The trio of Erica, Julie, and Lenore Maier blend genres as seamlessly as they blend their voices. Mixing spaghetti western guitars, mournful minor-key melodies and vintage pop, their sound is proof that gloom and groove aren’t mutually exclusive terms. It’s a spin on surf-rock as distant from the genre’s cliches as their hometown of Saskatoon, SK is from the nearest ocean.
In their earliest incarnation, The Garrys were a two-piece; Lenore and Erica performed Nico covers at a Girls Rock Camp, recruiting their sister Julie soon after to make the shift from acoustic duo to full-fledged band. Having been raised on Ed Sullivan reruns and Everly Brothers tunes, the siblings naturally gravitated to the sounds of the mid-century. Steeped in tiki bars, B-movie thrills, and drive-in makeout sessions, they aren’t afraid to flirt with kitsch, but filtered through their “doom-wop” aesthetic, their songs aren’t so much nostalgic as haunted.
Already a scary-good live band, The Garrys have been pushing themselves in new directions, flexing their atmospheric side with a live score for the 1922 Scandinavian witchcraft film Häxan, and polishing their pop instincts on 2021’s Get Thee to a Nunnery with help from the late, great Dallas Good of The Sadies. Road-tested and refined, they’re set to transform Prince’s Island into a spectral beach party—just keep an eye out for ghost ships.
Biography by Peter Hemminger