New album 'Control My Sanity' out Dec 3.
Storming across international borders, Toronto’s LIKE PACIFIC trade in a hard-charged blend of pop-punk, melodic rock, and hardcore that shatters every stereotype of Great White North politeness and civility.
That the band, who early in their career adopted the motto “stay pissed,” make such impassioned, sweat-soaked music isn’t all that surprising given their influences, filtering the muscular torchbearers of Tumblr-era underground icons like The Story So Far and Title Fight through the lens of modern production. But what is that it’s just not simply anger for anger’s sake. Not anymore, at least.
Back in 2010, when Like Pacific were coalescing in the tight-knit Toronto scene (“It feels like we have the supergroup of people from Southern Ontario bands,” laughs vocalist Jordan Black), it was easy, if not expected, for them to kick back at the world at large: authority figures, the loss of loved ones, the general malaise of adulthood – seismic shifts in life as disruptive to the young musicians as their double-time tempos.
“When you’re 21, you’re angry at everything,” Black says. “Everything in life is changing all the time. They weren’t all real problems, but they still felt insurmountable.”
Those pangs colored the band’s debut LP for Pure Noise Records, 2016’s Distant Like You Asked, which launched the quintet – Black, guitarists Greg Hall and Luke Holmes, bassist Brad Garcia, and drummer Tay Ewart – onto tours with pop-punk heavyweights like State Champs and Neck Deep and festivals like Warped Tour, Slam Dunk, and Riot Fest (this after the band’s 2015 stage-closing set at Riot Fest Toronto).
By 2018’s follow-up, the rock-focused In Spite Of Me, Like Pacific had gotten better at harnessing the depth of their emotions, probing inward to begin answering the why – not discounting the external factors they were up against, but rather realizing they themselves bore some role in the failed relationships, the substance abuse, the overall sense of discontent. They didn’t abandon their mantra but rather unlocked a sense of emotional articulation and musical dynamism that proved growing up didn’t have to mean mellowing out.
“There’s a lot of push and pull in our band,” Black says, noting Like Pacific’s diverse musical tastes span everything from hip-hop and indie to hardcore and pop and pointing to In Spite Of Me’s use of cleaner tones as proof. “I think we all wanted to try to be a little more profound.”
Worthy aspirations, to be sure, and it’s this evolving sense of maturity and tireless search for the answers that guide Like Pacific as they ready their forthcoming third full-length – with Black noting the group might even be ready to try letting a little positivity creep into the mix on the album, which he calls a step in a heavier, darker direction.
“We all obviously had a lot of downtime and space to think over the last year,” he says. “A lot of growth comes from that.” But he’s quick to counter: “Everything we do is still going to have that gritty, fiery Like Pacific sound. That’s just who we are.”
