The Halifax group No, It’s Fine will play their first out of province show as part of Flourish 2019.
Matt Carter
Halifax indie-emo quartet No, It’s Fine were among the first acts announced for Flourish 2019, Fredericton’s annual celebration of independent art and music makers.
The band was formed in 2016 when singer/songwriter Cailen Pygott assembled a group of friends to help lay down a few demo recordings of new material he’d been working on. The musicians had enough fun they decided to keep playing together and working on songs, eventually moving things out of the basement and onto the stage.
“The band really started with my friend Katie Wayne,” said Pygott. “I wanted her to demo my songs but I couldn’t play drums so she hooked me up with Chris Wilson. We recorded in her basement and her roommate at the time, kt Lamond, liked our songs so I asked her to play guitar on our EP. Katie played bass for us on the EP and at our first show. When she moved we got Tori Cameron to fill in for a show and she liked us enough to stick around.”
On the group’s Bandcamp page, Pygott describes No It’s Fine as sounding like the kind of music you would expect a Nova Scotian who visited Philadelphia once and then never stopped talking about it to make, a not too subtle nod to the influence of Philadelphia rock band Modern Baseball. But there are also hints of The Weakerthans, Painted Thin and even the Rheostatics that come through in what No, It’s Fine have created, centred around Pygott’s highly personal and at times all too relatable approach to songwriting.
“The songwriting style is partially inspired by Modern Baseball’s approach of treating your band like your diary,” said Pygott. “I also play in the bands Owen Meany’s Batting Stance and The State of Alaska and when I realized I’d never be as literary as Dan (Walker) or as evocative as Alaska I decided to write as literally as possible.”
No, It’s Fine are currently working on recording the follow-up to their 2018 self-titled EP released last January. Since making their debut in 2016, the group have released three EPs including Really: A Demo mostly in Fmaj and the 2017 single, Knicks. In that time, the band have consistently adapted and evolved their sound, progressing at an admirable pace.
The group’s upcoming appearance at Flourish 2019 will mark their first time playing in New Brunswick and only their second time performing outside of Halifax. According to Pygott, the city, once known internationally as an epicenter for indie rock music, is slowly seeing a return to many of the sounds that were once synonymous with its music culture.
“I feel really confident in Halifax’s indie scene right now,” he said. “It’s definitely also a cyclical city and right now even if there isn’t a huge audience for it there’s such a strong lineup of indie/alt/sad loud bands that I think it’s just a matter of time. Between more established acts like Floodland and Hello Delaware, younger bands like Shelley and Good Dear Good and folks in the middle like us, June Body and Goldbloom it’s a really swell scene to be in.”
Flourish Festival takes place April 25-28, 2019 in Fredericton. Learn more at flourish-fest.com
