Durry Live At Rivoli
The voice of Millennial and Gen Z adults everywhere comes to Canada
[Thank you for reading David’s Folly, a place where I expand my coverage of the art and entertainment industry beyond my regular work in video games into movies, TV, books, theatre, and music. This post is free, so please feel free to share it with a friend, and if you like you can help support my work further by subscribing.]
Some of us were shouting “One more!”, while others were shouting “Encore!” at the same time, and no one was in sync. It was a cacophony of 200 people packed into the Back Room of the Rivoli in Toronto on Saturday, June 8, 2024, demanding that the band come back on stage. When they did, lead singer Austin Durry remarked that he hadn’t heard a crowd sound like ours before. Every other crowd on their tour would immediately start chanting, “One more song,” in unison at the end of the show — a callback to Durry’s song Encore, which features the chant. But after a truly electric night of music, I, my wife, and every other fan in that room wanted more, and we didn’t care how we got the message across. We heard our “one more song,” cheered and sang/ screamed along with the band for the last time, and left on the highest of highs. The kind of euphoria that only comes after being stuck inside a sweaty concert venue for hours, your heart pounding and voice hoarse from the emotional release only live music can bring.
That’s how our night ended when we went to see Durry, a family band started by brother-sister duo, Austin and Taryn Durry. We’re going to take a few steps back first, though, before we get to that ending again.
We all had our “pandemic projects” when we were told to stay indoors for two years straight. The COVID-19 pandemic is what made me pivot to writing full-time, since my other lucrative career choice, acting, was put to a very sudden halt. For the Durry family, Austin and his wife Ashley ended up moving back in with Austin’s parents, and his younger sister Taryn was still living at home. Having already been in the music scene for years, Austin was looking for his next steps. Unsurprisingly, part of this process was him just writing more music, and now that he was living with his younger sister for the first time in years, he would go to her for input. Just like that, and before they even knew it, Durry (the band) was born.
Taryn and Austin have a seven-year age gap. Austin had already moved out with Ashley by the time Taryn was a teenager. But when they found themselves living under the same roof again as adults, they realized they were on equal footing, rather than the unevenness that comes with younger-older sibling relationships when we’re all still growing up. That was a huge part of what made their writing process work. Austin brought songs, rooted in his Millennial experiences, and Taryn added to them, drawing from her Gen-Z ones. When you think about that dynamic it feels like they were destined to write music about how neither generation will be able to afford a house anytime soon.
Durry first broke their own social media bubble into viral territory with their now hit song, “Who’s Laughing Now?” the number two track on their debut album, Suburban Legend. Its first lines are immediately relatable to anyone born after 1981, even though, as Austin and Taryn have said in interviews, they really are just the two siblings sharing their own feelings and concerns about the world they’re trying to exist in.
My momma always said I would regret it, if I ever got a tattoo
She said I’d never get a job, like I’d ever want to work with that attitude
- Opening lyrics to “Who’s Laughing Now?”
In true Millennial/ Gen-Z form, the lyrics are immediantly defiant of the advice trying to be passed down. It’s what I noticed right away when I first heard this song — which was also the first thing I heard from the band while scrolling on Instagram — and it’s what made me want to listen further because, frankly, that’s my kind of shit right there. I spoke on the same idea briefly at the end of my opening article about Xbox’s lack of foresight, that I reject the idea that we need to abide by our current reality and that we are unable to create a new one, a better one. I try to apply that thinking to everything in my life, because to me, that’s what it feels like to forge your own path.
With that in mind, it only takes another 20 seconds of listening to “Who’s Laughing Now?” to understand why I was so quickly enamored with Durry, and downloaded their album that same day. To my joy, the rest of the album followed suit as an anthem for people exactly my age, exactly Taryn and Austin’s age. Two generations of kids who’ve been irreversibly screwed out of hitting society’s determined life milestones and simultaneously looked down upon by the older generation for our perceived ‘failings.’
Durry also writes about mental health struggles that far too many of us share in songs like “I’m Fine (No Really)”, “Encore,” and “Trauma Queen.” During the Toronto show, Austin explained “Encore” as a song he wrote for a friend dealing with suicidal thoughts. The song’s bridge of “One more song” being chanted louder and louder is meant to emulate the daily plea of “One more day” that he and those surrounding that struggling friend would ask of them.
I know it hasn’t really been your year
But you’re still hear and that’s worth something…
…Well I’m on your side
I know you tried your best
But it never seemed to turn out right
I’m on your team
And I’ll always be
In the front row, begging for an encore
- Lyrics from “Encore” pulled from the first verse and first chorus
Music has always been a source of healing for me in life, which is why it’s difficult to express just how healing Durry’s music has been for me. To say their music is cathartic doesn’t do the feeling justice. Their songs have been comforting rallying cries to push through bad days, giving musical voice directly to the things I and so many other people my age just want to scream at. They’ve been a trip down memory lane through songs like “Mall Rats”, or an examination of the collective fantasy we all fell into in the many movies and TV shows we watched growing up in “Hasta La Vista Baby.” Though most important to me have been the defiantly triumphant anthems about just not giving up. About charting our own path because we control our future and our own endings. “Suburban Legend” perfectly encapsulates this feeling. Screaming the words, “It’s the start of our story, we’re going to write how it ends” in a crowded room with Durry barely a few feet in front of me did more for me than years of therapy ever could.
Before I end this off I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the two Canadian opening acts, One Way Streets and Living Room For Small. My wife and I really enjoyed them both, and were especially impressed with One Way Streets because they were a group of high school graduates who’d never played a show with a sold-out crowd. It was awesome to see great young Canadian talent charting their own path. *Smashes the Hell Yeah button.*
Durry isn’t the first band to write about their own generation’s struggles, nor will they be the last. But they are exactly the rock band my generation needs right now. Seeing them live was more incredible than I could’ve thought, and to me they are one of the best modern bands out there. More people should be listening to them because we all need to be reminded that we can make things better by choosing to make them better. Yes, a lot about the world sucks, and yes, we inherited a lot of that suck. But we can make it work. We can become legends.
Tell all your friends
We’ll be Suburban Legends, we’ll etch our names into the bus stop bench
Signed we’ll see ya when we see ya but we’re never coming back
It’s the start of the story
But we’re gonna write how it ends
Go
[Note: I sent Durry some questions for this article in the hopes I could hear back before publication, but that unfortunately wasn’t the case. They’re busy being on tour! I’m just some guy. However, when they do get back to me I’ll be sure to follow-up with everything they have to say about their Canadian debut.]
[Thank you for reading David’s Folly, a place where I expand my coverage of the art and entertainment industry beyond my regular work in video games into movies, TV, books, theatre, and music. This post is free, so please feel free to share it with a friend, and if you like you can help support my work further by subscribing.]