For Vancouver four piece DOUR, the recording of a first LP (AGORA) could not have been more emotionally draining. Any musician will tell you that taking those steps towards a debut album are taxing. However, the passing of bassist Gabe Jacob Ferman earlier this year (2026) completely turned what should have been a euphoric experience on its head.
The relationship between singer Zak and Gabe is fundamental to the band’s former identity and their origin story.
I met Gabe at the local downtown skate plaza when we were younger, maybe 2020, we just skated all day and became good friends from then on and then I discovered he was an amazing bassist so we started to play. Patrick saw us play a show with our old drummer at buddas on east hastings, which soon after we needed someone new and Patrick Hamil answered the call. We had basically been a band for 2-3 years writing and conceptualizing and witnessing the drastic changes around us in day-to-day life. The music began reflecting that, so we leaned into it.
And how important is that connection to their beginnings in relation to the bands current sound and identity?
Living the struggle here is definitely part of the sound, it’s something we feel and share collectively. Places like 109 east hasting “Buddas” and green auto. RIP 648 Kingsway, by the way. There’s a good scene here, we’ve both been in and out of it over the last couple years. Once we started getting more opening gigs at bigger venues our place locally shifted. But we still play local shows within core parts of the scene from time to time
But these locations aren’t essential to how we do this, the record is taking a larger photo than the city we live in. It’s more of an international or global snapshot of humanity and what we’ve experienced for the past 5 years.
The record itself draws on a wealth of post-punk and new wave influences, very much in the vein of Joy Division and Interpol. There are also shades of Fontaines D.C.’s second album A Hero’s Death with the thick and murky post-punk textures. Zak suggests that the album encapsulates the pluralities of the bands sound from across the musical spectrum.
I feel that each song is definitive in its own way. They all sit well within the narrative and express different perspectives that elaborate and embellish upon it.
That narrative is a distrust and frustration with modern life. Across AGORA, the band sketch a stark view of contemporary life, shaped by technological saturation, social detachment, and the erosion of self.
Their worldview is anxious and Gabe’s passing will not have eased that anxiety.
(Adjusting to Gabe’s loss has been) Painful, tiresome, hopeful, exciting, challenging, uncertain. Playing the song Mundies reminds me of Gabe the most, I think, but I am looking forward to our next evolution.
That next evolution is coming sooner than you may think.
We’re hoping to have the opportunity to tour Europe next year. As of right now, we’ve got one more festival to go at the end of summer. And were basically taking time to heal, reconvene, and start working and writing the next album.
That next album will feature original member Zak, alongside Doug Pocasangre on drums, Bronwyn O’Keeffe on bass, and Jose Norena Miguel on guitar
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