Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.
Every Monday, there will be a fresh ‘New Music Monday’ article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!
For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at CFUV 101.9 FM, UVic’s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.
To date, there have been 70 New Music Monday features published through this collaboration.
This week, Slugger is the New Music Monday highlight!
Slugger started back in 2023, but after a couple years and the release of their first EP, Chumps & Suckers, the band decided to go on hiatus and prioritize other projects.
Despite the band deciding to take a break, frontman Matt Watton decided he had more to say and wanted to resuscitate the project with a new lineup.
Former members Matt Engelsman and Gunnar Byres have since been replaced by new members Harry Breeze and Alex Mendes, but before they went their separate ways, they recorded everything the band had written up to that point.
“Gunnar left to travel in Asia indefinitely, and Matt E got busy with life and his other bands—Hose, A Recorded Dawn,” Watton told Victoria Buzz.
“I wanted to continue the Slugger project but it was emotionally tough at first to think about playing these songs and new ones with new folks, so I waited a while and had to find a good fit.”
To Watton, Breeze already felt like the unofficial fourth member of the band, as he had recorded and produced all of their music thus far. As for Mendes, he was between bands at the time, liked Slugger’s vibe and shared musical tastes with Watton and Breeze, so he was also a shoo-in.
Watton says that since bringing on the new members, the band’s sound has pretty much stayed true-to-heart, but as they write new songs, the new members have been adding their own distinct flair.
“That’s what I like about playing with people — I have ideas or preconceptions of how a song should go, but in jamming and playing with others it evolves and the other guys add their own flare and sensibilities,” Watton explained.
“So just as Matt and Gunnar are unique players that pushed the songs in cool directions, so too do Harry and Alex put their own stamp on them.”
Slugger’s newest release, My Corporate Uncle, is a seven-track album that was released on November 28th, 2025.
Though this album is brand new, it was written and recorded with Slugger’s former lineup. Watton says that for him, this record was a way to get everything they had done recorded before parting ways.
Now that there is a new edition of Slugger, the songs can see the light of day.
While writing the album, Watton tried his best to write about everyday situations that may otherwise feel monotonous, adding a bit of fun and whimsy to make them feel more relatable.
“I like to write about everyday stuff, but embellish it with poeticisms and nonsense,” he said.
“I like to have fun with words and have fun with what songs can be about — there’s a song about people who are late all the time and a song about Gunnar.”
The title track and album name, “My Corporate Uncle” stems from a phrase Watton heard when a former academic friend of his was trying to get help from his uncle while writing a resume. From there, Watton did what he is best at — he took the phrase and gave it new life by attaching a less-serious tone to an otherwise bleak situation.
Highlight Track – “Dock”
Watton says that “Dock” was actually the last song written for My Corporate Uncle.
It began with a riff that felt hard to play, which Watton says is always the goal. He and his band mates always were trying to challenge themselves in order to keep things interesting.
As for the lyrics, it all stems from a time when Watton was reading Moby Dick.
“Lyrically I was reading Moby Dick and obsessing about it a bit, while also just having some normal social life bullshit going on, and I was thinking about how nature sometimes doesn’t really fulfill me in any way — sacrilege in the PNW, I know,” said Watton. “So the lyrics are obliquely about that.”
Watton decided for this track, he wanted to put together a music video as well. This goal came to fruition after he found a treasure trove of footage of BC’s whaling industry from the 1910s.
On top of being pretty spot on for the themes of Moby Dick, Watton says he found that this footage captured that feeling of ambivalence for nature as well.
To listen to “Dock” and the rest of My Corporate Uncle, check out Slugger on Bandcamp, Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music.
Next up for Slugger, Watton says that writing and playing are the focus.
They have a house show coming up and aside from that, the band is writing some new music and will be getting back into the studio soon.
To stay in the loop with future shows and releases, follow Slugger on Instagram.
Related:
- New Music Monday: Braxton Glass pays homage to Nanaimo’s owls on latest album
- New Music Monday: MIINA teases upcoming album release with new music video
- New Music Monday: Dana Sipos releases ‘Golden Molten’ ahead of nation-wide tour
CFUV is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.
“CFUV rules — Troy [Lemberg] has been very helpful sharing his knowledge about college radio and promoting music, and they play cool music and throw cool shows,” said Watton. “Hard to ask for anything more!”
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online!
Let us know what you think of Slugger in the comments below!
