With strong principles and even stronger riffs, Toronto band Nameless Friends have fashioned an indelible identity since the release of their debut LP Blasphemy in 2023. “There’s a lot of intersectionality in this band”, says lead vocalist and producer Number One. “We make music about the justice we’d like to see in the world, that’s also fun to listen to.” With their new LP, The Quiet Part, Loudly, the band continues to blend ferocious gravity with sparkly irreverence in order to speak truth to power. 

Formed in London, Ontario, Nameless Friends’ current lineup consists of frontwoman Number One, guitarist Number Three, bassist Number Five, and drummer Number Seven. They are joined by touring keyboardist Number Six in their live shows, which have drawn audiences across the country with their irresistible combination of power and charisma. Smeared in glitter and identified by their bleach-dyed t-shirts, the band’s electric chemistry invites the audience to rage with them against the forces of injustice and oppression. Onstage and offstage, Nameless Friends take aim at institutional abuse - they've been embroiled in a passionate public feud with Saskatchewn Premier Scott Moe over the rights of transgender children since 2023, and raised thousands of dollars for charity doing it. “It’s important to us to talk about not only the things that matter to us personally,” says Number One, “but also, when you’ve seen that institutions and systems have been unfair through your own experience, you’re sensitive to that unfairness for other people”. 

The Quiet Part, Loudly marks their first collaboration with Nyles Spencer, who has engineered records for Canadian luminaries like The Tragically Hip, Broken Social Scene, and Alvvays. Number One hails Spencer for his ability to “make things sound the way you knew they could sound”, bringing the band’s eclectic sensibility to its full potential. “I will say, lovingly, that this is a band of very neurotic people who are very good at their instruments”, says Number One. “I didn’t want to put out an album that was the most overthought, overwrought version of perfection. I threw all of us, myself included, in there a little bit by the seat of our pants”. The results speak for themselves, as Number One’s producing and Spencer’s engineering highlight the best of each member: Number Seven’s airtight drumming sets a breakneck pace for the boisterous “I’m Afraid of Failure”, Number Five’s ground-shaking bass holds together the disparate parts of epic ten-minute suite “The Ballad of John Van”, Number Three’s guitar blasts outward in a howl of catharsis on “Mary”, and Number One’s keening vocals swoop and dive across “Clara” like an avenging angel. 

Much of The Quiet Part, Loudly was inspired by the band’s experiences touring across Canada in support of Blasphemy. Opening track “I’m Afraid of Failure", which the band calls “Great Big Sea on speed”, is an ode to self-doubt fit for a Maritime kitchen party; “Westward Ho” is a "prairie gothic" about the RCMP’s continuing legacy of violence toward Indigenous peoples set to stomping heartland rock, and “Daigle’s Motel” is a plaintive folk ballad that features an Acadian-inspired double solo played by cellist Marianna Grigg. Number One calls the album “a love letter with constructive criticism” towards the band’s home country: “if you didn’t care about improving the relationship, you wouldn’t care to give the criticism”. 

The band does not limit its scope to just the nation; The Quiet Part, Loudly looks both outward and inward. The album’s first single, “There’s a rapist in the White House” explores how the recent erosions of human rights reverberate from the Oval Office to the kitchen table, with a sonic palette that draws on an array of protest music tradition from Neil Young to Kendrick Lamar. “Clara” is an ode to feminine rage inspired by scientist Clara Immerwahr, whose pioneering discoveries were attributed to her husband, only to be reclaimed after she committed suicide in protest to his work on the development of chemical weapons in World War I – a story that for Number One represents “the incredible courage to stand so firmly on your own principles” in the face of injustice. The band’s ethos is best represented on the euphoric closing track “Blasphemy”, an ode to queer joy and resilience with the epic sweep of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Welcome to the Black Parade”. Though the band addresses heavy topics like generational trauma (“Mary”) and the perils of the internet panopticon (“More”), the music is anything but dour – says Number One, “I refuse to make joyless, preachy music, because that’s not going to be effective at anything”. The Quiet Part, Loudly is about “choosing to position yourself in the middle of not just a culture war, but in some cases real, literal violence, and deciding to be who you are anyway”, and despite their moniker, Nameless Friends know exactly who they are and what they want to represent.