Canadian Indie Outfit Excuse Me. Share New Single ‘The Coast’ + Announce EP II: Left Behind
Indie-alternative outfit and Guelph, Ontario natives, Excuse Me., are excited to announce their new EP II: Left Behind will arrive independently on August 31, 2023. Alongside the announcement, the burgeoning five-piece also share sunlit anthem “The Coast”, which joins previously shared “COPS” on the upcoming EP. In a Nolan-esque twist, II: Left Behind kicks off the narrative of the band’s upcoming sophomore album – right in the middle. The full album will be released in three chapters, with the first release, II: Left Behind, introducing our protagonist smack dab in the middle of the story.
With the energy of alternative rock, the emotion of folk, and the technicality of metal and jazz; these five neurotic 20-somethings hailing from Guelph, Ontario make music with a striking sonic maturity for a band with just one full-length record under their belt. It becomes much less surprising when you learn what they’ve overcome to see their music come to fruition. Forged in fire – quite literally – in 2018 after frontman Aleks Liskauskas’ house burnt down, taking the band’s gear with it, just three days before their first show.
Following the fire, Liskauskas was plagued with anxiety-ridden dreams about his teeth falling out, which the band channelled into their 2018 song “Teeth”. Much of their music is written in this way: by five friends trying to make sense of complex emotions.
“This album nearly destroyed us,” shares Liskauskas. “After that, we dealt with eviction by shady landlords, being separated by lockdowns, losing 3 almost finished mixes to a faulty hard-drive, and just general passionate in-fighting about how to make each song sound exactly right. It’s been an incredibly taxing process, but it’s finally finished and is unequivocally the best thing we’ve ever written. We’re excited for people to hear every piece of this story.”
As for the new single, Liskauskas continues,
“‘The Coast’ started with a guitar riff that just wouldn’t leave our heads. It sounded like the ‘free of trouble’ place we go to in our minds when life gets rough.”
With dreamy synths and the ambience of surf rock, the track embodies the idealized sunny American coast that countless artists have tried to capture in song. This place is exactly where our protagonist sets out for in “The Coast”. Frustrated and defeated at the state of his life, our protagonist imagines a far-off place on the west coast where life is perfect.
With a combination of emotional depth and boundary-pushing intention, the group has a remarkable ability to transform intricate songwriting into a captivating experience that tugs at your heartstrings while igniting an irresistible urge to scream and dance. Having steadily amassed a dedicated following in the vibrant music hotbed that is Southern Ontario, Excuse Me. is poised to reach new heights with their upcoming EP.
Listen to “The Coast” below and learn more about Excuse Me. via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Adam – Hey, our names are Adam, Aleks, Dylan, Jo, and Heyden; and we make up Excuse Me.! We’ve been playing music together for over five years now. We all met at different times at the University of Guelph, mostly through the music program. Aleks started the project in 2017 and booked a show without having a band, quickly getting the rest of us on board. As people, we generally like things like video games, and Bud Light, sending each other stupid jokes, and watching Lord of the Rings together under the duvet. It’s hard to think of interests all five of us fully intersect on (except the duvet) because we’re all somewhat distinct in what we like. We’re the same with music. Aleks loves early Coldplay. Heyden grew up playing metal and also loves jazz and neo-soul. Jo grew up playing and writing post-hardcore and metal and plays every instrument. Dylan pulls a lot of R&B and jazz influences. Adam loves Scottish and British indie rock, to a degree the other guys think is pretty weird. The thing that we all have the most in common is how passionate we are about the music we like. When that level of passion intersects for all five of us about a song or a project of our own, that’s when we find the thing that defines what Excuse Me is.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
“The Coast: started with a guitar riff we wrote in 2018 that just wouldn’t leave our heads. It sounded like the ‘free of trouble’ place we go to in our minds when life gets rough. Once we started writing our upcoming album it turned out to be the perfect fit. We added dreamy synths and the ambiance of surf rock, to embody the idealized sunny American coast that countless artists have tried to capture in song. It’s the first song on our upcoming EP: “II: Left Behind” which kicks off the narrative of our upcoming concept album right in the middle of the story.
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
Aleks – If there was one tried and true source, it would make things a lot more straightforward, but in truth, it varies wildly from song to song. Sometimes I write to process emotions like grief, and at other times a seemingly mundane statement catches my attention and I’m sent down a rabbit hole trying to capture its essence. In all cases though I’m trying to build a connection between us as a band and the listener. Music is the most effective means of making people feel a real sense of belonging and acceptance. You feel seen when you hear a songwriter being vulnerable about a tough event that you’ve also experienced. The Bob Dylans, Nina Simmones, and Joni Mitchells of the world all wrote from the heart of their own authentic experiences, and yet in doing so became the spokespeople of their respective generations. I take inspiration from them and many others in the sense that I try to always write from an authentic place within myself, that’s all any of us can do at the end of the day.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
Adam – We’re playing the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on August 18! It’s going to be a hell of a show, so please come out. We’re also playing the release show for our upcoming EP at Tabu in Guelph on September 1 with two very sick bands I was happy to get on a bill together: Fjord Mustang and Burs. Definitely please come to that one as well. If you’re not sick of us after that, then we’re also playing Grand River Arts Festival in Brantford, which happens on September 15/16.
What’s your goal for 2023?
Heyden – Our goal is to keep doing what we always do— connect with people through music. We have some new releases on the way which are part of our most ambitious project yet. We’ll be doing everything we can to support it through live shows, making more music videos, and fostering meaningful connections with fans & industry pros we meet along the way. We just found out we made it to the top 100 of CBC Searchlight 2023, so we’ll be doing our best to make it as far as we can (hopefully without annoying our fans with constant posts asking for their support).