Founded in Canada in 2012, Story Untold was a pop-punk band. Wait, did I just say was? You see, they had it all — a full band, the backing of a prominent record label, and even comparisons to pop-punk heavyweights — but vocalist Janick Thibault knew that something was missing. Now a fully independent duo (completed by drummer Jonathan Landry), they’re moving forward with zero boundaries. This is Story Untold, entirely on their terms.
MSM: I saw your video (on social media) this morning about the current state of the music industry and about how the latest song is performing.
Janick: We just wanted to let it out, and I didn't want people to think I was trying to sound like a victim or something. I mean, I know we're not the only band that's struggling right now, and I think it's hard for everyone. And like I said in the video, there are many artists that are thriving in this type of music industry, but I just wanted to let the people know how it's been for us because I didn't want the video to be negative. It was a way to be liberating in a way, just so that the people know that I don't really care about the numbers anymore as much as I used to. Because for us, it's always been a pretty steady uphill over the past 10 years. It's always been growing, not exponentially, but still growing. And for the past three or four years, it's been steadily staying the same or even decreasing. So I think that's the thing that was hard for me to just accept and just tell myself that it is what it is. And at the same time, I'm getting older, so I don't have the same dreams and same plans that I had back when I was 18. When you're 18, you have all these big dreams and you think big, but now the older you get, the more reality there is, and we all work, and there's adult stuff that gets in the way. But yeah, I mean, it's not easy, but I think there's always a way to look at it positively because, like I was saying in the video, it might not have been the best debut on Spotify, but on YouTube it's been good, and the comments so far have been really amazing. And I think this is what matters most to me: just that we can create a connection with the people, and it's just not just a song, and I don't want the band to be just another band. We want to have something meaningful with the fans.
So, I discovered your music kind of recently with "from the outside i seem just fine," and it means so much to me. And I'm sure you hear things like that a lot from fans, like that something is helping them. Has a story from a fan ever changed the meaning for you that when you play it, you think about that?
I mean, I wouldn't say a specific story. I think it's mostly that I've heard many times that the music and the lyrics have helped people in ways that, most of the time, I don't think they want to go deep into details about how it helped them, but the songs mean a lot to the people, and it's always the greatest gift for me because I write from personal experience. So whenever someone connects with the song, even if they haven't lived the same things that I did, but they can recognize themselves in the songs, I mean, that means so much to me. But I don't think there was one specific story from someone. It's just all of them that are just like, they all mean so much to me. And I'm not the most expressive person in the world, so I really hope that whenever they come to me at a show or just whenever, they tell me that.
Generation 404 has an edge to it compared to your previous releases. It actually reminded me of Bring Me The Horizon. Was there something that drew you to that sound? I know you said in the video this morning that this is the kind of music you wanted to make.
So, I started off on YouTube when I was 12, and I grew up on Green Day, Sum 41, and Simple Plan, which were more towards the pop-punk side of things. But then it didn't take long for me to get into heavier stuff like Bullet for My Valentine. I was not the biggest Bring Me The Horizon fan at first because their stuff was too heavy for me, but as soon as they dropped "Drown" and That's the Spirit in 2015, I was instantly hooked, and I was like, "That's the type of music I want to make." And so yeah, for the past 10 years, I've been trying to make songs that are more mature and just more towards the alternative side of things. But at the same time I was making the videos on YouTube, we got signed to a record label, and we had this connection with the band Simple Plan. And I think the label wanted us to really be the next Simple Plan, so we just went with it because we were young and didn't really know what we were doing.
And I mean, at the same time, I was not hating doing pop punk. I mean, like I said, I grew up listening to Green Day, Sum 41, and all these bands, but it was never my personal intention to be another pop-punk band. I mean, like I said, I love the style and I love the music, but that's not what I wanted to make. So we made the album with the label, and then we got stuck with it for a while. And even if you listen to the album we dropped with the label, it was kind of hard to put us in one genre because it was not pop punk enough, but also not rock enough; it was just in the middle. And then after that, we started releasing songs that were always leaning more towards the pop punk side of things, but still we were not really fitting with bands like The Story So Far or Neck Deep or State Champs and bands like that. So we were always in this sort of gray zone. But at the same time, it's always what I liked. I mean, I don't want to sound like everybody else. And I'm not saying that everybody sounds the same, but I just want to find my own sound. I think for me, where I'm thriving most is when I'm just doing whatever makes me happy. And so we tried a lot of different things with that album. I mean, some of them, looking back now, were maybe not the greatest things, but still, I mean, I'm very proud that we took a risk and just decided to do whatever we wanted to do and just went with it.
I'm glad you're getting to make what feels right. And I think it really fits the subject matter. So, when you began to move in that direction, how did the fans react?
I think the first single we put out, which was "Black Sheep," had a very strong reaction, which was not really surprising in my opinion, because it was like a song that would bridge the gap between where we were going to and what we were doing in the past. But yeah, then after that we started releasing; we pretty much released every song as a single for the album. So it's like an album, but with the way things work now, I think on Spotify, it's better when you just drop singles after singles after singles. So of course there were some songs that didn't have as strong of a reaction as we had hoped for, but there were other songs like "Forever Unsatisfied," which was a song that isn't like a normal song structure, if I can say that. And it's darker, more mature, and it seemed to connect with the people way more than we expected. But yeah, I think it's always like a gamble. Sometimes we think a song is going to do well, but then it doesn't. And other times we don't expect anything out of a song, and then it works. But yeah, overall, I think the reaction was pretty good. I think the people that have been following us for a while were all really enjoying the album. It's just like I said in my video this morning; it's just harder for us to get put in front of newer people. And I think with that album, it didn't really get pushed in front of a new audience.
Yeah. Have you ever made a song that was like, you knew right away as you were finishing it, "This one's special," and it blew up?
I mean, when I wrote "Drown In My Mind," which is our most popular on Spotify, I knew that song was the one I wanted to be a single. It was weird because, at the time, the label didn't want that song to be a single. They wanted to pick another song that sounded more like Simple Plan. Even when we were wrapping up the writing process and the recording, there was this other guy I was writing the song with, and he was like, "I think the line 'drown in my mind' should be something else because it's not a good hook." And I was like, no, we got to keep that line. I mean, that's the title of the song, and it has to be the hook. But I just knew that song was going to be special. I didn't know it would get as big as it did, but I'm glad it did. I'm very happy it's that song out of all the songs from our first album that got the most popular. I'm very proud of it.
So, you're now a 100% independent duo. How has that impacted your workflow?
I mean, we can pretty much do whatever we want, so it's good. I mean, I think I'm someone that's hard to work with. I kind of like to do things alone, and I'm very in my head, and sometimes it's hard for me to communicate things with other people. So when we were with the label, there were so many people in the process that sometimes I was just like, "We have to put this out," but then we had to wait for someone's approval, and that always took so long. And so now, it's just the two of us, Jonathan and I, and we have our manager as well and our producer. And it's a very small team, but it's like everything goes so fast, and we all understand each other, and we know our strengths and we know our weaknesses. So it's just easier, I think, that way.
And then you've shared the stages with some pretty big bands, including Simple Plan, The Offspring, and even Warped Tour in 2018. Is there anything that you took from those experiences that you learned and then adapted to Story Untold?
Yeah, of course. I mean, the first tour we ever did was with Simple Plan back in 2016, so we didn't really have any experience prior to that. We learned a lot from that tour: We learned how to change the flat tire, and we learned how touring worked because at this stage we were at, we were not big enough to really be able to afford hotel rooms every night, but we did when we went on that tour. And then once we did a couple of other tours after that, we found out that we have to save money. But for the music side of things, I think just getting to watch Simple Plan every night play the same show, we saw that everything is in place. There's not much space for mistakes. And I think we're trying to recreate the same with our live shows. It doesn't have to be perfect, but we want to make it look professional because we want to take ourselves seriously, but not too much. But I think they had a pretty good balance of that, making it human but not too all over the place. And the Warped Tour was the hardest tour we ever did. We did that tour in an eight-passenger van, and we were seven in the van, so I had to sleep on the floor in between the seats. And we didn't have a driver; we didn't have a team with us. We only had a merch guy and a photographer, and the rest was the band. Every day we had to drive ourselves to the different places. There was a stretch of shows that was 21 shows in a row where we had to pack everything up after we finished playing and then drive 10 hours to the next location. We were so exhausted, but it was so worth it. It was definitely the best tour we ever did, and I would do it all over again if the opportunity came around again.
What is one non-musical thing about you that people may not expect?
I mean, I run a lot. I started running when I was, I think, 19 or 20, but I got sober three and a half years ago, and I started taking training and running more seriously because I needed something to channel all that shit. So yeah, I started running a lot. I ran a marathon last year, and I just love running. Maybe one day I would like to do an ultramarathon. So whenever we're on tour, I just love going around the cities and running, which is great because touring allows me to do two of my passions, which are music and running. So when you're on tour, people are like, "You guys are going to amazing places. What'd you guys see?" And we're just like, "We didn't see much because we're pretty much driving to a city and then sleeping, driving towards the next city." But with running, I get to see more of the cities because I just need my legs. I can just walk out of the venue and start running and just see many beautiful things around new cities.
And when fans recommend your music to someone new, what song would you want them to start with?
I think the last one ("Running From My Past"). Either that or "Backward Picture Frames." I think these are the songs that are really targeting the direction we're going for, which is something more alternative, but we don't want to be as heavy as Bring Me The Horizon. It's kind of like an in-between between Linkin Park, Bring Me The Horizon, and then Green Day, I guess, when it comes to vocals and type of singing. So yeah, "Backward Picture Frames" or "Running From My Past" would be the two songs I would recommend.
What is one thing that you want listeners to walk away with after they listen to your music?
When I was in high school, I didn't really have many friends. I wasn't being bullied and stuff, but I was always in my corner and just by myself. And the one thing that I found for myself was music, and I never really felt alone because of that. I fell in love with so many bands because I truly love music, and I truly believe that it can help in ways that we don't really understand, and so if some of our songs can be that for someone, that's all that matters at the end of the day.
Yeah. And then what is next for Story Untold?
I mean, there isn't much to tell. We're just going to keep releasing songs until, well, I don't know that we have truly found our sound yet. I think we're getting close, though. But yeah, I just want to keep making music, keep playing shows, and keep meeting beautiful people all around the world through our music. I mean, that's the goal.
