Vancouver’s New Rock Guard in 2026

Vancouver has always punched above its weight in rock, and in 2026 the city’s new guard is keeping the tradition alive. Beyond the festival stages of Khatsahlano and Music Waste, a fresh crop of guitar bands is doing the unglamorous work of building a following one club show at a time. Two of them are worth putting on your radar now.

Chase The Bear

Chase The Bear are the closest thing the city has to a breakout-in-waiting. The high-energy rock and roll sextet, signed to Rock Is Dead Records and 604 Records, is fronted by brothers Troy and Leo Gilmore and has logged more than 200 shows across Canada and the Pacific Northwest. Rival Sons singer Jay Buchanan has publicly called Troy one of the best rock and roll singers in the country.

After their 2023 debut album Honey, a run of 2024 and 2025 singles, and the Demons EP, the band opened 2026 with the single Isolation and a slot at NXNE in Toronto. They are the kind of band that sounds built for a much bigger room than the ones they are currently filling.

Brass Camel

Brass Camel work a different, heavier seam of the same city. A regular name on Vancouver bills, including festival lineups curated by Zulu Records, the band trades in psych-tinged blues rock with the kind of groove that rewards a live crowd. They were the first artist The Next Radio profiled from Brian Heason’s pipeline, and they remain one of the most reliable live draws in the local scene.

A city that keeps producing

Vancouver’s strength has never been a single sound. It is the depth of the circuit, the festivals, the record shops and the rooms that let bands like these grow. Chase The Bear and Brass Camel are two answers to the same question every Vancouver music fan should be asking in 2026: who is next. Catch them while the rooms are still small.