The Garrys

Saskatoon-based group the Garrys finds sisters Erica, Julie and Lenore Maier uniting under an umbrella of mutual love for reverb and retro vocals, bringing an eclectic array of influences to the table on their debut album Warm Buds. And while the record won't officially be out until next month, Exclaim! is giving you an exclusive early listen to the LP in its entirety.

In addition to early rock'n'roll, the three-piece draw inspiration from genres like garage, surf pop and doo-wop. It all comes together in a swirl of melancholy vocal melodies and hypnotic instrumentation. In the group's own words, "If Ed Sullivan went on a date with the Spice Girls, they would eat ice cream sandwiches and dance to the Garrys."

There's even an ode to the tasty frozen snacks on the album (simply titled "Ice Cream Sandwiches") alongside other songs about celebrating oneself ("Party for One"), as well as appreciating one's pals — or perhaps, in the case of "Three Cool Chicks," one's bandmates.

Listen to the full nine-song set right now in the player below before it gets a proper release on May 6. - Exclaim!

You can choose your band mates but you can’t choose your family. But for Erica, Julie and Lenore Maier there was never any question about who would form the basis of their group The Garrys.

Growing up playing music together, the three sisters had talked about forming a band for years. They had the instruments, and Lenore and Erica had already been playing Velvet Underground covers as a folk-rock duo, but once the drums were the final piece of the puzzle that brought the family group together.

“All of us could play the guitar or bass, so the combination could have gone any way,” says Lenore. “How it worked out was great.”

Fittingly, their first jam was back in their parents’ living room.

After playing one of their first shows for a Girls Rock Camp Fundraiser in May, The Garry’s harmony-rich sound quickly solidified. Playing a mixture of moody indie rock, surf, and doo-wop, the group had already been subjected to the perfect recipe for retro surf before they even started.


The sisters can still recall listening to old Ed Sullivan tapes that featured The Rolling Stones and The Beatles when they were younger. While Erica says she remembers plenty of throwback tunes from the like of The California Raisins coming through on an old ghetto blaster, Lenore says that many of those influences shine through in their songwriting.

“Our parents were huge Beach Boys fans — they still are,” says Lenore. “We were always singing when we were young, and I guess that helped bring us to where we are today.”

While all three members contribute to bright, airy vocals, which are treated with just the right amount of reverb, there is an undercurrent of darkness in their music that recalls ’60s groups like The Shangri-Las. But while the group writes songs about food or staying in on a weekend — not exactly your typical hedonistic rock ‘n’ roll fare — this sense of dread, mournfulness and foreboding that comes through on their recordings is actually borne from circumstance.

“A lot of our sound came from the gear that we were using. The tones seemed thin through the amps, so we were always wanting more reverb on vocal mics, which contributed to us gravitating towards surf,” Lenore says.

“Also, being a drummer who had to learn from square one helped push us towards that style. It’s not super technical, but you can do more with a smaller kit.”

It’s a sound that came together on the group’s debut release, a nine-song album entitled Warm Buds. While the melodies pay tribute to the past, it seemed fitting to release the songs on cassette as part of the esthetic.

“All my cassettes lasted longer than my CDs anyway,” laughs Lenore, who also performs as a solo electronic act dubbed Ursa.

Having released their cassette this spring in Saskatoon, the group is now plotting on playing elsewhere throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta, and have slots secured for MoSo Festival and Gateway Festival.

But while the trio is stretching their collective wings, they still haven’t forgotten their family ties. On the cover of Warm Buds is a high school portrait of their mother.

And that band name? The name The Garrys is actually in homage to the Maier’s father.

“Garry comes to every show and he’s always happy to meet everyone around,” Julie says.

“And he doesn’t mind being asked if his name is actually Garry,” adds Lenore. “It happens all the time.” - Saskatoon Star Phoenix

Saskatoon sister trio the Garrys have more than just genetics in common; Erica, Julie and Lenore clearly have a fondness for lo-fi nu-wop garage sounds that ooze more than they surge, making new album Warm Buds best suited for hazy, humid summer days, when your back sticks to your chair.

Like the river that flows through their stomping grounds, each track on the band's debut has a certain perpetual motion that rarely wavers. Glass-half-empty lyrics, coupled with apathetic and passive vocals are what really define the feel of the record, as demonstrated on "Truey Bluey." There are no guitar acrobatics or monster drum fills; the album contains few distractions and the band sticks to what they know best. A few tracks, particularly "Druscilla" and "Party For One," carry on a touch too long, leaving the listener patiently waiting for the song to take off without quite getting there.

A good first effort when plenty of room for improvement, Warm Buds cements the Garrys as a group worth keeping an eye on. (Sound and Silence Collective) - Exclaim!

Ones to Watch: The Best of M for Montreal
This trio of sisters from the Prairies – Erica, Julie, and Lenore Maier – play a dreamy combo of old-time rock ’n’ roll, surf and a sound they’ve described as "doom-wop." Beneath the red-washed lights of L’Escogriffe, their live act was pretty minimal, but the mix of ‘60s melodies with just a touch of darkness made the set a hypnotic experience. They put out their debut full-length, Warm Buds, in May, and it's packed with simple drum beats, no more than three or four chords per song and reverb-soaked harmonies. Their final cut at their show, though, was a new one: loud, psychedelic and more than convincing enough to keep an eye out for their next release. - Matt Williams

..............There was also Saskatoon’s The Garrys who make haunting surf pop not to far from La Luz (I liked them a lot).......... - Bill pears

Frightful waves

Beneath the murky surface of Saskatchewan’s Little Manitou Lake, a six-foot monster covered in emerald scales waits for hapless surfers and beachgoers to disturb its calming waters. Or so says the song, “Manitouna,” written by the Saskatoon-born garage surf trio of sisters, The Garrys.

The song sounds like it’s straight out of The Twilight Zone with its descending guitar riff and The Garrys’ haunting harmonies.

“It’s kind of a silly song about this swamp creature that we imagined lives in Manitou Lake,” says bassist Julie Maier.

The song is found on The Garrys’ latest album Surf Manitou, a concept album full of references about Saskatchewan’s Mantiou Beach, a small resort village that’s still happily stuck in the past.

“It’s a pretty unique place,” says drummer Lenore Maier. “It’s a bit like stepping back in time. There is a drive-in movie theatre, lots of antique places, and a beach bar.”

“Some are extremely specific references,” Julie explains. “Like our song “Danceland” is about this big dance hall there where it’s rumoured that Elvis Presley performed with Hank Snow before he got really famous.”

Following the release of its debut album Warm Buds, The Garrys wrote a song that referenced Manitou Beach without plans to make a full concept album.

“It just kind of snowballed,” Julie says.

Lenore adds, “We thought, ‘Okay what if we write an EP about Manitou because this is kind of ridiculous, but we ended up writing, like, 10 songs.”

The Garrys’ sound is submerged in the twangy minor-keyed reverb found within the ‘60s surf genre. Any of the guitar riffs could stand next to legendary surf rock bands like The Shadows, The Ventures, or The B-52s.

“Our gear really lends itself to that surf genre,” Lenore says. “You can really emulate some Dick Dale with the guitar and the drums don’t have any huge crash or anything.”

“We also grew up listening to early ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll. You know, Ed Sullivan Show bands,” Julie adds.

The harmonies found within The Garrys’ music are what set the sisters apart from other surf bands. Each sister sings in a different register, allowing them to experiment with different pitches. The blending of vocals underneath the reverb results in an almost doom surf hybrid.

“Somebody called our music ‘surf music on morphine,’” Julie laughs.

A more accurate pharmaceutical comparison of Surf Manitou’s sound is to the more fearful drug mephedrone, which is known to cause bizarre hallucinations.

The Garrys’ recording engineer, Barrett Ross at Ghettobox Studios in Saskatoon, called the band “psychotically G-rated,” while recording the song “Makeout at the Drive-in” with the trio.

“Most of our lyrics are family-friendly and wholesome, but the music is quite hypnotic and dark,” Julie says.

Surf Manitou is also somewhat of an homage to The Garrys’ parents.

“Manitou is a place where our parents have spent quite a bit of time together,” Julie says.

The Garrys have always been about keeping those family connections strong. The band is named after their father and the Warm Buds album cover has a high school picture of their mother, Kathy.

“Our parents are super supportive,” Lenore says. “They gave birth to us, so with this band we can kind of pay homage to them.”

Thu., June 1 (8 pm)

The Garrys w/ Marlaena Moore, Brunch Club, Owners

Mill Creek Cafe, $10 at door

Stephan Boissonneault
stephan@vueweekly.com - Vue Weekly

Sisterly Saskatoon trio the Garrys gave us Warm Buds last year, and now they're keeping the retro sounds and good vibes going strong for a new record called Surf Manitou. Before it's out next week, Exclaim! is giving you an exclusive early listen to the LP in its entirety.

The record is a concept album, inspired by an array of spots in the "sleepy" resort town of Manitou Beach, SK, and although the new songs do hear the band carrying over their early rock'n'roll and doowop-inspired sound, the three-piece insist that it's "more technical and musically mature" than their last offering.

Injected with what the Garrys call "a gratuitous does of beach sass," tracks like "Make Out at the Drive-In," "Mike's Beach Bar" and closer "Waiting on a Wave" will instantly have you pining summertime fun.

Surf Manitou officially washes ashore on May 19 via Grey Records, but you can give it a spin right now down below. - Ominocity

reviewed by Laura Stanley

I’m almost done watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer for the first time and I am deep into this show. Angel is the worst! I love Giles! What’s up with Dawn?!

Needless to say, the Buffy universe lingers in my mind and I’m probably projecting here but The Garrys’ sophomore album Surf Manitou is the sound of Sunnydale, California. The lethargic, surf-rock, doo-wop tunes of sisters Erica, Julie, and Lenore say the beach isn’t far away, there’s something fun happening at the Bronze, and it’s always sunny – unless a dark force is rolling in. Oh, and don’t walk home alone at night.

On a demon-free day: you can grab a burger from “Burger Buoy,” dance with your crush (“Danceland (Come With Me)”), have a brief respite at “Hair Place”, and take a trip a little ways down the highway to “Mike’s Beach Bar” where the waves are gnarly, the soda is crisp, and the company is good.

Elsewhere on Surf Manitou, it sounds as if that aforementioned dark force is just around the corner. On “Makeout at the Drive-In,” love is in the air but there’s something about the off-kilter guitar that makes me think someone or something is going to attack the unsuspecting teens fumbling in their borrowed cars. “Graveyard Curve” has that feeling too although here the ominous vibe is more obvious. Keys cry out in horror – this stretch of the road attracts death. Has it been cursed? Was the road just poorly planned? Why don’t you test it out and let us know what happens.

The Garrys have another hypnotic doo-wop record on their hands here that’s ideal for listening to after an early morning surf or post-demon slayage. Your choice.

Top Tracks: “Graveyard Curve”; “Danceland (Come With Me)”

Rating: Strong Hoot (Good) - Grayowl Point