Since the release of their latest LP Colour Blind, Canadian pop-punk band Seaway have been turning heads in both America and the UK. We had the opportunity to speak with bass player Adam Shoji about the new record, the current pop-punk scene and the band’s progression in their music.
At the moment you guys are touring with Knuckle Puck, Sorority Noise and Head North. How have the tours been so far for you guys?
It’s been great. Every night’s been insane. There hasn’t been a bad show yet, honestly. I’m excited to play them all.
I think it’s really rewarding to see that since the band’s formation, you guys are probably seeing a strong following in your shows as well. How does it feel that you guys have cemented a name in the pop-punk scene?
It’s been pretty cool, to be honest with you. I mean, we didn’t really expect to come out of this since starting the band so the fact that we’ve been able to like draw a little bit of attention to ourselves and do these cool opportunities has been pretty surreal for us.
Yeah it’s surreal as well because there’s not that many Canadian pop-punk bands out there. To see you guys break into that American market, it’s sort of helped you guys grow. How does it feel knowing that you’re representing your own country when it comes to touring America?
Honestly, it’s pretty cool because we kinda knew going into this that Canada wouldn’t have the market that America has. From the start, we knew we had to tour the States as much as we could. We live an hour away from the U.S border but it’s just so hard getting visas and getting everything together to actually tour the States. Once we took the touring out in America, people were kind of noticing that we’re just a Canadian band. It’s a pretty cool feeling just to be like that foreign band when you’re in America. Obviously, going to the UK and stuff has been cool too.
Yeah for sure, man and because America has a lot of cities as well you get to explore each and every kind of city – it’s sort of like an experience to travel too. Compared to your home shows, do you see a difference playing in America compared to Canada?
As far as our hometown goes, I mean playing in Toronto is our favourite place to play, hands down because it’s kind of like home for us. I feel like a lot of kids back home are really stoked that we’re a pop-punk band from the Toronto area that’s going out and exploring all over the place. As far as the reactions from kids in the US and the UK and even around Canada, the shows themselves have been really good so it’s hard to compare it; but obviously playing at our hometown is definitely the best for us I would say.
As people would say, there’s no place like home.
Yeah [laughs].
Also I just wanna congratulate you on your really awesome release of Colour Blind. I loved it, I’ve been repeating it so much in the car to and from work as well. How does this record compare to the band’s previous releases?
First of all, thank you so much – that’s very kind of you. I think this record is a bit of a step forward for us as musicians in general. I personally think that this record is a lot better than anything we’ve put out in the past. I think everyone would agree with me and we kinda hope that this record is something that will take us to the next level from where we’ve been in the last year or so.
It’s really impressive to see the sound progression that you guys are going after as well. Obviously the pop-punk scene nowadays is very over-saturated and there’s a lot of bands having generic hooks and rhythms in their music. Did you feel any sense of pressure when it came to releasing new material because of that over-saturated market?
Since starting this band, we kinda just wanted to write the music that we enjoy and if people like it, then they like it and if they don’t, then fuck ’em. I totally agree with you that there’s a lot of over-saturated, carbon-copy pop-punk bands coming out these days which is kinda something we wanted to be away from. We’re just trying to find our own sound and going with it. I mean, we’re heavily influenced by a lot of early 2000s pop-punk ’cause that’s kinda what we grew up on so we took a lot of influence from that kind of stuff and applied that in our music. In general, we were trying to veer a little bit away from the pop-punk norm these days and we’re just kinda doing what we like, you know.
Yeah and this year as well, there have been a lot of pop-punk records being released and obviously with music it’s really hard to keep up with what’s new, what’s trending etc. Out of all the pop-punk bands I’ve listened to so far, yours has been one of the best because it’s very consistent. It has a really strong influence from early 2000’s and it brings that sort of nostalgia of bands that I’ve listened to growing up like The Starting Line and other bands too.
The Starting Line are one of my favourite bands so that’s really cool to hear. I mean, people our age, and a little bit older can draw a little bit of nostalgia from this music. A lot of kids these days are kinda getting into music now and so I think we’re kinda hoping that they can enjoy it as well.
Yeah, and I was actually discussing this with my friend the other day and I’m 23 so it’s really interesting to see all these pop-punk bands emerge. You guys are sort of part of the ‘new generation’ of pop-punk bands so obviously your fanbase is made up of a lot of young. How does it feel knowing that you guys sort of represent the new generation wave of pop-punk bands?
Oh, wow [chuckles]. I wouldn’t take it that far but I mean that’s definitely pretty cool to think about, especially as we continue to grow as a band. When I was thinking about bands like Sum 41 and Blink-182, there’s bands that are taking on a presence in the current pop-punk scene which is really cool and to think about the opportunity that we might have being part of that is awesome to think about.
I noticed you guys are part of Pure Noise Records as well and some of the well-known pop-punk names are on there like State Champs, Hit The Lights and The Story So Far (TSSF) as well. Do you feel like this label has helped promote the band’s music to the right audience?
Oh yeah, absolutely. They’ve been super great to us as far as labels go. I definitely hear a lot of nightmare stories about record labels and the types that you sign with and sort of taking what’s best for the label and not what’s best for the band and Pure Noise are not that kind of label. They have helped us immensely and they’re pretty much open and upfront and willing to do whatever we wanna do which is really awesome. Being on that label with a lot of the bigger pop-punk bands nowadays like TSSF and State Champs has definitely helped us a lot.
Yeah and it sort of helps because of the YouTube algorithms and the recommended videos that pop up on the sidebar. I love most of the bands on that label and that’s how I stumbled upon you guys and I guess that’s helped bring a strong emphasis on the pop-punk community and banding together all those listeners too.
Yeah honestly, it’s great and a lot of the heavier bands, we’d still tour with them, you know. There’s a bit of a crossover with like the heavier bands and obviously not quite as much but we all feel like we’re really good friends with them. Like Counterparts signed with Pure Noise recently and some of them happen to be my best friends. They live half an hour away from us and then there’s bands like Senses Fail and we’ve toured with them twice now. It’s kind of nice to be a part of that community.
For sure, man. I recently watched the band’s new music video on “Best Mistake” and that was hilarious. I especially liked the little Degrassi-Drake reference as well [laughs]. I just wanna know, how did the idea for this video come about?
[laughs] We were trying to think of something different that hasn’t been really done before. I think we kinda just wanted to veer away from the generic performance video and that’s how it all came about. A lot of the ideas were just brainstorming random shit honestly. I mean, whenever we come to the States, the kids are like, ‘Oh, do you guys love Degrassi?’ and Degrassi is a Canadian show all and Drake is massive over there. It was just us being idiots and putting a bunch of stupid shit into a video [laughs]. I’m glad you enjoyed it and I’ve seen nothing but good feedback from it. We thought that the kids would hate it but it’s gone over pretty well in terms of reception.
Also, I think it’s really cool that “Freak” appeared on Sports Net as well. I think it’s really cool that sports events like that are promoting the band’s music. Do you feel like it’s one of the best ways to promote music?
Oh absolutely and I think it’s huge and especially because it’s really cool for us. We’re actually all big sports fans honestly and seeing our music being played in like the highlight reels was just really cool. We’re all super huge Blue Jays fans, and they just got knocked out but when we were watching all the highlights, we were super into it. I was literally watching TV one day and then the song came on and I was like, ‘Oh my god, that is sick.’ Honestly, I think every type of exposure is great for us and it’s only gonna help us grow as a band.
That’s really cool to hear and especially since the band’s formation little things like that is obviously very rewarding to keep going. What would you say has been the main glue in terms of this whole experience of being in a band?
I mean the fact that we’ve all been best friends for so long. We started in high school and we were this metalcore band together – it was pretty terrible; but just the fact that we’ve known each other for so long has helped. Obviously, there have been ups and downs and I think it’s how you deal with the bad things that happen is what really defines you as a band. We’d get into arguments every now and then but we just get over things really quickly and we don’t hold grudges against each other and I think that’s a big part of what’s kept us going. It is very hard starting a band and doing DIY touring because you do get let down a lot; but I can honestly say it’s been completely worth it though for all the things that have come out of it.
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Colour Blind is available now and you can read our review of it HERE
Also, check out their really cool music video of “Best Mistake” below:
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