On Feb. 27, upcoming metalcore band Waves in April performed its first tour stop at the Rockhouse Bar & Grill in El Paso.
They traveled from New Braunfels, Texas, joining Taken by Tides for their “Back to Hell Tour.” Other opening acts included Honey Vrosa, CZYK and Glorious.
Waves in April consists of four members, Dierks Canada, lead screamer and plays both the bass and guitar; Willy Canada, the drummer; Lukas Wilson, who plays guitar and bass while providing screams and backup vocals; and Elle Gorman, the band’s lead singer.
“I did not expect this to be our first stop,” Dierks Canada said. “It’s very cool, [and] very far. This is the first time I’ve been in El Paso.”
The band draws inspiration from a wide range of subgenres within the metalcore fanbase.
“We all grew up listening to Alice in Chains, pop punk music and Slipknot,” Wilson said. “I love Core, Hardcore, Death Core too and all that. I just love that kind of history of the genre, and we all gravitated toward that sound, that headier sound, and always just like the things that were just fun to play.”
Gorman finds her singing voice to range in different styles, but metal is where her passion stays true for her.
“When it comes to what I’m singing, you could really put it in any genre,” Gorman said. “Sometimes people tell me I sound western, like I’m from the seventies, it just depends. The sound of metal music is where my passion is, and so that’s where I am.”
During the performance, Waves in April played a short setlist that included previously released songs such as “Lying Figure,” “Uzumaki,” and a cover of Paramore’s “Decode.” They closed the set with its newly released single “Neverbloom” which debuted the same day as the show.
The band members said the song marked an important moment in their collaboration as a group.
“I’m not the original singer for this band,” Gorman said. “I came into this about a year and a half ago at this point, and this was the first song that we collectively wrote together.”
“Neverbloom also comes from the truest space from us,” Dierks Canada said. “There wasn’t a song map, but we had the title, the chorus, and we just hammered it out and we’re like, this is it.”
“This is the first song that we’ve released where I have writing credits,” Willy Canada said.
With their song “Neverbloom,” finally being out, they also have their debut album in the works, hoping that it will be released this year.
Laying down the beat drummer Willy Canada and the rest of the band perform their new single “Neverbloom” on the same day of release.
“We have a full album in the can,” Dierks Canada said. “It’s going to release this year, probably during the summer.”
Wilson explained what listeners can expect with the new album and how this album has helped them experiment but also relive their nostalgia over the years.
“I think with this new album we have coming out, you’re going to hear a lot of new sounds from us that aren’t from before,” Wilson said. “You can hear how we formed the album. You can get a sense of the band. This album has been written over the past six years.”
While the album is in the works and is hoped to be released during the summer, there is still a possibility that it isn’t definite.
“This is not a promise,” Gorman said. “But we are playing Red Rocks this summer in July, and we’re going to try to have it come out before that.”
The band hopes to reach metalcore listeners who were fans of the old metal scene, drawing inspiration from bands like Motionless in White. Their goal is to modernize the classic style and bring it back to a new generation.
When asked what new listeners could expect from them, the band said they had more than one answer.
“If you like the old scene, if you like the old Crabcore scene, you’ll like us,” Dierks Canada said. “We’re trying to modernize classic metal core and just bring it back but also mix modern [metal] because we love both sides of the spectrum so much.”
Waves in April will continue joining Taken by Tides on their “Back to Hell Tour” all throughout March.
Aziel Ramos is a contributor and may be reached at [email protected]
