Joe Lapinski Soars With Defiant Clarity On "Hurt A Bird'

With his latest single Hurt A Bird, Joe Lapinski unleashes a blistering and deeply moving song that takes aim at bigotry, cruelty, and the unkindness leveled at transgender and non-binary youth. Based in St. Catharines, Ontario, Lapinski has long been a key figure in Canada’s independent music landscape, but this track marks one of his most pointed and emotionally raw releases to date. Drawing from the edgy, angular sounds of late '70s and early '80s New Wave with a punk heart beating beneath the surface, Hurt A Bird is at once a cry of outrage and a call to arms—urging listeners to rise above hate by embracing empathy, love, and acceptance.

Lapinski wrote the song during a particularly frustrating moment. "It was a day when a group of so-called adults were standing outside a school, shouting about bathrooms and pronouns, trying to make life harder for transgender and non-binary students," he says. "It made me furious. These are young people who are just trying to figure themselves out, and to have grownups in their own neighborhoods reducing them to some kind of threat—it’s appalling." That sense of indignation, sharpened by a protective instinct and a fierce love for those most vulnerable, cuts through every second of Hurt A Bird.

The track was co-produced with Dave Clark, whose credits include Rheostatics and Gord Downie’s Country of Miracles. Clark helped Lapinski distill his initial longer version into something lean and electrifying. The result is a track that wastes no time. Clocking in at just under three minutes, Hurt A Bird takes flight on a wave of Elvis Costello-flavored synth stabs and an XTC-style bassline, delivering its message with laser precision. The arrangement feels urgent, but never chaotic—Clark’s influence is felt in the song’s efficient pacing, ensuring that every beat, every note, every word matters.

"This was a transformative project for me," Lapinski says. "Dave pushed me to get to the essence of what I wanted to say. The final version is what happens when you trim away the excess and speak with clarity. It’s a no-frills New Wave rock song that punches hard and doesn’t let up."

Lapinski is no newcomer to music that matters. As a songwriter, performer, producer, and sound designer, his body of work spans genres and moods. His solo projects exist alongside collaborations with adventurous outfits like Minuscule and The Woodshed Orchestra. He also runs the WOW! Recording Studio & Creative Music Space in St. Catharines, where he continues to foster creativity in others while evolving his own artistry.

Hurt A Bird is the first glimpse into Lapinski’s forthcoming album, New Day, due out in June 2025. Like the single, the full-length project was co-produced with Dave Clark and explores layered themes of personal identity, community, family, trauma, and love. If Hurt A Bird is any indication, New Day won’t shy away from confrontation—but it will meet it not with bitterness, but with a hard-won clarity and tenderness. It’s an album that promises not just to look inward, but to cast its gaze across the cultural landscape with a steady, unflinching eye.

What sets Lapinski apart is not only his musicality, but his ability to cut through the noise with purpose. Hurt A Bird is a protest song for now—a fierce musical statement that refuses to let hatred go unchecked. And yet, at its core, it offers hope: the hope that through compassion and courage, people can rise above their fear and learn to protect the most vulnerable among us.

With this new release, Joe Lapinski is not just making music. He’s making it count, one note at a time.