Toronto Rock Trio Berner Trail Release “Sleep Till The Afternoon”
Life changes without your permission, and the world doesn’t ask for your input when it behaves as it does. Berner Trail’s response? “Sleep Till The Afternoon.”
In the latest single from the Scarborough-born, Toronto-raised rock trio, Berner Trail unleashes about the unending transformations the song, the band, and everything around them are always experiencing.
In 2015, Spencer Desilva and Aaron Lusch launched Berner Trail. The duo eventually grew to three, then expanded to four, was five for a short period, and later retracted back to three in 2020 with a new bass player: Nate Murray. Desilva, Lusch, and Murray have stood together since.
It’s been a chaotic history for the band, and this song’s skeleton was around for most of it.
“‘Sleep Till The Afternoon’ was a song going through constant change, alongside the changes happening in the Berner Trail band,” the band said. “From changing members, to styles, to ideals, ‘Sleep Till The Afternoon’ is Berner Trail and saw most of these changes happen while it remained in writing.”
For Berner Trail, real-life stimuli has always been the impetus for its imagination. The members’ feelings formed from interpersonal relationships and their dissatisfaction with the society that surrounds them often inspire the music they create.
With a yearning voice reaching for something it cannot grab, Desilva serenades over solemn yet punchy instrumentals with a tasty alt-rock sound.
”He said I got some friends at least I think I do
I’d sure like some if you really want to
Alone is all I’ve ever been
I’d lay in bed till 2 or 3
I just don’t feel so satisfied.”
Before settling on its three modern members in 2020, Berner Trail utilized a different style. Originally, most of the group’s sound revolved around an experimental approach to blues rock, incorporating percussion and stringed acoustic instruments into the fold. But the band has since evolved to make ballads like this that are more akin to Nirvana than The Rolling Stones.
“‘Sleep Till The Afternoon’ went through different variations musically as our sound changed,” the band explained. “We think lyrically it resulted from feelings of isolation and disillusionment as to what was next to come in our lives as individuals.”
We can all relate to the feeling of time passing us by, of life pushing us in certain directions, and to the fear of uncertainty. Berner Trail’s “Sleep Till The Afternoon” taps into these universal feelings and gives us a shoulder to lean on when it all becomes too much.
Watch the video for “Sleep Till The Afternoon” below and learn more about Berner Trail via our mini-interview.
Care to introduce yourself?
We are Berner Trail, a Toronto rock trio who have been together for a few years. Berner Trail consists of Spencer Desilva (Guitar/Lead Vocals), Aaron Lusch (Drums/Percussion), and Nate Murray (Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals).
Tell us about the process of writing “Sleep ‘Til The Afternoon.”
“Sleep Till The Afternoon” was a song going through constant change alongside the changes happening in the Berner Trail band. From changing members to styles to ideals, “Sleep Till The Afternoon” is Berner Trail through and through, and I saw most of these changes happen while it remained in writing. It went through different variations musically as our sound changed. We think lyrically it resulted from feelings of isolation and disillusionment as to what was next to come in our lives as individuals.
What’s it like being a musician in Toronto?
To be honest, it’s a bit of a slog. What we mean by that is it’s a large city, and everybody thinks they can make music which results in an over-saturated, splintered scene based on genre (or the many sub-genres that have cropped up in the last two decades). Given the overabundance of acts in any given genre (of varying quality), Toronto’s promoters and venue owners are cautious. Very few are willing to build with a band or give newer bands a chance unless they have a large social media following or guaranteed draw.
Who was the first Canadian artist to blow you away?
We’ll give you the past and present. Our drummer Aaron is a Canadian music historian, so we have an abundance of Canadian talent brought to our attention on a daily basis, mostly forgotten acts from the 1950s onwards.
Our “past” answer would definitely be two groups: Toronto 60’s rockers “The Paupers”, which featured a pre-Lighthouse Skip Prokop on drums and a pre-Rick James Denny Gerrard on bass (these two were huge influences on Rush’s Neil Peart and Geddy Lee respectively), and Toronto 1970’s Punk rockers Joe College & The Rulers, whose anthemic song “It Ain’t Alright With Me” can be heard at pretty much all our gigs where our drummer has the aux.
For present bands which have blown us away, there are again two. Toronto’s Howlin’ Gales would do The White Stripes or The Black Keys proud. They’re a highly skilled duo who runs the gamut between rock, punk, and country with a great blend of originals and covers. Marcelo’s a top-notch, heavy-hitting drummer, and Mark’s a big mountain man with a booming voice to match. Second is Propter Hawk, a newer Toronto quintet featuring the Janis Joplin-esque vocals of their lead singer Malorie. They two have a highly skilled roster of musicians and play a high-quality mixture of rock, country, and pop, blending the three together seamlessly.
You’ve been making music for a short bit now. What’s one piece of advice you can offer to those starting out?
To sum it up with a famous quote: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. A large amount of luck and being on the favourable side of nepotism is usually necessary. Gone are the days when your music alone will carry you over the top. Word of mouth is a bygone phenomenon; many industry folks aren’t willing to take a chance as they used to. In today’s market, artists need to be “a jack of all trades,” and even then, things might not work out. Bottom line, our advice is, if you can’t enjoy the pursuit and be fine that it doesn’t work out, don’t chase in the first place. Music should be fun and should always be about creating something for you first, not solely to become famous. If fame comes, chalk it up to a happy accident and be thankful.