Doomed Confessionary: Kirsty Wells & Evan Joel (Franklin)

Franklin is a doom/sludge metal duo from Whitehorse in Yukon, Canada.

Franklin is the melodic, doomy, tension-building riff machine your nightmares have been waiting for. Formed in the bleak heart of the pandemic by Kirsty Wells (vocals, bass) and Evan Joel (drums, backing vocals), the two-piece grinds fuzz-drenched bass, raspy dual vocals, and drums that hit hard enough to make knuckles and ears bleed. It’s music that feels like the north: vast, desolate, and a little unhinged.

Born in a Yukon garage and forged in distortion, Franklin have quickly built a loyal following in the north, selling out local shows and tearing through festival stages. With a first Canadian tour and European showcase on the horizon, their debut album »decay« (out January 31st, 2026) marks a new chapter for the band.

Can you please say a few words about your band?
Evan: We’re FRANKLIN. We love speakers. We believe in being kind. We love dichotomy. We believe heavy music is cathartic. We love sharing and experiencing this with live audiences.

What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Evan: Living in a more remote location makes it difficult to get out and play in other cities, choosing to play a niche style of music in a small town makes it harder to find people who really enjoy your weird thing the way you do. We have lots of wonderful fans at home but it’s been great playing more shows in other cities with bands closer to our genre as it brings a crowd that is hungrier for the wall of sound we want to feed them.

Kirsty: All of that, and since we’re partners outside of the band, I would add that a big challenge is setting down FRANKLIN so that we can have couple-time, and vice-versa. It can be difficult to strike an effective balance.

What can you be most proud of so far?
Evan: FRANKLIN has had a long list of new challenges to overcome. We’re always learning how to do something new. Anyone who has released an album knows how frickin’ long it takes to do. We’re proud to have finally released our first record and have some sweet vinyl on the way. We’re doing things on our own in our own way. And it takes a long time sometimes, but its finally done and we are thrilled!

What was your biggest regret?
Evan: Not taking more time to practice my instrument on my own more. Not paying closer attention and keeping better contacts when touring when I was younger.

Kirsty: When I was a teenager, I didn’t have a lot of girls or women musicians in my life. I became really discouraged by the treatment and comments of my male peers. I put down my bass indefinitely and I stopped singing. I wish I had had the confidence to just say “fuck you” to all those chumps. It wasn’t until 2020 that I picked up my instrument and started trying to sing again, and my life is so much more enriched because of it. I say “fuck you” more now.

What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Kirsty: Massif Music Festival in Nelson BC; it’s an all-ages, all-heavy-music festival, and the energy is incredible there. It was our first bigger all ages show; during our set, a trans teenager crowd-surfed for the first time while wearing our merch, people were rage crying and shouting during Queens Revenge, and we had the festival’s firstever merch line up.

Evan: What they said. We also played a show at The Pit during Dawson City Music Fest last summer (2025). There was a line out the door, the venue was packed and it was the hottest day of the year. We were so sweaty and warm that we kept getting dizzy while playing but the energy of the crowd was amazing.

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Kirsty: How small and tight-knit the music scene is, and in that how much smaller still the Canadian scene and heavy genres scenes are. It seems like all our heroes and folks we look up to are only two degrees of separation away.

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Kirsty: Brutus, Gaupa, Big Brave, Spiritbox, Comeback Kid, Monolord, Worse, and Obscure Sphinx.

Evan: Yob, Conan, Black Breath, Anciients, Church Of Misery, Worse, Windhand, Chat Pile, Warthog, Melvins.

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Kirsty: More towards being a performer in general: all anyone is thinking when they see someone on a stage is either “I could never do that!” or “I wish I could do that!”, so stop worrying about what others are thinking and just have fun performing.

What are your guilty pleasures?
Kirsty: Marshmallows of all varieties. Pimple popping videos.

Evan: When Kirsty and I started hanging out we would go to a store like Walmart and hide rubber chickens under big bags of dogfood. When someone else comes along and picks up the bag the chicken falls out and screams. I find it far funnier than I should to think of someone finding one by accident.

Can you say something more about the current music scene in Yukon?
Kirsty: It’s small but mighty, but we need more women and gender diverse folks in the northern heavy music scene. Because we’re from a small, remote town it also means that show bills can often be of pretty mixed genres, which makes for interesting audiences and in our case, a lot of polarity in their opinions about us, haha.

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Evan: Northern and Western Canada, and *hopefully* eastern Canada and Europe.

What are your plans for the future as a band?
Kirsty & Evan: See how far we can take this thing! We’ve surpassed many of our first goals and are having a blast. We want to write more music and play more shows. Touring Europe, playing some bigger metal festivats and working on a second album are top of the list.

How can people best support your band?
Kirsty & Evan: Tell your friends about us! Share us on your social media! Let us know if you like our music! Come to our shows! Buy our things on Bandcamp! Stream our music!

Do you have any message for your listeners?
Kirsty & Evan: Make noise – speak out against oppressive systems, especially if you come from any place of privilege.

Be kind – it’s free and human.

Have fun – because otherwise, what’s the point?

Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well