Botfly, Photo by Taylor Furey

Amid a 2017 winter tour, Botfly stopped in on Charlottetown for their annual punk holiday food bank fundraiser.  Due to cancellations and double-bookings, the venue shuffled multiple times, but the show was saved when it found a gracious home in the basement of punk local Mike Rankin. Lucky for us who missed it, the show was captured by Brett Sanderson. 

The drop of the new basement video for “Melancholy in Real Time” falls on the brink of Botfly’s spring tour. Picking up where they left off during their string of winter dates, the hardworking Halifax noise rock trio will once again trek Eastern Canada with 11 shows stretching to Toronto and back.

Botfly formed in 2013 with a revolving lineup around the songwriting of guitarist/vocalist Keegan Goodspeed. It wasn’t until 2014 that the arrangement found drummer Dewayne Shanks and bassist Sean McInnis join Goodspeed in comprising the unit that we now know as the cudgelling trio.

“At this point the lineup won’t change, the cohesiveness between the three of us is so in sync, that it wouldn’t be the same band” explains Goodspeed. “The elements are almost too perfect.”

Since 2013, Botfly have released a slew of singles and EP’s, and most recently their eponymous debut full length in September 2017. In the years since their initial single “Lunacy“, Botfly’s songwriting has become a collective component in their abounding pace of activity.

“Everything is written together, with everyone’s drive and work ethic so on point that it keeps furthering the band in what it is doing, what it can do, and what it will do.”

While most punk, hardcore and “heavier” bands in the Atlantic provinces tend to operate on more of a part time or side project basis, Botfly have barrelled forward with a diligent tour schedule on top of their prolific output.

Is Botfly’s hardworking momentum a result of a mutual mindset in the band’s operations?

“There was never a conscious decision, we didn’t sit down and have a chat. We kind of just one day realized we had a whole year booked up, and kept going” says Goodspeed. “We love what we do, and we can’t imagine not doing it. It started to look like it was a possible, after that all of our thoughts and efforts kind of went into the band. We all love touring, traveling and meeting new people, so it kind of just seems natural.”

Botfly, Photo by Taylor Furey

While the trio doesn’t seem to think the abundant touring and live shows have changed their songwriting, Goodspeed says it has forced them to establish themselves and “operate in a more professional/efficient manner.”

“A lot of what we originally write is worked out so close to studio time, that we’re not sure if we’ll ever even play it live” explains Goodspeed. “In terms of the live show its made us become in sync, which really lends itself to the dissension into organized chaos that a lot of our sets seem to take.”

After the early spring tour wraps up tightly, there are already plans in place for Botfly to hit every province by the end of 2018, a goal Goodspeed says is “looking very likely at this point”.

With a sophomore album being readied for the studio this summer, and a split 7″ with Hive in the works, Botfly’s ambitions will continue to reach outside of “business as usual” for a heavy headed Maritimes band. Conventional releases aside, Botfly are getting ready to launch a series of side projects such as a tour podcast recorded from the road under their “Gluttony Gang” banner, as well as a mysterious “band that operates separately from Botfly”, which they’re not quite ready to announce yet.

No matter what they decide to do, one thing is for sure: if things keep moving at their present pace, Botfly might be the busiest abrasive band to leave a mark on this region in 2018.

See Botfly’s spring tour schedule via the poster below:

Poster design by Glen May

Botfly on Bandcamp
Botfly on Facebook