Napoleon (Canadian band)

Napoleon is a Canadian band from Toronto, ON. They played their first show in 2018, and consistently would play shows for the next couple years around their hometown and adjacent cities. Napoleon is both managed and produced by fellow Toronto band, Cancer Bats guitarist Scott Middleton. At the start of 2020, they released their first single to be produced by Scott, "Amends" which featured Luke Bentham from The Dirty Nil. While there were a couple releases prior to "Amends," this was their first professionally produced release and was a big turning point in their career. Immediately after the release, the band set out on a short Canadian tour, with plans for more extensive touring through their country as well as the United States which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band has since released a few more singles, including a cover of Queens of the Stone Age's "Little Sister," and have been teasing a large release for 2021.

Musical Style[edit]

Napoleon has been described as Rock, Hard Rock, Punk, and Post-Hardcore. Shane Told of Silverstein (band) once told Alternative Press (magazine) that "they’re quite heavy in an original fashion, and...they’re not really Hardcore punk or metalcore. Which means you should listen for yourself if you want to put them into a category or on a playlist."

Frontman and main songwriter Jonathan Elmaleh has said in an interview with Canadian Beats that he is largely influenced by other Canadian bands, citing Alexisonfire, Billy Talent, PUP (band), Silverstein (band), Counterparts (band), The Dirty Nil, etc. In that same interview he said that when the band was starting out they would often be compared to Queens of the Stone Age, which he also said were one of his favourite bands, but noted that when they recorded their cover of "Little Sister" the producer told him that he was surprised that he was such a big fan of the band, as he could not really hear that large of an influence in their sound. Jonathan said that was a good thing as it meant the band was evolving and becoming more unique.

Early Days[edit]

Napoleon was started by frontman Jonathan Elmaleh and former bassist Uri Kogut when they were in high school. They got the band name from the At the Drive-In song "Napoleon Solo." When they were in their final year of high school they met former guitarist Jack Lipton, and began rehearsing as a 3 piece in late 2017. Jonathan would play drums, however, they had always planned to find a drummer and have Jonathan move to Guitar and Vocals. In January 2018, Eitan Garazi joined the band on drums, prompting Jonathan to step up as front man. On February 25, 2018 they played their first show at The Rockpile in Etobicoke, ON. At this show, they met Nick Mokrzewski who was playing with his former band. Nick would go on to replace Jack in June of 2018 when Jack left to attend University away from Toronto, but not before recording and releasing their first song ever entitled "Down." When Nick joined they went and recorded their first EP which was called "First to Fall" and was released in August 2018. The recording was very rough and was done for a very small amount of money, it can still be heard on the bands Bandcamp page. The EP did however feature an early recording of "Left to Die" which would be re-recorded and re-released in 2020. After this, in early 2019, the band recorded their second EP. Once again, the recording was very cheap and rough around the edges, but is still available on their Bandcamp page. The EP was called "Apostasy" and it featured early recordings of "Formaldehyde" and "Deal With the Devil" which would both go on to be re recorded in 2020. At the end of 2019 Uri Kogut played his final show with Napoleon and left the band in early 2020. The band did one tour with Michael Mihalić filling in on bass for most of the shows. After the tour, Michael became an official member.

2020 Singles[edit]

2020 was a very interesting and difficult year for the music industry. Napoleon had extensive touring plans for the spring and summer, which were all cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless the band managed to make the best of the situation performing multiple livestream concerts, as well as a socially distant event in Toronto. Throughout the year they also released 5 singles. On January 24 (which was before the COVID-19 pandemic began) they released "Amends" which featured Luke Bentham from The Dirty Nil on guest vocals. This was the last recording to feature former bassist Uri Kogut, though Jonathan actually played bass on the song, however, his voice can be heard singing backup vocals in the chorus. That was also the first single they released with Scott Middleton, who would go on to produce them regularly and manage them. Jonathan has said that during that session they actually recorded two songs, but the second song is yet to be released.

In May 2020, they went back into the studio and recorded 4 singles. The first was a cover of Queens of the Stone Age's "Little Sister" which was released on August 8. Then 3 rerecordings of some of their older songs, which were "Left to Die," "Formaldehyde," and "Deal With the Devil" which were released on September 28, October 30 and November 27 respectively. "Left to Die" and "Formaldehyde" were both accompanied by music videos.

Members[edit]

Current[edit]

Jonathan Elmaleh - Guitar/Vocals (2018-present) Nick Mokrzewski - Guitar/Backing Vocals (2018-present) Michael Mihalić - Bass/Backing Vocals (2020-present) Eitan Garazi - Drums (2018-present)

Former[edit]

Uri Kogut - Bass/Backing Vocals (2018-2020) Jack Lipton - Guitar/Backing Vocals (2018)

In the media[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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