In British Columbia’s capital Victoria, the Canadian musician Dylan Rysstad had made a name for himself in the Garden City’s local punk scene. After years of playing in various punk outfits, Dylan went in a new direction for his next project, which took inspiration from 2000s indie rock acts like The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, and The Walkmen, and dubbed the result The Projectors. “I’ve been in bands since I was a teenager, playing kind of all different styles of music, but never a band quite like this,” he tells Post-Burnout of The Projectors. “I kind of stumbled across writing this kind of music, and I realised we were starting to sound like The Strokes, and I was just like, ‘Let’s just kind of lean into it a bit,’ and, yeah, kind of went with it, and wrote a bunch of songs within a couple of weeks.”

For Dylan, who had sung previously in other projects but was never solely a vocalist without an accompanying instrument, it became apparent that he would need to get confident in performing solely as a singer. He explains, “I recorded them [The Projector songs] myself, and I just realised that I just probably needed to sing over these songs and not play guitar – which is the first time I’ve ever done that – ‘cause the guitars are kind of off-time a little bit, and not straightforward strumming, things like that. So, it’s been really fun writing for this new project, this new sound.”

He continues, “I think I wrote the songs pre-pandemic, but [had just] put a band together. We had our first one or two rehearsals before the lockdown kind of thing, and then we started recording over the first part of the pandemic. Yeah, people were kind of learning their parts in the studio kind of thing.” The band first performed live in the summer of 2022. Recollecting on this debut gig and their subsequent reception, Dylan says, “It was good. It was really good. Our first show was kind of a big outdoor festival that happens here. And we’ve been lucky enough to play for some big crowds for a newish band, even though we’ve all been around for a long time, but, yeah, the reception’s been really, really good. It’s refreshing to be in a band that people like! [Laughs]”

In June, the band released their first self-titled record, which crystallised their love for what they dub the “Golden Age” of indie rock, and which garnered positive reviews from the outlets which covered it. For Dylan, the reception that the band has received has been very vindicating. “I’ve played as a member of bands that have done very well,” he says. “I’ve done European tours, UK tours, but this is kind of the first project of my own where I’m singing and, yeah, I’m a little surprised. [Laughs] But it feels really good because it feels really natural and it really feels like the music I’m meant to be making right now, and it’s cool making fans with strangers.”

However, despite their success, Dylan also acknowledges the realistic difficulty of making a living solely as an artist, especially after the pandemic. “It’s getting tougher and tougher,” he says. “Everybody kind of needs a side gig to make a living, which, yeah, there’s pros and cons to that, too. As soon as you make music your job, you kind of lose some of the fun out of it.”

Despite having only released their first album three months ago, Dylan is already geared up for their next one. “There’s enough songs for a new record,” he says, “but I’ve had to get new members here and there for different reasons, but I’m really liking the guys I’m playing with now.” He continues, “Basically, we have a new band – an entirely new band – from the first record. I think the production’s going to sound better.

“I think the songs are stronger. We have a couple of songs from around that period of time [of their initial songwriting] as well, so there’ll be some similarit[ies]. It will be probably be twelve songs; the last one was only eight.” On the difference in sound, he says, “For the next record, I want it to be a little more danceable, so maybe there’ll be some more Franz Ferdinand influence? I don’t know. We’ll see.”

The Projectors’ debut self-titled album is out now and available to stream or purchase here. You can keep up to date with the band on their website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Aaron Kavanagh

Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.