By | Band name | The Unfound |
| Members | Benjamin Morris Alberto D’Onofrio Matthew Grippo Jeremy Grippo |
| Location | Montreal, Canada |
| Similar Artists | Muse, The Killers |
| First release | Debut single “Sooner or Later” (August 30, 2019) |
| Links | Facebook | Spotify | Website |
| The Music Addict’s Verdict | Montreal’s The Unfound is an interesting mashup of classic and modern rock influences. |
How was the band formed?
Our lead guitarist, Alberto D’Onofrio, and drummer, Jeremy Grippo, each had an ad up on Craigslist looking to form a band. Jeremy wanted to start a band and play keyboards, while Alberto wanted to start a “space rock” band. They hit it off with their love of Rush, their favourite band. Jeremy’s brother and bassist Matthew joined as well. It wasn’t long until Jeremy changed his mind about playing keyboards, he decided to play drums, his first love. The trio went through
a few months of jamming, writing music, and auditioning singers. After many fruitless auditions, the trio were starting to lose hope. Until, Alberto went to a Pho lunch at his old job. Amongst the group was Benjamin Morris, sitting across Alberto. He overheard Ben speaking about how he was a singer in a band while in the UK. Alberto jumped, and interrupted their conversation, “Hey, we’re looking for a singer”. Alberto invited him for a jam and it was magic. The rest is history.
What’s your songwriting process like?
At each rehearsal, we tend to do a free-form jam to warm up, where we’ll play with whoever
starts a riff. Someone will start playing something, and usually we’ll like it enough to just play
along with it. From there it grows and grows, and sometimes it’ll turn into something we want to
develop further. We’ll take an idea that we think has potential and start really going deep into
the arrangement and structure of it. It’s a very organic process.
What are your influences?
We have very diverse influences. There is a common ground of influences with Muse, The
Killers, Rush and Foo Fighters, but each of us have other influences that range from Black
Sabbath, David Bowie, KISS and even Taylor Swift. Our eclectic range of influences can lead to
very modern and interesting concepts in our music.
How would you describe your music?
Powerful, driving, emotive, and sometimes dark, and dramatic.
What’s the one thing that makes you/your band stand out from the rest?
Every song sounds different and offers various sides of The Unfound. Our music, while having a
common ground of modern, edgy, and dark elements, have different ways of expressing it.
Describe your live show?
Chaos. Wherever we play, no matter how small or big the venue, we play with the mindset that
we are playing a sold out stadium. Our music reflects this, and we carry that energy in our
actions and attitude.
Best story that happened at a show you’ve played?
The best so far has to be our first encore. We did not expect it, so we had to pull out a cover of
Royal Blood’s “Out of the Black”, and a song that we were still in the process of writing!
What are your touring plans for the next few months?
We will be playing a release show on February 21, 2020 for our single “Monochrome”. After
that, we will be in studio working on our upcoming singles and preparing for a performance at
the Canadian Grand Prix festival on June 12, 2020.
He's also a regular contributor at the excellent news site Montreal Rampage
- I bought one of those music Advent Calendars so you wouldn’t have to. - December 5, 2021
- The Music Addict’s Band Name Challenge - October 11, 2021
- Book review: Rainbow in the Dark: The Autobiography – Ronnie James Dio - September 24, 2021