GREG Hi, I'm Greg. Leo. Bald, beard, stocky. Fun is pretty ok I guess. Taylor 414CE acoustic. Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessee Rose hollow body. Epiphone El Capitan acoustic electric base. Harmonicas that pull beard hair right out of my face. Expressive hips.
You know too much already....
SHAUN Hi. I'm Shaun. In dog years, I'm dead. Self-inflicted garlic addict. Music, motorcycles and tequila....in that order. RainSong WS1000 acoustic and Ibanez hollow bodies. "A.O.F.A" attitude at work or play. I don't dance.
Glad we had this chat....
The Short Of It:
If a great song is just a great song, and spectacular music is just spectacular music, then the concept of single genre loyalty by true music fans is officially dead. If people listen to music this way, then why aren't bands writing music this way?
Enter…. Long Gun Registry….. a band consisting of two songwriters who build songs without labels, borders, or pre-determined outcomes. The result is a refreshing mix of honest, melodic sounds that instantly catch the ear. Thoughtful lyrics that draw on everything from highly personal experiences to quiet observations of the crazy world resonate and reach out to the listener….no matter what their walk of life. Drawing on the Berry Gordy mantra…."don't bore us, get to the chorus", Long Gun Registry songs are not legged out to create repetitious circles of filler. Instead, the songs are unapologetically upfront and to the point….meaning you better be sitting comfortably when the music starts playing…..
The Long Of It:
We are Long Gun Registry – a musical duo from Western Canada. We believe that music is the greatest means of artistic expression available to us, the most visceral and accessible way we can communicate what we have experienced (good and bad), what we feel (again, good and bad), and who we truly are inside (ditto). Music is direct, it is immediate, it is pure, and it has the ability to be powerful in so many different ways.
We use music to connect in ways we otherwise cannot. We use it to discover and share something of ourselves. That exploration and communication is ever growing and ever changing in step with our own evolution as we adapt to meet the challenges that life gives us.
For us, music has always been a companion. It provides fire, refuge from existential storms, and nourishment for the soul. It provides glimpses into and understandings of people who we’ve grown to admire and feel we deeply know. In writing and performing, we are attempting to do the same – to understand ourselves more deeply, and to share who we are with those who are willing to take the time to just listen for a little while.
We grew up on whatever we could get our hands on and put into our ears – punk, metal, folk, country, and anything downright weird and interesting. The lessons in songs of those seemingly disparate genres have shaped how we observe the world and how we rise to meet it. It turns out that those different genres aren’t necessarily all that different, so long as the undercurrent is earnest and genuine.
Our chosen means of expression may at first appear to be simple, at least in comparison to a lot of current music bombarding us from major media. And perhaps it is. But in the simplicity of what we play and how we play it is a clear signal carrying raw and pure intention. Our songs are primarily written and played using acoustic guitars, but with the incorporation of bass, electric guitar, some mandolin, harmonica, and sparse percussion.
Our songs translate well onto festival stages, in bars, coffee shops, small venues, and in living rooms with a few friends. The way we sound on our recordings is the way we sound in person. No tricks, no digitally covering up blemishes or masking the vulnerabilities of the human voice. Unapologetically us.
Our goal is to always be honing our sound while also building a broad and varied body of work. We want to be just as effective whether playing fast and upbeat or quiet and sombre, singing softly with sincere emotion, or pushing as hard as we can. We like to blur genre lines, utilize a lot of different structural arrangements, and experiment with interplay of instruments and voices. The effort we put into writing honest and sincere lyrics is as important as the effort we put into growing as musicians.
In the end, we play music which is meaningful to us, which is true to who we are, and seek to share our love with like-minded people.
- March 2020 -