The Damn Truth have spent the last few years earning a reputation as one of the most electrifying rock bands on the circuit. Their blend of powerful songs, infectious energy and fearless live performances has won them a devoted following, while relentless touring has seen them share stages with some of rock's biggest names. Now, with an exciting new chapter about to begin, the Canadian quartet are preparing to take another significant step forward. Fresh from announcing their partnership with Frontiers Music SRL, the band are set to release the deluxe edition of their acclaimed self-titled album on 11 September, giving fans even more to enjoy from a record that has already made a lasting impression. As if that wasn't enough, they'll also be returning to UK stages this autumn, including a series of high-profile support dates with the legendary Europe. I caught up with vocalist Lee-la Baum, bassist PY Letellier and drummer Dave Massé during a well-earned break between shows. Swapping the tour bus for the stunning scenery of Italy's beautiful lakes, and basking in glorious sunshine, the trio reflected on their new record deal, the expanded album, life on the road and the opportunities that lie ahead. Relaxed, candid and clearly excited about the future, they had plenty to say.

It’s a hugely exciting time with your new partnership with Frontiers SRL, a new deluxe edition of The Damn Truth’s self titled album arriving on the 11th of September and of course so many incredible live shows to look forward to. But I’d like to start with the music. The Damn Truth released your self titled album in 2025, and can I say what an incredible album this really is. What struck me about this album is that it is absolutely a whole album experience. It’s a record that deserves to be played and enjoyed from start to finish in a single sitting, and I want to pick up on the opening track first all. Be Somebody is a wonderful way to open the album and it’s a song that I found so incredibly uplifting. The lyrics ‘I just want to be somebody’ are so simple yet so powerful, and it’s a track all about passion and belief. I felt like I could take on the world listening to that track, and it made me wonder how important is it for you that your fans can find strength and feel empowered by your music?

Lee-la - It’s a great honour. It definitely feels amazing that people can get that sensation from this song – it’s really wonderful – and it’s great to uplift people everywhere we go. I must say that when we write our music, it comes from a very personal place. It’s just about having fun, it’s about making great music together and loving every minute of it, and we’re really lucky that we get along so well and that we love each other and that it flows pretty freely.

PY - We really wouldn’t want our music to ruin the listeners day! (Laughs!)

Well I can promise you that it certainly doesn’t do that! Another track I wanted to ask you about is If I Don’t Make It Home which brings a change of pace and is hugely emotive, and for me it’s just the most gorgeous song . One of the things I love about your fans is that they are known for taking your songs and finding their own meanings, and I just wanted to share mine. When I listened to this song it reminded me of my own fear of failure and overall just not wanting to disappoint people. To what extent is this the essence of if I Don’t Make It Home?

Lee-la - Well, I think it’s very personal when you end up going deep into the meaning of the track. I think we like to keep it ambiguous because I do love the idea that people can find their own meaning rather than ‘this is what I meant’. When I sing that song, every night I am extremely, extremely emotional. Lately in our shows people have been singing along, especially the choruses and the refrains and I find it so beautiful, And I can tell you people come to me after the show with like tears in their eyes saying ‘you really moved me with this song’. We recently played a festival with the band Biohazard and one of the members comes to me with tears in his eyes after the stage and he like grabs me and hold me and says ‘you really, really moved me!’. And I’m like ‘this is Biohazard! This is amazing!’. I think it’s really cool when we see all these kinds of tough motorcycle guys with tattoos come to me with red eyes because we’ve touched them in that way. It’s really special and it’s spectacular!

And that’s just the power of music – it’s amazing that it can do that! We’ll talk about some of the other tracks in a moment but I just wanted to ask you about the album’s incredible production. For this record, you worked with Bob Rock, one of the biggest and most successful producers, and he has of course worked with bands such as Mötley Crüe, the cult and of course Metallica. How did this partnership come about?

Lee-la - We were so lucky to work with Bob Rock! 

Dave - We were connected to Bob through our manager. Our manager worked with Bob when Bob was on stage himself back in the day. He was in a band called Payola$. So at the time, our manager was working with Payola$ and we all had this idea in the back of our minds that one day we’d have the opportunity to work with Bob. It took us a very long time to get to that stage because our manager always said to us ‘when you have the songs we’ll reach out to Bob’. So then by the time we’d got to our third record, somewhere in that whole process of writing those songs, our manager finally said ‘You know what guys? I think it’s time to reach out to Bob‘. We sent the songs to Bob and Bob loved the songs immediately! We heard back from him within hours, the same day, and he said ‘I love this! I love the music! I’m loving your singer and I love what you guys are doing – let’s get into the studio!’. It wasn’t long before we were actually in the studio with Bob Rock doing our third record and then again, the fourth one.

Lee-la - We were so lucky! It’s amazing! He’s so talented! 

To hear that vote of confidence from Bob so early is absolutely fantastic but it also makes me think that when you entered the studio with Bob, there were perhaps a whole host of emotions. Was there a feeling of excitement or did it actually feel quite intimidating?

Lee-la - We were terrified! (Laughs!) I think some of us just didn’t sleep for days! Also, before we went in we chatted with friends and lots of people and you’d hear all kinds of horror stories, and you’d worry about ‘what happens if it won’t work or what happens if it changes you or what happens if he won’t listen or what happens if it’s his way or the highway?’. Not once – and I’m sure I’m speaking for everyone – not once did we get that vibe from him. He was so open to so much. He had so much wisdom to impart and he had so many ideas and we were just like sponges being ready to give it a try. He was the first one to say things like ‘Okay, we’re going to try something, you’re going to hate it, we’re speeding this up five times faster than you guys wrote it, but we’re going to go and listen and if you hate it we’ll throw it out, but we’ll try!’. And we were like ‘Okay, we’re gonna try!’. 

PY – Ballads become bangers with Bob Rock! The first time we got the opportunity record with him, about three months leading up to the sessions we’d rehearse every single day 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday, like a day job, with fire under our butts! Then when we walked into the studio it just really clicked. Bob is a wonderful human!

With that incredible work ethic, you clearly recognised the opportunity you had ahead of you which was wonderful and I love the fact that you said that you listened, that you tried things and that you were like sponges. This really raises the question, having had that experience, are there any specific lessons you learned from working with Bob that you’ll carry forward to future albums?

Lee-la – Oh, for sure!

Dave - He’s a human being and on some days he took the current and flowed with it and other days he would go against the current. It’s hard to say or predict what Bob is going to bring into the room on any given day for any particular song. But I will say this - we started every day with an acoustic guitar and vocals for a song and we really just took the song and brought it right back to the roots and built from there. With Bob, he let us do all of the work and incorporate all of the ideas, but we started every song with the foundational elements, with the seeds of the song and it went from there. It was all instinct.

I think one of the wonderful things about the self titled album is that it was nominated for a JUNO award. I think that’s absolutely incredible, and congratulations on the nomination! How did you feel when that news came through?

Lee-la - We were on a plane in the air somewhere, getting from one show to another, and when we landed Tom was scrawling through his feed on Instagram when he came across the nomination, and that’s how we found out! At first we didn’t believe it, we thought it was a gag. You’d think that your manager or your label or someone would have noticed beforehand, but no, we found out like the rest of the world on Instagram and it was insane! It was a really, really crazy feeling. I remember jumping up and down and it was very, very cool! After that, it was kind of nuts because we went to the celebration, walked the red carpet and we felt very awkward! Everyone’s in their suits and there were girls that had sat for hours with their hair and make up, and you know, it’s not exactly who we are. We came dressed for the stage – that’s who we are! We felt like aliens but it was hilarious! It was all fun and games and we drank some good champagne!            

The Damn Truth have just signed with Frontiers Music SRL. To date the band have largely built your career yourselves. You haven’t been completely independent throughout the band’s history but I think it’s fair to say that you’ve largely been independent. So many artists are now turning to Frontiers. What does signing with Frontiers mean and how do you expect it to influence the growth of The Damn Truth?

PY - The main thing for us is that we’re going to be able to get wax and music into our fans hands across the pond much easier and a lot cheaper for them. The exorbitant shipping costs and all these issues with getting physical product across the pond had always bothered us. We would have to bring like eight extra suitcases with us all the time and people that wanted to order when we weren’t on tour had to order from a web store and it would cost an arm and a leg. We hated that! We don’t want people to spend a hard earned money on bullshit like fees. It’s going to be a lot easier. We’re going to be able to give them so many more cool products. We have four limited edition records coming out of the Deluxe Edition and without Frontiers it wouldn’t be possible. For a lot of fans, it’s really cool to have that collectible stuff. A lot of people have already pre-ordered it and Frontiers has made it a lot more possible for us.

Well as part of that partnership, and the great news for the fans, is that a deluxe edition of yourself titled album is gonna be released on September 11. I think there’s something quite fitting that ahead of the release that you would choose release The Willow as a single. It’s an epic track and for me, it’s a song about perseverance, stamina and fortitude, and it really reflects the spirit of a band that has spent more than a decade forging its own path, so there’s something quite poignant about it now being released as The Damn Truth begins a new chapter. To what extent is this song about the journey that the band has been on? 

Lee-La - The song was born many years ago and we don’t even know exactly when. We recorded it on an old phone and totally forgot about its existence. That phone died but just for it did, Tom passed it on to like a computer laptop MP3 and we completely forgot that it ever happened, where it was recorded and when it was born. It was just a guitar, the vocal, a stream of consciousness and just me like saying whatever came to my mind. We rediscovered it when we were going through the old hard drives, just sort of listening to all things. And then Tom said “listen to this!”, and I was like “Wow! I don’t remember recording it and I don’t remember singing it - I do not remember anything about the scenario!”, but I knew there was something there and I got so excited about it and I asked Tom to send it to Bob straight away but he was like “No way, it sounds like shit – we need to re-record it and make a new demo with a whole band in on it”. So we tried. We brought it to the studio but we couldn’t recreate that. I just thought we were wasting time and eventually I convinced Tom to send original demo. And when Bob got the song, that was the clincher for him. He was like “Okay, you’re ready. Let’s set a date for the recording”. But I don’t know what the hell it’s about, man! (Laughs!)          

I think what’s really interesting is that even following all the critical acclaim and the JUNO award nomination, you actually made the decision to remaster The Willow. There’s a sense there of the band striving for perfection. What was it about the original version that you weren’t happy with?

Dave - The radio. We remastered for the radio. The first master was the vinyl and then we decided to release it as a single post releasing the record, and we wanted to make it sound as best as we could on the radio.

Lee-la – I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that!

Dave - It’s different to master for vinyl than it is to master for radio, and we want people listening to our songs to get the best possible version.

Well let’s talk about The Damn Truth in a live setting. I’ve had the incredible good fortune to have seen the band perform on many occasions. This summer you have been trekking across Europe and will continue to do so throughout July before heading home to Canada for some dates in August and then returning to the UK for a number of headline shows, an appearance at the Stonedead Festival and then a whopping 19 dates across the UK and Europe with Europe as they celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Final Countdown album. Just focusing on the UK – and it’s interesting that you said fans come back show after show - I’ve seen the very special relationship that you have with the fans and it’s quite clear that they completely understand what The Damn Truth is all about. To what extent would you agree with that?

Lee-la - Oh, yeah! Absolutely! For us it’s the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll. And the UK have gotten it from the start. If you go back to The Beatles and The Stones and Zeppelin and all of our incredible inspirations, from the first show we ever did, from the tiniest London gig and going up and playing festivals – and we are very excited to be playing Stonedead – yeah, the UK audiences just get exactly what we are and who we are. It feels like they dig it and we are very, very grateful that they do.

PY – And we dig them!

What does it mean to be touring with Europe?

Lee-la - It’s an opportunity to play to a lot of people in a very short amount of time. We are there to conquer and make the best impression that we can. We are very, very lucky that Europe chose us to go on the road with them. We don’t take it lightly – we are extremely grateful – and we are very excited! When that call came in from management I got an email from Joey Tempest’s wife saying that she’s been a fan for years, ever since he heard Love Is Blindness, and that she was so excited that she is finally going to see us live because she’s never had the chance to. That blindsided me, the fact that she’s been listening , that she’s been a fan and that she’s excited. I thought that was really, really crazy for me.

PY - For me it’s a full circle moment because when I graduated high school, my friends and I rigged a stereo to an ATV with a car battery and we only put one song on for like 24 hours driving around my town and it was The Final Countdown! So for me, it’s crazy. It’s wild!