Interview by Kris Peters
Since forming in 2007, Counterparts have gone from the Hamilton, Ontario, underground to touring the world as one of Canada's most important and impactful musical exports. They've released seven full-lengths, with A Eulogy for Those Still Here landing in 2022. They've also released four EPs and a live album. Late last year they delighted fans with the surprise EP, Heaven Will Let Them Die, out via Pure Noise. The band has sold 250,000 albums through the course of its career, and their most recent headliner in support of AEFTSS was almost entirely sold out.
And now, in great news for Australian fans, Counterparts are coming Down Under with Dying Wish for four dates as part of the Heaven Let Them Die tour. HEAVY caught up with frontman Brendan Murphy to talk music and touring. One of our questions centred around the 'surprise' release of Heaven Will Let Them Die and if he considered it a risk in the modern music world.
"For sure," he nodded. "I wasn't terribly concerned that there was a possibility of it backfiring. I don't think anybody who likes the band is gonna be, like, 'what? They didn't even tell us, this sucks'. You know what I mean? I think everybody was kind of stoked that there was something new. I think there is always a chance that it just gets lost if you don't dangle the keys in front of people's face. When you just drop it there's a chance that people can forget about it and I think maybe people have a little bit… but I think it's amazing because we put the EP out and said right, we're gonna tour in three months, see ya. I think, if anything, it was that that did it. Not the surprise. I think when you do something that plays into how short everyone's attention span is at the moment, I think it's just a move. That's the easiest way to get people, and so what if you're the hot topic and everyone's talking about it for a month or a week, and then they move on to something else. They were gonna move onto something else anyway, regardless of how long you teased it. I think it definitely worked for sure."
In the full interview, Brendan talks more about the reasons behind jumping off the publicity train for their recent EP, the pros and cons of doing that, how it is the band's most authentic representation sonically, and where it stands in terms of future direction.
We also take the time to run through the EP track by track, plus talk about what we can expect from Counterparts when they hit Australia in June.
Tickets and more information at livenation.com.au.