July Crowd Shares New Single, “Intentions”
Canadian pop-punk trio July Crowd have unveiled their new single, “Intentions”, along with a music video that harks back to the late ’90s/early 00’s glory days of the genre.
July Crowd’s energetic and hook-laden brand of pop-punk marries the old school and the new, with driving guitars and massive choruses intertwining with thoughtful lyricism and a heart-on-sleeve delivery.
The track is taken from the band’s upcoming EP, Seat of Your Pants, set for release on July 21st, 2023.
Watch the video for “Intentions” below and learn more about July Crowd via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Northern BC doesn’t sound like a hotspot for Alternative music, but it’s where our Pop Punk trio July Crowd got its start. Humble beginnings, blah-blah-blah. We originally formed in Prince George where we were buddies in college. Never thought it would lead to making music together but it’s funny how similar our interests ended up. Guess we were lucky that we all played different instruments!
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
The lyric content and nostalgic composition of the song really made our new single “Intentions” feel like it was written in 2003, not 2023, and we wanted to tie in a music video that further rationalized that concept. The “teenage living room” theme was a great way to pay homage to some of our favourite videos of the era, and the prop selection and decor of the DIY set was a great way to sort-of timestamp the song. Hearing our finished song “Intentions” for the first time was actually kind of cathartic for us. It was the first time we finished a song and we thought “yeah, this is ‘us’. This is what we want to sound like.”
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
Lyrically, we haven’t found a substitute for talking about real-life experiences. Each song comes from a different place but often contains similar feelings of stress, frustration, or internal turmoil. Interestingly enough, I find it really hard to write about things I’m going through in my life, things I’m currently experiencing. It’s like I struggle to quantify or explain emotions in real-time. Quite often I’m writing about past experiences instead. It seems like time is necessary for me to process retrospectively, and then it’s easier for me to talk about them. The compositions are influenced in two noticeable ways: the alternative music we grew up with in the 2000s, and the modern rock, pop, punk, hip-hop, or other new things we’re discovering now. We have such a soft spot for the handful of pop-punk CDs we had on repeat as kids, and whatever we could rip onto our MP3 players that we probably can’t help sounding a little bit like that stuff.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
If you’re in the Northern or Interior BC regions, you can see us this year! We’ll be in Smithers, Terrace, Prince George, Quesnel, Kamloops, Kelowna, Invermere, and more. Some highlights for us will be Kamloops Ribfest, as it’s one of their city’s biggest outdoor celebrations; Terrace FarmFest, since we will be headlining this outdoor festival for the first time; and the inaugural Sakawinow Music Festival, since it is a new multi-genre festival in the north with some very talented touring acts in the lineup.
Here’s the full list of tour dates:
July 11 – Parks Alive – Kelowna, BC
July 14 – Billy Barker Days – Quesnel, BC
July 15 – Hidden Acres FarmFest – Terrace, BC
July 19 – Locals Live – Invermere, BC
July 22 – Corks & Kegs – Fort St James, BC
July 29 – Kispiox Valley Music Festival – Kispiox, BC
Aug 13 – Ribfest – Kamloops, BC
Aug 17/18 – BCNE Main Stage – Prince George, BC
Aug 19 – Sakawinow Music Festival – Chetwynd, BC
What’s your goal for 2023?
Our goal this year is to help find and connect with more fans outside of the Northern BC region. We hope new and seasoned pop-punk fans will find something they like in our new EP “Seat of Your Pants” and we need to get better at bringing these songs to people outside of our secluded areas. The new “Seat of Your Pants “EP releases July 21st on all streaming! Thanks in advance for checking it out!