The trio, which formed after the end of middle school, now have two albums under their belt and a third releasing next year.
Photo via https://www.freezethefallband.com.
Kelowna metal band Freeze the Fall won the Metal & Hard Music Artist of the Year award at the 2026 Western Canadian Music Awards.
The three piece band consists of Quinn Mitzel (vocals and guitar), Jonah Goncalves (drums), and Aria Becker (bass and backup vocals). They currently have two albums (Thrones and The Red Garden) and are working on a third slated for release in 2027.
The next album’s single, “Crescents and the Torch,” recently released on all platforms.
Freeze the Fall was not expecting to win anything at the awards, said Becker, so they didn’t attend the ceremony.
“There’s just so many amazing artists who were nominated for this award,” Mitzel said. “But we’re very honoured…. We work with so many local people, especially on our team, so it’s also a big win for them and to just show local people can accomplish something like that. We’re not from Toronto or Vancouver or anything like that. We’re just from Kelowna. It’s pretty cool.”
The band formed four years ago, when Mitzel reached out to Becker on their last day of middle school “because we’d seen each other carrying out instruments or wearing band t-shirts that we thought were cool,” Mitzel said.
Goncalves joined the group after Becker saw him playing a solo gig in downtown Kelowna, and invited him to join.
Initially, Freeze the Fall performed covers before they began writing original songs. Becker said she was drawn to metal since it was music her dad listened to, and because she started playing bass by learning songs from Bring Me The Horizon. To Mitzel, the spirit of rebellion was a major appeal.
“I think there’s such beauty in like rock and metal music in that, it’s similar to hip hop in that the core of it is rebellion, and this love for art and self expression…. I fell in love with that.
“I always wanted to be in a band,” said Mitzel. “It was my dream since I was like, 10 [or] 11 years old, but I knew that I wanted to write original music.… We started with covers not because we wanted to be a cover band, that was never something we wanted to do, [but], we didn’t know each other, [and] creating art is a very vulnerable thing.
“You’re not just going to go into a room with a stranger and be ‘Okay, here’s my deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings, let’s write about it.’”
None of them imagined that they would win a National Award when they started. “When I started jamming with you guys, the only thing I had on my mind was, ‘I can’t believe I’m playing music with people my age,’ never did I think beyond that. That was enough for me.” Becker said.
Goncalves, who has been playing since he was 12 or 13, says he was always playing with older musicians. “I was so lucky to meet them because they kind of had the same level of passion for music that I did at that age,” he said.
Those interested in listening to Kelowna’s up and coming metal band can find them on all social media platforms as Freeze the Fall and can sign up for their mailing list on their website.
