s own Revolution Winter imprint. True patriot love in all thy Sons command. - FFWD Magazine

Considering they’ve only been together less than a year, Stalwart Sons, a Calgary-based three-piece post-hardcore band, have already covered quite a bit of (frozen) ground. Their debut LP, Burn Daylights Like Torches, was recorded in a few days with Tom Kerr (ex-Wolfnote) in Edmonton, and was self-released in June on vocalist/guitarist Kevin Stebner's Revolution Winter label. The trio toured across Canada this summer, and already have plans for their next recordings.

"This is the kind of band I've been wanting to do for a very long time," exclaims Stebner. "We started jamming in November (2009), so it's been pretty amazing how quickly we've gotten a record together."

"It shows how well we work together as a band," adds drummer LeeJay Dunphy. "It took like two days to record the whole thing — for never doing it before it was a pretty easy process for us, I think."

Burn Daylights Like Torches contains ten songs of earnest post-hardcore, with influences split between groups such as Fugazi and Twelve Hour Turn, but also Canada itself, both as a country, and its post-hardcore bands of yore (ie the Plan, North of America and Shotmaker).

"The songs, a couple I wrote while living in Korea, but a lot of them just came together very naturally. As far as subject matter goes, it's very Canadian-centred, a very real sense of a product of where I've grown up," explains Stebner. "I always think it's really strange when a band tries to deny where they're from, considering, well, listening to Canadian music, (it's) rarely centred on Canadian themes. Burn Daylights, in particular, is a lot of things centred around Canada: songs about rail abandonment, or the seclusion in wide open spaces."

"I like how we're all on the same page," says Dunphy of the band's line-up. "The way that we write our songs, they usually come together pretty quickly, and we all have the same direction we want to take it."

"We recorded (the album) with Tom (Kerr) in Edmonton. I knew him since the Wolfnote days. My old band, totheteeth/tothehilt, we used to play with the Wolfnote a lot, so Tom is someone who's wanted to record with me at some point," adds Stebner.

Live, however, is where the trio becomes most powerful. "The music we play is very cathartic...so in this band, I definitely don't just want to stand around. I want the listener to feel what I'm feeling. I can't do that by just standing in front of a microphone. I've gotta yell, I've got to wrench the neck of my guitar," states Stebner. "I'm basically a drummer, but I've been wanting to step away from behind the drums for a long time, and I finally got the opportunity. And definitely, the right dudes came along. I've wanted to play with LeeJay for a while, and Matt (Learoyd, bassist). Basically, they're good musicians and better dudes."

"I played in Prom Date with Matt before, so we have some history with that," adds Dunphy. "With Kevin being a drummer as well, we all have good ideas on how we like to write songs. We're able to help each other out a lot."

For their next record, Stalwart Sons are planning to release a split 7" with their likeminded peers in Slates, an Edmonton-based four-piece. By the time this article is printed, the band will be recording with Ryan Kennedy (Cold Craving).

"A couple of the songs (on the split) we've been playing a lot on tour — our best songs yet," Stebner says excitedly.

"I think the songs we've been writing have been getting better and better with every new song that comes out," adds Dunphy. "To do a split with Slates is amazing. They're such an amazing band and not enough people know about them yet."

"They're really good friends of ours, and definitely one of the most underrated and under-appreciated bands in Canada, let alone Alberta," says Stebner.

The upcoming split will feature two songs from each band, and will be released on Revolution Winter. - Beatroute

Strange currents of prairie hard-rock percolate this hooking jaunt through hardcore’s progressive pastures. Don’t let them convince you otherwise: Burn Daylights Like Torches is a phenomenal rock record fit for turntables of all dimensions. They maintain their uncanny can-rock hookery through bails of crushing guitar riffs and agropop vocals, readying your inner 90s-teen for summer streams of melodic bass and jazz drummery. It’s the perfect answer to Halifax and Montreal’s wave of mathrock tompoppery and the only reverberations in this context imbued with Alberta’s pastoral identity. GRIPORBEGRIPPED. - Weird Canada