EMERG chat "Star Song", Beginnings, and an Exciting 2026

EMERG might be one of my favourite discoveries of 2026 so far. With all members being under the age of 20, their new single, "Star Song" is an ode to one thought: it's only up from here.

Bringing back nostalgia, ambition, and a refreshing sense of clarity - EMERG is the St Catharine band rising from the rock greats who came before them. With all that is yet to come for the band, jumping on board the EMERG train at this moment in their careers feels like a best kept secret waiting to burst at the seams.

We got to chat with EMERG about their new single "Star Song" and life in music so far.

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Congratulations on such a great song! Can you tell us a little bit more about the band and how you got together? 

Hey! We’re glad you enjoyed Star Song! We are a band from St.Catharines, Ontario who consists of members all under 20! We are ambitious and dream big and are full of grit and want to go the distance. We have an intense following in our hometown, full of loyal fans who invest and believe in us. Mitch and Colton got playing together originally and quickly realized there was something special between them. They ran quickly, asking everyone they knew, trying to find people to round out their line-up. Gavin came first and Sammy came later to round out the team. We praise all those friends who connected us together, they are responsible for starting this! 

What were your inspirations behind “Star Song”? 

Well I (Gavin) wrote the song under a bridge near my house. I went for a smoke (don’t tell my mom) and the opening line came to mind “spit in the cracks to get rid of the head rush, nothing works as good as this does” and then things began from there. It was actually my mom who gave me a bit of advice for the second verse. I told her I was writing about the stars and she said “say something along the lines of how one day we will be a star kinda thing” once she put that in my head the second verse, everything began to flow perfectly. It has an interesting story behind the lyrics but musically it originated from a jam session. There wasn’t a particular band or artist we were trying to emulate, we just started jamming and built from the ground up. 

“Star Song” sits in that space between confidence and uncertainty. How do you personally navigate that balance as young artists stepping into a bigger future?

We don’t really know what is going to work because we don’t have tons of experience like 98% of the music scene around us. It's kind of trial and error and throwing it at the wall and hoping it sticks. To say that we have been pretty lucky to get this far is a big thing for us. We just really try our best and put our best foot forward because that is really all we can do at this stage.

What does “Star Song” symbolise to you in the trajectory of your careers? 

Star song is a tune that we wrote for anyone who has a dream or a vision of what they want in life. The main message is that the sky is the limit and anything is possible if you really put your mind to it. It symbolizes that there is a lot of potential in us as a band and being able to see it and really go for it is a badge we really wear on our sleeves. It’s all about going the distance for us and Star Song symbolizes hope and is the beam of light we need to guide us to go the distance.  

You’ve already gained recognition from Steve Kirstein of The Glorious Sons, how did that come about? 

We ran into Steve at a local show and we got talking! He recognized Gavin from when he got called up on stage with The Glorious Sons a year prior. Everything else followed from there! 

You’ve described the song as both wishing on stars and doing the work. Was there a specific moment in your journey where that idea really clicked for you?

All throughout our music career up until this point, there have been many challenges that we have had to overcome. We work very hard day in and day out, doing everything that we can to succeed as a band. When we started the writing of this next album and Sammy had just joined the band and we had all collectively agreed we were in it for the long run things seemed to change. We agreed that our past works of Vol II and Vol I, as good as they turned out, were showing signs of prematureness. We wrote and recorded them when every single one of us was in high school and under 18. This sophomore record marks the beginning of adulthood for us or at the very least the beginning of a greater transition between adolescence and adulthood. Star Song sort of plays on that instinct of dreaming big as a kid, but how many of those dreams go unfulfilled? Those who can translate those manifestations from your childhood into adulthood and not give up on them have something good going and we hope to do the same. 

What do you hope to change in the genre of rock that you don’t currently see in the industry? 

We want to give a chance to all the young bands that want to make it big just like we do. There are so many young bands that have HUGE potential and meet every criterion that a good band needs but the only thing holding them back is people not taking them seriously. It’s unfortunate that people will turn a blind eye to a young band with a lot of potential merely because of their age. We feel age is just a number, if the band is good, makes good music and people like what they’re doing, they should be given a fair chance no matter what. 

You’ve deliberately moved away from traditional release models with your non-linear storytelling. What excites you about doing things differently?

There is a certain level of pride we carry about wanting to break the mold. Of course, we do a lot of things other bands are doing but we always try to do our own thing when we can. There is a level of excitement that comes with trailblazing your own destiny, and we have the liberty to do so! We want to be the pioneers of something new, the experimenters, the musical scientists! 

You’ve already put out an album, and various singles in the time that you’ve been a band. What is the best piece of advice that you’ve received so far? 

The best piece of advice we have received is simply staying consistent. In a world where attention spans are deteriorating by the minute and people crave more and more content by the second, staying consistent with your fan base is important. Providing them with quality music and content, content that can be enjoyed by both parties, the consumer and producer, is crucial. We want to make sure we are always delivering the highest quality of art we can achieve. 

In an era dominated by digital trends and pop-leaning sonics, what keeps you grounded in classic rock values while still feeling current?

In an era that is dominated by digital trends, the main thing that keeps us grounded in our classic rock values is working hard and practicing every single day. Unlike most musicians nowadays, we put in classic hard work that adds a different element to our music. We play loud and rock out with each other every time we step foot into the practice facility or step on stage. We stay grounded in our beliefs by trying as hard as we can and making music that we enjoy and others can too! 

Your live shows are known for being deeply interactive. What does that shared energy with the crowd mean to you?

It means something special to us and it means that we are forming a relationship with our fan base which is incredibly important to us. Whether it’s an individual who has attended every show we have played or someone’s first show, we want our show to create a connection every time. We feed off of that energy the crowd provides and we are very fortunate to have a crowd who brings energy, it’s a very special thing to us and something we don’t take for granted. 

What does success actually look like for EMERG right now — has that definition changed since the beginning?

Right now success looks like finishing, releasing and touring our sophomore record that we are working on. We are putting in incredible amounts of work into every aspect and it is certainly going to be a long process. It’s easy enough to say success is a headlining world tour (which of course it is), but it’s important to us to take things one win at a time. When we complete this record we want to get it in the ears of some really important people and start opening for some bigger names as a result. That would be success certainly. The definition has changed since the beginning for sure, the goal from the start was to play our first show and we thankfully long past that. We are taking things one win at a time! 

“Star Song” feels like a marker in time. When you look back on this moment years from now, what do you hope it represents?

We hope it represents our origin story. Despite us not being able to see in the future, the overall consensus between everyone is this song will be one that catalyzes some important things to happen for us. When we wrote Star Song (and Band Tee as well), we really felt like something clicked. That’s not to say any of our previously released material we weren’t confident with, but the feeling this time around was different. We were filled with more grit and ambition. This entire next record feels that way and Star Song is the catalyst for these big things to come.