Doomed Confessionary: Benji Straker (Gnarwhal)
Gnarwhal, a genre-defying quartet from Yellowknife, Canada, blends heavy alternative rock with progressive metal and doom grooves. Influenced by Mastodon, The Sword, Elder, and King Buffalo, their music spans classic fuzz to contemporary heavy rock, with nods to ’90s grunge.
Their debut album »Gnarwhal« earned awards and nominations, and they’ve shared stages with notable acts, establishing themselves in Canadian rock. With an innovative sound, they’re making waves in the heavy music scene, with their »Altered States« EP set for release in spring 2024.
Gnarwhal are Mark Kilbride (lead vocals), Benji Straker (guitar, vocals), Jeremy Straker (bass, vocals) and Layne Rybchinski (drums).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Hey, this is Benji! I play guitar for Gnarwhal and I didn’t consult with the rest of the band on these interview question responses. Lets hope I’m still in the band once we’re done here.
Gnarwhal is a heavy alt stoner/doom band (some call us “post-stoner”) from way up in the Canadian sub-Arctic city of Yellowknife. We’re 4 buds who originally got together during the pandemic to just jam on some covers and drink beer as a way to pass time and have some fun when everything was in lock-down. Playing covers got boring so we started writing music and things have snowballed into some pretty cool things for us the last couple of years. You might dig us if you listen to Kyuss, Mastadon, Torche, The Sword, Queens Of The Stone Age, etc. Or maybe you won’t, I dunno.
What was the biggest challenge for the band last year?
Our location is remote so it’s more difficult (and more expensive) for us (than bands elsewhere) to get out and and tour. Exposure is a challenge so we try to do our best promoting ourselves and our music. Despite the challenge we were fortunate enough to play a few cool festivals and to be nominated and win some cool awards.
What can you be most proud of so far?
I’d say we’re most proud of our upcoming EP, »Altered States«. It releases on May 24. We pushed ourselves and worked our assess off on these four songs We couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out. Our first single from the EP, »Tides«, came out on March 22 and we’ve had a really good response so we’re stoked!
The next single, »Altered States« (title track), drops on April 19. The whole experience of immersing ourselves the record while in the studio in Vancouver was amazing.
What was your biggest regret?
Every time we booked early morning flights home after a show haha.
Other than that, we regret not giving someone else our Facebook page admin access. On Christmas day, we were hacked and lost control of our Facebook account/page, so we had to start from scratch so we’re still working to gain back all of those lost followers. Huge bummer!
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
We had a really good time at our album release show last spring (to support our debut self-titled album). We had so much amazing local support from fans, friends and family. Not to mention all of the other bands that have been stoked to play with us.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Its surprising how many people fall for the good old April Fools Day announcement that the band broke up.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
This weekend we’re playing a really cool festival in Calgary called The Electric Highway, so we’ve been listening to the festival playlist and rotating through all of the rad bands that we’ll be playing with there. Some notable ones include, Anciients, Empress, Buffalo Bud Buster, and Dead Quiet.
Can you say something more about the music scene in Yellowknife, Canada?
In our hometown, there hasn’t been much of a heavy music scene for years. This town is typically more active with folk and singer/songwriter folks. But the pandemic sparked a bunch of creativity and resurgence of a scene once things opened up. So now we have shows pretty regularly as well as a bunch of great bands in the punk, prog, heavy rock genre. Theres a lot of comradery and the bands work together to help build the community.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
We’ll be playing The Electric Highway festival this weekend with Anciients, Dead Quiet, and Empress. Then we’ll have an EP release show in our hometown in May. After that, we have some things in the works over the summer and fall, but that’s all hush hush for now.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
We want to push the »Altered States« EP as hard as possible and see what kind of opportunities that opens up for us. We’d love to get out on the road more and have the opportunity to play more heavy music festivals. And despite releasing a new EP very soon, we have a bunch more music that we’d like to record in 2024, building up to another full-length album.
How can people best support your band?
Listen and follow our music on all platforms. Buy our merch if you think its cool. Follow our socials!
Come see us play live. Give us high-fives. Buy us shots of Jagermeister.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
LETS GO!! »Tides« single out NOW. »Altered States« single coming April 19. Full EP, out May 24.
Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well