June 2026 Headliner: Unwanted Noise

Thank you Unwanted Noise for agreeing to be our featured band for the month of June.

To read our review of Unwanted Noise‘s latest album, it’s right here.

Let’s start by talking about your recent appearance on the 123 Punk Tour. You were the only band from the underground scene on the lineup. What was that experience like for you, and what does it mean to you?

The band members are between 26 and 41 years old, but we all grew up watching Musique Plus, in different eras. Being part of the tour means a lot to us, but being the only street punk band on the lineup was truly an honor.

The band formed in 2008 and started playing shows in 2011. After some lineup changes, you released Last Of Our Kind in April 2016. Since then, you’ve been putting out new material roughly every two years. Do you think that’s necessary in order to stay relevant?

Yes, definitely. We feel that nowadays, it’s becoming increasingly important to release fewer songs at a time and shorten the gap between releases. We’re in a period where music is consumed at an excessive rate, and you constantly have to keep fans engaged in order to remain relevant in the scene.

May 2024, Bury Me to the South Shore is released. Feedback has been positive from the very beginning. Is it stressful to release an album like this, especially considering that this one had been anticipated for quite some time?

We’d say yes. It was the first album created with Guillaume et Gab on guitars, so we knew we were going to have a completely different sound than before.

It’s definitely stressful when we change our sound. Will our fanbase, who’s been following the band ever since the beginning, remain engaged? Will the album still sell? Or will it put the label’s investments in a difficult spot because no one is buying it?

Let’s also remember the long delay between the announcement and the release itself. We were convinced we were going to fly under the radar… but our fanbase showed up and sold out the first 300 copies in no time!

How do you create new songs? Who writes the lyrics, who comes up with the songs?

Typically, Guillaume or Zach come to the jam sessions with riffs, and the rest of the instrumental is built collectively as a band. The vocals are written separately by the singer, Nick. He usually brings one or two songs that he creates later in the process, which helps enrich the album, being a bit different from our usual patterns.

Street punk is often heavily based on anthemic, sing-along choruses. Yet in your case, there’s also a more chaotic and abrasive side. Are you consciously trying to avoid the cliché « gang chant » approach?

It all depends on the inspiration at the time we create a song. In Unwanted Noise‘s early days, bands like The Oi!Scouts, Copyright Chaos, Casualties and Chaos Drunk Punx all heavily influenced our first songs with their often repetitive gang vocals. Our sound has evolved over the years alongside our musical tastes, becoming catchier and more effective, aiming to have the entire crowd sing along with us live. There’s nothing that fuels us more than a crowd singing along with us!

In a scene where many bands disappear after one or two EPs after quickly blowing up, what has kept Unwanted Noise going strong?

Communication, respect, recognition, and empathy are core values within the band. On top of that, life is boring – we just found playing music to be the best way to have fun.

Your music often conveys social fatigue, a sense of weariness. Is playing punk in 2026 still a way of resisting to something, or has it become more of a way to mentally survive?

A bit of both. We’ve been talking a lot, and for a long time now, about things such as alcoholism, depression, suicide, and the feeling of disillusionment with the modern punk scene. Playing and writing this kind of material allows us not only to externalize these topics, but also to connect with others, who might be going through the same experiences.

With social platforms being more and more popular, and image-driven culture rising, do you find that punk becomes overproduced or overly polished these days?

Overly polished, not really. We often notice that a lot of bands focus more on the music than their looks. We’re far from the early 2000s Punkcore Records era, with bands that were overly styled – almost like boys bands – and playing « ok » songs.

We feel lucky to be part of the current scene in Québec, with so many talented bands that also go all-in on their look.

Split releases have always had an important place in the underground punk scene. What do you like about that format, as opposed to a traditional full-length album?

You double the fanbase with a split, but it also allows a direct connection with bands from different scenes.

After so many years, what still drives you to get in a van, sleep wherever you can, and do it all over again? What is the secret to this ongoing motivation about this lifestyle?

The family we’ve created. Meeting people from multiple scenes and cities. Being part of something that would have never happened if we had stayed on our own. Bringing our rock to all corners of the world!

Many oldschool bands you’ve crossed paths with have been going strong for 40 years. Do you see yourselves still doing this in 10 or 15 years from now?

Definitely!

What’s coming up in the next weeks, months?

This summer, we’re heading out on a series of shows across Québec and Ontario. After that, we’ll be playing in Eastern Canada for the first time in 15 years, and we’ll be back in Europe in November.

Written by: Claudia Bo et Unwanted Noise

Translation: Jess Peach