All Your Friends Festival isn’t just a festival; it’s a vibrant celebration of music, art, and community. With a diverse lineup, a welcoming atmosphere, and a strong commitment to sustainability, it’s no surprise that this event has become a favorite among music lovers and creatives. Whether you’re drawn by the music, the people, or the overall vibe, you’re sure to leave with new friends and unforgettable memories.
Billy Talent
Canadian punk quartet Billy Talent spent the latter part of the 1990s building a hard-won grassroots following before breaking out into mainstream success in 2003 when their Juno Award-winning debut Billy Talent went quadruple-platinum, sending them on an upward trajectory for much of the decade. As they began to incorporate new elements into their music, their fans followed, helping to lift each of their subsequent studio albums — including the multi-platinum Billy Talent II and III – to the top of the Canadian Albums chart. By the time of 2016’s Afraid of Heights, Billy Talent had become a highly decorated rock act with an international fan base and years of hard touring to their credit. After a six-year gap, they returned with their sixth set, 2022’s Crisis of Faith, which landed 3 consecutive #1 songs at Canadian Rock Radio, leading to two Juno Nominations.
All American Rejects
Since the start of their career, alt-rock/power pop titans The All-American Rejects have sold over 10 million albums worldwide and helped define a post-emo sound that was the soundtrack of a decade. With smash hits “Gives You Hell”, ”Dirty Little Secret”, “Move Along”, “Swing, Swing” and “It Ends Tonight”, their songs have become an indelible slice of the era. Frontman Tyson Ritter has also added acting to his creative arsenal most recently with credits including Love And Mercy, HBO’s Lewis & Clark, NBC’s Parenthood and Betas.
Lights
Lights is many things all at once: Singer. Songwriter. Producer. Multi-instrumentalist. Comic book author. DJ. Artist. She’s also unabashedly honest and unapologetically confident. Weaving in and out of alternative, indie, electronic, and dance, she makes manic pop irreverent of boundaries, yet reverent of truth. She speaks her heart musically and her mind lyrically. It’s why her presence over music and culture continues to grow with streams in the hundreds of millions and widespread critical acclaim. Over the course of career thus far, the Canada-born disruptor has garnered four JUNO Awards, including 2020’s “Dance Recording of the Year” for the platinum smash “Love Me” with Felix Cartal and “Pop Album of the Year” for her previous two albums, Skin&Earth and Little Machines. She has sold out tours on multiple continents and powered collaborations with Travis Barker, deadmau5, Kaskade, Steve Aoki, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, and more. Now, she captivates like never before, kickstarting a new era with PƎP.
LØLØ
LØLØ is a Toronto-based Canadian singer-songwriter who has recently toured with acts like New Found Glory, Sueco, Mod Sun, and Leah Kate. After gaining immense popularity on her TikTok account, LØLØ signed a publishing deal with APG and in the same month she released her single “lonely & pathetic”. She has received praise for her unique musical style and has garnered critical praise including Billboard Magazine, who noted she “evokes pop-punk icons like Avril Lavigne and Paramore.”
Games We Play
Practically predestined to play pop punk, Games We Play a.k.a. Emmyn Calleiro sings the kinds of hooks you text your ex (and not because you still care or anything!) and rotates between instruments with quiet confidence. The Miami-born and Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer turns up with an upbeat and undeniable sound— like a one-man Warped Tour, but with a propensity for 21st century virality. He’s not afraid to be honest about his ups and downs, representing the feelings of every kid (and adult) who doesn’t have it all figured out yet. After falling in love with pop punk by way of Blink-182, Emmyn learned bass and drums in church as he simultaneously perfected his guitar and vocal skills. Games We Play made waves with the Senior Year EP during 2018. Getting married and moving in with his wife Dani, she pushed him to go all out. In 2021, he unleashed “Deadbeat” and organically attracted an audience on TikTok with a series of highly candid and utterly hilarious posts. A preview for the hyper-charged pop punk banger “I Hope You’re Happy” exploded, amassing millions of views. Allow him to introduce himself on his major label debut, Get A Job EP [Fueled By Ramen/DCD2 Records}.
GOB
You wouldn’t be too hard pressed to come up with a lengthy list of bands to have popped up over the last two decades that borrow from seminal Canadian pop-punk outfit Gob. Coming up with a list of bands that Gob borrows from, on the other hand, is a much tougher task – especially after getting a taste of their latest full-length release, Apt 13.
Over the course of their career, which dates back to 1993 and includes a catalog of seven LPs, the members of Gob – vocalist/guitarist Tom Thacker, vocalist guitarist Theo Goutzinakis, drummer Gabe Mantle, and bassist Steven Fairweather – have established themselves as Canadian pop punk pioneers. They’ve amassed JUNO nominations, made massively popular music videos for singles like “I Hear You Calling” and “Give Up The Grudge,” and kept legions of loyal fans packed into pits in front of the stage at countless venues – from dive bars to major festival stages the world over.
Ripe with Gob’s now-signature energetic, guitar-driven take on punk rock, Apt 13 finds the band picking up right where they left off with 2007’s Muertos Vivos; however, the new offering leans less towards the straight-up pop influence of earlier albums and instead puts focus on a fuller, more layered rock sound that includes sonic elements of decades past. The result is a product with a depth that begs for repeat spins while keeping it as catchy and anthemic as anything they’ve put out before.
The album is Gob’s first full release in seven years, and while it’s sure to satiate fans who’ve been salivating for something new, Thacker reveals that work actually began on the record back in 2010. “It’s kind of been cursed from the start,” he says with a laugh – a fact that also informed the album’s ominous title. “There were a lot of stops and starts along the way, and I’m not superstitious or anything, but we often had to question, like, ‘What the fuck is holding everything back?’”
The potential answers to the question were many, but ultimately, it was the band not wanting to compromise on a single component of the collection. That led to the decision for Gob to self-produce the record as well. “We’d made a lot of records and learned a lot over the years,” Thacker explains. “We know exactly how we want our songs to come off, and it keeps the Gobness of it all really unadulterated and pure.”
Indeed, the Gobness is strong with this one. Tracks like “Can’t Get Over You” and “Radio Hell” sound big and upbeat, loaded with thick, full guitars anchored by throwback punk rhythms, driving, pulsating piano licks, and backing vocals that borrow as much from The Beach Boys as they do influential ‘70s punk acts. At their very heart are the hooky choruses with huge vocal harmonies that will have longtime listeners feeling right at home. Conversely, tracks like “Tonight” bring even more vintage influence to the table, with parts that trace back to early R&B while keeping the band’s overall sonic attitude intact.
Rest assured, this is still Gob – guitar-driven, melodic, and full of pure piss and vinegar but with some fresh new elements tossed into the mix. “We made a semi-conscious decision to write more upbeat songs than the last record,” Thacker notes. “We’re all pretty stoked on life in general, and this one is more in tune with that attitude.”
And on that note, with Apt 13 finally available for the masses and a plan to play as many Canadian and international shows as they possibly can in support of it, the guys in Gob have plenty to be stoked about. What’s more, after seven years of patiently waiting, so do the longtime fans of the pride of Canadian punk rock – often imitated, never duplicated.
Silverstein
Few bands on their 22nd lap around the scene could claim to be in “just getting started” mode as much as punk stalwarts Silverstein. The release of their tenth studio album, Misery Made Me, finds the group spring boarding off the heights they’ve reached over the past handful of years; their latest album (2020’s A Beautiful Place To Drown) adding 80 Million streams to a mind-numbing career total of 500 Million; it collecting a nomination for Rock Album Of The Year at the esteemed Juno Awards; and its most recent headliner selling out nearly every date in elite rooms. In bringing Misery Made Me to life Silverstein have continued to build on their already-wide reaching impact. Immersing themselvesin new technologies like TikTok, Discord, NFTs, the metaverse and Twitch (even holding public writing sessions with fans over the latter) during its formation, the band have confirmed their unique ability to adapt and connect in all cycles of their career. Interestingly, amid all the positivity and connectivity injected into its creation there comes a dark set of themes underpinning the album, as its title might suggest. Inspired by the past two years, Misery Made Me is a depiction of Silverstein – and world at large’s – collective turmoil, frustration, and anxiety. “I wanted to explore the meaning of ‘Misery’ as a main theme throughout the album,” says vocalist Shane Told. “Despite the mountains climbed and boulders pushed during recent years, we were confronted by the weight and misery of staying relatively in the same place for a long period of time. Finding peace in the reality of this misery became important. The record is about the acceptance of a new reality and adapting to it.” Ultimately, Misery Made Me finds the band trying to navigate the ever-worsening challenges of our modern world – angst, doomscrolling, and disassociation. It’s a record that is a product of the moment in time in which it was created yet doesn’t feel like it will date itself anytime soon, as many of its topics of loneliness, anxiety and isolation are eternal human struggles. unfdcentral.com Exemplified by the anthemic opener ‘Our Song’, Misery Made Me is part acceptance of the band’s personal miseries, and part declaration that they will not be buried by them. At the back end of the record lies ‘Live Like This’ (ft. nothing,nowhere.) and arguably its most bleak and haunting lyric: “I don’t want to die, but I can’t live like this.” Singles ‘It’s Over’ and ‘Ultraviolet’ dive deeper into this feeling of desperation, describing the utter helplessness of losing control to anxiety. “’It’s Over’ is about the spiral that leads to giving up,” shares guitarist Paul Marc Rousseau. “Those anxiety packed hours when you can’t feel anything but the low, steady crescendo of panic that eventually gets so intense your fingertips lose sensation. It’s hopeless to feel but pointless to endure. I didn’t learn anything from feeling that way. I just wanted it to stop.” “’Ultraviolet’ is about feeling powerless and under the control of the chemicals in your brain,” he adds. “Ultraviolet light itself being invisible felt like the right way to describe this notion. To get lost in this unseeable thing. UV also causes physical damage to our skin, so it serves as a sort of ‘proof’ that something invisible like anxiety can hurt us.”
Filled with moments of relentless energy throwing back to their hardcore roots (‘Die Alone’ ft. Andrew Neufeld), to visionary moments of modern heavy (‘The Altar / Mary’), Misery Made Me fastens Silverstein’s status as torchbearers of the scene on all fronts. It’s both intriguing and inspiring that a band – who could have merely rested on the impressive legacy they’ve already cemented – would continue to dig deep and find the inspiration to reach people in meaningful new ways. Misery Made Me is a campaign hinged on Silverstein’s reflection and gratitude for their roots, their honouring of their earliest fans, and their staunch desire to explore forward-thinking and adventurous ways to connect with new ones.
We The Kings
We The Kings’ storied career has been marked by a deep reciprocity between the band and their fans. The band exploded out of Bradenton, Florida in 2007 with the release of their self-titled debut, producing singles like “Check Yes Juliet,” which became one of the most iconic songs of the late ‘00s pop-punk movement. Millions instantly fell in love with their buoyant spirit and emotionally poignant songwriting as they released singles like “Heaven Can Wait,” “We’ll Be A Dream (feat. Demi Lovato),” “Say You Like Me” and “Sad Song.” Vocalist/Guitarist Travis Clark, along with Hunter Thomsen (guitar), Danny Duncan (drums), Charles Trippy (bass) and Coley O’Toole (keyboard, guitar) have quickly learned to adapt in 2020 to now collaborate and make music from home while connecting with their fans in new ways.
On February 5, 2021 the band released ‘SAGA,’ their latest EP and follow-up to the successful 2018 full-length, ‘Six’. With the ongoing distance between members and touring, the band continued to keep their fans and songwriting at the forefront, penning fresh singles for the EP that include “Turn It Up,” “These Nights,” “No 1 Like U,” and “Falling (So In Love).” They’ve pieced together treasured memories of the band’s years in the studio, on the road, and with their friendships on ‘SAGA.’ Each song on SAGA revisits a unique time in We The Kings history, and takes the listener to a time and place that was important to the band.
Mayday Parade
After fulfilling their most recent record deal with the release of their seventh studio album What It Means To Fall Apart, Mayday Parade decided to take things into their own hands so they could operate to release music on their own terms and timeline. It’s a space the band hasn’t fully existed in since their self-released debut EP, which sold 50,000 copies without the support of a label. When asked about their new single, drummer Jake Bundrick said, “Got Me All Wrong is about falling hard for someone but the other person isn’t on the same page. I met my wife on Warped Tour and the song is roughly about that. It didn’t happen immediately like I wanted but it eventually did and that’s what the song is about.”
The pivot brings some much needed flexibility in support of their personal lives. “It’s extremely exciting and terrifying all at the same time” shares Jake Bundrick. “There’s obviously a lot more freedom and control,” adds Alex Garcia. That freedom, as Jeremy Lenzo explains it, will allow them to “release new music more consistently as opposed to dropping an album every couple of years.” As such he continues, “we’re going into this with the mindset that each song really needs to stand on its own.”
With that in mind, the band have taken their time when it comes to deciding what to record and release. “We always stew on the songs we’re working on to make sure they’re ready to be recorded,” explains Lenzo, “so sometimes you end up sitting on an idea for a while until it comes to fruition. “Sonically,” shares Bundrick. “I wanted energy from this new batch that still felt angsty but had our emotional flair to them. It’s been a while since we’ve put out some uptempo songs and that was important to me.”
The forthcoming releases and touring marks the latest chapter in the long history for the beloved Tallahassee band, who are approaching nearly two decades of playing and releasing music together. Such longevity is a feat in and of itself, and one the band doesn’t take for granted. “We started this band when we were all fresh out of high school,” shares Lenzo. “I think a large part of why we are all still here is that we have been friends most of our lives, even before the band.” Garcia agrees, noting that “this is everyone’s full time job and passion. We all love playing music, so the fire is still alive. We have created something important to us and it’s imperative that we maintain it by giving it the requisite attention.”
Mayday Parade can’t wait to share that enthusiasm with their fans this summer as they release new music and hit the road. “We all feel really good about these new songs and are excited to see the fan’s reaction to them” shares Garcia. “It’s always fun to be out on tour in the summer, there’s always such a great energy and I’m excited that Mayday will be part of people’s experience this season.”
Honest Heart Collective
The small Canadian city of Thunder Bay exists somewhere in the time and place between never and nowhere. A place few know, home to a modern rock band with a heavy history and a sheer will like no other. The Honest Heart Collective. Their three albums present as an unintended trilogy; Liar’s Club, the naïve home studio DIY, Grief Rights, a blue collar coming-of-age tale, and More Harm, an accumulation of failures and victories picked up along the way. Their latest single “Suffocate” marks both a sense of closure from young adulthood and the start of a matured version of The Honest Heart Collective. Standing at the crossroads of promise and pain, The Honest Heart Collective offer themselves up to you. Take what you will.
Gym Class Heroes
Hailing from Geneva, NY and formed in 1997, Gym Class Heroes have been forging their own way and blending genres for well over 2 decades. Fronted by the award winning arAst Travie McCoy, who has never been one to shy away from showcasing his true self to the world with no apologies. Now back stronger than ever, Gym Class Heroes are on a new mission and you won’t want to miss what they have in store.
