Montreal-based alt punk band Family Man are known for their high energy live shows and unfiltered sound. They’ve just released their latest single, “Overload,” so we caught up with them once again, this time to chat about the new music, some of their weirdest gigs, global domination, and why they’ll be wearing helmets the next time they tour Europe. 

From The Strait: ⁠Tell us about the new single, “Overload”.

Family Man: “Overload” is the sound of panic creeping in through the cracks. It’s what it feels like when your body keeps moving but your brain wants out. When everything’s loud, fast, disconnected—but you’re still expected to perform, to smile, to survive.

This track plays out like a panic attack in real time. The phrase “glass worn out” keeps resurfacing like a trigger. An image of something fragile, splintered, about to break. The repetition isn’t random, it’s compulsive, obsessive. It mirrors the way fear loops inside your head, how the smallest thing can send your entire nervous system spiraling.

At the heart of it is a question that never really gets answered: “Is this breathing?” That line isn’t metaphorical. it’s literal. When you’re overwhelmed, even the most basic functions, like breathing, can feel alien, threatening, stolen from you.

The lines, “I cross my chest I hold it low / And in the end it’s all for show,” are an admission that most of what we present to the world is performance. Strength, composure, clarity, all of it can be theater when you’re living in overload.

This song isn’t about resolution. It’s about endurance.

From The Strait: ⁠How would you describe your sound to anyone who hasn’t heard your music yet?

Family Man: I think Family Man has always been on a mission to change our sound. Obviously we have found something within the group that is cohesive, but something we have long stood by, is that we all come from various different musical backgrounds and it shows in the writing.

The music is aggressive, no doubt, but we always like to sweeten the bitterness so to speak. Throw a little sonic splenda on the top. This can be heard in the bridge of Overload as an example. I go from listening to Knocked Loose, Thank, and Crack Cloud, to Kacey Musgraves, Whitney, and Bon Iver (his more modern electronic driven music has been a huge inspiration).

Look, I’m rambling here, but I like to think of our sound as expansionary. If you like a little bit of everything, that’s what you’re going to get with us. You’ll really begin to hear this in our upcoming releases. We are taking on our biggest musical compositions yet.

From The Strait:Most bands have a specific way they put songs together – what’s the usual Family Man songwriting/creative process?

Family Man: Nine times out of ten, it starts with myself (Conner) throwing a bassline or a guitar part down on my computer in my basement. If I don’t have a complete song within 45 minutes, I throw it out and move on to the next thing. At that point, if I like it, I’ll bring it to the band.

From then on, we completely tear the song apart and build it back together. Rearranging, new compositions, new parts, the whole bit is done collaboratively. We all level each other out when it comes to writing. I have a particular affinity to writing fragmented song parts, and the guys come in as the glue that keeps everything together.

From The Strait:⁠What was the coolest (and/or weirdest… we like weird) live show you’ve ever played?

Family Man: We’ve played some weird, and I mean WEIRD shows… though I don’t think we’ve ever had one I would call bad. The first that comes to mind was when we were asked to go play a venue out in the Eastern Townships. We are a punk band through and through. You’re getting 45 minutes out of us at the max before our eyes are bloody with sweat, and the stage has collapsed. When we arrived, we were asked who our opener was going to be as there needed to be two hours of music. None of this was relayed to us in advance. We were horrified. I mean pretty upset too as, like I said, we simply weren’t told this, but moreso, just in a daze about what we would do.

Enter Josh Mcleod, our savior. This guy managed to scrape through an hour long set of covers that he hadn’t played in probably 5 years. We then tacked on a 10 minute noise improvisation part to our set, much to the venue owner’s chagrin, and then we blew the roof off the place. So for any venue owners out there who might be listening to this, tell the fucking bands you’re inviting to play exactly what you’re expecting, because most local original bands, only have an hour long set prepped at the most.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t include the show we played in Red Deer, AB on our latest tour in here. It was a halloween show and there were furries, and nurses and everything else in between on the dancefloor. The highlight were the nuns who started twerking during our set. I wasn’t aware that our music was twerk-to-able, but you know what, we had a good chuckle and they were having a blast which is all we could ask for.

From The Strait:You’ve been keeping incredibly busy with releases, shows, general global domination… what’s next?

Family Man: Is there anything more than Global Domination? Do you need more than that?

Okay I’m kidding. We have some more releases coming up and then 2026 is really shaping up to be a massive year for Family Man Global Chemical Company Limited. We’ve got an LP that’s slated to come out in the spring, and extensive touring to boot. We pride ourselves on our live show and we absolutely love touring. It’s the most fun aspect of doing this whole band thing. We get to meet incredible people all over the world, and it’s truly the most rewarding thing any of us have done in our lives so we can;t wait to meet all of you.

From The Strait:What is one question you wish you were asked in an interview? (And what’s your answer to it?)

Family Man: What’s the most disastrous thing that’s happened to you while touring?

The answer: three days straight on our last European tour were hellish. Started with Bryan accidentally shaving his head. Moved on to British Airways losing Bryan’s bag with all of his clothes…and all of our power cables…and we didn’t realize until we got to our soundcheck in Lyon. Followed up by nearly missing our train to Belgium the next day, but miraculously making it in time, only to have the entire lighting stand on stage come tumbling down on top of Bryan and Josh Mcleod mid song (we recovered). And shortly after that, Bryan got mugged on the street and had his phone stolen.

All that being said, we cannot wait to get back to Europe. We’ll just be wearing helmets the entire time.

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Check out “Overload,” the new single from Family Man!

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