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 74 New Music Monday features published through this collaboration.
This week, The Projectors are the New Music Monday highlight!
The Projectors began when lead singer Dylan Rysstad wrote a song that was reminiscent of the music of The Strokes back in 2022.
From there, he decided he wanted to form a band, committing to a sound influenced by the sound of late 90s and 2000s indie-rock.
“I decided to kind of just, for the first time, just commit to sounding like somebody—which I’ve never done before,” Rysstad told Victoria Buzz.
“The songs came really easy and then I was like, ‘well what do I want to do with it?’ and started putting a band together.”
Though the band has featured different members through the years, it is currently comprised of Rysstad on vocals, Robbie Shirriff and Dustin Tiljoe on guitars, Evan Mathiesen on drums and Conor Brandt on bass.
Rysstad says that part of the magic of The Projectors comes from what these members bring to the table.
“A lot of it has to do with having a really solid band lineup where I’m writing some of the parts with people in mind,” he explained.
“Keeping in mind what their strengths are—giving them something that sparks an idea in them and they can add to it.”
He added that since bringing on Mathiesen, the drummer has taken on a lot of the recording and production responsibilities.
The band just released their sophomore album, Modern Friction.
Rysstad says that the album’s name is fitting for this second Projectors record, and stems from him thinking about modern fiction as a genre of books.
“It holds up to the narrative, just going through the day-to-day, the things that we’re all rubbing up against—literally and figuratively,” he said.
Highlight Track – “45 Days”
One of the singles from Modern Friction, “45 Days,” was written while Rysstad was staying down in Atlanta, Georgia, with his partner who lives there.
“It was actually written about the fact that I wouldn’t see her for 45 days after leaving.”
“I didn’t have another plane ticket booked for a month-and-a-half after that, and I was having some anxiety about leaving and [being in] a long-distance relationship.”
He says that there is a line in the second verse, “Forgetting how to breathe, my neck goes numb, it’s like my throat is being squeezed, I can’t speak but I’m calling for help,” which refers to an incident in which Rysstad thought he might be experiencing a medical issue due to feeling anxious.
“I thought I was having a stroke or something like that because my face went numb and my hands went numb and I was kind of slurring my words while I was in the car with my partner,” he said.
“We went to the emergency room to rule that out because it lasted quite a while… Basically they told me I was having a panic attack and I just need to relax.”
He added that he doesn’t always write songs so literally based on his experiences but for “45 Days,” it just felt right.
The Projectors have also released a music video for “45 Days” which shows the band meeting up outside of their jam space and performing the track.
“We’ve made the odd video and had talked about doing a concept video, but it’s really hard to get everyone together to rehearse, let alone for a music video,” explained Rysstad.
“Basically, when we do a thing like this we just do it all—we make a video, we do promo photos and we get a rehearsal in too—so this video was kind of like, how much can we do at one time.”
He said the video for The Strokes song “Someday” was an inspiration because it just featured the band hanging out.
See the music video for The Projectors song “45 Days” below:
To listen to “45 Days” and the rest of The Projectors new album, Modern Friction, check them out on Bandcamp, Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music.
The Projectors just came off a run of shows on Vancouver Island in Victoria, Cumberland and Nanaimo following the release of their new record.
They also have some shows coming up this summer at Cadboro Bay Festival on August 9th on Gyro Beach and at a City of Victoria show at Ship Point on August 18th.
To stay in the loop with future shows and releases, follow The Projectors on Instagram.
Related:
- New Music Monday: Conjure Hand explores funk-rock direction on two new singles
- New Music Monday: Standard Issue Pleasure Model releases dynamic new album ‘Tripsitter’
- New Music Monday: Blush. releases chaotic house party music video ahead of upcoming EP
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 in particular, they do something that nobody else does in town,” Rysstad told Victoria Buzz.
“They’re fostering community which is so important, they’re highlighting and showcasing bands that no one else is playing on the radio.”
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online!
Let us know what you think of The Projectors in the comments below!
