Burden
Burden was Vancouver’s first straight-edge band, and probably one of the first to bring a hint of new school hardcore into the local scene. At the time, there really wasn’t much to brag about in the western Canadian hardcore. All the attention was given to Ontario. But Burden was one of the bands who changed that.
Burden’s first demo, “Chosen Path”, came out in 1997, in various pressings and covers. Their first ep “Strength of Conviction” came out in 1999 on Faith, Hope and Charity Records. This ep would be re-released in 2000 by Spawner Records (in Canada) and also on Bad Man Records (in Europe). This re-issue would contain the demo as bonus tracks. In 1999 the band also had it’s only exclusive song on a compilation, which would be a cover of The Misfits, We Bite.
In 2001, the band would finally come in contact with Dead Serious Recordings, who would release everything from the band forth. The band took two songs from their upcoming LP and one song from their ep, to do a split release with Automatic from Kentucky. Their first and only full length, “If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything”, was released in 2001 on Spawner Records (Canada) and Dead Serious (Europe). This got them to tour western Europe. And the band did tour for the next few years. Upon their final time in Europe, Dead Serious would release the bands final ep “With Every Step Forward”. This would never get to see the light in North America however. The band played a final show on March 13th, 2004 in Vancouver.