Poor Judgement is a pop punk group formed in 2016 in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Their message focuses on positivity and a society in which individuals aren’t so quick to judge that which they do not know or fully understand. This charismatic quartet have been friends for over a decade, and this is reflected in the charisma in chemistry that they show in their live performances. Poor Judgement released an EP in January 2018 called “The Fallout”. In the same year, they were the recipient a Certificate of Congratulations by the House of Commons.
“A Month Ago” is a recently released single by Poor Judgement. This song encompasses an accessible range of emotions, with clear themes of love, loss and breakup woes. The introduction is a long. More than the first half of the song consists of a tension-building sequence with ethereal and dream-like guitars, passionate and soaring vocals, and an overall melancholic feel to the music. When the rest of the instruments come in, it is with a wall of sound: aggressive and pounding drums, thick and guttural bass, rich and intense guitars and ever more intense vocals. Poor Judgement should in fact be commended with good judgement; their arrangement and delay of gratification is used to great effect and shows restraint and maturity in their songwriting. We highly recommend you check out “A Month Ago” and the rest of Poor Judgement’s music!
Listen to "A Month Ago" here and get to know more about Poor Judgement below!
Thanks for catching up with us! You guys say you’ve been friends for ages. How did this band first get together and take its first steps?
Yeah! We’ve all been playing music separately for as long as we can remember. I guess it just took us a while to finally bring our strengths together to create PJ. It is something we’ve always spoke about in previous years, but nothing ever came of it until mid 2016. James, Angelo and I began jamming in the garage- classic band thing. We had songs already written that we created the remainder of music for. Started playing one off shows, traveling out around our area on weekends, and essentially just tried to stay active without a bassist. Our idea all along was to have us four complete this band and start the movement we call Poor Judgement. One day in 2017, Cam literally picked up bass on his own, and within about 6 months he was a perfect fit for us to continue progressing together. We released our first EP, The Fallout, in January of 2018. -Ryley (Drums/Vocals)
Who would you say your collective musical influences are?
As a band, we are influenced by a wide and diverse collection of artists and bands. Being heavily influenced by punk-rock, pop-punk and rock band bands throughout elementary school and high school that can be heard in our first release, ‘The Fallout’. Since then we have become more involved in traditional, melodic and post-hardcore outfits having helped develop our current sound. Bands such as Alexisonfire, Underoath, letlive., Saosin, Silverstein, and Counterparts all have a heavy influence on our next release, as we are moving in a post-hardcore direction. Our sound is derived from the roots of many popular bands in the early 2000’s, bringing back some of the Warped Tour nostalgia.
-Cameron (Bass)
Would you mind briefly describing your songwriting process? How does the music end up coming together?
So for the song writing process it usually starts with a rhythm/lead guitar part that just comes to me out of no where. I put down what ever I’m doing and sing the melody of the part into my phone and save it in my voice memos so I don’t forget. Then when ever I get home, I record it on guitar. Then I figure out the basic drum, bass and lead parts and sing/beatbox them in my memos as well. After consulting with the rest of the band we come up with a solid structure. Once that’s established we record it. I listen to the song on repeat for days on end to come up with the melody, and then lastly the lyrics.
-Angelo (Vocals/Rhythm)
You have a single out called “A Month Ago”. You’ve got some really great contrasts with the first and second half of the song. How did this idea come about?
The stark contrast between the beginning and end of the song came about pretty naturally during the writing process. We all collectively felt like the song needed a big ending in order to emphasize the pain and anguish held by the lyrics in the bridge. The only break past this point in the song was used to accentuate “a month ago I felt the same”, leaving those words imbedded in the listeners ear and also allows for a great singalong part during live shows.
-James (Lead)
What can we hope to see from Poor Judgement in the future?
2018 was our best year by far. 2019 is going to be even better. We are recording a brand new record at the end of this month, and have hopes of putting out new material this Summer? Maybe a nice tour? We can’t say too much right now, but we have a lot in the works! Be sure to follow us on all platforms @poorjudgementca to stay updated on what’s next for us!
-Ryley (Drums/Vocals)
Connect with Poor Judgement on social media
Instagram: www.instagram.com/poorjudgementca
Facebook: www.facebook.com/poorjudgementca
Twitter: www.twitter.com/poorjudgementca
www.youtu.be/KIYL0ST7N_I