Déjà View : Chron Goblin Interview

Chron Goblin Dismantles the Past
on New Album, Here Before

by Christine Leonard

Photo by Sebastian Buzzalino

Good fences make good neighbours, but if you’ve walked down the rambling alleys of Brentwood, Calgary in the past two decades, you might have caught drift of a hidden skateboard ramp and the band that dwells nearby like an ear-blasting company of trolls.

So the story goes, but no one knows the legend of this secret suburban shred-spot better than Devin “Darty” Purdy, aka lead guitarist to Calgary’s preeminent psych-metal outfit, Chron Goblin.

“The Brentwood Ramp, which has consumed the souls of many missed tricks, was built in 1997 by the City of Calgary and acquired by the Goblins in 2006,” says Purdy. “It was the main feature for many parties and band photoshoots and provided a great mental break from jamming. Unfortunately, termites got the best of it and we had to take it down this year, but its memory lives on!”

Purdy’s generosity in sharing his good fortune and square footage made the ramp a destination for members of Calgary’s skateboarding and indie music scene, just as his basement became the rehearsal room of choice for bandmates vocalist Josh Sandulak, drummer Brett Whittingham and bassist Richard Hepp. 

“It formed a hub for weekly backyard skate sessions, barbecues and basement jamming. So many memories of watching some of Calgary’s finest skating the hell out of the ramp well past dark, wheels clacking and trucks grinding, people hollering and dropping off the garage roof into the ramp,” Whittingham says reminiscing. “The band photo in our album Life for the Living is an awesome shot of us sprawled out on a couch in the middle of the ramp with a million beer cans strewn everywhere. Also, those nasty maggots growing in the recycling!”

It’s enough to bring tears to your eyes. Listening to the group’s brand new release, Here Before, it’s hard to believe that six years have passed since that sofa-king-cool snap was taken of the ambitious young punks with their desert-rock-meets-thrash dreams. Having furthered the arc of their ascent with 2015’s Backwater, Chron Goblin are accustomed to challenging themselves to master new techniques, but it’s their interpersonal skills that have truly elevated their game.

“I think the only way we’ve gotten to that 10-year mark is by evolving our relationship as friends and as bandmates in terms of our communication and being crazy honest with each other. Probably more honest than we are with anyone else in our lives. That in itself has caused us all to reflect more deeply on who we are as people and what’s led to a maturing of our band,” says Sandulak. 

Wild at heart, but growing wiser by the minute, Here Before delivers exhilarating maneuvers that come close to the thrill of pulling off rad stunts on the old Brentwood Ramp, but this round comes without the consequence of bruised up shins and beer can maggots.

Friday 20th, September 2019

KYUSS LIVES - Interview with John Garcia by Christine Leonard-Cripps

They are risen

Extended desert sessions with Kyuss Lives

Akin to a 1930s horror flick that has a demented physician yelling “It’s alive! It’s alive!,” the resurrection of one of the greatest rock bands of all time is nothing short of a modern heavy metal miracle. Evolving from an extraordinary 2010 tour that saw Kyuss alumnus John Garcia performing some of the band’s oeuvre backed by Dutch and Belgian musicians, the new manifestation of the stoner rock deity can only be described as epic.

Some 15 years after the group disbanded, vocalist Garcia was met with an unexpectedly intense demand for the sprawling desert rock anthems the Californian band made famous on seminal albums such as Blues for the Red Sun and Welcome to Sky Valley. If there’s one thing that Garcia has learned in his career as an entertainer it’s how to take his cues from the audience and, thus, a formal reunion with bassist Nick Oliveri and drummer Brant Bjork was announced shortly thereafter.

Working under the moniker Kyuss Lives!, with six-string rebel Bruno Fevery standing in for original guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal), this souped-up iteration is back to presenting their subgenre-founding soundscapes to audiences across the globe.

“Yeah, it’s great to be back on the road again,” Garcia says. “We’re really looking forward to coming through Canada. Canadian audiences have traditionally been really awesome to us. And, it always feels a little bit extra special performing north of the border because Canada’s the only place where you can catch us with a different lineup. Scott Reeder comes with us when we tour up there due to mixed legal issues. It’s a treat to perform with Scott on bass and switch thing up a bit; it has worked out really well for us in the past.”

Looking back on a year that veritably booked itself under the steam of popular appetite for the band’s masterful montages and cosmic mythology, a middle-aged Garcia and his cohorts have struck a balance between their domestic- and career-based responsibilities. Reasonable enough to (temporarily) forego side projects in favour of committing to the cause at hand, Garcia finally feels as though the momentum that began with his 1989 high school band Sons of Kyuss has finally come to bear fruit.

 Eager to head back into the studio to craft the first new Kyuss effort in over 15 years, Garcia anticipates a summer 2012 release for his reconstituted drone-rock entity.

“I’m so happy to do another record,” Garcia says. “All of our projects are taking the backseat because we’re having so much fun. It’s hard to believe that I’m able to walk into a studio and start writing Kyuss songs again. I wasn’t sure if we could actually go back to that feeling, but after a cocktail or two and a little puff here and there the songs will write themselves, or they won’t. Either way, we no longer wrestle with them.”

As for the sound of the new material, Garcia adds, “We want to maintain the Kyuss standard for certain. At the same time we’re excited and curious about the stuff we’re going to be putting down. We’ll be exploring new tangents and avenues, but I wouldn’t expect a polka album. I think it’s going to be a rock album. Good things happen when you put nice people in a burning room together.”

Family men with kids and wives of their own, the founding fathers of Kyuss have become respectable citizens long after they earned the esteem of their peer and patrons. Getting back into the business of making music at 42, Garcia definitely isn’t interested in letting anyone else hold the reins of his galloping livelihood.

“Ultimately, the higher powers have to let us make the big decisions,” Garcia says. “My level of personal responsibility has gone up 150 per cent. I’m taking things a lot more seriously and at the same time I’m a lot more appreciative to be able to do this for a living. There’s always an element of surprise when you don’t know how well you’ll be received, and so far things have been amazing. I still can’t believe we haven’t been swept to the curb.”

by Christine Leonard

Originally published November 24, 2011 in FFWD Magazine 

Chron Goblin interviewed by Christine Leonard

Staying in tune and on top of the chaos

Calgary’s Chron Goblin keeps control of its punk-metal stoner-rock

Chron Goblin is set to perform with Chakobsa & Illuminated Minerva

It’s a classic springtime scenario: You meet up with someone you know through friends of friends, you hit it off and before you know it, you’re off making beautiful music together. Well, that’s pretty much how it happened last April for Chron Goblin vocalist Josh Sandulak and drummer Brett Whittingham, who soon met their match in guitarist Devin “Darty” Purdy and bassist Richard Hepp, both formerly of the Calgary metal act Teitan. United by mutual enrollment at the University of Calgary, as well as a shared love of hardcore music, the quartet worked around its studies in order to put out an EP within a year of forming Chron Goblin. Buoyed by the positive reaction to its self-titled five-songer, the band is more energized and motivated than ever to deliver its homegrown strain of punk-metal merriment to the public.

“We’ve always taken the DIY approach, so we’re really happy with what we’ve achieved,” confirms Sandulak. “Now that our first album is out, our focus is renewed and our approach to the songwriting process is more cool and collaborative than ever. We may have come together during our university days, but it’s friendship that has carried us on to this point. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that we actually wrote the song ‘Walk With Me’ the very first time we jammed; it just turned into this other thing. I don’t think any of us expected the band to take off like it did. Now, we jam two or three times a week. We’re like family.”

United by the ties that bind, Chron Goblin also looks to its bindings for musical inspiration. From the sheer reflective glory of “Mirror” to the heart-pounding intensity of “Flat-Footed Hypocrite,” Chron Goblin loves to lay down a heavy foundation while scoring big points for its crowd-pleasing technical style. The band was both surprised and thrilled when snowboarding company Somewon Snow out of Revelstoke, B.C. used its thrash-worthy tune “Awkward Endeavour” on the soundtrack of a recent video production.

“We had no idea that our song was being picked up by them until someone told us,” says Sandulak. “Of course, we were totally into it as we’re all skateboarders, and Brett, being from Invermere, and I have been into snowboarding for years. We even have a little half-pipe ramp set up outside of the garage where we jam. Anytime you want a break, to clear your head, you can grab a board and skate ramp. It’s ideal.”

Having recently returned from an eye-opening trek to India, purportedly an acronym for “I’ll never do it again,” Sandulak looks forward to filling Chron Goblin’s summer with blue skies, cold brews and as many gigs as he can book. Weddings, bat mitzvahs, anything — this band is down for a good time. Musical adrenaline incarnate, Chron Goblin naturally jumped at the chance when Somewon Snow called for the lads to entertain its party guests at a local shindig last month.

“As you would expect of a stoner-rock outfit with a lot of punk and metal influences, we have quite a reputation for going crazy and taking the crowd with us,” Sandulak explains with a knowing chuckle. “We just played a Somewon Snow BBQ at a private home known as the Mouse House, and it got a little out of control. People were falling in the fireplace and trying to mosh all over the place, and we wound up standing on the couches while performing. When you’re playing a show like that, you’ve just gotta do what you’ve gotta do to keep it together: Stay in tune and stay on top of the chaos.”


by Christine Leonard

Originally published in FastForward Magazine

June 17, 2010

GRIM SKUNK - an interview with Peter Edwards by Christine Leonard-Cripps

Catcha fire under the bridge

Grim Skunk puts the ‘party’ in politics

There is a surprisingly serious edge to GrimSkunk, one that belies their reputation as Quebec’s premier high-flying, bong-water-steeped rock ’n’ roll act. For a party-oriented band, GrimSkunk is no stranger to controversy. Their original bassist, Marc-Boris Saint Maurice, founder of the Marijuana Party of Canada, left the band in 2000 to open Montreal’s Compassion Clinic and to continue his crusade to legalize marijuana from the inside by joining the Liberal party. More recently, the band’s breakaway single “America Sucks” and its accompanying video have fired up intense international debate on YouTube. Looking back over a career that spans 15 years and eight LPs, GrimSkunk’s lead guitarist Peter Edwards continues to thrive on the changes and challenges that signal this legendary ensemble’s readiness to face the future head-on.     

“We’ve shot three videos for our new album, Fires Under the Road,” says Edwards. “It was filmed last year in advance of the album’s release on October 31. The title track is a nod to a long-standing annual tradition where our friends gather in secret caves under a road to light Samhain bonfires. The other videos are for our songs ‘America Sucks,’ and ‘Vive le Quebec Libre,’ which is kind of the French version of ‘America Sucks.’ That song in particular has stirred up a massive controversy. It built up slowly and now we have Russians posting arguments with Americans about the superiority of the AK-47 over the M-16. We have always been very open to debating global issues. We have our stand. Some people in the States may take it at face value, but it’s a wake-up call to all of North America. We have to shock people into realizing the government is materialistic, consumer-oriented and wasteful.”     

Sometimes the status quo isn’t good enough and standards need to be raised across the board. Never ones to Bogart a good thing, GrimSkunk have shared their success by applying the “puff, puff, pass” philosophy to their working lives as well as their recreational activities. Stepping in where the well-liked Cargo Records label left off, Edwards, along with vocalist and rhythm guitarist Franz Schuller, vocalist and keyboardist Joe Evil, drummer Alain VDbC and Boris’s replacement bassist Vince Peake, conceived Indica Records. Shortly thereafter, they released the infamous Inhale compilations to showcase the impressive variety of bands they had attracted to their label.    

 “We’ve entered a co-partnership with a group of labels and have seriously gotten into the business of releasing music,” Edwards reports. “We’ve put out everything from alt rock to punk to pop to techno and hip hop. One of our greatest successes has been a world groove album. There’s a new generation emerging, one that is more open-minded and less likely to be prejudiced against foreign cultures. Indica records carries licences for artists from England, the U.S., France and Australia, though to date all of our Canadian artists are from Quebec. Basically, we don’t want to limit ourselves in any way.”  

 Stepping down from their soapbox and leaping from their amps in full glorious Van Halen-style, GrimSkunk really know how to let their hair down when it comes to performing live. Thrilling audiences with their classic-rock guitar assaults, theatrical organ runs and heavy metal percussion, GrimSkunk possess the uncanny ability to combine multiple genres and tongues into one mighty explosion of synergistic energy.     

“After our last show in Norway, some kids came up to us and expressed their admiration for us, because we don’t care about being hip,” Edwards laughs. “We’re all about good times. It’s still 90 per cent party. Politics does not rule the majority of what we do. Our ability to accept multiple musical styles lets us create a multi-musicscape that reflects Canadian culture. People get it when they see us live. We try to keep the universe in balance by starting fires.”

Originally published in FFWD Magazine by Christine Leonard