Greg Rekus is a punkrock musician known for his awesome acoustic punk songs and high energy shows! He recently announced the plans for the new tour and new album and it was about time that I talk to him a little for our zine.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE MUSIC OF GREG REKUS TO THE READERS OF THIS ZINE THAT DIDN´T HEAR YOUR STUFF BEFORE?
On record it’s super catchy folk punk kinda stuff with tons of hooks and sing along parts. Live, I perform solo mostly so that’s more of a rowdy 1 man punk show with a lot of audience participation and beer drinking!
CAN ACOUSTIC PUNK HAVE THE SAME ANGER AND SAME VIBE AND SHARE ACCROSS THE SAME MESSAGES TO THE KIDS LIKE CONVENTIONAL BANDS DO?
For sure! Maybe more even cuz we don’t have loud amps and stuff for we gotta yell and scream even louder. One thing that always drew me to punk was it’s accessability. Basically anyone can do this! You don’t gotta be a good singer or good guitar player. You just gotta do it and do it like it’s the last time you’ll ever get to play. If I got a band with me up there or if it’s just me a 3 chords it’s still that moment in the universe when everything is right.
HOW DOES YOUR GIG LOOK LIKE? IS THERE ANY FUN MOMENTS AND ANECDOTES FROM TOURING DAYS?
Mostly I, tour playing solo. So it’s me and a giant stomp box. About a metre and a half square and half a metre off the ground with a bunch of tamborines on it. The stomp box makes it feel like it’s not just a guy with a guitar up there but a crazy 1 man punk show. One time, I played on the top level of a house. It’s wasn’t a huge crowd but maybe 25 people or so. I started playing and stomping and everyone joined in. After about 20 minutes, the downstairs neighbour came in and said we had to stop. He said it wasn’t too loud or anything but plaster was starting to fall from his ceiling…
HOW IS LIFE IN CANADA IN GENERAL? WHAT IS AN IDEAL SYSTEM THAT COULD WORK OUT FOR THE LIVING IN YOUR OPINION? DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE POLITICAL PUNK?
I live in Winnipeg which is one of the coldest major cities in the world. All the more reason to tour. Especially during the winter when the average temp is around -20c for months and months! I would say it’s a corner stone of myself for sure being a political punk. Canada, for the most part, is a nice place to live. We try hard in term of human rights for indiginous people and minorities but we always seem to fall a little short. We will consult indiginous communities about building pipelines through there land but then don’t seem to listen to what they have to say and just build them anyways. I could go on and on. No one is perfect but I think Canada still has a long way to go before we can really brag about our human rights record!
WHERE DO YOU DRAW YOUR LYRICAL INSPIRATION FROM? WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU, LET ME REPHRASE IT, WHAT COMES FIRST, MUSIC OR LYRICS?
Lyrics often just come to me. Sometimes, I’ll get an idea of a line or something that I’ll jot down in my phone. Rarely do I sit down with a certain song or subject in mind. Some of my best work was just strumming on guitar fumbling with some chords and all of the sudden it’s a song. It’s like it get beamed into my head. I wouldn’t say one is more important than the other and again some of the best stuff I wrote both music and lyrics came at the same time!
WE HEAR ABOUT THE GROWING CULTURE OF FEAR IN MEDIA, SCARING AVERAGE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME WITH SOMETHING TO KEEP THE COMPLACENT HERD MENTALITY. IS THAT GENERAL FEAR AND PARANOIA PRESENT IN CANADA COMPARED TO THE U.S. AND THE WORLD?
Yes for the most part. I tour the states more than anywhere and I would say it’s much more obvious there in terms of blatent lies posed as truth, but canada is much the same. There was a big push by the Alberta Oil Industry trying to spread propaganda that the oil industry is a good thing and needed for the future of canada. It’s the same as saying we need people to smoke cigarettes and eat junk food to keep jobs. We know this stuff is bad and causing irreversable damage to the planet but we can’t stop taking it out of the ground…
TO WHAT LINE WOULD YOU GO AND COMPROMISE YOUR MUSIC AND ARTISTIC FREEDOM AND CHOICES LABEL WISE? WOULD YOU AT ANY POINT COMPROMISE YOUR MUSIC TO HEED THE LABEL´S WISHES?
That’s a hard one because at one point or another everyone need a pay check. I’ve played shows where I wasn’t allowed to swear on stage so had to chance so lyrics. I didn’t feel the swears were integral to the message of the song. They were just words and changing them to something less offensive didn’t distort the message. I suppose that could be considered selling out? However, I would never play a song about how eating meat is good or how we should all be racist or anything like there. I feel there are some battles not worth fighting and some battles that can’t be lost.
WHY IS UNDERGROUND MUSIC AND SCENE SO BEAUTIFUL? I FEEL SO BLESSED TO KNOW AND MEET ALL THE FRIENDS, BANDS, AWESOME PEOPLE THAT ARE ACTIVE, WOULD YOU EVER TRADE THAT FOR SOMETHING? CAN YOU STILL REMEMBER WHAT GOT YOU INTO PUNKROCK?
I think there isn’t a lot of money or fame or other reasons to be in the punk scene in 2019 other then you like the music and the people. Some of us remember the glorious 90s and how big the punk scene got for a while there. But the people that are still into the scene are people that really care about it and it’s more then just music and beers on the weekends to them. I suppose 1 day there might not be a punk scene. If I tried to book a tour and literally 0 people wanted to book me perhaps and I would see if there was a similar scene I could cozy up to and try to bring some of my punk rock ideals with me. However, I have no plans of changing or anything like that. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and if I got another 20 years in me, I’m going to be doing it as a punk.
THIS IS IT, THANK YOU FOR THE FIRST ´VIEW. HAVE YOU EVER TALKED TO SOME CROATIAN ZINE OR MEDIA BEFORE? DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING OF CROATIA? HAVE YOU EVER PLAYED WITH SOME CROATIAN BANDS?
Great! No I haven’t talked to any croatian zines or even played ther yet. I’ve heard it’s a great place to play and share a love for beer and punk rock. I would love to try to play there in 2020 next time I’m touring in europe once the new record comes out! Thanks for the interview!
https://www.facebook.com/gregrekusmusic/
https://greg-rekus.bandcamp.com/
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