Laureate seeks more mature sound as lineup finally solidifies

Montreal-based alt rock/pop-punk quartet Laureate first graced the Montreal music scene two years ago, and has since been prepping crowds for an onslaught of epic acts at numerous locales.
“We play music we want to listen to,” said guitarist and lead vocalist Giancarlo Talarico. “It ends up sounding like Laureate.”
The band has been through several shakeups during its three years together. “We’ve had a lot of lineup changes, mainly drummers,” said bass player and backing vocalist Erin Power. “After all of those lineup changes it’s nice to have four dedicated people who are into this style of music.  We’ve been a lot more productive in the last eight months since drummer Mikey “Lunchbox” Thomassin has been in the band than [in] the two years prior.”
Power met Talarico eight years ago through mutual friends and collaborated with him in a short-lived straight-edge hardcore group before it disbanded.  “The nice thing about hardcore is that you can play really sloppy but if you’re loud enough no one will notice,” said Talarico. When he finally made the move from Boston to Montreal, they decided to musically meld once again, this time dropping the hardcore for a more ‘90s-influenced punk sound.
“We’re getting a bit older and don’t listen to much of the heavy stuff these days,” said Power.  “The influence is still there, sure, you can hear it in parts of our songs. Since we were young, we’ve always been fans of pop-punk and alternative rock of the ‘90s. That stuff has always been on constant rotation. It was a natural progression.”
Laureate’s sound is helped by Quebec City lead guitarist Jeremie Hamel, who joined the band through the most legitimate artist acquisition possible, as Power pointed out: “He was a Craigslist find!”
Laureate has garnered the attention of fans while playing Warped Tour with bands like Paramore and Less Than Jake, as well as played shows with Shook Ones, The Decay and Make Do And Mend—to name a few. The band has also had the distinction of being showcased as “Download of the week” through Saskatoon-based independent arts e-zine Ominocity.
Laureate’s demo album is available for free through their Bandcamp site. The band is currently in the process of recording new material and Power quipped that they “have written a ton of new songs that we meant to record a month ago. You can expect to hear those in the next 12 years or so.”
Talarico promises that Laureate will be releasing an EP by the end of the year. “The new songs are all over the map but I think they are all very distinctly ours. It’s really cool that not everyone has the same favourite song.”

You can catch Laureate when they open up for Samiam with The Sober Dawn and oRCondor on Sept. 22 at Katacombes, 1635 St-Laurent Blvd.

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