BEARINGS GO BACK TO THEIR ROOTS WITH NEW SINGLE “QUICK RELEASE” AND ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM COMFORT COMPANY
- Clara Gesulga
- Aug 27, 2025
- 4 min read
POP PUNK | POP ROCK | ALTERNATIVE ROCK
Ottawa band Bearings have released a new single titled “Quick Release” alongside a new music video, directed by Wyatt Clough to celebrate the announcement of their eagerly-anticipated fourth album Comfort Company, coming out November 7th via Pure Noise Records.
bearings have also just announced a string of headline shows in the USa throughout November, with support from bands house & home and Second harbour. Bearings will also be supporting as it is on their first usa headline shows in over six years the same month.
here, i will be covering all the juicy details of the bearings' "quick release" track and music video, their awaited upcoming album comfort company and how it came to be, some background on the band as well as everything we know so far about a special guest feature on the lp - a notorious voice in the pop punk scene.
The instant groovy bass-line and electric guitar riffs in “Quick Release” immediately paint the track as a catchy, upbeat pop rock tune, with words of self-questioning as musicians on tour. Their uncertainty of what their goals and purposes are within the industry ring through with each lyric.
“Everybody’s talking, I can't hear a single thing / I was easier before, but now I find it hard to think / Questioning the motive, don't you find it kind of weird? / We're all looking for a purpose, did you think that you would find it here?”
In a recent interview, Bearings frontman/vocalist Dougie Cousins spoke about the newly released single, expanding on its lyrical concept further.
“Quick Release for us embodies our time as a band. Years of hard work, years of touring different countries together, all the good and the bad. An acceptance of doing music - or really anything you love - just to do it, because it’s yours and because it’s what you love.”
Renowned in the pop-rock and post-hardcore scene, director Wyatt Clough was the visionary behind the music video for “Quick Release”. Throughout his career, Clough has directed videos for bands such as Silverstein, Beartooth and The Devil Wears Prada.
Set in a living room adjoined kitchen, the band bounces around the room playing their instruments to the song. Stylistic and fun, the colour palette used in this video clip is brightly saturated and wonderfully coordinated, adding a gorgeous retro feel to it.
Hailing from Ottawa, Canada, Bearings bestowed upon the pop rock scene with their debut EP Nothing Here Is Permanent in 2017, signing with label Pure Noise Records that same year. Frontman, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Dougie Cousins, bassist Collin Hanes, guitarist Ryan Culligan and drummer Mike McKerracher have since released three LPs and have played alongside bands such as Neck Deep, Set It Off, Less Than Jake and State Champs.
Comfort Company is an album reflective of the band’s experience in the quiet moments between adrenaline pumping live-sets, in the cramped and sometimes claustrophobic green rooms and the seemingly never-ending late night highway drives on tour, as the noise begins to soften and the thoughts start to rush in.
Cousins candidly described what inspired the writing on the upcoming LP. “A lot of the lyrics on the record are about being unsure of where you're at, wanting to maybe move on to something else.”
Cousins continues, “Maybe it's a full-time job, maybe it’s the next step in life or an actual change of scenery. Metaphorically, it just felt like the catalyst for looking ahead to something else.”
With Comfort Company, Bearings navigate their own shifting sense of purpose, place and identity with the help of producer Kyle Marchant, who has previously worked with bands/artists such as Silverstein and nothing, nowhere.
Marchant also assisted Bearings in some of the earlier sessions for LPs Nothing Here Is Permanent (2017) and Blue in the Dark (2018) in Toronto recording studio Room 21.
To bring things full-circle for the band, with Bearings’ upcoming release, not only did they revisit the basics in terms of sound, but also in terms of setting/studio space, returning to the familiar Room 21 for the production of the 10 track LP Comfort Company.
“Comfort Company is for us the record that feels like coming back home. Some songs we wrote at a cottage together, others came from a basement. They all started somewhere honest and ended up back at the studio where we did our first album in the East End of Toronto.” Cousins further explains.
“This album was working on music all day, walking to the beer store, then heading back to the windowless studio to relax before reading Kurt Vonnegut and eventually falling asleep on an air mattress. As we worked out what we wanted it to sound like, we found ourselves wanting to make music that felt natural to us, something that we knew we’d connect with and be able to spill out on stage when the time came to perform it.”
Bearings strip back it right back with their upcoming album Comfort Company, aiming for a more OG Bearings sound.
Guitarist Ryan Culligan touches on this subject. “On the last album, we really wanted to hone in on a consistent pop-punk sound through the record,” he says.
“We wanted to carry that over on this one but also bring a bit more rawness back into things and not have as many synths or extra sounds. Let’s have the four of us just play our instruments and be Bearings again.”
Long-time, new and potential Bearings fans, mark November 7th in your calendars as you won’t want to miss this album drop.
Fans of State Champs should also keep their eyes peeled, as I hear there may be a special guest vocalist by the name of Derek DiScanio on a “high-hat-and-bass-heavy” track called “Float Away”.
You can pre-order a Comfort Company vinyl or CD for your collection, or pre-save the album on all platforms here.
Comfort Company is due to release on November 7th via Pure Noise Records.
Watch the music video for “Quick Release” now, on YouTube.
