Austin Post-hardcore band Porcelain Set to Play in Canada this summer
Photo credit: Pooneh Ghana
Austin post-hardcore outfit Porcelain have spent the past several years earning a reputation as one of Texas' most compelling live bands and for most bands, a successful debut is a launchpad. For Porcelain, it became a reason to slow down, reflect, and enjoy the moment.
The quartet—formed by veterans of Austin's thriving underground scene, comprised of vocalist Steve Pike, guitarist/vocalist Ryan Fitzgibbon, bassist Jordan Emmert, and drummer Eli Deitz, who have cut their teeth in bands including Exhalants, Super Thief, Votive, and US Weekly—have spent the last two years resisting the pressure to simply capitalize on momentum. Instead of rushing toward another release, Porcelain chose to live inside the songs first, road-testing nearly every track from their forthcoming sophomore album, Today's Minor Victories, before committing them to tape.
Following the release of the transitional singles "Harmony" and "Torch," Porcelain now return with "Apocalypse," the lead single from Today's Minor Victories, due October 23 via TODO Records. The release arrives as the band prepares to bring its relentless live show to Canada and the U.S. West Coast this August, beginning with a stop in Vancouver before heading through Seattle, Portland, California, and beyond.
Speaking on the new single, the band shares: "This is a song about the loss of innocence. Growing up, the future looked so bright and promising, like we could all make something of this world for the better. But then we witness tragedy after tragedy unfold in front of our childlike eyes, and the world that we looked forward to growing up in now looks like it’s unattainable, collapsing in slow motion. Realizing that the world is full of insecure men searching for power, greed, resources, and the unquenchable thirst of violent imperialism. The future we were promised as children never came to be, and now we’re all but subjected to the systemic violence that our country was founded on.”
While “Harmony” and “Torch” marked the first glimpse of Porcelain's next chapter, the band sees the pair less as standalone singles and more as the bridge between where they started and where they're headed. Lyrically, “Harmony” reflects on the quiet passing of friendships, while “Torch” confronts the unsettling experience of watching the world seemingly unravel through a phone screen. Together, the songs signalled a broader emotional and creative scope than the band's self-titled debut.
"‘We wanted to break out of the box of being purely a noise rock band. We wanted to touch on some new sonic territory—not just be big, loud and angry all the time—but show a little more nuance and range. “Torch” is still pretty aggressive, but there's melody in there, while “Harmony” has a lot more restraint before it really opens up. Those two tracks were us feeling out what we could do on the next record."
That willingness to evolve was a deliberate push back against the increasingly common expectation that artists constantly need to feed the algorithm with new material. Following the success of their 2024 debut, Porcelain suddenly found themselves with opportunities they hadn't anticipated.
"The first record opened a lot of doors," they say. "These songs were coming together really solid, so we thought, 'Let's try not to fuck this up.' We wanted to do the songs justice, capture the best performances possible, get the best sounds and tones, and make sure everything was as good as we could possibly get it. We all felt an obligation to do it right instead of half-assing it."
The Austin outfit focused on becoming an even stronger live band, allowing new material to mature on stage night after night. Nearly every song on Today's Minor Victories has already lived multiple lives before entering the studio, evolving through countless performances and audience reactions until it felt complete.
"I think there are maybe only two songs on the record that we'd only played once before recording them. We've been sneaking these songs into our sets for the past two years, so it's exciting that people who have been asking about them will finally be able to take them home. They come up to us at our merch tables asking for the songs, which is a good sign, since they aren’t out yet," Porcelain reflects.
That philosophy feels inseparable from Porcelain's identity. Although the members have collectively spent years immersed in Austin's celebrated DIY scene, they've never viewed their hometown as the final destination. Touring has always been the objective, and it's through sharing stages with heavy music innovators including Chat Pile, Unwound, Touché Amoré, Boris, Pelican, Lightning Bolt, Young Widows, and more that the band has steadily built a reputation extending far beyond Texas.
"We've always kind of stayed on our primary existence of the band being playing live," they explain. "That's where we feel we have the biggest impact. We've always been chasing whether we could capture that feeling on a record. It's like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. We loved the first record, but this one feels like we've finally gotten closer to capturing what the band actually sounds like on stage."
It's an ethos that has carried Porcelain across North America and now brings them back to Canadian audiences this summer. As Porcelain prepares to unveil the next chapter, one thing remains unchanged: the road is still where the band feels most at home. As one member jokes, "My worst days on the road are still better than my best days in the office"—a sentiment that perfectly captures why, even after years in Austin's underground music community, the quartet continues to chase stages rather than shortcuts.
