New band alert: canaries

Another year has come, and much like last year, I entered 2026 unsure of whether I would keep First Revival going. In January 2025, Montreal’s Prism Shores put out Out From Underneath, an album so great I felt I had to do something on it. So I did.

In January 2026, I found myself in a similar position. And then I discovered Richmond, VA’s canaries, a band with such a small online footprint that I accidentally emailed a different band with the same name first. To date, they only have an EP of demos and a couple other songs kicking around, but holy shit, did those songs ever grab my ear. Every now and then a record has this ability to be exactly what you want to hear at a given time, and for me in that moment, it was canaries’ self-titled, six-track EP. So here we are.

Being a demo and all, the recording is wonderfully blown out as shit, but that impenetrable layer of noise was part of the allure for me. Like Ecstasy and Wine-era My Bloody Valentine, Joanna Gruesome (RIP) and early Hotline TNT, canaries had my tinnitus going bananas, but I couldn’t help but melt over those buried melodies on tracks like “Left Hook” and “Headlight.” Is it shoegaze? Is it noise pop? I don’t know. All I did know was that I needed to do my best to alert more people to their existence.

Perhaps even one of you reading this was lucky enough to see them on THE TRIP, a recent tour organized by Hotline TNT that featured themselves, The Tubs, Wishy, Horse Jumper of Love and canaries. Arguably the greatest quintuple bill I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Enjoy.

I literally know nothing about canaries. Can I get a quick summary of how the band formed?

Augie: Monica and I had talked about doing something in the realm of what we are for a while, maybe a year or two before it ended up happening. That was when Zack moved to town and we had no choice but to lock it in. We’d been jamming a bit and writing and I knew we needed something more and that was where Erin came in. They had joined in February of 2024. Our first show was in April with Chronophage from New York, who did an incredible Neil Young cover, at a DIY venue that isn’t active anymore.

What made you choose the name canaries? Does any member have experience with the bird?

Augie: No actual meaning or connection. I thought it sounded cool. Sucks there’s another popular plural bird-named band that you can’t escape on social media these days, but we’re not in the same market, so it’s chill.

What other names did you consider for your band? Also was there a reason why you chose lowercase spelling?

Augie: ACDC 2 was not landing with anyone in the band. There isn’t any particular reason for the capitalization or lack thereof. It’s uppercase on streaming, lowercase outside of that. Kind of choose your own grammatical adventure.

What has the band been up to since releasing the self-titled EP? Is there new music on the horizon?

Augie: That was more of a demo release. We’re gonna record what I feel is an actual EP in February this year. We’ve been writing that, playing shows pretty frequently either in town or a few out of town one-offs. We have two songs we’ve recorded and put out into the internet sphere you can find on either streaming or YouTube.

Your Bandcamp lists that tapes of your EP will be “available soon via Idle Music.” Is there still a physical release planned for it?

Augie: We had band copies for a time, but aren’t planning for any official release at this point. We’re on to the next thing.

Last month you were part of THE TRIP, playing on a five-band bill with Wishy, Horse Jumper of Love, The Tubs and Hotline TNT. How did that tour come together?

Augie: Will [Anderson] from Hotline put the thing together. He asked a few months back about doing another “THE TRIP” that, as we all love TNT and the bands that were on the first go, we couldn’t pass it up.

Was there one band you were most excited to see?

Monica: I’m excited to see everyone, but mostly The Tubs because they’re coming over from the UK.

Augie: I’m pretty siked about it all too. The Tubs stick out for me here. I feel like they do something genuine and different to a lot of current conversations being had in music and they do it good.

Zack: I’m most excited to see Wishy. I’ve been a fan of theirs for a couple years now. I’m excited to get to tour with them.

Erin: Uhhhh stoked to see Wishy.

Have you done a lot of touring before?

Augie: Collectively we have a number of years touring with past projects and bands. This band specifically together has only done one weekender so far. Hoping we see more of the road this year.

What are you looking forward to being on the road?

Monica: Coffee Zyn’s and playing music.

Augie: Unfamiliar faces in unfamiliar places is cool to me.

Zack: Uhhh my answer’s gonna suck: Having fun, literally.

Erin: I’m really excited to make new friends and hear new music and see new places I haven’t been to.

I was watching this video on YouTube of a basement show you played last July at The Hole in Richmond. It seemed pretty loud yet I couldn’t spot any earplugs being used. How loud do you get and do you use protection?

Augie: The Hole was a cool warehouse spot that didn’t last too long. That show was with Hotline TNT, funny enough. We play pretty loud, and we’ve had people walk out for that reason. Myself and Monica don’t wear ear protection - I’m irresponsible - but Zack and Erin both use earplugs. I know we won’t have much say in the volume at these shows but in a house or a warehouse they can’t tell you to turn down.

I feel like I can hear a lot of original shoegaze and the noisier end of indie pop in canaries’ music. What are your influences?

Monica: The bass tone in “Slow” by My Bloody Valentine. I also love Lush and Lilys.

Augie: I love later-era Sonic Youth. My Bloody Valentine is obvious but specifically the singles and the first few EPs really are drilled into my head for how a band should sound.

Zack: I take a lot of influence from hardcore and punk drumming, but mostly J Mascis on Dinosaur Jr. records, or Steven Shelley.

Erin: Pity Sex - the dual vocals have a huge influence on how I do the vocals in the band. Sonic Youth pushes thinking in songs in a way I aspire to. And I’m always gonna say The Replacements.

What is your food of choice while recording?

Monica: La Milpa
Augie: I had a Zyn for the first time while recording, don’t do that.
Zack: Taco Bell
Erin: Yea, La Milpa.

What TV show or film does the band watch together?

Augie: Zack and Monica won’t stop talking about Sex and the City (now they’re talking about it again). I think the last movie we all watched together was Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

What album is played most when the band is hanging out together or on tour?

Augie: We usually do a joint queue and play whatever, but if it was one album it’s Last Splash by The Breeders.

What is an activity the band does together outside of music?

Augie: I guess it’s still music but we will run up some karaoke. Might try and twist some arms on THE TRIP and get some people singing.

What is the hardest part of being a band?

Augie: Great, now we’re fighting… JK. Realistically it’s deciding on a cover. We’ve done one and that’s probably the last we’ll do.

What is the best part of being a band?

Monica: I like getting to express ourselves creatively with people I love.
Augie: I love the people in this band, and it’s fun solving creative problems with them and seeing things snap into place.
Zack: I like when we go on tour together, We have a lot of hearts to hearts.
Erin: Getting to celebrate each other’s victories. Being able to get closer together in the struggle to make music we’re proud of - that’s my favourite part.

What is the music scene like in Richmond? The only other contemporary of yours I can think of from there is Keep. But obviously there is a great history with acts like Labradford/Pan•American, Sparklehorse (RIP), Eggs, Aimee Mann, Municipal Waste, Gwar, Cracker and D’Angelo (RIP).

Augie: We mostly exist in the punk, hardcore and noise scenes here. That being said, every scene here is energetic. Everybody here is talented and loves what goes on.

What is another band from Richmond that fans of canaries should know about?

Augie: Cicada

Normally I ask, “If you had to pick only one subgenre listed on your Bandcamp page to describe your music which would it be?” But you only have “alternative” listed. Is alternative how you normally describe canaries’ music?

Augie: Genre labeling isn’t all that important. I think it makes most sense to let yourself decide where the record goes in your collection, not the confines of what the drop down menu offers. Describing canaries to non-listeners is difficult. The average person won’t know MBV as a reference point, but even then I don’t feel like we’re even that musically similar for that to make immediate sense to any first-time listener. It’s hard to describe us. Alternative is just general enough but also is something we just breezed by setting up the Bandcamp.

What are most of your lyrics are about?

Augie: Hard to say. A few songs are for interpretation, a few are deeply personal. There isn’t any specific theme we stick to.

What is your favourite band of the 1990s?

Monica: Tie between The Breeders and Stereolab.
Augie: I’m stuck thinking about this one.
Zack: Teenage Fanclub
Erin: Tie between Silver Jews and Mariah Carey.

What is your favourite venue to play and why?

Augie: We had a DIY venue in Richmond we all loved that recently closed down. That’s the nature of the beast but it was institutional in the past however many years of DIY music. Sorely missed. Our friend JK did the sound there and always made it easy to sound how we want to sound.

What is your favourite record shop in the world?

Augie: Joint Custody in Washington DC.

If you’re curious about what I’ve been listening to of late, check out the First Revival playlist below.