Encore is a five piece band from Winnipeg, Canada. Band leader, Donald Plant began performing and later writing music with his younger brother, Richard Plant, when they were in elementary school. Since then, the band has undergone various iterations, settling on the name, ‘Encore,’ in 2016 after the addition of their current bassist, Daniel Rafaelov. Shortly after, current guitarist, Joseph Lezak, and drummer, Zach Fedorowich joined Encore.
Encore has been on tour this year, where they performed 73 shows at high schools across Canada. While on tour, Donald wrote the group’s newest, “Feeling,” which premiered exclusively premiering with Celebmix and will be included on Encore’s debut EP set to be released in early Fall. YEM spoke to the group about their music, their newest song, and what’s ahead for the rising group.
Young Entertainment Mag: You recently released a new single, “Feeling”. Tell us more about that song.
Encore: “Feeling” is a song that has been very important ever since the day it was written. I remember being invested in this bass line that I had been working on for about 2 weeks. Eventually, I formed one and had this idea for the chorus where it would just be the same bass line with a falsetto vocal going over it. I knew instantly which direction I wanted to put this track and began to jot notes down for when I would record it. While we were on tour, the whole thing was recorded at night and while we were on the bus. I remember going through my notes that I wrote down when I first started writing it, and crossing off each idea as I would put it into the song while recording. Compared to our last single, “Feeling” is very different. For all of us, it was a big step into the style and sound we wanted to get into. As a band, we feel like we’ve grown and matured, and we wanted our music to represent that same change that we’ve been going through. It has been a big difference but we are extremely proud of how the single sounds and the direction we are moving in as a band.
YEM: Do you have a music video in the works for this single?
Encore: For this single, we just released a lyric video. We do have plans to shoot a music video over the course of the rest of the summer for another song from our debut EP, to be released later this fall.
YEM: What bands have been an inspiration to you?
Encore: There are so many different bands that have influenced us from all different era’s and genres. To name a few of the biggest ones, I would say Aerosmith, 5 Seconds of Summer, Maroon 5, and The Jackson 5. There have also been numerous solo artists that have influenced us, including: Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars, Stevie Wonder, and Charlie Puth.
YEM: Some groups who have been under the label of “boy band” have resented that title. What do you think of the term “boy band”? Do you think the title suits your group, or are you also not too fond of the term?
Encore: The first time we were called a boy band, we weren’t really sure what to think of it and how we all felt. Playing instruments live and singing is something we always have done. To us, the term “boy band” is a reference to a group of boys that are playing music and singing together, which is what we do. However, at the same time the term “band” is basically the same thing. So the title does fit with our group, but it depends on every individual. We’ve even had people call us a hard rock band before so in our experience, it really depends on a person’s opinion.
YEM: Your Youtube channel also features several acoustic songs, while “Feeling” is more upbeat. Moving forward, do you see this group doing mellow tunes like this, or jumpy, foot-tapping tracks like “Feeling”?
Encore: With our music, we have always prided ourselves in being diverse and writing all different styles and genres. That probably came from all the different artists we all grew up listening to. In the future, including on the EP, we will be releasing all different kinds of music. Fast dance music, but also slower, more mellow tunes as well.
YEM: What’s next for Encore following the release of “Feeling”? Are you touring or focusing on releasing more music?
Encore: We just got back from a four and a half month tour so as of right now, we don’t have any tours planned. Right now, we are in the process of finishing up the producing of our EP, then getting everything ready and establishing what we want to do with it when it comes out. We hope to have this EP out by early-mid fall, and really start to see where our music can go. We are constantly growing, and constantly developing as artists, so being able to share that growth with everyone is what we are really all about and plan to continue doing this into the future.
