This June, Montreal outfit NOBRO put on the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection’s best punk performance of the summer when they brought The Go For Broke Tour – a double-headlining jaunt which had them sharing top billing with almost-equally rad Canadian punks Bad Waitress, in addition to local phriends Puppy Angst, who opened the show for their last performance prior to an indefinite hiatus – to MilkBoy. The tour followed the band’s 2023 LP, Set Your Pussy Free, winning the 2025 Rock Album of the Year at the JUNO Awards earlier this year. And while the tour featured NOBRO sampling some new music, it also served as the live debut of their new lineup.
“It’s been a weird year. We had half the band leave, and we had to find a new band,” says Karolane Carbonneau, one-half of NOBRO’s core members — alongside vocalist, bassist, and founder Kathryn McCaughey – during a recent phone chat. I’m speaking with both Karolane and Kathryn from the road, following opening night of the DOOMTOWN TOUR, an eight-date Canadian jaunt behind the band’s recently released “DOOMTOWN” single, a garage punk romp through the existential dread brought on by the girls’ recent experiences with loss (In addition to the dissolution of the group’s former lineup, Carbonneau recently lost her father, while McCaughey has recently taken on the burden of watching her mother struggle through dementia.)
For those unfamiliar with the band’s previous output, “DOOMTOWN” takes a slightly different tone from classic NOBRO party anthems like “Eat Slay Chardonnay,” “Let’s Do Drugs,” and “A.I. Sexbots.” “DOOMTOWN” was recorded, produced, and mixed by John Agnello (known for his work with PHILTHY phriends like Laura Stevenson, Worriers, and Land of Talk), and serves as the intro to the next chapter of NOBRO. “We just spend two-and-a-half weeks recording, and our first thought was, ‘Is it funny enough?’” jokes Kathryn. Although the band tells me that official release details for the upcoming album are a ways off and that they’re currently looking for a US label.
However, NOBRO have been playing a handful of these new songs on the DOOMTOWN TOUR, and Karolane tells me that the change in tone (both sentimentally and sonically) has been well-received by NOBRO fans: “People like it! It’s, for sure, more emotional. It’s definitely a breakup album.” I ask how opening night of the tour went, and Kathryn says they loved it… even if it had just a couple minor hiccups: “It was so sick! It was awesome! It was our first show in a while, knockin’ off the cobwebs [laughs]. There were some kids in the crowd, though, so it was a little awkward swearing in front of them [laughs].”
The DOOMTOWN TOUR wraps this Saturday in Montreal, but next Friday NOBRO kicks off a week of dates with The Front Bottoms, concluding with Night One of Champagne Jam 2025 at The Fillmore on December 19th, their final show of the year, where they’ll share the bill with our phriends This Is Lorelei and Family Dinner. However, this coming February NOBRO will embark on more than a month of US dates alongside punk legends The Descendents and Frank Turner. I ask how these shows in huge nightclubs compare to sweaty barrooms like MilkBoy, and Karolane’s response is charmingly refreshing: “We’re gonna be opening, so we’re just gonna try to have fun and get the crowd excited for it, but in terms of the show, it’s basically the same thing for us.”
*Get your tickets here.
