Draft:The Borderlinez

The Borderlinez are a four piece Alternative rock band formed in St. Thomas, Ontario in 2023. Founded by guitarist and lead singer Samuel Rigby, bassist Nic Beecroft, and drummer Dustin Van Hee, the band went through a succession of members prior to the release of their debut EP ‘Vanity’ in 2024. Despite their modern age, the band holds many qualities instrumentally and philosophically with 90‘s “grunge” bands. Their genres can vary from a wide list including metal, rock, punk, and acoustics.

Initial Start

Prior to forming The Borderlinez, Samuel Rigby was a musician and song writer in several genres before landing on alternative rock as his definitive sound. Rigby spoke with friend Chris Lenz about starting a band for the first time since he had left England in 2018. He had a collection of songs he wrote based on his experience with drug addiction and metal health issues. Nic Beecroft was swiftly added as the bands bass player, though initially was brought in as the lead guitarist. Despite Beecrofts skills with guitar, he decided that he wanted to take the opportunity as a means to pursue his passion with bass guitar. Beecroft also had an academic history with music engineering prior to joining the band, which resulted in him being the sole producer for their later work. Rigby was fairly new at guitar and only picked it up after having the idea to form the band. Despite this he managed to put together six original songs in full, which would later be the songs that made up their debut EP ‘Vanity’. The band went through dozens of name ideas before unanimously agreeing on The Borderlinez. In search of further help with his own skills, Rigby contacted Austin Lunn, as the pair were friends from Highschool, Lunn who was already finding success in music through his own talent, also was the frontman of his own band Grave Rush. Rigby and Lunn discussed the possibility of Lunn joining as the bands official lead which was later agreed upon, and together the four put out ‘AGAIN’ as their lead single in October of 2023. The song had a very rough mix yet remained published for under a year before being removed. Chris Lenz was let go as the bands drummer, and replaced by Dustin Van Hee. The band kept this line up for several months until further disagreements resulted in another change of line up, this time parting ways with Austin Lunn. With most of their debut EP being recorded already during this time, the band chose to only keep parts recorded by remaining members, and additionally brought in guest musicians including Tyler Macintyre and Sunny Wagh. Tyler had known Rigby prior and was brought on the track ‘Pure’ as a metal rhythm guitar. Macintyre was also responsible for introducing the band to Dustin Van Hee during their search for a new drummer. Sunny Wagh who specialized in more of an indie rock sound, caught Rigbys attention after the departure of Austin Lunn, and was brought on the re released version of ‘AGAIN’ which was not only entirely re created, but featured Wagh as the lead guitarist, as Rigby felt his melodic rhythms filled in what was missing from the bands music. He was then brought on for two additional tracks on the EP, ‘Flower Child’ and ‘Pictures’. During the final stages of production leading into fall, the band finally acquired a new lead with Mike King, who would also swap bass and lead positions occasionally with band mate and former class mate Nic Beecroft. Mike Kings talents were discovered on a Facebook post, asking for lead guitarist from southwestern Ontario, King was the only applicant. Despite this, his styles and talents were precisely what the band had been seeking. King featured on the remaining songs on ‘Vanity’, and following a year of line up swaps, re recordings, and band space changes, The Borderlinez had their first official line up leading up to their EP’s release.

Early Career

The band released their debut EP ‘Vanity’ to all services on September 22nd, 2024. Afterwards, they began to tour parts of Ontario as part of their ‘Take The Fall Tour’ in support of ‘Vanity’. The tour started in Southwestern Ontario and ended in the city of Toronto. During the tour, the band began production on their follow up project ‘Ignorance Is Blessed’. Their first official full length album. The albums themes began to shift from substances and depression, and started to focus on international crisis and controversy. The bands music maintained a similar sound to Seattle’s Grunge movement, inspired by many of their bands. Lyrically the band began to draw attention to things seen as cause for concern.

Band Members

Final lineup

• Samuel Rigby - Lead vocals, guitar (2023-pres)

• Nic Beecroft - Bass, guitar (2023-pres)

• Dustin Van Hee - Drums (2024-pres)

• Mike King - Guitar, bass (2024-pres)

Former Members

Chris Lenz - Drums (2023-2024)

Austin Lunn - Guitar (2023-2024)

Featured Musicians

Sunny Wagh - Lead guitar (2024)

Tyler Macintyre - Rhythm guitar (2024)

Discography

• Vanity EP