Naked Giants made their return to Vancouver for a reflective and chicken-filled time at The Wise
Jasmine Garcha (she/her) // Arts and Culture Editor
Sara Brinkac (any) // Co-Editor-In-Chief
Naked Giants, our beloved Seattle-based rock trio, shook The Wise Hall on March 22nd. The intimate venue displayed lovely ambient light work, speedy sound mixing to perfection and a beautifully respectful audience who showed kindness to the Courier crew photographing the show as well as the performers.
The last time Naked Giants spoke to the Courier was prior to their show at the Fox Cabaret in November, a conversation during which they outlined their inspirations, the beginnings of their band and their musical processes. This time, with pre-show energies high and a Mogu Fried Chicken feast in their tummies, they shared beautiful reflections during an hour-long interview before requesting to borrow a lighter to burn some incense.
Some of these reflections came from their tour days with the band Car Seat Headrest, a central point of introspection for the Naked Giants boys. This tour spanned the years 2018 and 2019, supporting Car Seat Headrest’s Twin Fantasy album and Naked Giants’ SLUFF album.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” says Naked Giants bassist, Gianni Aiello. “We got to see the world, we got to play these big theatres,” he continues, “But, also, we were kind of struggling internally.” He describes that the band was able to unpack their internal crises individually and as a band, reassess their ideas of an ideal rock and roll lifestyle and get to, “the heart of why anyone makes music in the first place.”
Expanding on the thought, vocalist and guitarist Grant Mullen describes the tour life as encompassing distractions from your own thoughts and a lack of exposure to normalcy. He explains that they had been listening to the SLUFF album recently and realized that their views had evolved from, “these weird anxious little teenagers” who saw the band as, “do or die” to understanding that it’s, “just one of the elements of full adult lives now.”
They go on to explain that they realized that they can have fun while also maintaining a healthy lifestyle and finding balance in their endeavours and within themselves. Mullen, whose endeavours include delving into the world of real estate, relays his mental processes, questioning, “Why am I so attached to this identity of being a musician and not doing anything else and feeling like if I do something else, I’m sacrificing something or that it’s lame?”
Drummer Henry LaVallee explains that in the absence of constant touring, he’s been focusing on being a good partner to his wife, who he mentions recently came out to see their Portland show, and teaching music while discovering a love of learning his students’ individual learning processes.
Adding on his own music-teaching experiences, Aiello says that some of his students who are his age or older share their stories in which they loved playing instruments when they were young, before they, “fell off and did life things” like getting a job and going to college. “Not that I didn’t have to get a job and do that kind of stuff,” says Aiello, “But, it just made me realize that when I was a teenager, I just had so much free time on my hands to just nourish this craft and not everybody gets that.”
Speaking to the limitations of time, LaVallee says, “If I was a high school teacher, we could just do a summer tour every year,” while also acknowledging that he enjoys having the freedom of self-employment.
“We used to spend, I don’t know, eight months out of the year being in a van with each other,” says Aiello, with Mullen chiming in, “And come back and be roommates.” Mullen adds that they’ve grown closer emotionally although they now spend more time apart physically, noting that there’s now, “less selfish enjoyment of friendship and more respecting each other’s differences from each other.”
Another great group of friends was the pair in the crowd who started moshing just between the two of them, before one climbed onto the other’s shoulders. Some fans also brought the band non-alcoholic beers after calling Mullen’s attention to ask if they drink. These guys also moved far out of the path each time they saw a Courier cameraman coming. Shoutout to them.
Throughout the show, the band occasionally announced their excitement to be in Vancouver, even noting that they’re fans of the CW’s Supernatural, which was shot here in Hollywood North. Near the end of the show, LaVallee shouted out the Fox Cabaret, to which a man in the crowd shouted back about loving the adult films shown at the venue back when it was Fox Cinemas. After the show, the band manned the merch table, signing records for and chatting with fans both inside and outside the venue.