New Day Rising was a mid-'90s hardcore band from Mississaugua, ON. They originally started sounding more like Grade with melodic/metallic take on hardcore. As they went on their sound changed to be more chaotic and noisy bent.
As a young band, New Day Rising's live shows were very intense and passionate, and the good news is that they've recently reformed. Not only will we be seeing a vinyl release of their first demo, but they are also working on new music as well.
Bassist Dave Buschemeyer recently answered some questions about New Day Rising reforming and shared some info on other projects he has in the works.
Who is in the current lineup of New Day Rising, and who is still around from the original run?
New Day Rising is Chris Grey on vocals, Ollie Nacinovic on drums, Dave Buschemeyer on bass, Trevor Dykstra on guitar, and Adam Brylowski on guitar. In my mind, this lineup was the core of the band. This was the lineup on Memoirs of Cynicism and the Hourglass split 12-inch. Chris, Ollie, and I are original members. Adam is almost original considering he joined right after the demo and Trevor has been around for the writing of more songs than any other bass player we had!
You may have noticed that Trevor and I have switched instruments with each other and part of the reason for me switching to bass in New Day is because I've been playing bass for decades, since I played bass in The China White and it just made sense for me to continue to do so in New Day considering that Trevor has played guitar exclusively this whole time including in his last band, Pale Drone.
The current lineup and in this iteration is the best version of this band. Our songwriting is developed and interesting, the riffs are flowing out of us and Chris' voice is actually leagues better than he was back in '98! Most times singers kind of lose their swagger a bit as they get older. Not Chris! He is an elevated version of what he was when he was young. It's been amazing to witness in practice and in our live recordings! Our chemistry as musicians together is truly remarkable and can be seen and heard so clearly.
What was the impetus that got New Day Rising back together?
[Laughs] This is a funny story. Basically, I posted a photo of the 4 of us, minus Chris, on my Instagram 4 years ago when I was travelling from Philly to Toronto several times a month to jam with the guys as part of what became an ill-fated NDR reunion. At the time, Chris wasn't interested in reuniting and the idea unfortunately fell apart.
What arose from that band was the awesome Doom band Pale Drone, which is Ollie, Trevor, and Adam (all from New Day Rising) with Jerome, and Connor from Boys Night Out. Anyway, Chris had messaged on my post something like, “Jams are better with a singer, boys!” In group texts we all laughed about it, but it turns out he was serious and wanted to jam and see how things went! 4 years after our original reunion attempt! [Laughs] It literally came out of nowhere.
There was no planning it. It just suddenly happened. All because I posted a photo memory of the 4 of us together!
Can we expect new music or are you just going to play some shows?
Actually, yes! New music is our number one priority! At this point, shows are entirely secondary to writing a full-length! We are 5 new songs in and continuing to write with a pretty serious pace! Along the way, we are learning old songs to add into the mix so that when we are ready we can put together a couple different types of sets!
As of now, we're in the beginning stages of talking to appropriate labels. And we should have some news about those developments soon! As for playing, we're looking into playing some festivals and some opening slots for bigger bands in the new year! Things are really looking good!
New Day Rising’s lyrics were always socially and politically aware. In today’s climate, do you think any of those songs are more relevant today than when you first wrote them?
There's no doubt that the seemingly cyclical nature of things in culture have brought up similar issues with people to what they did with us in the '90s when we wrote those songs. Some might argue that what we were railing against then has gotten worse! If we thought that corporations had a lot of power over politics in our countries then, then it is far clearer now that the corporate influence and control over geo-politics now is a graver issue.
Certainly, one of the central concepts within New Day Rising's lyrics when we were young was “liberation” and our expanded definition of that freedom-seeking includes not only the social but also the every day existential notions we have about our singular place in larger structures. We certainly have different ideas about what it means to embody those notions into our lives as people with families and careers, but the root of our longing for liberation is central to our cores as human beings influenced by progressivity.
On the other hand are there any songs that might not have as much meaning today? Whether it being the situation has changed or every your own attitude and outlook?
There's no doubt that what we wrote as teens and early 20-somethings won't be the same thing we think now. But, I can say that as individuals, we have only become more understanding and more open-minded than we ever were as kids.
It is often said that the young have the luxury to be open-minded, but I feel like curiosity and the desire to advance and learn is the hallmark of personhood and it actually doesn't have to be limited by age, though it often is and does.
You can expect more of the same personal responses to larger issues with Chris' lyrics. He has a very keen mind about the human condition and it comes out in his new writing. It has been a joy to witness.
New Day Rising is not the only band of yours having a bit of a resurgence. You recently announced a vinyl reissue of the Spread the Disease's 1998 full-length album, We Bleed From Many Wounds. How did that come about and are there any plans for Spread the Disease to do any shows?
So.... unfortunately Spread the Disease will never have a reunion. The members of that band are far too spread out from each other and lack the communication it would take to even begin to think about this kind of thing!
However, I have never stopped playing music in my life for any great length of time and have been a part of a lot of recording projects over the years. And despite all of that, I keep coming back to the fact that some of the most important recordings I have been a part of have not made it onto vinyl.
And so, I have had a personal bucket list of things I have wanted to achieve for some time, and a few of them involve finally getting vinyl releases of my old bands' back catalog. They are:
- New Day Rising demo released onto 12-inch vinyl
- New Day Rising full length, Memoirs of Cynicism, being released onto 12-inch vinyl for it's 25th Anniversary
- Spread the Disease first full-length, We Bleed From Many Wounds, being released on to 12-inch vinyl
All three are being worked on simultaneously, by a bunch of labels, but the first to gain traction and be released is the STD record! The album album artwork and graphic design is mine. I was able to integrate my fine art printwork into the layout to make something truly unique and fitting for the nature of the music! I am happy with these results! It's being released by Hypaethral Records in North America, Moment of Collapse in Germany/Europe, and Listen to Aylin in Norway/Scandinavia!
Right now it is at the Preorder stage and is due to come out the beginning of October 2021! Exciting times!
In 2017 you released an EP with Chris Logan from Chokehold on vocals called Die In the Light. Are there any plans for another release from that project?
Yes! Chris Logan is one of the best dudes of my life, and anyone who really knows the guy knows what I'm talking about, so when it came time to find a singer for some Spread the Disease-style blackened hardcore I was writing I contacted him and asked him to work his magic! And what came out of that recording was the most vicious sounding Chris Logan anyone has every heard!
I self-released that recording onto 10-inch vinyl and the majority sold almost right away. I sat on the remainder of the copies, and now they're finally going to be available with a new Die In the Light T-shirt pre-order here. This is the lead up to a new recording that is finished and that only needs the vocals to be done before getting sent off to a mix engineer. I am currently in the process of finding a home for that record and I should have some new news very soon!
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I do! I have started another band! Yes, I'm a busy guy, but this new music is a long time coming! It's called Omen Astra.
This is probably the heaviest band I've ever been in! It has members of some seriously influential bands! It has Trevor and myself from New Day Rising and Spread the Disease, Erik Peterson from Too Pure to Die and Ghost Replicant, and on vocals it has Aaron Bryce Weseman from the legendary Disembodied! This band has a full-length album that is recorded and is in the vocal recording stage and mix!
The full-length is called Per Aspera and we are in talks with labels appropriate for the stature of this music! As with New Day Rising, we are concentrating on the recording and plan to make show and festival appearances next year!
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