Hiatus is a dirty word and in the case of our local boys, Greater Than Giants, it almost translated to done and dusted. Fortunately for those of you with a Punk Pop craving and a need for an edgy, yet melodic drum sound, Greater Than Giants survived a hiatus and came back larger than life!
Drummer, Tim Wilson explained recently, “We had been jamming together since 2008 and then our guitarist quit for medical school. We would find a replacement who was great as a person, but did not fit musically, then we would find a great musical dude who was not so great as a person. We even found a few who were just not great in either capacity!” He laughs, but it is half hearted. “It just was not working out. It was great that Matt (Baron, the original guitarist) was going to school, but it was a difficult time for us. We had independently released a record While We’re Young in 2010 and it was starting to take us places, it seemed like it could be the end. We decide to take a break.”
In January 2011, five months into the hiatus Tim found his inner gung ho and gathered the remaining band members back together. They all agreed that this was still worth a serious shot and that none of them really wanted to spend the rest of their lives doing “serious jobs,” so they tirelessly auditioned for a guitarist and in March 2011, found perfect fit dude in Wayne McClellan.
Currently Greater Than Giants is Tim Wilson; drums, Wayne McClellan; guitar, Tyler Cerda; vocals and Ryan Brodziak; bass and TJ Day; guitar.
Listing New Found Glory, The Fullblast, Starting Line, Bouncing Souls, Strike Anywhere and Deaner as influences and ripping out a sound similar to early Blink 182 and Busted, these up and coming punksters are worth $10 of any ones hard earned dollars in cover and an hour of your time on any given evening.
March 14th 2012 will see these boys play Pawnshop on Whyte Avenue, in their home town of Edmonton, before setting off on the road once again in a lovingly used (full of crap) 15 seat mini-van, to do a mini tour with Acres Of Lions, whilst eating more value meals, chuggging 40’s and peeing into bottles, on their way to the Canadian Music Festival in Toronto, Ontario (March 17-25).
On return to Edmonton life continues at break neck speed and the band will put the finishing touches to an EP, aptly named Never Growing Up, for release (tentative) by the end of April. A second EP, as yet un-named, is scheduled for release in Fall 2012. “We are kind of following the minimalist mode of marketing and promotions, in that we never release a full record, only singles. We want to give our followers a little more but not too much, so that they are left wanting a little more. It seems to work for others” shared Wilson, hopeful that advice offered by someone with a little more business experience, will work for his project too.
What also seems to work to the advantage of others is social media. A forum to which this talented group of musicians are no strangers. With almost 2,000 followers on Facebook to date, word is getting out and hard work is paying off, but we all know it is good to share. Look up Greater Than Giants, purchase their wares and share them with your friends, neighbours and your hair stylist.
Greater Than Giants Links:
http://greaterthangiants.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/greaterthangiants
By Karen Graham aka Headbangerwoman
