Wow – was für ein Brett. Irgendwo zwischen Grunge, Psychedelic, Sludge, Folk und einer ordentliche Portion verschrobenen Alternative packen dich WHOOP-Szo mit ihrem schwermütigen Song “Gerry”. Dabei zerpflückt dich der Song in seinen dröhnenden Gitarrenparts äußerst beeindruckend, wühlt auf und verbreitet eine immense Wut. Dagegen wirkt der Song im gesanglichen Strophenpart zerbrechlich, frustrierend und klagend. Und all das soll “Gerry” auch ausdrücken, handelt es sich bei dem Song um die Geschichte des von einem Polizisten erschossenen Cousins von WHOOP-Szo Gitarrist und Sänger Adam Sturgeon. Kein einfacher Stoff. Und auch sonst setzt sich die Band aus London, Ontario in Kanada mit Themen auseinander, die ihr tiefstes Inneres bewegen. So soll ihr kommendes Werk “Warrior Down” weitestgehend die Ungerechtigkeiten auf kultureller und politischer Ebene in Kanada thematisieren. Das erzeugt viel Wut, Frustration, aber eben auch Aufmerksamkeit und Diskussionsbedarf. Neben “Gerry” wurde bereits der Song “Amaruq” veröffentlicht. “Amaruq” ist der Sprache der kanadischen stämmigen Inuit entnommen und bedeutet übersetzt ‘der Wolf’. Dabei handelt der Song von nicht zu bändigenden Gefühlen, die plötzlich dein Leben bestimmen. Beide Songs entstammen dem am 1.November 2019 auf You’ve Changed Records erscheinenden Album “Warrior Down”. “Gerry” ist bei uns Tune of the Week!
Auf der Labelseite der Band veröffentlichte Adam Sturgeon zu “Gerry” folgendes Statement:
“My cousin Gerry was shot by a cop. Murdered. In his own home. While the circumstances surrounding his death are unclear, there has only ever been one side to the story, that of the RCMP. No external investigations took place and our family is left without answers.
It is my preference to discuss Gerry through the video. The footage is all 8mm family film recaptured and archived by Travis Welowszky and projectionist Sebastian Di Trolio. It’s interesting coming from a mixed background because these films are that of a privileged experience; family vacations, golf trips, happy go lucky parties from the 60s and 70s set to the backdrop of an emotional firestorm and intense subject matter that has only just begun to reveal itself in our cultural history. History innocently projects itself back on the modern era.
I remember getting a call from Gerry shortly before he died. He was angry about a broken system, slurring his words through the distant telephone line from his home in Saskatchewan. He had taken to calling our house, connecting with my Mom for some much needed love and comfort, my Dad to address his issues with alcohol, and to converse with me about music and art… and to question my passions for my ‘Dad’s culture’. I’d change the subject, letting him know that the guitar he had given me, my first guitar in fact, was the passion and release that he had offered me and that I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’d be late for work or some other engagement and have to let him know several times that I needed to hang up the phone. He’d get angry again and start ranting on and I’d have to remind him there were places to be. He called me a sell out and I’d tell him I loved him. I promised I’d visit on tour sometime. I’d tell him he could teach me some more chords.
I’ve driven through the town he died in, but Gerry isn’t there. Where are our protectors when we need them? Why did an officer force his way into Gerry’s home? Why was Gerry shot 4 times and why have these circumstances been justified by a system that leaves the vulnerable under fire?”
