Nameless Friends think big. Big music. Big sound. Big ideas. Go big or go home. Which is why the ferocious rock band from London, Ontario, wrote their debut, original album “Blasphemy” (2023) about some of the biggest problems facing the modern world: right-wing bigotry, gendered violence, climate change, and economic inequality.

Fun times, right? But Nameless Friends is not a dour band. Far from it. This is also the band who put out a live album of Queen covers, recorded in front of a sold-out crowd at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern—because they’re the kind of band that can actually pull off a Queen cover set, with all the musical chops and sense of camp that requires. 

This balance of grandeur and frankness has the female-fronted, multicultural, queer-inclusive band striking powerful chords with their original tunes. They’re likely the only commercial rock band in the world to write a song about reproductive and menstrual rights (“7 Years of Blood”), and have amassed hundreds of thousands of views online for an epic “feud” with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe over the rights of transgender children.

“We’re trying to make music about the justice we want to see in the world, that’s also really bloody fun to listen to” says the lead singer, producer, and founding member known only to the outside world as Number One. “We have been described as modern glam, prog punk, metal-adjacent, hysterical pussy shit, and your new favourite band.”

Nameless Friends has performed regularly across Ontario and Quebec since 2018, including Indie Week 2019 in Toronto, ON; the 2019 #JunosWeekend in London, ON; and showcases for the City of Markham and Western University. They opened for the The Flatliners at the Horseshoe Tavern's sold-out Stranded Fest in 2019, which is available online in audio/video as "Nameless Friends, Live At Stranded Fest". They have most recently shared bills with Wolf Saga, Jason Blaine, and Stuck on Planet Earth, and were featured on the main stage at both Deep River Summerfest 2022 (3,000+ people) and London's UNESCO Music City NYE 2022 (15,000+ people). 

Nameless Friends' first EP, 2018's Mezzanine, received glowing reviews in Canada and Serbia, and single "The Flood" was featured on the City of Kingston's #YGKMusic Municipal playlist in 2022. Their self-produced debut album, Blasphemy, released in May 2023, was mixed by Andrew McLeod (Sunnsetter, Paper Bag Records) and mastered by Darcy Proper (Porcupine Tree, The Eagles). Blasphemy and its singles have amassed hundreds of thousands of views on Tiktok and Instagram, and garnered PR attention for the band’s politically active “knack for turning spite into rocket fuel” (Next Wave Magazine). The official music video for single “Sympathy for Lilith” was also an Official Selection at the 2023 Forest City Film Festival.

After successful tours of Western Canada in fall 2023 and Eastern Canada in spring 2024, Nameless Friends next heads to the UK and Ireland in summer 2024. They are delighted to share the stage on these tours, almost exclusively, with femme/queer-inclusive local bands.

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Press for Demons

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Press for Need

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Press for Mezzanine

Helly Cherry (Serbia)

“Za mikrofonom je atraktivna crnka u rekao bih, kasnim dvadesetim, koja baš zna da peva i ima glas negde između Krisi Hajnd iz Pretendersa i Edi Brikel. Da zna da peva pokazala je u vokalno najzahtevnijoj pesmi sa EP-ja, “First” koja kao da je izašla iz Sijetl kuhinje u vreme devedesetih, mada i u ostale četiri pesme ne zaostaje. Gitarski rad je uzbudljiv jer je raznolik i drugačiji iz pesme u pesmu. Čas ima alternativni prizvuk, čas je u hard rock fazonu, dok prog šmek a la Dredg sve vreme ledbi negde iznad. Ritam sekcija je tačna, neumoljivo precizna i pre svega zanimljiva jer nije samo u pratećoj funkciji već punopravno utiče na kompletnu zvučnu sliku. Produkcija je više nego odlična, a naročito bih pohvalio zvuk bubnjeva, posebno doboša koji je dominantan i snimljen baš na način koji mi se dopada, naročito u pesmi “Little Pieces”, ali i tokom celog mini albuma “Mezzanine” koji vam ovde predstavljam.

“Svakim narednim slušanjem sam nalazio paralele sa mnogim bendovima, ali sam ih brzo i odbacivao i upoređivao sa nekim trećim što je znak da bend i pored toga što je “sve već odsvirano” ima svoj stil i svoj lični pečat. “Classic Protagonist” je najčvršća od pet koliko ih se nalazi na ploči i u nekim trenucima me je podsetila na njihove zemljake, najbolji kanadski bend ikada, Rush…”