What’s impressive isn’t only that the three founding members of punk rock band Potential Union started playing together when they were young boys, but that they have been able to remain together into their late teens and early 20s.
It’s a tough slog for a small-town band trying to find its audience, but the goal has never been anything other than having fun, said vocalist/guitarist Austin Parise.
“It’s like something [drummer] Dalton [Pagani] said once, that we are a band that you either love or you hate, and there’s no middle ground,” said Parise. “When you do find people who like the same kind of music, then you connect with them, being that it’s such a small town. It’s hard to find that place where you fit sometimes, but we just like having fun and doing what we’re doing.”
Parise remembers the first time he went over to jam with vocalist/guitarist Cody Jackson in his basement. He was 12 and Jackson was only 10. Pagani came into the fold soon after and Potential Union was born.
Through the years the band has evolved from doing mainstream cover songs to writing songs of their own with a punk rock edge. Recording their own original music years later was not something the members counted on happening when they first started.
“We always hoped we’d still be a band years later, but we weren’t really thinking that far ahead,” says Parise. “We were just getting together to have fun and play songs in Cody’s basement.”
The band’s new five-song EP was recorded in a local warehouse space with Ben Wittrock, who also provided most of the bass guitar for the sessions. A long-time friend of the band who played an instrumental role in developing the local youth music scene, Wittrock’s final project before moving to Vancouver in January to attend Nimbus School of Recording and Media was recording Potential Union’s new EP.
“He really pushed us to do the best we could and it was cool knowing it was someone who wanted to make this record as badly as we did,” said Parise. “It was great working with a friend that we’ve known for so long. It didn’t feel like work; we were just making something cool together.”
The result was Bitter Grins and Simple Smiles, a collection of five of the band’s newest original songs. As a special bonus, the band’s first 5-song EP, Death of the Music Industry, recorded in 2010 and newly remixed by Wittrock, is included in what Parise calls a “double feature,” showing the progression of the band.
“As we got older we figured out the kind of music we really liked,” said Parise, “and as we started shying away from the more popular stuff we noticed some people distancing themselves from us, but at the same time more people came out of the woodwork that liked what we were doing.”
Finding inspiration in popular punk rock bands such as The Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! and Hot Water Music, Parise said Potential Union is interested in developing a loyal audience who enjoys melodic punk rock for its no-nonsense approach.
“We’re not doing this to get big, we’re just doing it because we like doing it, and if other people like it, that’s cool, too,” said Parise. “Those bands are just doing what they want and they never thought they would take off. We always try to put out the best stuff we can, but we’re not doing it to please anyone other than the people who are open to it.”
With Jackson and Dalton now living out of town for postsecondary studies, Parise finds himself the only member of Potential Union still living in Powell River full-time. That doesn’t mean, however, that the band doesn’t have a future together.
“We’re going to try our hardest to stay a band,” said Parise. “In some iteration, we’re going to keep going as best we can.”
Bitter Grins and Simple Smiles is available at Base Camp, Rockit Music and Roxy Records, and online at potentialunion.bandcamp.com. For more information go to facebook.com/potentialunion.
