Elevating Post-Hardcore: On Coe Hill's Single "Deadweight" and Giving the Genre a Good Creative Facelift
Coe Hill
When you look at Canada and its long-standing relationship in the rock industry, it's hardly surprising when you find the likes of Coe Hill in the midst of all of this blossoming talent in the current scene. But while the scene is growing larger by the day, Canadian post-hardcore/alternative rock group Coe Hill remains unphased by the competition in front of them. Trying to make a name for themselves with the release of the hulking debut single, "Deadweight" featuring vocalist Hayden Trobee from Tigerwine via Blackgate Records, the current track will have many addicted by the first listen. A project that started much like most in the pandemic era, Coe Hill wants to use this creative process to articulate something meaningful to the world.
While this is quite an assonant and immense combination instrumentally, lyrically, this dives deeper into questions of religion, and how one had to make choices in life growing up because of them, changing one's self in the process. While this is one aspect, there are many strings attached to this track that tells a story of growth and perseverance. Produced by producer and engineer friend Kyle Marchant, who has worked with various bands such as Silverstein, Comeback Kid, Rarity, Stick To Your Guns, this is one single of many by this upcoming band that is taking this genre to new heights.
Coe Hill is here with Scene Daddy to explain more about this recent single and their story leading up to "Deadweight."
What inspired Coe Hill? What was the scene like when you started up this project?
Coe Hill was started during the COVID-19 lockdown. I was in a need of a creative outlet I started writing music in the post-hardcore/Alternative realm and I started to really like what I was coming up with. I reached out to a producer friend of mine, Kyle Marchant, about getting the songs recorded/produced and one thing led to the next.
The one thing a lot of people don't realize is that Coe Hill is a completely collaborative project and features unique vocalists on each song, so for that reason, we'll probably never have a live performance and only exist as a studio/virtual group. Part of the reason I went this route was to try and do something different in the alternative music scene, essentially doing a scene version of DJ Khaled
Coe Hill “Deadweight” Single Art
What are your musical influences? How did they make their way into your newest single "Deadweight?"
I have a wide taste in music but am primarily into the alternative music genres like post-hardcore, pop-punk, metalcore, etc. From a writing standpoint, bands that influence me the most would include Silverstein, Funeral For A Friend, Underoath, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, Linkin Park, Hawthorne Heights, lots of 00's alternative bands. When writing "Deadweight" and other songs, the main goal was to dig deep into that era of music and add a more modern twist into the style.
Going into the lyrical context of your track, Can we talk about "Deadweight" a bit? What does that mean to you personally?
Lyrically I had no involvement in that process, Hayden does the full vocal performance and he wrote the lyrics entirely on his own. So answering on his behalf, Hayden grew up in an Evangelical family and community, as he got older and started making decisions on his own he started to reflect on things and made the decision to break from religion and became an atheist in his adulthood, which is told through the line "I'm Waking Up".
The story of the song is about that journey he went through, however, the lyrics can translate to anyone looking to go through change and any sort of personal growth/development, however that may look to them. He actually had these lyrics written beforehand, but never found a home for them and decided this track would be a great one to share them on.
What was the writing and recording process like for "Deadweight?" There is a melodic but gravid alternative and post-hardcore presence instrumentally and vocally here.
The writing process was pretty straightforward on this track, for the most part. The bones of the song came to me one evening and it ended up replacing another song I had lined up for the EP, so I dug into it deeper with Kyle (the producer) on one of our sessions, giving some parts facelifts and making the song more interesting start to finish. We really pulled from Underoath and Nine Inch Nails influence with the program drums in the intro and second verse. Additionally, Thrice, Saosin, and Thirty Second To Mars (The Kill era) were other big influences when coming up with the guitar parts, song structure, and feel.
How did you come to work with Hayden Trobee of Tigerwine? How did that conversation go?
As I talked about earlier, this project is entirely unique vocally across each track, once the songs were written and demoed out I started recruiting singers/vocalists that I felt would be good fits for each song. For "Deadweight," and Hayden specifically, once we had the song written, I felt this track would require a very specific vocal style to really deliver on the song. Someone with a powerful voice that could use it as an instrument to fill the space and drive during the powerful chorus section. I was browsing bands on Spotify and came across Tigerwine.
After digging into their songs, I felt Hayden would be a perfect fit on the song, so I reached out to him on Facebook messenger, explained what I was working on, and shared the demo. He replied right away and said he was down to be a part of the project. I can still remember how excited I was when I heard his vocal demo. He completely elevated the song and made it better than I could have imagined. He came up with the choral vocal idea on his own which I felt was a huge addition to the track.
What was it like working with Kyle Marchant? I know he's worked with a lot of noteworthy bands in the scene such as Silverstein, Comeback Kid, Rarity, and Stick To Your Guns.
Working with Kyle was fantastic! He was super involved and passionate about what we were working on and was a big reason the music turned out so great. Like I mentioned before, he was very hands-on and helped with the song-writing, come up with new ideas and overall take each song to the best place they could possibly be. I truly felt like he treated the Coe Hill songs like they were his own, and going through the recording/mixing process, I even feel like he’s become a member. Not only did we make some awesome music but we also became really good friends through working so closely together, which is just as exciting to me.
Do you feel this has taken your music to new territories musically as an artist? In what ways?
Oh, big time, working with so many people and different styles has pushed me to elevate my songwriting, guitar playing, and overall networking abilities. The process has helped me grow as a musician and enhance my knowledge of the music business. In a literal sense, the song has done so well, beating my goals/expectations all within the first two weeks, and has completely elevated my music to new heights.
What do you want people to take from this latest release?
I would really like people to see how you can take music into your own hands and find a way to be an artist despite what may be going on in the world. Where there is a will there is a way, I didn’t let COVID get in the way of my musical ambitions, and in fact, I think it fueled them and forced me to take action and stop making excuses.
What else do you have planned this year?
This year, I’ll be releasing at least five songs, one of which is "Deadweight." Two more of the songs will be coming out as singles. The next one will be in early June, so people should keep their eyes peeled for that. I’m also trying to get a music video together for one of the songs, but it’s quite difficult to navigate when everyone self-recording remotely and compiling the footage into something that’s cohesive and entertaining. After this EP, I also plan on doing future “volumes” of Coe Hill, still in the form of a collaborative project, and finding the next batch of singers to work with.