Get your bounce on with today’s pop-punky Band of the Day…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re Coming Clean, from Toronto, ON, but don’t hold it against us.
How did you meet?
We’ve all known each other for years, keeping connected through our love of music. Our singer/guitarist, Adam, and our drummer, Scott, are brothers who have been jamming together for over 10 years at this point. Our lead guitarist, Matt, went to school with Adam and we added our ringer of a bass player after a drunken conversation at a music festival called Montebello Rockfest.
How long have you been playing as a band?
We’ve been playing together for about three years now, which probably means that we are well past our prime, right?
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
Our usual response is that the name came from an uncomfortable shower incident but the real answer is that it’s inspired by the Green Day track of the same name from their Dookie album.
What are your influences?
Our influences are pretty all over the map but is mostly tied to 90’s/00’s pop-punk like Green Day, New Found Glory and blink-182, and newer stuff like State Champs and Neck Deep. Also, Converge. I’m told you’re supposed to always include Converge.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We like to combine the old-school, poppy melodies of mainstream pop-punk from the 90’s with the newer elements of the genre over the last few years, like chunkier guitar tones and the occasional breakdown if we’re feeling particularly sassy.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
We have several members of the band that contribute lyrics so our themes are pretty diverse, ranging from more typical topics like breakups to darker themes like depression, anxiety and addiction. Oh and a song about 80’s movie icon Molly Ringwald.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Yikes, I don’t think we’ve been keeping count! I’m going to take a stab at it and say 50 shows or so? We started by jamming in our drummer’s third floor, gear-ridden bedroom and loved it, so we try to replicate that feeling in our live shows as much as possible. If we’re having a blast on stage, we feel like the crowd is more likely to feel the same way.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
That’s a tough one! Well the last time we played Hamilton, we had an older gentleman bring his dog into the venue and proceeded to head-bang with it for several songs which was pretty hilarious. Dog didn’t even have to buy a ticket!
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We released our latest EP called Dead End // Detour on May 3rd so check it out if you haven’t already! We’ve also got some exciting shows in the works for later this month and in December so keep an eye out for that.
What are your plans for the rest of 2019 and into 2020?
Hmm we only tend to plan about two weeks out, but the plan for later this year is likely to play a few more shows and then I’d imagine we’ll be looking to release some new material in 2020!
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
Well the answer might be different depending on which of us you ask, but we’d likely all agree that opening for our fellow Torontonians PKEW PKEW PKEW would be incredible. They play a super-fun brand of catchy, party punk jams and it would be a heck of a show. As far as other bands on the bill, we always love playing with our homies in Among Legends and There There. Both amazing, Toronto-based punk bands that everyone should check out.
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