Toronto-based Next Week’s Washing captures the moody resolve of today’s youth in “To Carry On,” their dreamy new single. The track blends richly layered vocal harmonies with the band’s signature guitar ambiance and forthright lyrics, creating an experience that is both atmospheric and assertive, reflecting the best of indie band culture and looking boldly to the future. Summoning the confidence to face life’s challenges both thematically and through its driving, straight-to-the-soul sound, “To Carry On” flies high.

Written as part of their breakout EP, “To Carry On” showcases the band’s nuanced creativity and expansive musicianship. “The song has more vocal layering than any other song on the EP, and we spent a lot of time perfecting it,” they explain. “There’s a tempo change at the end that takes the song in a different direction, giving it a completely new vibe from what’s come before.”

Engineered by Dylan Frankland (Tallies) and mastered by Noah Mintz, the song features backing vocals by Julian Duffy and Rhys Newman, the band’s two guitarists, adding to its depth and distinctiveness on the EP.  

• What can you share with readers about your new project?

Our debut six song EP, which includes our latest single, “To Carry On,” is a blend of all the genres we love the most: shoegaze, britpop, alternative and post punk. When we play together as a band, a combination of the genres we love seems to emerge in a way that we hope is unique and interesting. We’ve been releasing singles from the EP on streaming services and we just signed with ForgeMaster Records out of Sheffield, England, who will be releasing physical copies later this year.  

• How does this release compare with your other projects you had in the past?

“To Carry On” is more focused on the vocals than our previous releases. We decided to make the instrumentation sparser so the vocals could contribute in a more meaningful way to the sound. We also added some harmonies in the studio, with our guitarists Julian and Rhys contributing vocals.  

• What about this single makes you most proud?

Our singer Miles is really proud of his singing and overall we feel the track is emotionally rich. We also relate to the message of this song, which is to find reasons for your issues and carry on. We felt it was a relevant sentiment to come from a young band. 

• Was there a specific goal you were trying to accomplish with this release?

Something we’ve aspired to with all our releases is to create songs that feel relevant to our peers. We are still young (ages range from 16 to 19), so we are in a good position to write about things that affect our generation and will connect with people who are at a similar stage of life to us. We realize that many bands want to appeal to youth culture, but we’re actually living it so we can write about our shared experiences. 

• What inspires you to create music? What motivates you to keep going?

We all love music so much. We love listening to it, playing live, writing together, the friendship and camaraderie that comes with being in a band. There’s nothing any of us enjoy more, so we’re going to keep doing it for as long as we can.

• If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why? If it’s an indie/DIY artist, please include a link so readers can check them out.

If we were to do a collab we’d choose something in a genre we don’t have experience with. We all love triphop even though it doesn’t have much of an influence on our sound. If we had an opportunity, we would jump at the chance to work on a Massive Attack, UNKLE or Portishead song. It would also be amazing to collaborate with a member of the Stone Roses. We’d love to hear Reni on the drums for our song “Bilford Brown”. 

• What was the last song you listened to? Favorite all-time bands/artists? 

Julian: Eternal Life – Jeff Buckley

Miles: Broken Head – Catherine Wheel

Rhys: Fingertips – The Brian Jonestown Massacre  

Our favourite bands include The Stone Roses, Slowdive, The Verve, Fontaines D.C., Oasis, Wunderhorse, The Strokes

• Where is the best place to find you and stay connected?

 Instagram: nextweekswashing

Streaming: Next Week’s Washing

• I really appreciate your time. Is there anything you’d like to share before we sign off?

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, we have some exciting information about live shows coming soon!