A Q&A with The Purple Helmets

Indie power-pop with polished hooks…

What’s the title of your latest release, and what does it mean to you?
Our latest release is a ten-song album called Weirdo Squad. It’s the result of an absence of writing music for this band for some time and having watched our friend’s band start to put out new music again. It re-ignited a passion within us to write new music, which is now very reflective of our individual lived experiences and wrapped together in a more mature, efficient way. It highlights our songwriting process now as a mix of individual inspiration and collaborative refinement.

What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
The hardest part may have been and continues to be the distance that we live from each other. Mike and I are still located in Nova Scotia, Canada. Don is in Ontario, Canada while Chris resides in the Cayman Islands. Certainly makes it difficult to meet and jam on a Sunday afternoon. However, through online platforms we can write music, present ideas and full songs, and then let the process develop from there. It actually worked quite well. Eventually, we meet up to play live shows, rehearse, and record in various places. We just make it work.

Who produced the release – what did they bring to it? If you produced it yourselves what do enjoy most about producing your own material?
Paul Suarez recorded and co-produced the album. He’s the protégé of Andy Wallace and Paul brought that learned experience plus his own ear and genius to the mix. Paul has engineered and recorded Korn, Biffy Clyro, Dave Matthews, Gojira, and even Guns N’ Roses. While his portfolio clearly leans to heavy rock, his process fattened our sound and added a professional fidelity we hadn’t necessarily encountered before as an indie rock band.

What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
Living in Nova Scotia, Canada puts us close to the United States and as a result, we also enjoy Americana, indie rock, and other genres from the US. We are also massively influenced by UK indie and UK Britpop. In our songwriting style, we just love to strip down a song to its essence and focus on melody and its memorable components. Our goal is to simply create an attractive indie tune that stands the test of time. Some listeners have referred to our sound as Americana Big Star meets UK Badfinger. A good song never goes out of style. To us, it’s just “Canadiana.”

How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
Most songs begin in isolation. Each of us tends to write in our own corner, developing ideas independently before bringing them to the group. Often, the writer will have the song nearly mapped out, with parts and structure already in place. From there, the rest of the band adds their own flavour—whether it’s through instrumental touches, vocal harmonies, or subtle arrangement tweaks. Other times, someone brings in just the bones of a song—chords, lyrics, maybe a rough melody—and we build it together from the ground up. That kind of collaboration can be really rewarding, allowing each of us to contribute creatively and shape the song as a collective. Both approaches work well for us.

What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
We’ve always really enjoyed the 80s single era. Bands like Tears for Fears, Duran Duran, Bowie, REM, and The Outfield were always influential. Especially in the way they sang melodies and created unforgettable earworms. For this project, I’m sure subconsciously bands like QOTSA, Sloan, The Jayhawks, Wilco, Neil Finn, Bowie, Tom Waits…I mean the list could go on forever. We have very eclectic tastes. Those bands bring so many things to the table—whether a killer riff, anthemic chorus, tight harmonies, smart lyrics or just a brilliant composition. All good stuff.

What countries would you like to tour? Are there any standout venues you’d like to play in?
We would love the opportunity to play shows in Europe and the US and play alongside similar bands to us. It would be great to experience that atmosphere and check out bands that we admire and like.

If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
It’s really hard to pick just one! They all have their own unique sounds and killer qualities. Well, let’s go with the album namesake ‘Weirdo Squad’. This one was written by Chris and really encompasses the things we strive for in writing a great song. ‘Weirdo Squad’ is a Bowie-esque song, layered in three-part harmonies resulting in a melody that really shines and glistens. At times it feels understated. But, is a great composition, intricate at times and has a great chord progression (around C# minor 7). A definite earworm for sure.

What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
For us, it is to continue to write great music that will resonate with listeners. For Weirdo Squad we wrote 30 songs and picked the best 10 to form this album. That also means we have 20 more really great songs that people should hear. We will continue to write new songs as the inspiration hits us with hopes to release another album in 2026 if things work out. We’d like to sign with a small boutique label, get some help with promotion and distribution of our tunes, and rock out a few great festival venues in between. Nothing too ambitious!!

Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
We believe we try to create an attractive indie tune that stands the test of time –  We like to strip a song down to its essence and really focus on the melody and its memorable components. We really think this is something that current and future listeners would like and appreciate. In a recent article we were described as the “Hook Kings” providing a “polished indie-rock charm and addictive power-pop hooks” and that we “sound like the lovechild of 80s radio classics and modern alt-rock swagger.” We say who wouldn’t want to listen to that!!!

Find out more about The Purple Helmets at facebook.com/purplehelmetsband