Edmonton is small and isolated enough that False Body guitarist Lee Zacharko has already watched its hardcore scene thin out before. He remembers periods when the number of local bands and people coming to shows “dropped off hard”, so he does not take the attention Alberta hardcore is getting now for granted.
“We’re small and isolated so we hold onto it tightly,” Lee said. “Because we’re so isolated, the solidarity between bands, promoters, attendees is all the more important, and it feels like we have a very united community.”
False Body have spent their own years inside that cycle. Their debut LP, “Tomorrow Starts Without You”, arrives September 25 through Wax Vessel, with a second single due September 11. After a run of shorter releases, the full-length finally gave them enough space to let some stranger songs through.
Lee says the previous EPs were mostly straightforward. An album left more room to mess around without losing what already sounded like False Body. The actual writing still tends to begin in a much simpler place.
“Usually I’m just at home working on a riff that I think is cool and then I ask myself ‘Can I use this in False Body?’”
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The first single, “Dylan (Tomorrow Starts Without You),” immediately sets the territory and the level we can expect from this record. Within about a minute you get four different shifts in pace, frantic turns and riffs pulling in different directions, and then that stomping part drops in and just grabs you by the head and makes you march with it. Even with a shitty cold this weekend, it still managed to wake me up and drag me out of bed.
The second banger they sent us gets straight to the physical part. Fast, chaotic riffs keep snapping into heavy blast beats, then the band grind down into ugly grooves and high-tension breakdowns before kicking the pace crooked again. Punk runs right through the twitchy, off-kilter movement. It has a proper kicking to it. If this one comes on in the car, keep an eye on the speedometer. Keep your eyes peeled, it’s coming at you officially in a couple of days, September 11th.
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The studio work for the full album took considerably longer than Lee’s starting-point-with-a-riff approach might suggest. False Body went through every instrument in far greater detail than they had on the earlier releases.
“We spent a ton of time with every aspect of every instrument to make sure we’re all completely satisfied with the end product, and I think it really shows. It’s a huge step up from anything we’ve done previously.”
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Ryan Berehulke of SL2 Productions recorded and mixed “Tomorrow Starts Without You”, with Josh Fernandez handling mastering.
There is plenty of history sitting underneath those sessions. Lee and drummer Justin previously played together in an Edmonton band called Contention, unrelated to the Florida band with the same name. Lee estimates the two of them have been playing together across different projects for around 15 years.
“Justin and I previously played together in a band called Contention (not the Florida Contention),” he said. “He and I have probably been playing together in different projects for like 15 years at this point, so we’re really locked in with one another.”
Michelle’s route into the band came through Not Enough Fest, or NEF. The organisers were trying to give women, queer and trans musicians an actual place to begin playing, and Lee still sees Michelle’s presence in False Body years later as one concrete result of that work.
“NEF was really sick and cool while it lasted. From a values perspective I HOPE most people in hardcore/punk spaces advocate for the inclusion of women, queer, and trans people, but even if they do it’s still be a de facto boys club a lot of the time.”
The practical part is what has stayed with him. Supporting inclusion as an idea only gets somebody so far if they have never played in a band, do not know other musicians and have no clue who to ask.
“The organizers of that fest actually took some deliberate action, and to your point Michelle is here years later absolutely killing it. It’s too bad the fest isn’t around anymore because there are probably a lot of people like her out there who still don’t know where to start beyond the vague advise to ‘start a band,’ which is actually not that helpful if you don’t know the right people.”
The current False Body lineup is Michelle on vocals, Lee on guitar, Justin on drums and Grant on bass. One detail from the band’s earlier releases needs clearing up: the bassist before Grant was another person named Justin. Drummer Justin was never covering bass on those records.
Grant has settled in quickly, both as a player and as somebody the others actually want around when they are spending band amounts of time together.
“He’s a great fit musically and we also mesh together personally very well,” Lee said. “He’s also a certified yapper which is actually low key a super important role in a band.”
Edmonton has changed around them. Lee has been there long enough to remember those quieter stretches, which makes the current run of new bands, bigger attendance and attention from outside Alberta easier to put in perspective.
“I’m old so I appreciate that, while it’s booming now, there have been doldrums when local bands and attendance have dropped off hard in the past – we can’t take it for granted even though it’s in a great spot right now.”
“Tomorrow Starts Without You” also carries the memory of someone who had become part of that community around False Body. Dylan, a friend of the band, died by suicide in 2025. The album is dedicated to him.
“It’s hard to know where to begin writing about him,” Lee said. “He was a really talented musician who played drums and guitar in a bunch of bands, but he was also like a perpetual fill-in who could learn a set and be show ready at the drop of a hat whenever someone needed him.”
Dylan knew False Body’s music before he knew the band personally. He would watch their songs on YouTube, learn the drum parts and record his own covers.
“Before we knew him personally, he used to learn our songs on drums based on YouTube videos and record covers.”
Lee remembers someone quiet enough to hang back in a room until the right line came to him.
“He was kind of a meek, shy, quiet guy, but also hilarious. He’d hang back in a group until he could bust out a one-liner, and then go back to being quiet.”
His reaction to having an entire album dedicated to him is something Lee can only imagine from the person he knew.
“I think he’d be psyched that we dedicate the album to his memory, but I think there’s also a part of him that would be flustered by having all the attention on him.”
Seiichi Terazono created the album artwork, with layout and logo by Lab13 Media. Jake Braben shot the promo photos. Wax Mage Records and Gotta Groove Records are handling the pressing.
Wax Vessel are keeping their side of the physical run small, with 200 copies, while False Body will also have copies directly in Canada.
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September 6’s INFEST Edmonton fell right into the middle of this album cycle. Before the date arrived, Lee had called it “kind of a bookmark in the history of the band”. It was set to be their first show since the first single came out, and the response to that song had already changed his expectations for what the room might be like.
“So far the reception to the first single has been tremendous and that will be our first show since it dropped. I’m really excited to see what the energy in the room is like now that the song is out there.”
He had another reason to have the date circled. Weekend Nachos were on the bill, a band Lee had loved for years and never expected to share a show with.
He also wore a Weekend Nachos shirt on his first date with Michelle.
“It’s a band I never thought I’d get a chance to see much less play with.”
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