LISTEN AND SHARE “LONG BRAIDED HAIR” HERE
WARRIOR DOWN OUT NOVEMBER 1 VIA YOU’VE CHANGED RECORDS
CANADIAN TOUR DATES BEGIN NOVEMBER 1
PRE-ORDER WARRIOR DOWN - PHYSICAL / DIGITAL
"There's an underlying gentleness to WHOOP-Szo's instrumental attack, and it keeps them grounded and connected with their communities as they righteously lash out against institutional inequalities, making their voices all the more powerful, literally and figuratively." - Exclaim!
“A true psychedelic group ... For WHOOP-Szo, punk, DIY and psych principles go beyond music scene bubbles and fuse with Indigenous solidarity and healing through music.” - NOW
“WHOOP-Szo has perfected their eclectic sounds, binding the paradox of indistinguishable familiarity with themes of Canadian history, language, and culture.” - VICE
Photo Credit : Rima Sater // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
With WHOOP-Szo’s Warrior Down due out next week, the band are sharing another new track from the album, “Long Braided Hair”. Bandleader Adam Sturgeon says of the song : “Our connection to the Earth Mother is through our hair, and it is our Mother who brings us to this earth. A Braid, 3 strands, mind, body and soul…. sweetgrass, hair of the earth.
I remember getting a call on the distant telephone wires from my bandmate Kirsten. She was up north. Winter was settling in hard and she was upset. That day, her students who had been out of control for some time dropped a heavy weight onto her privileged disposition. They were sleeping on and under desks and they were bouncing off the walls. They were upset, angry and unable to hide their emotions. Sometime earlier she had overheard some of the other teachers griping about how disrespectful the children were being, and how discipline was a necessary force to overcoming their challenging circumstances. How using their language was somehow related to the kids picking on each other and to speak French or English was to abide by the rules of the school. Kirsten, as she always does, slipped quietly out of the staff room without a word. When this had continued for several stressful days, perhaps weeks she asked the children “what’s wrong?”. They did not answer, but their eyes told another story. This continued, until finally one day they answered almost as if in unison ‘We’re hungry’. You see, in the months previous a desperately needed breakfast program had been cancelled. By whom, I’m not sure. By the school board? By the volunteers who were burned out and moved back home to the south?
In our communities, it is our mothers and children that have bore the weight of colonialism. That our ways of life have been diminished by a system designed against us. A $7 can of pop, a $5 chocolate bar, and $9 bag of chips. A lullaby.”
LISTEN AND SHARE “LONG BRAIDED HAIR” HERE
Out November 1 via You’ve Changed Records, WHOOP-Szo’s new LP Warrior Down presents a vast and barren landscape associated with the harsh truth of Canadian History, a post-colonial firestorm harbouring moments of doom and heavy introspection while remaining true to their psychedelic aesthetic.
WHOOP-Szo is a force of nature, sprung from a mixed-blooded experience of Canadian history with deep Anishinaabek roots. Thunderous and ground-breaking, harmonious and generative—a WHOOP-Szo show envelops audiences in an emotional weather-storm that dances conscientiously between anger and discipline, frustration and hope. They tell us about colonial injustice loudly and punishingly, with haunting chord changes and monolithic distortion. They explore the possibility of wisdom and empowerment, with acoustic melodies that calmly find space within crushing layers of politics and sound. On stage and off, WHOOP-Szo engage communities with a powerful synchrony that invites people to feel and to heal. They are passionate storytellers who knock loudly on the door, and will reward you tenfold for letting them in.
LISTEN AND SHARE “AMARUQ” HERE
Forthcoming album Warrior Down harnesses their power into a concise, focused 35 minutes on wax, calling out both specific instances of injustice in Canadian history — as we see in “Gerry”, or recalling Sturgeon’s grandfather’s experience at a Residential School (“Gerry”, “Cut Your Hair”) — and broader, wider-reaching ones such as the experience of having race and culture assigned to you by a government that doesn’t represent you (“6.1/6.2”).
WATCH AND SHARE “GERRY” HERE
PRE-ORDER WARRIOR DOWN - PHYSICAL / DIGITAL
TOUR DATES
Nov 01 – London, ON – Rec Room
Nov 02 – Toronto, ON – The Round House
Nov 06 – St. Catharines, ON – The Warehouse
Nov 07 – Guelph, ON - Ebar
Nov 08 – Hamilton, ON – This Ain’t Hollywood
Nov 09 – Windsor, ON - Green Bean Cafe
Nov 21 – Peterborough, ON - Sadleir House
Nov 22 – Ottawa, ON - Cinqhole
Nov 23 – Montreal, QC – La Sala Rossa | M For Montreal
Nov 26 – Moncton, NB - Caveau
Nov 27 – Saint John, NB – Taco Pica
Nov 28 – Halifax, NS – The Seahorse
Nov 29 – Fredericton, NB - The Capital
Nov 30 – Quebec City, QC - Scanner
WARRIOR DOWN TRACKLIST
01 Amaruq
02 Gerry
03 Long Braided Hair
04 2CB
05 Naanan
06 6.1 / 6.2
07 Oda Man
08 Nshwaaswi
09 Homemade Candles
10 Cut Your Hair