Kincaide

Secondly, Kincaide. I was a little surprised to see Kincaide on the bill as Desensitized is thrash metal, and Buried Inside is metallic hardcore metal. Kincaide play a sort of screamo-alternative rock with both punk and metal influences. This was an odd show for them to be part of, however….Kincaide, for the style of music they play, are amazing! The singer’s voice is flawless. The band was extremely tight, and they delivered a very energetic set. All the emo-groupies were rushing the stage. It was quite amusing. Kincaide have a very popular, trendy, appealing sound. Personally, it’s not my thing, but these guys really should be signed to a major label. They are certainly good enough. Under the right management, these guys could be huge. Mark my words, expect to see good things for these guys in the future.
- www.punkcanada.net

Maybe there is a Victoria sound after all, one that has nothing to do with Casio keyboards or eschewing substance for style. Maybe it's an unclassifiable sound led by Lythic Blue and, now, Kincaide.
Fueled by honesty and not worrying about what anyone may think, Kincaide putter around from post-hardcore grooves to metallic hardcore to progressive rock and back again. And it's working; the band recently won a competition to play at the Warped tour festival when it stops in Vancouver in July.
Kincaide's strange sound has been brought to disc excellently with their new EP, Myriad.
"We named it Myriad because we all had so much to offer," explains drummer Matt Cecil. "It was more a challenge to try to narrow down our ideas; there was so much coming out of everybody. There was an infinite number of things going on in the writing, and this is what came out. There's a lot that didn't go on there too," he laughs.
So how does the band describe their fairly indescribable sound to people? "It depends on who we're talking to; if we're talking to our grandmothers, we'd call it close to metal," says Cecil. "But if we're talking to someone who's knowledgeable about music, it's heavy rock with screaming. We get labeled screamo a lot by people, it's this trendy thing, but we don't fit into that."
And what about the strange, but likeable, band name? "We were driving to Seattle, and I saw a road sign with the word Kincaide on it. We came back, and I saw the same road sign and it stuck in my head. I like the way it's more of a last name, so we can have an identity as four individuals when we come together to play. We wanted to be able to grow into our name, and not have the name define us."
Like most local bands, Kincaide were recently the Zone's band of the month; unlike most, when I asked Cecil about it, he was refreshingly candid. "It was kind of a mixed feeling," he confesses. "We have a lot of problems with radio, just in principle with what's going on with radio now. But you can't fault the Zone, they're giving local bands a big push, and it's not like we're paying to be on there. And, all of a sudden it wasn't just our friends at the shows," laughs Cecil. - Monday Magazine - Victoria Published June 9, 2004

Kincaide
Myriad

Infinity Studios, June 2004
Offensive Words: one
Genre: screamo/metal with rock influences
If you like the heaviness of Bleeding Through and the melody of Dead Poetic then this band is for you

Behind the facade of the everday quietness and relaxed attitude of life in Victoria and beneath the presence of American tourists one would seem to think that Victoria is your average every day old age pension town where lawn bowling passes for "fun" and "entertaining" and old age homes are the norm. This commonly held view point is however very wrong. Every weekend the air is rent in two by underground hardcore, heavy metal, screamo, and punk bands who add a "festive" mood to the usual peaceful attitude of Victoria and leaves the listener with ringing, often bloody ears and more often than not a few bruises that are worn with pride and leaves those unacustomed to this atmosphere in a state of shock. A band that has risen to the top calls itself Kincaide and with the release of their new EP, "Myriad", and their recent foray down into Washington and Oregon state they have puffed out their chests and indicated that they are here to stay.
Many bands have a singer that can either scream or sing, not both. Kincaide's lead singer however, Steve, breaks the mold and can both scream and sing and does so both on the CD and, more importantly, in the live show with flawless precision. The second song on the CD, "Falling from Ivory Trees" showcases Steve's singing and screaming ability wonderfully with screams inserted over Steve's singing, crushing guitars, and pounding drums. Often, a band overuses what they do well (such as a band members screaming abilities), but not here the screams are wonderfully interspersed and leaves the listener craving for more in a way that could be described as unfair.
On track 4, " To the Newborn Not-Self" Kincaide shows their musical abilities with this ballady type song. The soft notes are a change from the usual hard-hitting approach that Kincaide brings and makes for an amazing if not somewhat surprising song. At times, you can hear Kincaide almost wanting to just launch their usual aggresiveness on the listeners ears, like an animal wanting to escape from his cage, and just barely suppress this. With a minute to go however Kincaide lets loose unable to restrain their emotions any longer.
The next song, "We Can't Run", is my favourite song. The emotion portrayed in the song is positively gripping. The chorus deals directly with depression and then turning to drinking to try and cope:
"we can't run
the farthest we can go is to the bedroom
to let these feelings spawn
we can't run
the farthest we can go is to the bottle
to let these feelings drown"
This is my favourite song because the song is very personal for me having struggled with depression and then turning to "the bottle" as a result. The song, very wisely, does not wallow in pessimism and urges those listening not to try and run away from their problems, but instead to face them.
The last song is a risky, but succesful enterprise which clocks in at 8 mins. and 42 secs. The despair and heartache of a broken relationship is evident in the first line, "these days don't come cheap anymore". Despite some rather sexual references the song is a rollercoaster going from raging mayhem to quiet despair and back again in seconds once again showing off Kincaide's abilities.
If this CD does not attract attention in the hardcore scene then nothing will. The CD is wonderfully recorded and, lead by Steve, the band is a well tuned machine with great vocals, awesome, but not to loud bass lines (evident in the short bass solo in "Trigger Time"), the electric guitarist is definitely not one dimensional, and the drums, which admittedly could be louder, leaves ones head sore from bobbing up and down. I would recommend this CD for everyone who can stand loud music and who won't combust from a bit of screaming. The CD could not be for some however due to the sexual references in tracks 4 and 6 and references to suicide on track 3. - Internet website www.wisemenpromotions.com

It's rare to come across a good canadian band, but one band I do feel is a good band from Canada would have to be Kincaide. They have a dark, sometimes epic, hardcore emo sound reminding me of bands like Thursday and sometimes AFI.

The first track, "The Indecision Of A Child, Ladies & Gentlemen" is a great song to start out the album with. It has a great intro with aggressive/melodic guitar hooks, punchy bass lines and clean vocals with some screaming added in. The next song "Falling From Ivory Trees" is another great song but this one is a bit slower than the first track and the vocals sound a lot like Geoff from Thursday but they're more low rather than high pitched. Track three is probably my favorite track on the album, "Trigger Time". It has a poppy bass line in the intro, catchy chorus and the break down has a AFI feel to it. "To The Newborn Not-Self" is a very mellow track that has catchy lyrics and clean guitar hooks. Next is "We Can't Run" which has guitar hooks that switch from aggressive to clean with thick bass lines and has a very upbeat feel to it. The album ends with "Failing To Recognize" which starts out quite mellow and works it's why up to being more aggressive.

I really like this album and think that they're one of the best bands to come from Canada. I just hope that most people don't think that they will be bad because they are canadian. - www.punkisnotdead.net

Let me tune the radio off of The Reason by Hoobastank and put on a CD. I didn't like that song the first time I heard it, and a million times hasn't changed my mind. (I'm not comparing Kincaide to Hoobastank, I'm just really damn sick of that song.)

Anyways, on with the Kincaide review...

Making their music heard over the ocean from Vancouver Island, this is a band who's clean parts easily match up with the distorted, and might even be a little bit better. The very first song of the album, The Indecision Of A Child, Ladies & Gentleman, opens undistorted and returns to that sound periodically during the song between heavier parts. The same goes for most of the others.

There's screaming and distortion on every single track but a good part of the CD is pretty mellow. There's lots of switching from clean to equally catchy distorted riffs throughout all the songs, and the singing and screams take turns too. Trigger Time is the only track on here without much clean guitar at all, but there's a good mixture of speed and rhythm changes, and the kind of combination of shrieks and singing that you can definitely expect to hear from Kincaide. The vocals are pretty smooth and easy to understand. I can even make out most of the screams, which is good because a lot of other bands can't seem to scream actual words.

Most of the songs have a pretty good length. The chorus in the almost ten minute long Failing To Recognize is the one that stuck in my head the most. Maybe it's the way it's sung or maybe it's what I think are the words "She's like a knife broken in my neck and digging in." Whatever the reason, it stands out. There aren't many other parts on the album that let the songs stand out overly much, at least not against each other. They're all on pretty much the same level. I'm not saying any of the songs are bad; they're all actually pretty good. And I'm not saying they all sound the same either. There's just not really anything that pushes any far beyond the rest.

If you like one song, chances are you will like them all. The CD is slightly more than half an hour long, but only 6 songs. Maybe with a few more songs on it they could have really shown what they've got, 'cause it definitely sounds like they have a lot to offer. If you're ever in Victoria, or if they happen to play near you, I'd say Kincaide is worth checking out. - punkcanada.net