With an acoustic guitar in his hands and a giant stomp box under his feet, Winnipeg’s Greg Rekus delivers his own unique brand of punk rock-infused folk music guaranteed to shake rafters, move floorboards, and get even the most stoic of concert-goers out of their seats. Rekus’s latest full-length album, Sibling Cities, once again enlists the genius of John Paul Peters (Royal Canoe, Comeback Kid Propagandhi) as engineer/producer. Featuring local musicians Tabitha Hemphill on bass and back-up vocals, and Erik Strom on drums, the album boasts thirteen original tracks, featuring a stronger influence from the more melodic qualities of pop-punk. With more mature and insightful lyrics, tasteful arrangements, and diverse tempos, Sibling Cities is evidence of a musician devoted to refining his craft and can be considered among Rekus’ best work to date. Check out Sibling Cities below!
We managed to catch up with Greg as he talks about is latest release and more!
How has the release of Sibling Cities been so far?
It’s been really great! Many friend have said it’s my best album and didn’t leave there stereo in their car and stuff for months! I’ve sold out of cds and i’m down to only about 50 copies of the vinyl. I might press more if a label is interested to help release it
What is your favourite track from the release?
Toooooo many to pick a favourite but a few I really like are …but some animals, person overboard and sibling cites the title track. They are all really fun songs to play and I really like the lyrics in all of them. Sibling cities is about a really hard breakup I went through and means a lot to me. I hope people can identify with how I felt
Can you tell us something about the release no one else knows?
The art on the cover is a depiction of the skylines of the cities Winnipeg and Moncton. 2 cities in canada. I feel there are very many similarities of these 2 cities and they both meant a lot to some songs on the record
If you could work with any band on a new song, who would it be and why?
Hard to pic just one. one of my favourite bands of all time is a band from the Toronto area called Moneen. It would be a dream come true to do a song with them! They are extremely talented creative, totally crazy, and the nicest people ever.
So you’re currently on a European tour, what venues are you most looking forward to playing?
The shows in France were really great this tour! England also. I did a bunch of shows in the States before Europe also and those were all fun. I’m almost done the Italian part and I think I have to buy new pants after all the pasta! I’m really looking forward to Greece because I’ve never been there and can’t wait to meet everyone there. I also am playing a big show in Lindau DE with Propagandhi, Iron Chic, and the Bomb pops so really looking forward to that one also
What do you get up to in your spare time when you’re not working on music?
I’m on the road 6 – 7 months of the year playing. I’m usually home in the summer to work as well as February and December. I work as a audio tech for a big PA company. We do tons of festivals in and around winnipeg. I do everything from prepping the gear, loading the truck, driving the truck, unload, set up, mix the show, tear down, back in the truck, drive the gear home, fix the broken stuff. Summer time is the only time the weather is permitting for festivals so in winnipeg in the summer there are tons of festivals every weekend. I think I’ve worked June, July, August months with 1 day off the whole summer! I love it! It’s a challenge. I get to work with my friends and other musicians and it’s usually pretty relaxed. I’m not really cut out for an office job or something…
What was the first gig you ever went to?
My first gig was Strung Out at the Royal Albert Arms in Winnipeg MB in 1998. after that I was hooked! A band called straight faced was main support and a local band from brandon which is a town near winnipeg. I knew after seeing that I was going to do punk rock for my whole life
What’s the alternative scene like in Canada?
Canada is great! Very supportive of music. The canadian government has programs to help fund the arts and help artist develop. It’s not a lot of money but every bit counts. There are many places to play in Winnipeg my city and everytime a spot closes someone always opens a new one it seems. Canada is very big so touring is a bit of a callenge with long drives and can very expensive., the secret i’ve found is you gotta play every single place possible and then tour back through the states. So many people just place the big cities and then you are either stuck with too many days off or you have to drive 8 hours every day