No time to waste
GFK liberates metal-core from its mental shackles and gets politicalby Christine Leonard
February 21, 2005
Ready to challenge new audiences via their signature barrage of punk-metal-might-with-a-message, GFK are riding high on the success of their latest album. Released on Propagandhi’s much revered G7 Welcoming Committee label, GFK lead vocalist Jessy Baron is proud of what his band has accomplished.
Not only is their new album, If Liberty Isn’t Given It Shouldn’t Be Taken, a shining example of French-Canadian headbanging know-how, it also strives to reach beyond the obvious melee of thrashing guitars and animalistic vocals to drive home issues of import to the band’s five members.
"We try to be very political with our music. But sometimes we get a bad answer from the crowd," says Baron, with a Québécois drawl thick enough to put Chrétien to shame. Mixing metal, art, punk, rock and jazz, they can be classified as metal-hardcore, but each member has their own influences. Their diversity, with a bit of a punk edge, must have been what drew G7 to the band.
"Being on G7 is a real dream for us. We thought it would be cool to send them one of our demos for their suggestions. They wrote back asking us to join the family. You don’t know how exciting that was for us. We don’t care about selling records. We care about integrity, and political intent."
Since forming in 1996, Baron, bassist Sonny Letourneau, guitarists Mike Beaudoin and Remy Verreault, and newly recruited drummer Yannick Simard have been touring relentlessly. Their earlier albums The Social Responsibility Theory (2000), and In Defense of Politics (2002), released on their own New Horizon label, firmly established GFK as one of Eastern Canada’s bands to watch – and not just because of their high-flying onstage antics. GFK are determined to inform the masses beyond the mosh pits.
"We are really picky about our lyrics," says Baron, the principal songwriter, "We ask ourselves about life – think about the events that surround us. On our new album, we took the time to ask the right questions. In the metal scene, there are not many bands who talk about politics. But why should we waste our time?"
