Riverside Drive is back with a brand new single titled “Worst Case Ontario.” To celebrate the new song and the announcement of their new EP titled “Quarter Life Crisis” (out 9/20) the band has given us an exclusive of their top 10 Canadian punk bands.

1. Silverstein 

Silverstein’s work ethic is something that we’ve always admired. Every year they’re hitting the road and they routinely put out incredible records. A lot of bands will take time off from touring or playing shows when they’re writing or recording, but for Silverstein to balance both and nail it every time is a serious testament to how hard they work. Something they don’t get enough credit for is their online presence — they’re fantastic at coming up with content ideas and keeping their fans engaged, and that’s the kind of thing we want to create with our community. 

2. Like Pacific 

Like Pacific is a band that we’ve loved for a long time. Their musical style and the way they write is really interesting and it’s directly influenced how we write our songs — there are a few moments on our new EP where our drummer Eric wrote his parts with Tay Ewart’s drumming in mind. We’ve been lucky enough to share a stage with them and they’re a lot of fun to be around. 

3. PUP 

We’re a band who cares about stage presence and crowd engagement, and when we think of high-energy, exciting shows, we think of PUP. They’re a band who’ve worked incredibly hard to get to where they are and they deserve a ton of respect. From slugging it out on Warped Tour in a van to overcoming health issues that threatened the band’s career, the amount of adversity they’ve overcome to continue to pursue their passion for music is amazing. 

4. Counterparts 

This one might come as a bit of a surprise to people who’ve heard our music because we don’t sound anything like Counterparts, but their songwriting is brilliant. Whether it’s hard- hitting lyrics or flashy guitar parts, there are a lot of things that Counterparts do with their music that we love and draw upon when we’re writing. If you listen closely to some of the guitars on the new EP, you’ll see exactly what we mean. 

5. Rarity 

Our first ever show was opening for Rarity in Windsor, Ontario. They’ve always been so kind to us and they’re another example of a band persevering to follow their dreams. It would’ve been really easy for them to throw in the towel at any point, but the fact that they’re still pushing forward and doing the work is amazing. They’re another band that has a direct impact on our writing — we have an upcoming song called “January” that leans heavily on the vibe that Rarity has in their song “Exhale.” We really can’t sing their praises enough. 

6. Three Days Grace 

Say what you want about Three Days Grace, but there’s not a single person from our scene who was born in the 90s that doesn’t know every word to “Riot” or “I Hate Everything About You” — especially if you grew up in Canada. The honesty in their lyrics reminds us that it’s okay to just write about how you’re feeling without trying to make it too deep or poetic, and it doesn’t hurt that they have some of the coolest guitar riffs out there.

7. Seaway 

Seaway is one of those bands that you see live and immediately go home to download all their music. They have such a good energy to their shows and they write so many banger songs, it’s kind of impossible to not dig what they do. That’s what we want to do with our music and our shows: create something that allows people to just have a good time. Their record Vacation is a staple for long drives when we’re on the road — that’s a perfect album start to finish. 

8. Billy Talent 

Billy Talent is another band whose stage presence steals the show no matter where they’re performing. We’ve seen them do headline shows, festival slots, and everything in between. They always crush it and their shows are tiiiiiight. Their songs were everywhere on Canadian rock radio when we were growing up, so in an indirect way, their music was kind of the soundtrack to our adolescences. 

9. Rush 

Rush’s creativity in songwriting is pretty much impossible to match, but it’s something that we really appreciate and admire as a band. While we’re never going to write songs in some crazy time signature, it’s really important to us that we write music that interests not only our listeners but us as well. If you ever hear some craziness happening on the drums in one of our songs, you can thank Rush for that. 

10. Bearings 

This one won’t be a surprise for the people that know us — we’ve worked with their former guitarist Ryan Fitzpatrick as our producer for every release since our first EP and he’s a brilliant writer. Bearings is another one of those Ontario bands whose career we’ve been able to watch as it grows, and it drives us to work harder so that we can get to some of the same places they’ve been