WARM Unleash Debut Album “Death Ron”

What is born of a DIY ethos shall inevitably return to its roots. This has at least been the case with WARM, a Vancouver based four piece who have existed in some form since 2017 and have now released their debut 2023 full length, Death Ron, via Early Onset Records. The album tests the limits of volume, clarity and minimalism through a sonic lens that invokes legacy artists like Archers of Loaf, Polvo, North of America or Silkworm.

WARM are DIY in virtually every sense: they make their own gear, record and mix their own music and have even undertaken the event organization for a great number of their shows over the years. It goes without saying that they also design their own merch. Rhythm guitarist & lead vocalist Chris Merrell has been a pillar of Vancouver’s DIY community for over a decade, founding one of Vancouver’s longest standing DIY and afterhours venues, 333, in late 2012. Shortly thereafter, lead guitarist Errol West opened a recording studio at the same location, beginning a collaboration between Merrell and West that eventually led to WARM.

The collaborative history of all of WARM’s members dates back over a decade too. Briefly housemates and then studio mates after that, Merrell and Jeronimo collaborated in past Vancouver acts such as Sunearther and Silver Skeleton Band. Merrell and Churchill have maintained a periodic presence in Vancouver’s DIY punk and metal community with blackened screamo project Balance, and Merrell, West, and Churchill all briefly performed and released several emotive tension laden EPs under the moniker Teeth Dreams.