Pembroke-based band Gatlin Black’s sound can be described as vintage meets modern; old meets new. Pairing grungy guitar tones with layered vocals, the band offers a sonic vibe that emits electric energy and an undeniably authentic feel. They’ve just released their debut single, “One Last Chance,” so we caught up with Jake Weckwerth (guitar/vocals), Levi Post (drums), Jake Cancade (lead guitar), Jamie Oberfrank (lead guitar) and Chris Pearson (bass) to chat about the new song, how they came up with the band name, and the musical influences that helped to shape their sound.

From The Strait: Tell us about the new single, “One Last Chance”.

Jake W: “One Last Chance was written during a time of personal turmoil and at the height of my cocaine & alcohol addiction. At the same time I was also in a dead end relationship but was determined to battle on for her love despite self sabotage and repetitive hairy situations. Through the good and the bad one theme was continuous – I was always begging for “One Last Chance”… One day I would be out of chances, she’d be fed up with it all and called it quits indefinitely unless I made serious lifestyle changes, where I would have to finally put something else, or someone else, first instead prioritizing the cyclical behaviour I found myself a prisoner to. After losing every battle I finally had won the war, choosing a clean and sober lifestyle in order to put my health, goals, dreams and people I love and care about first. When the song finally arrived on my doorstep I quickly realized that the lyrics were no longer the scratched out ramblings of a madman, but were the scriptures of my new beginnings. A mantra and new way of life where I could rise from the ashes where I had fallen, giving me new light, power and energy to become my most productive and creative self. With the support of my bandmates we began working hard on fresh material and as a result we banged out a whole new 7 song EP”.

From The Strait: What’s one album or artist you can’t get enough of right now?

Levi: Clarity of Cal by Vulfpeck

Jake C: Built on Glass – Chet Faker

Jamie: How Long by Ariel Posen

Chris: Paul McCartney – II

Jake W: Cage The Elephant – Unpeeled

From The Strait: What are some of your non-musical hobbies?

Levi: Photography, pro wrestling, Mini Putt

Jake C: gaming, basketball, being alone doing absolutely nothing

Jamie: Record Collecting

Chris: Golfing, playing hockey and baseball, record collecting, cooking

Jake W: Getting away to my uncle’s fishing camp where there’s absolutely no cell service. Gardening. Running and exercising. Sometimes I like to build things/renovate the house. Sometimes I like to game out on some nerdy shit, and watch epic movies/war docs. But most hobbies are music oriented ie. Listening to vinyls and CD’s, exchanging ideas at the local music store, Bob’s Music, and catching live shows/festivals.

From The Strait: How did you come up with the band name?

Gatlin Black: We had been brainstorming for a while on a new name after continuous spelling and marketing errors occurred with operating under the name “Jake Weckwerth & The Greedy Dead”. We also desired a rebranding, and a name change just so we felt like we were all a part of something bigger than any individual’s name! A lot of us grew up playing different kinds of sports and were always a part of a team, and a name change helped ensure that we were part of a new rock n roll team formation! After beating our heads on the wall for over a year we decided that we weren’t leaving our studio room until we came up with a name. So simply enough we started shooting out a bunch of different things until one of us said “Ok, it’s gotta be simpler than this… What’s your favourite colour?” Levi asked Jake W, to which he replied “Black” – which he was met with the old “Black isn’t a colour” – but it is all of the colours… haha. Then Levi asked Jake, “Ok, what’s your favourite gun (and none of us tote guns, but have played lots of video games), to which Jake W responded with “Those ankle guns from James Bond!” But that wasn’t very catchy… Then remembered the behemoth of a machine fun from GTA Vice City’s Gatling Gun… Black Gatling? No… Gatling Black but let’s drop the “g”! We all agreed that this name was catchy, easy to pronounce, and could easily be branded and so it was!!

From The Strait: Who would you say are your biggest musical influences, and how have they helped to shape your sound?

Levi: My biggest musical influences are some of my favourite drummers like Matt Halpern, Carter Beauford, Dave Grohl and Aaron Spears just to name a few. When I was a kid you’d look up to how they play and want to emulate their playing in order to elaborate on the musical vocabulary you have to be able to have my own voice on the instrument. Musically, I’ve always loved progressive metal and heavier music, and I try to sprinkle that into our musical style with little flourishes on the drums.

Jake C: I grew up wanting to be jimmy page, jimi Hendrix or mark knopfler. As I got a little older I focused less on being a guitar hero but making people dance. Nile rogers right hand alone influenced the last ten years of my playing significantly.

Chris: I was obsessed with KISS and Lynyrd Skynyrd at a very young age. My Mom and Dad had a huge impact on my musical influences. Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath. I would study that music for hours and try to emulate everything I heard. I would watch old live concert footage of all those bands wanting to look and play just like them.

Jamie: I’ve had many kinds of influences throughout my time with the guitar. I grew up with my dad showing me artists like David Gilmore and Mark Knopfler, who were huge to me in the early days, and still are now! I was also greatly inspired by my phenomenal guitar teacher Kyle McKey. But now that I’ve grown and have started discovering things on my own, I find myself being influenced by artists such as John Mayer and Ariel Posen. The old plus the new influences give me a huge variety of influences to tap into, and help create my sound that I’ve become very proud of

Jake W: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Gord Downie, Tom Petty, Billie Joe Armstrong, & Kurt Cobain have been huge influences on my writing, vocal delivery and how I evoke emotion into my voice. I grew up with all of these artist speaking to me, being able to remember their words and applying their simplistic approach to my songwriting but as much as I wanted to be like them I realized that will only get you so far – and just like them I have had to find my own voice and my own musical approach. What worked for them would not work for me as we are all unique individuals on this planet.

From The Strait: If you could play any music venue anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Levi: El Mocambo. Rolling Stones Live. SRV live at the Elmo. Would love to do a live recording in the same room, it’s gotta have some mojo.

Jamie: Amphitheatre of Pompeii – My all time favourite live performance is Pink Floyd live at Pompeii

Jake C: Massey hall, Skydome

Chris: Hollywood Bowl, iconic.

Jake W: Colorado, Red Rocks Amphitheatre – I love the fact that the whole set up is embedded in the foothills of Colorado, just think you can’t get more “grounded” than that! 

—-

Check out the debut single from Gatlin Black, “One Last Chance!”

–

Follow Gatlin Black on Instagram

—

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR