Reject: Prairie Hardcore, Loud and Proud

By Scott Roos

Photos by Tracy Creighton (Copperblue Photography and Design)

There are a few different kinds of nights you can have at a live music show on the Prairies. Sometimes you’re sitting politely in a theatre seat watching a jazz quartet play something tasteful. Sometimes you’re at the bar with a country band cranking out a set of songs that everyone somehow already knows. And every once in a while, if you wander into the right room at the right time, you’ll find yourself in the middle of something that looks a little more like organized chaos.

That’s usually where Reject comes in.

A Reject show doesn’t creep up on you. It announces itself with a guitar riff that feels like it just kicked the door open. The drums crash in right behind it, and before you’ve had time to take a proper sip of whatever you’re holding, there’s a circle forming in the middle of the floor and people are moving around like they’ve suddenly remembered they’ve got some energy to burn.

If you look toward the stage, you’ll probably notice guitarist Al Roy pretty quickly. Shirtless more often than not, tattoos down both arms, yelling along with the riffs like he’s trying to wring every last ounce of sound out of the guitar.

It’s loud.

It’s sweaty.

And if you ask the band, that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.

Reject officially showed up on the Saskatoon scene in August of 2023, but in the short time since then they’ve managed to carve out a reputation as one of the most energetic new acts in the Prairie hardcore community. Their live shows are known for bone-crushing breakdowns, relentless stage presence, and the sort of crowd reaction that suggests people have been waiting all week for exactly this kind of release.

The music hits hard, but the story behind it turns out to be a little more thoughtful than you might expect from a band that regularly inspires mosh pits.

The Guy With the Guitar

If you’ve come across photos of Reject online, chances are you’ve already noticed Roy.

“So, okay,” I tell him during our conversation. “Now I recognize you. You're the badass in a lot of the pictures, you know, screaming out the guitar stuff.”

Roy laughs right away.

“Yeah, yeah, that's me,” he says. “Normally I don't have like a top-on normally either.”

The tattoos certainly help with the visual.

“Yeah, yeah, absolutely.”

Heavy music has always had its own visual language—ink, piercings, and the sort of stage presence that suggests things might get a little rowdy before the night is over. But Roy figures the look itself isn’t quite the shock it once was.

“Sometimes I even feel like now it's almost a rarity to find someone who isn't all tattooed up,” I say.

“Yeah, well, that's true,” Roy agrees. “Especially in the world of metal.”

Of course, a band can have all the attitude in the world, but if the music doesn’t land, people tend to notice.

Fortunately for Reject, the music lands just fine.

So What Does Reject Actually Sound Like?

Trying to neatly categorize a hardcore band can be a little like trying to explain Saskatchewan weather in March. You can make a good attempt, but chances are you’ll end up adding a few qualifiers before you’re done.

Roy usually describes Reject as beatdown hardcore, though even he admits that label only tells part of the story.

“I can say like beatdown hardcore,” he explains. “We're like an offshoot of hardcore. I would say we have some elements that are like that.”

Then he laughs at the ever-growing list of metal subgenres. “It's an interesting mash-up. It's like a metallic beatdown hardcore. I don't know what sub-genre to keep throwing.”

Eventually the band decided to stop worrying about the exact wording.

“I've honestly started just asking people what they think it is,” Roy says.

Because when it comes down to it, the band has a pretty simple measuring stick.

“If the riff sounds good and it makes people dance and move around, then I'm winning.”

Anyone who’s seen one of their shows would probably agree that the formula works.

How Reject Started

Like a lot of modern bands, Reject’s beginnings trace back to the strange quiet stretch of the pandemic years.

While much of the world was slowing down, Roy and vocalist Nick were quietly writing music.

“Some of the first few tracks, myself and the vocalist Nick, we had actually wrote a few,” Roy says. “Stuff kind of a little bit during COVID.”

At first those songs just sat around waiting for the right moment. Eventually the two realized the material deserved a proper band.

“It was time to piece together the right people for the job and come up with a good plan of attack,” Roy says.

Once the lineup fell into place, things moved quickly.

“August is when we probably announced, got our first show.”

And like a lot of good band stories, that first show turned out to be the beginning of something bigger.

“After that first show the momentum kind of snowballed and we just had been riding it.”

Prairie Roots

Roy didn’t just appear out of thin air when Reject formed.

He’s been part of the Saskatchewan music orbit for quite a while.

“I've been playing music since we were young teenagers,” he says.

Originally from North Battleford, Roy eventually found his way to Saskatoon, where he began exploring the local scene in the late 2000s.

“Involved in Saskatoon maybe back in 2009,” he recalls.

Like many musicians, his path through the scene wasn’t perfectly straight.

“I kind of moved here from North Battleford, dabbled into the music scene, left, and then kind of had to come back.”

Eventually he started thinking about music a little differently.

“I would say maybe 2015 or 2014 is when I really felt like I was trying to contribute outside just playing music.”

That mindset—helping build a community rather than just participating in one—would eventually shape the direction Reject would take.

Two Albums That Changed Everything

Most musicians can point to the moment when their musical direction suddenly snapped into focus.

For Roy, that moment involved a trip to buy CDs with his older brother.

“I remember moving in with my older brother around that 14 or 15 range,” he says.

His brother had a plan.

“He's like, 'I'm going to get you two CDs that are going to put you in one direction or the other.'”

The albums were Metallica’s Master of Puppets and Nirvana’s Nevermind.

“It was those two albums that he bought me.”

Both records made an impression, but one clearly pushed Roy down a heavier path.

“I still enjoy Nirvana,” he says, “but then I started going down the path of Metallica.”

From there the rabbit hole only got deeper, eventually leading him to bands like Whitechapel and Despised Icon.

But the music itself was only part of the draw. What really stuck was the sense of community surrounding it.

Finding Your People

Hardcore music has long had a reputation for creating spaces where people who don’t quite fit the mainstream mould can still feel at home.

Roy remembers that feeling clearly.

“I really found that hardcore music has a lot of drive for community and support and safe space,” he says.

Growing up in Saskatchewan sometimes meant standing out.

“I grew up in Saskatchewan. It's primarily a hockey province,” Roy says with a laugh.

Back then, kids with mohawks and piercings didn’t always blend in easily.

“We all looked different. Rocking big mohawks and piercings.”

Eventually the music scene became the place where those differences weren’t just accepted. They were celebrated.

“I had no space to fit in until you finally find your music community.”

These days Roy feels the Saskatchewan scene has evolved into something more unified.

“Now we're lucky enough that I feel like all the forms of music are kind of melding into being one community.”

Discovering Music the Old Way

These days most people discover music through streaming apps and algorithm-driven playlists.

Roy remembers when things worked a little differently.

“There’s just that joy of discovery,” he says. “You buy tape or cassette and you're invested.”

When you spent your allowance on a record, you listened to the whole thing.

“You're like, I better listen to every freaking song.”

Sometimes you discovered a favourite album. Sometimes you wondered what exactly you had just spent your money on. Either way, the experience stuck with you. To keep a bit of that old magic alive, Roy still avoids researching bands he’s about to share a stage with.

“When we're going to play with a band in a new city that I haven't heard of, I purposely won't go dive into their music,” he says.

Instead he waits to experience it live.

“Then after that I'll go listen to the album front to back.”

It’s a simple idea, but it reflects the way Roy approaches music in general—experience first, analysis later.

Hitting the Road

Reject’s momentum has already started pushing the band beyond Saskatchewan. The group recently toured through Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, steadily building a following along the way. Festival appearances have helped introduce them to wider audiences. And now another milestone sits on the horizon. Reject has landed a spot at the Loud As Hell Open Air Festival in Drumheller, Alberta.

“We're the one and only Saskatchewan band on the lineup,” Roy says proudly.

Their slot happens to be the Sunday morning pancake breakfast set.

“We got the very last band listed,” Roy laughs. “But we still made it.”

Anyone who’s attended Loud As Hell knows that breakfast can get surprisingly loud.

Hardcore With a Heart

Despite the aggressive sound, Reject also puts a lot of effort into supporting their local community. The band has organized charity shows benefiting both the Saskatoon Food Bank and the Saskatoon SPCA. Roy’s connection to the food bank is personal.

“When I was younger we went through struggles,” he says.

Helping the organization today feels important.

“Everybody has to eat.”

The SPCA fundraiser came from another shared passion among the band members.

“All of us in the band have rescues,” Roy explains.

One of those charity shows ended up selling out the Cosmo Senior Centre—a remarkable turnout considering it was only the band’s second performance.

“The response was insane,” Roy says.

Moments like that reinforce what the band believes music scenes should be about.

Looking after each other.

What Comes Next

In January 2025, Reject released their debut EP, capturing the raw energy that had already made their live shows so memorable.

But the band hasn’t slowed down.

They’re already writing material for another EP scheduled for 2026.

Their recent single “Smoke” offers a glimpse of the direction they’re heading.

“It’s kind of about trying to push away the smoke and addiction,” Roy says.

Like many hardcore songs, the subject matter comes from real life.

“All of us have struggled from time to time again with some form of addiction or crutch.”

The song reflects that struggle and the determination to overcome it.

“Kicking smoke ain't the easiest,” Roy says. “But it’s about pushing through.”

Keeping the Torch Lit

Toward the end of our conversation, I ask Roy what he thinks Reject ultimately represents.

He pauses for a moment.

“That’s a pretty good question.”

Then he answers in a way that says a lot about the band.

“I feel like we're a band that makes music for people that are going through it.”

But beyond the songs, there’s a larger goal.

“We've always tried to have a mission statement where we want to put our community first.”

Reject proudly flies the banner for SKHC — Saskatchewan Hardcore. Because scenes don’t survive unless someone keeps them alive.

“One thing we want to do is keep a torch lit,” Roy says.

And if Reject can help pass that torch along to the next wave of bands someday, Roy figures that would be a pretty good legacy.

“If Reject can help keep a market or a torch lit to pass it on for someone else,” he says, “then that would probably be what Reject is.”

For a band built on crushing riffs and swirling pits, it’s a surprisingly simple mission.

Play loud.

Look after your people.

And keep the music going.