Like many musicians, Story Untold frontman Janick Thibault got his start on YouTube. As a teenager, he posted several videos of himself performing vocal and guitar covers of his favourite pop punk and rock songs.
Today, Story Untold is a five-member pop-punk band signed to Hopeless Records with an album and a Vans Warped Tour under their belt.
“I’m a pretty shy person in real life, and I thought that YouTube was a good way for me to start expressing myself through music,” Thibault said on his beginnings.
As his audience grew, so did his desire to be in a band. He started his first band, Amasic, with a few of his friends who were already in a band but looking for a lead singer.
“We were looking for a singer—he was looking for a band, so we decided to form an actual band,” said Jessy Bergy, a long-time Story Untold bandmate. Bergy, the band’s guitarist, has known Thibault since they were both in elementary school.
Amasic went through a few changes with their line-up. They also started to focus on making more original music, rather than being a pop-punk cover band.
At the same time that they got signed in 2016, the band changed their name to “Story Untold.”
The past two years have presented many opportunities for Story Untold. One of their first major tours was an opening slot with Simple Plan.
As fellow Francophones from Montreal, the two bands connected very well. Story Untold was able to use the touring experience as a mentorship opportunity.
“Stay true to who you are, honestly. Just be nice,” bassist Aiden Von Rose said. The group generally regarded Simple Plan as “down-to-earth” guys who taught them the importance of being humble and kind when presenting themselves.
This past February, Story Untold released their first full-length album, Waves, which the group describes as having launched their career to broad success in the pop punk scene.
“It took us to so many places. Like we did Warped Tour, we did our first U.K. tour—we did more than we expected, to be honest. We’re very grateful,” Thibault said.
This summer, Story Untold was included in the line-up of the final Vans Warped Tour, playing every single stop of the tour. The group says Warped was the best tour they have ever done, and it was a bucket list achievement.
They added that the tour was challenging because they had to do lots of driving in a small tour van—but it was very rewarding.
“It was really crowded and tiny, and we had like no sleep at all,” Von Rose said.
“The experience we got from it, being the last Warped Tour and our very first as a band, was just super sick and unbelievable.”
Of the many rewarding highlights of being on Warped Tour, the group got to meet loyal fans who had never been able to see them perform live. They also had many interactions with bands they look up to.
Von Rose said one of his all-time favourite bands is Mayday Parade, who also played the entire tour.
On one of the dates, Mayday Parade’s guitarist, Alex Garcia, watched Story Untold’s set from the crowd, something Von Rose considers a major highlight.
Thibault describes the crowds and long lines. “Every day was different, and it was just awesome to see people showing up every day,” he said.
“It just turned out to be fucking awesome—we’re very grateful we had the chance to do it. Even if it was hard, I think we can all say that we’d do it all over again,” he added.
After Warped Tour, Story Untold joined With Confidence, a pop-punk band from Australia, for their first tour overseas. After that, they were joined by several other pop-punk bands, including Like Pacific, Roam, and Ottawa natives Bearings, for an American tour.
They’re currently playing their final shows of 2018 in Ontario and Quebec with Toronto rock band Selfish Things.
After an early January tour with Rhode Island-based pop-punk band Makeout, Story Untold plans to take a break and figure out what project they’re going to work on next.
“We have a better understanding of what we want, and I think we’re going to try to just stick to it and do our best to make something wonderful,” Thibault said.
Photo by Jeff Pelletier
