This connection has been so constructive that when Green decided to hold a music festival this summer in his hometown of St. ![]() (Leo Chastity continues to garner a global audience with consecutive tours of North America and Europe, Williams has gotten the opportunity to connect and work alongside some of the biggest names in Canadian music, like Dallas Green of Alexisonfire and City and Colour. Something about the colour blue, the sadness of it, it just kind of inspired me to start writing.” “I see this blue happy face on the sidewalk, and at that moment the colour blue resonated with how I was feeling in such a weirdly profound way, it gave me shivers. When I'm up, I'm up, but when I'm down I can get pretty down there, you know?” says Williams. One day, as I was skating home, I started feeling really down. “There's this big hill in my hometown, Manning hill, where we would all skate down. The conception of Suffer Summer was inspired by a blue smiley face painted on the sidewalk, in Whitby, that Williams spotted years ago on a lonely trip home from a skateboarding headrush. With this frame of reference, Williams describes Suffer Summer as a distinctly ‘blue’ album. ![]() Synesthesia is thought to be the unique ability to see music in the context of colour, like a visual artist interpreting a song with paint. “When my songs click with a kid who shares the experience, I see myself in that connection to the music.” If my music can have that effect on even one person, that’s really fulfilling for me,” adds Williams. (Leo I listen to music and there’s something there that resonates with me, I'm like, oh shit, they just described that better than I could even think it. “It’s an album about happiness and how impossible it is to find, and keep, for longer than five seconds, which I think is something I struggle with,” Says Williams. The result is a bittersweet collection of musical work that Williams feels is authentically his capturing specific, burning emotions that are individually felt and collectively experienced. ![]() The majority of its content was written just prior to the pandemic in the spring of 2020, when, as Williams explains, he had far more alone time to dedicate to the self-reflective introspection that has translated into this record. That was my experience growing up and it's somewhat my experience even now.”Ĭhastity’s newest album, Suffer Summer, pays homage to the emo poeticism of a bygone era. “A lot of people are lonely and they haven’t really found their people. There’s just something in the air that people haven’t written down, and there’s so much there in that immense sprawl of houses.” Says Williams. “Walking around Whitby, I feel like there’s something untapped there. Chastity’s music speaks to this universal feeling of alienation with lyrics that reach out to all the kids feeling particularly lost. But I think the endurum of swimming upstream and being from the outskirts kind of helps to embolden you to do something, and do it well,” says Williams.ĭeep within the expanse of any given small town, there is, without a doubt, at least one kid who feels out of place in their surroundings, and deeply isolated. In fact, at times I felt discouraged from pursuing music. His music is a hallmark of the internet’s unique ability to create a community where loners can feel less alone. “I think it’s pretty precious to keep people informed about your music, and you gotta ask for people’s attention so they don’t forget about you nowadays.”Įmerging from a suburban sprawl in Whitby, Ont., and getting an unconventional start on the now-deserted platform of Myspace, Chastity’s music is deeply rooted in the suburban frustration that followed Williams throughout his youth. It’s quick, and they’re short lived,” says Williams. ![]() (Leo projects happen in the blink of an eye. Their newest album, Suffer Summer, was released on Jan. 18, but got postponed to April due to back-to-back waves of COVID-19 that turned the local music scene into no man’s land.Ĭhastity was scheduled to play Massey Hall with City and Colour in December, but this too was unfortunately cancelled for pandemic-related reasons. This concert was originally scheduled for Dec. Tonight, I chat with Williams before his set at Bridgeworks a new venue in Hamilton, Ont., that has been converted from a warehouse, giving an exclusively underground feel to the highly anticipated performance that has been promised to a sold out crowd of 500.Ĭhastity is opening for Canadian rock heavyweights, The Dirty Nil, who are playing tonight’s show in their hometown. When you mention the name of Brandon Williams’ musical endeavor next to those of his idols, the influence that these new-romantic giants have over Williams’ emotionally-charged sound is readily available to even the untrained ear. Grab your eyeliner and an all-black getup, because Chastity’s Brandon Williams is about to take you to church.
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