What happens when you pair a veteran of the Montreal pop-punk scene with the longtime bassist for Sarah McLachlan? You get SLIP~ons, a Vancouver four-piece that treats rock and roll like a high-stakes overtime period: no filler, no wasted motion, just pure adrenaline.
Their sophomore EP, Overtime, officially dropped yesterday, February 20, 2026, via Scamindy.
Order SLIP~ons music and merch here: https://slipons.hearnow.com/overtime
The Sound: 90s Heft Meets Power-Pop Precision
If you miss the muscular grit of Sugar-era Bob Mould, the urgency of Hüsker Dü, or the loose, bourbon-soaked confidence of The Replacements, SLIP~ons are speaking your language.
The lineup is a Canadian indie “who’s who”:
Brock Pytel (Doughboys): Vocals/Guitar
Brian Minato (Sarah McLachlan): Bass
Rob “Shockk” Matharu (The Spitfires): Guitar
Shane Wilson: Drums
“Sudden Death” Songwriting
The title Overtime isn’t just a hockey reference; it’s a metaphor for those moments in life where the pressure sharpens your focus. Recorded at the historic Afterlife (formerly Mushroom Studios) by John Raham, the EP captures a band playing with instinct.
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This isn’t your standard breakup record, either. “I made it all the way through side A without a single song about a breakup,” Pytel notes. Instead, the lyrics lean into personal experience and subtle politics, polished with a gritty edge by legendary mixer Dave Ogilvie (Skinny Puppy) and mastered for maximum punch by Ronan Chris Murphy (King Crimson).
From Ashrams to Amplifiers
The road to SLIP~ons was anything but linear. In the late 80s, Brock Pytel was at the center of the punk whirlwind with the Doughboys before walking away from it all to study Vipassana meditation in India.
That decades-long journey from the drum kit to the ashram and back to the guitar has resulted in a rare kind of musical maturity. SLIP~ons don’t play to chase trends; they play because the chemistry—honed since 2012—demands it. With their previous release Heavy Machinery racking up international acclaim and CBC airplay, Overtime proves this veteran unit is only getting faster.
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