Canada’s DOLL Returns From The Dead with Single Cover “Smoke on The Water” and New EP “Better Days, Different Times” Out July 2025
After a lengthy hiatus, Canadian alternative rock band Doll announces their return with Better Days, Different Times, a new EP set for release on July 18th, 2025. The announcement comes alongside the premiere of their first single, a unique take on Deep Purple‘s “Smoke on the Water”, marking the band’s first new material in over a decade. They comment on the single:
“After seeing all the fires and the destruction that happened in 2024, there was this need to bring forward our version of the song. We updated the lyrics to match how the disasters have made us feel, and musically, we have always wanted to try a more doom-inspired vibe, and this song let us express ourselves in a raw and emotional way.”
The Ottawa-based quartet, known for their gritty, unfiltered indie sound, last released “The Ragdoll Diaries” in 2011, following their 2009 debut “Inside The Dollhouse”. Their return represents a significant evolution in both sound and approach, incorporating new collaborators and instruments while maintaining the raw, honest edge that has defined Doll since their inception.
The new material showcases a more mature sound while retaining the band’s signature intensity. Core songwriting duo Christina and Pete have expanded their creative process, bringing in local Ottawa musicians and even a cellist to add depth and new textures to their established sound. Doll is recommended for fans of Nobro, SoftCult, Amyl and the Sniffers, and The Pretty Reckless.
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
We are Doll, we are an alternative rock band out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We’ve been a band since 2008, where out of the blue one night at an Evanescence concert during the switch over we ran into our friend Nick in the hallway, and we started talking and one thing led to another and we all said why don’t we start a band, and so we did.
We’ve been fortunate enough to have released 2 previous albums before this EP, and having played with many amazing bands that we were huge fans of, such as Lacuna Coil, Halestorm, Genitorturers, and many more. We were able to tour across most of Canada and some of the USA, so it was a really amazing time being on the road and sharing the experience as friends.
Tell us a bit about your recent release.
We are really excited about the upcoming EP, “Better Days, Different Times”. It’s a much more mature and intricate album for us, we really wanted to collaborate with some other musicians this time around, so we have guest spots on the Bleeding with some additional guitar, Goodbye we really wanted to bring in a lot more mood, so we have cellist guesting on this track to bring that extra sadness, and then on Ends Like This, we had some keyboards added to bring that little layer of emphasis to round out the song.
It’s definitely a departure from the first 2 albums, but still 100% Doll, with the lyrics and the tone of the songs continuing that darker and minor sounding theme that we’ve been known for over the years.
How do you typically go about the songwriting process? Do you have a specific method or creative routine that you follow?
Songwriting for us has always been a very spontaneous process, where we will just be jamming or Pete will be down in the basement just riffing, and out of the blue, something sticks and hits, and he ends up playing the riff over and over.
After that, normally, the typical signal that we’ve got something interesting brewing is when Christina comes into the jam space and starts playing along on guitar or starts singing some vocal melodies, that’s the moment that we know we’ve got something cooking. If you’re rocking a riff and Christina isn’t coming into the room, you know it’s a dud. Haha.
Looking ahead, what are your plans for supporting this new release? Are there any upcoming tours, music videos, or additional content that fans can look forward to in connection with this project?
Plans for this release are really doing things more and more on our own. We’ve had time during Covid to end up trying new things like photography and video recording, which led us to try making the very first video for Smoke on the Water on our own. It’s definitely got some dead giveaways that it was a homemade video, but at the same time, in our opinion, it came out pretty cool for a first try as well. We really wanted to bring some attention to all the craziness happening around the world with the outbreak of wildfires and damage increasing year over year.
We are also definitely looking to do more interviews, podcasts, social interactions with our fans on our social platforms, with a QA, and other life as a band stories from the past and present.
Possibly in the works are some options for live shows, nothing concrete at the moment, but the feedback and demand have been so amazing and really appreciated. It motivates you to get into show mode.
Looking back on your musical career, is there a particular moment or accomplishment that you consider a turning point or a highlight?
Definitely a highlight was playing NYC, being downtown and playing in Manhattan, and the next night in Brooklyn was such a storybook moment. We ended up scoring suite tickets to the Yankees game the next day from one of the bar staff, and walking across the Battery highway, getting in major trouble was a night you can’t forget.
Last but not least, it’s time to pay it forward. What upcoming band or artist would you recommend your fans check out?
100% it would be I See Orange, can’t get enough of their sound and songs, another one would also be Luna Shadows, so not rock or metal, but amazing. When it comes to heavier sounds, we love Knocked Loose and Poppy.
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