Hooky Canadian pop-punk combo
Bearings rose out of the Ottawa underground with a series of respected independent EPs, including 2015's Higher Ground and 2016's Home Is…, before signing a deal with Pure Noise Records to issue their full-length debut,
Blue in the Dark, in 2018.
The quartet of vocalist Doug Cousins, guitarist Ryan Culligan, bassist Collin Hanes, and drummer Connor Kington met at Algonquin College in Ottawa, where they were all taking the same music industry arts program. By 2014, they had begun playing together as
Bearings, bonding over a mutual love of bands like
blink-182 and
the Menzingers. At the beginning of 2015, they released their first EP, Higher Ground, followed a year later by the three-song Home Is… EP. Now an established touring band,
Bearings notched their first label deal, signing with Pure Noise to release their third EP, 2017's Nothing Here Is Permanent. Major tours with bands like
Four Year Strong and
Less Than Jake followed over the next year as the quartet continued to work toward a full-length release. Finally, in October 2018,
Bearings issued their debut long-player,
Blue in the Dark. ~ Timothy Monger