Interview with Jeremy Straker, bassist of Gnwarhwal

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

Both sides of my family are pretty musical, I grew up seeing and hearing guitars and pianos at family events and we usually had a beater guitar in the house. Parents were really supportive and got me my first electric. Also, my dad loves music and always had decent dad rock music playing in the house throughout my childhood. If I had not gotten into music…I’d probably still be doing something artistic, like drawing or painting. Without music as a constant distraction I’d probably be living a more financially successful, career driven, and dull life.

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

If I’m not playing music, I’m usually thinking about it in some way-I love thrift shopping for records, finding new bands on my old university radio station CJSW, or coming up with side project ideas. Also obsessed with gear-currently have a couple Fender guitars I’m piecing together. Living where we do its easy to get outside and find stuff to do/relax on the water or out in the woods so most of us take advantage of that. Most of us take psychedelics while we’re out there and that’s always good for creativity.

How long has your band been around?

During COVID one thing we could legally do socially was hang out in a small group and play music. Most of the band started playing mostly stoner rock covers once a week in late 2020 and I think by late 2021 we’d established our band name, current line-up, and had a handful of originals.

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

We are based out of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Small territorial capital of about 20,000 people up in sub-arctic Canada. I’m not sure if where we live really influences our sound but living in a small city that is cold and dark for most of the year, its important to have projects and creative outlets to stay sane so we all look forward to weekly band practice.

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

Gnarwhal was actually a joke band name I came up with several years ago, the result of a group chat with my friends trying to come up with most “northern” band name.

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

Our last set at Yellowknife’s Folk on the Rocks music festival in 2022. It was the biggest crowd we’d played in front of and for a lot of people it was the first music festival they’d been to since before COVID-you could really feel their enthusiasm, live music had been missed. The Electric Highway festival at Dickens in Calgary, AB that we played recently-that was the first festival we’ve played that had a common genre/theme/feel. It was really cool to meet and watch similar bands and also hear from people we met that they had heard of us, liked our songs, and were looking forward to seeing us play.

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

Being a newer band from an isolated city like Yellowknife, we really haven’t played many shows south but its always a blast to play at Dickens or Vern’s in Calgary, AB. We’re hoping to play shows in cities that we haven’t yet soon, that are somewhat quick and easy for us to fly to, like Edmonton and Vancouver.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

Oh man, so many bands…maybe a lineup of all the bands we used to cover before we wrote originals…like Queens of the Stone Age, Fu Manchu, Tool, Clutch, Torche, Truckfighters…we’re all fans of Elder, too. We’d open for Elder.

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

I’d say, to both, is playing music with other people is the best way to improve your playing. Also challenge yourself regularly, every practice pick something to work on, technically or vocally.

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

Sing more. Work on being a better singer.

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

“Ember Sky Ash”. I think it was the strongest, best layered song that we recorded on our first album and we’ve closed most of our shows with it.

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

Right now I’d say “Tides” and “Altered States” are my favourite to play. Actually, we haven’t even played “Altered States” live. We haven’t reached song request status yet but I’ve heard a few people say “Ember Sky Ash” is their favourite song.

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

Usually, Benji comes up with and records a rough instrumental demo track and shares it with the band. We get familiar with it, start jamming it, add our influences, Mark adds lyrics, and it doesn’t take many takes before we have it arranged.

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

Honestly, we have not really had any serious disagreements. Probably our biggest disagreements have been over missed practices but those are usually made up for. Voting seems to work for most decisions we’ve had to make. Pretty drama free…so far.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

Yessss we have our EP release party at the end of May, we’ll be playing a couple sets at the Folk on the Rocks music festival here in July, and a handful of new song material we’re hoping to record by the end of the year!

Gnarwhalband.com | Facebook.com/gnarmusic | Instagram.com/gnarwhalsounds | Youtube.com/@gnarwhalband | Soundcloud.com/gnarwhalband

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Lyric Video - Tides -

Lyric Video - Altered States -