Featuring McCaughey’s confident, cocky yell and blistering bass lines, Sarah Dion‘s signature backbone drums (McCaughey claims drummer Sarah Dion will “go down in history as one of the best drummers in the entire world”), killer riffs from guitarist Karolane Carbonneau, and sweeping keyboard licks and bongo solos from master of percussion Lisandre Bourdages, NOBRO have become a rock ‘n’ roll force to be reckoned with.
“I wanted to play this type of music but there wasn’t a lot of women who wanted to play it. I wanted to be in the most kick-ass all-female band ever,” says McCaughey. Resilient and tough, NOBRO are aware that they will face skepticism as part of the omnipresent sexism in the scene they inhabit, but that only spurs them on. “We said we would do it one way, and so we made sure that we were always doing it that way,” she continues.
McCaughey founded the band almost as a challenge to herself when the aftermath of a relationship with a prominent Montreal musician made her determined to be “more than just a footnote on this person’s Wikipedia page.” She realized she possessed all the tools to express herself in her own voice and to shape her own destiny. All that was needed were fellow musicians who felt the same. As fate has it, they were all nearby shaping their own destiny, mastering their instruments, ready to shred as hard as they could, and were ignited when they found each other.
With co-writes with members of METZ and Fast Friends under their belts, as well as an EP titled Sick Hustle released in 2020 on Dine Alone Records, NOBRO are well on their way to achieving their goal. Their music video for “Don’t Die,”animated by Greg Doble, amassed a number of accolades including:Best Short Animation at Monster Flix Awards, Best Music Video at Hollywood Horror Fest, Best Music Video at Another Hole In The Head, Best Horror Music Video at Horror Bowl Movie Awards, Silver Award at Los Angeles Animation Film Festival, and Honorable Mention at Santiago Horror.
Inspired by the likes of Jay Reatard, The Damned, and Royal Trux to name a few, NOBRO are unafraid to wear their influences on their sleeve. They cut their teeth on the road with bands like FIDLAR, PUP, and Charly Bliss, and more recently played their biggest venues to date on an arena tour with Alexisonfire and The Distillers.
Call them punk rock if you like, but its long-held perceptions are just some of the things NOBRO are here to challenge — in the loudest and most exciting way possible.
NOBRO ON TOUR:
11/17 — Philadelphia, PA — The Foundry w/ Tokyo Police Club
11/18 — Boston, MA — Sinclair w/ Tokyo Police Club
11/19 — New York, NY — Bowery Ballroom w/ Tokyo Police Club
11/20 — Washington, DC — Union Stage w/ Tokyo Police Club
The tour poster is here.