CREDIT: ALEX BRUCE
Check out all-girl band The Beaches at the final New Music Night on April 11 in Forwell Hall.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. While admittedly the end of the school year is a bittersweet time, it does always bring about with it an invariably memorable occasion in the form of the final New Music Night on campus, the last concert held here in the school until frosh once again befalls the city at the end of August.

This year's final New Music Night is not unlike years past, it promises to be a knockout — headliners The Beaches from Toronto will fill Forwell Hall with their style of big, gritty rock music, directly supported by local buzz artists Texas King, The Baxters and more.

Formed in 2013, The Beaches are a four-piece girl band from Toronto, named for their neighbourhood of residence. The band — bassist Jordan Miller, drummer Eliza Enman—McDaniel, guitarist Kylie Miller and keyboardist Leandra Earl — are young but not short on experience; sisters Jordan and Kylie have been writing and performing together since they were fewer than 10 years old, while Enman—McDaniel and Earl became fast friends over the years at school.

Now grown adults, the band have a much more mature, focused sound, as evidenced by their big 2013 single “Loner” — a smoky, defiant song that manages the swagger of their rock idols both female and male alike. With the addition of Earl to the lineup last year, the band has even grown upon that sound, as demonstrated in their recent single “Little Pieces” on Soundcloud — the first glimpse of a new EP entitled Heights, scheduled for release on May 5.

“It's a new level of that energy,” said Jordan of the new record. “It's the same sort of swagger, the same rock vibe, but since Leandra has joined there's definitely more of a synth sound. There's elements of that in our new material, but you can definitely tell it's the same band if you listen to both EPs.”

“I think also that the songs have gotten stronger, and we've gotten stronger as songwriters,” Kylie added. “It's been a way easier process; you grow as you keep writing and working with music. But we're really proud of this EP and we hope people like it.”

Plans for the band this summer include touring the U.K. in May and a performance at Osheaga in Montreal this year, but the real excitement lies in sharing the new record with audiences new and old, adding the new material into their already explosive live set.

“I think all around it's a good feeling on the new material for everybody,” Enman—McDaniel said. “We've been playing and jamming around with [the new songs] for a while, but they're still new to us; even though we're basically done recording them, they do slightly change, especially for the live show.”

No strangers to London, direct supporters Texas King — guitarists Jordan MacDonald and Colin Gray, bassist Phil Spina and drummer Rob Shipway — are recent graduates of Music Industry Arts right here at Fanshawe College. The band has been gaining momentum in the city and beyond since the release of their self-titled EP in April of 2013.

“I think that it's been going really well,” MacDonald said, reflecting on the past year. “We came off of the EP release with a lot of excitement, though we were real rookies. Now we've played a bunch more and our sound has developed; we've all grown as musicians since then and we're really excited for what's next.”

For Texas King, what's next includes performances at Canadian Music Week and the Lachie Music Festival this summer. According to MacDonald, the past year has seen the band gel as performers and find its collective voice as songwriters — now their thoughts are turning to preparing material for a new album to be made here in London later this year.

“Our next release will definitely be much more collaborative,” he said. “We are thinking a lot about recording. We're really blessed that Phil, our bass player, is a superior engineer ... The EP was completely DIY — recorded in Phil's basement for the most part, with some vocals recorded at school.”

For more on The Beaches, visit thebeachesband.com or follow along on Twitter @thebeaches. Similarly, keep up-to-date on Texas King by visiting texasking.ca or following @texaskingband, and be sure to take the time to look into other support acts The Baxters, Tandem Eagle and Big Lonely. Admission for the show is free — doors open at 8, show starts at 8:30 p.m.

And for more of the latest music news and concert previews, follow this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. I'm out of words.