Trans-rights focused band Chaser plays Purple City Music Festival

On September 6, Edmonton-based transgender-rights focused band, Chaser played the Starlite Room as part of 2025’s Purple City Music Festival. Chaser brought their mathy metallic queercore music and recently released first single to Temple Stage.

Consisting of Cara Ford, Ayla La’Pierre, Artemis Peaslee, and Molly Rott, Chaser had its first performance in December 2024. From the get-go, reception to Chaser was “phenomenal” and “better than we could have ever hoped,” Peaslee said. 

According to Peaslee, people were excited at the concept of a hard-core band that focuses on trans struggles. Peaslee noted that three out of four of the members identify as transfeminine and “there aren’t a lot of queer people in the hard-core scene that are in bands.” 

“For there to be all of a sudden this band that is all queer, that was kind of crazy. People were just already so excited before we started,” Peaslee said.

Recent single draws inspiration from Franco of Cologne and the life experience of transwomen

Tha band’s first single “Fuck Franco” was released June 28, 2025. According to Peaslee, “it’s been a long time coming.”

“Fuck Franco” was one of the first songs Chaser wrote when the band got together, Peaslee said. Unlike many of Chaser’s other early songs which got thrown out or retooled, the final version of “Fuck Franco” “has remained largely the same.”

The song title’s namesake Franco is not a personal acquaintance of any of the band members. In fact, Franco is not even from this century or the last. Rather, the original inspiration for the title comes from Franco of Cologne, a thirteenth-century German music theorist known for his contribution to rhythmic notation. Mathcore — the genre of music that Chaser plays — is known for its embrace of irregular time signatures.

“It’s one of our most fun songs to play,” Peaslee said.

Beyond being an insult to Franco of Cologne, the song is also about the experiences of trans women.  While writing the song, Peaslee made a reference to an episode of Clone High, an animated series originally from 2002. In the aptly named episode “Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand,” the characters are forced to climb a rope of sand. Rott connected the idea of a rope made of sand, and wanted to use it as a lyric.

“She really connected to that imagery because it’s kind of a metaphor for the journey that you make as a trans woman. You’re just constantly making this impossible climb up this rope made of sand. You have no way of actually getting up. You keep falling.”

Chaser releasing new music “very, very soon,” Peaslee says

Chaser began playing shows well before releasing their first single. The band played their first show at the Aviary in December for the 10-year anniversary for the band Vibes. It was an opportunity Chaser couldn’t pass up, Peaslee said.

“We spent … a long time not having any recorded material out. But now that we do there’s a lot more opportunities out there for us which is so exciting.”

“Fuck Franco” will not stand as a lone single for much longer. According to Peaslee, a new song is coming out “very, very soon” with a hopeful release date planned for November. Following that release, Chaser is planning to take a short break to record the rest of the songs written since the band’s inception.

“[We’re] coming to 2026 with lots of new material and lots of songs to come out.”