Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
Ahead of their US tour, Canadian indie/alternative rock trio Autopilot have shared a new music video for the title track of their latest album Afterglow. The video for the shimmering rock song shows a riotous house party in reverse with the band supplying the live sound in a cramped basement. The low ceiling is enough to make anyone with the slightest bit of claustrophobia feel uneasy, but the killer blend of airy guitars, punchy beats and warm melodies will make you stick around. So who was the owner that let their house be ravaged for the sake of Rock n’ Roll?
“We got home from a recent tour to find our neighbor had sold his house and it was set to be demolished,” explains frontman Marlon Harder. “We convinced the new owners to let us throw one final house party, and surprisingly they agreed – on the conditions that we didn’t have the cops show up and didn’t burn the place down. We called up our friends at the local breweries, got some kegs, and ended up with an insane crowd and had a classic house party (with a little extra destruction). While most of the gear didn’t survive the night, my favorite guitar did make it through the crowd surfing. It’s definitely the most fun we’ve had shooting a video, and the only party we never had to clean up after.“
With Harder on vocals and guitar — alongside Jose Antonio on drums and Jordan Kurtz on bass — the Saskatoon-based trifecta of sound-best-heard-loud have become increasingly known for their thoughtful lyrics, powerful hooks, dynamic stage presence, and obsessive hard work. Such is deftly demonstrated between their roster of full-length albums, additional EP, singles, and road warrior status touring across Canada and the US.
Canadian Musician Magazine calls them “quite possibly one for the hardest working bands in the country” and it’s not difficult to see why: between albums Diamond Rough (2013), Desert Dreams (2015), and Afterglow (2018) alone, Autopilot have charted with Earshot’s Top 50, the Top 200 for NACC North American College Charts, and specialty radio throughout North America, as well as receiving heavy rotation, reception and placement on The Verge, Sirius XM’s Iceberg Radio, NY’s CMJ, CBC, podcasts, and licensing placements throughout the US.
Having taken the stage at Toronto’s CMW, Indie Week, AYE Fest, Fairfield Revival, Jersey Shore Festival, Millennium Music Conference, and Mesa Music Festival, among many more, Autopilot were also nominated for Best Rock / Pop Artist at the 2019 Saskatchewan Music Awards.
Afterglow has been touted as the band’s most impressive and accessible recording to date. Between Harder’s knack for finding ‘beauty in the simple moments, and hope in the challenges life tends to bring,’ and its production by legendary Saskatchewan producer S.J. Kardash, the album finds the band reaching and rising to their highest heights yet.
Listen to the single “Afterglow” now on Spotify.
