When Stefan Boulineau, Ayden Miller, Cole Wilson and Conrad Galecki entered college to study music, the last thing they expected was to create a band. However, the four crossed paths, forever altering their lives in the best way possible.
Formed from a fateful union of four friends, these lads went on to become the Canadian alternative band, New Friends and are reinventing the standard for what popular music can be. Taking inspiration from each of their own backgrounds, they are currently rocking the charts with their debut single, “Right Here.”
“‘Right Here’ is kind of the big finale to ‘The Pilot’ and to that era of New Friends,” said drummer Conrad Galecki, “It’s kind of an anthemic hoorah as we say to our family and friends at home to let them know that we will be traveling a lot, and we won’t get to see us as much and all they see is our faces in social media, but even if we are far away, we’re right there for them.”
A Green Day-esque anthem combined with reassuring lyrics, “Right Here” also serves another purpose. As an album closer, it not only gives an idea of what the band can do, but also tells the audience that New Friends will definitely be “Right Here.”
“It kind of has a double meaning,” said lead singer Stefan Boulineau, “A lot of shows will name their first episode ‘the pilot’ and it’s kind of a tester show to see if people like it, so we called it “The Pilot” because it is the first body of work we have made so far,”
And quite a debut it is. From having an accidental hit with their song “Purple Candy”, they felt emboldened and eventually, won Canada’s biggest music competition “It’s Your Shot”. With each member having a different background in music, New Friends combines hip-hop, EDM and folk and pop sensibilities to challenge the “outdated” idea of genres. The band describes their discography as “pop songs but not pop songs.”
“We have no boundaries on genre, bending genres is really fun for us, and ultimately it depends on the listener or the critic where to put us on the playlist,” said guitarist Cole Wilson.
“We are such fans of different genres and we always try to bring them together and see what we can do. It always leads to a different sounding song,” added Galecki.
With the album being a three year labor of love, two of which were spent in lockdown, the band expressed that the process was not only a “journey” musically, but also a journey that changed them as friends.
“Looking back now, two years later, it has been a crazy experience,” said keyboardist Ayden Miller.