Stained Glass Army played their final show this month, but they’re far from over. The Elmira band is undergoing major changes, including band members, the band’s name, and a contract.
Their new band name is Excuses Excuses, the result of months of brainstorming, and the desire to recognize the recent restructuring of the band.
Kyle Wilton, vocals and guitar, and Trevor Bowman, bassist are the two remaining members. They signed a management contract with Dreambase Records in Toronto earlier this summer.
“It’s actually a funny story,” Wilton says of how they landed the contract. “That contest that we won last year, we made connections through that. I was actually running stage management at the Mod Club in Toronto for that showcase. The promoter, he liked us so much, he enjoys our presence and he was a good dude and he called us up, said he was going to be putting on a show in Toronto and asked me and our old guitarist Mitchell [McCloy] to be the spokesmen for the event.”
Wilton and McCloy agreed. While at the showcase they started chatting with one of the other groups’ managers. He mentioned he was starting up his own company and was interested in their band. Wilton says signing a management deal is a step in the right direction for them for a number of reasons.
“The music industry makes it kind of hard to get anywhere without having someone behind you, somebody like a professional behind you. A bigger record company, like Warner Music or something, won’t take even submissions of music from anybody, unless it’s through a manager or a lawyer,” Wilton said.
With Wilton and Bowman both heading off to Kingston for school in the fall, the manager will come in handy to help them find a new drummer, since Carter Leis is pursuing other things. They’ll also receive help with finding a new space to practice, setting up shows, keeping their books balanced, and finding more music opportunities.
“In January, Mitchell, our lead guitarist decided to leave the band because he was focusing on his schooling, which is the engineering part of music. That’s what he actually loves doing. That’s his passion. He played in bands more so to get used to the music industry and get to know how being in a band works. That gives him a really big leg up in what he’s going to be doing,” Wilton said.
They plan to stay a three-piece band, once they find a drummer. Wilton said it gives him more creative freedom.
As for how they came up with the name, Excuses Excuses, Wilton says they spent six months trying to find the perfect name to replace the one he came up with when he was 15.
“We actually came up with a list of over 200 names because we thought you’ve got to make sure you have the right name before you change it. You don’t want to change it to something you’re not going to like two months later,” Wilton said.
He says they wanted to work on making a more mature presence for the band, and with all the changes to the band, this was the right time.
They recorded their first EP under the new name in Toronto this spring. He hopes for the five-song EP to be released this winter. It’s hard to say when their first show as Excuses Excuses will be, since they’ve got to find a drummer, while also juggling post-secondary studies.
“There will be a kickoff show, our very first show as the band. It’s hard to estimate a time for that. But we’ll probably be playing in Waterloo Region anyway,” Wilton said.
Their final show as Stained Glass Army was August 6 in Elmira. Wilton says it was a great last show for the band.
“It was amazing,” Wilton said. “We played at the band stand at Gore Park. Tons of people came. Someone counted on our very last song, by the end of the set there were about 130 people – lots of turnout for Elmira. It felt really good. It was very fun to play in front of Elmira again. ”
