Interview: Greg Rekus (Written – 2024)

For over a decade, Greg Rekus has wowed audiences with countless tours around the world. His energetic brand of Folk Punk and ability to entertain audiences is unmatched. His latest release, ‘Sinners Go to Church Saints Go to Jail’, is out now and Greg has spent the first half of this year touring across the US, Canada, and Europe. We caught up with Greg during a brief bit of downtime to find out how things are going.

1. Hi Greg. Thanks for speaking with me. First things first, how are you?

I’m great or even better than that actually!!! Super great!? I just got back from 3 months of touring the USA, Quebec, and alllll over Europe as well as a few Ontario dates on the way home. This tour was in the top 3 of all time, if not the best tour I have ever done! I feel I played really well, the crowds were awesome, a few fun new places! All boxes checked!

2. We’re around about the halfway point of 2024 – are you satisfied with what you’ve been able to accomplish this year so far?

Extremely happy how this year has gone thus far. Last year was a bit of a rough one to be honest. A few family emergencies, vehicle issue after vehicle issue. Just felt like life, as well as my bank account, was in a massive nose dive. But as the storm cleared and I started digging through the debris, I was able to release my new record “Sinners go to Church Saines go to Jail” and hit the ground running in 2024 with an awesome tour in Western Canada and West USA with my bud Tim Holehouse. Then, like I bragged in the previous question, I just crushed it on my spring tour all over the place! This year has already made up for a lousy 2023.

3. You’ve been on an incredible live run as of recent. How has the experience been and has such a volume of shows taken its toll?

I’ve been touring for over 20 years, so have a lot of coping skills to deal with the not fun parts or the home sickness and missing loved ones and friends. I also have learned from past tours what works and what doesn’t, and I try to keep in pretty chill. No big travel days and realistic expectations on all levels and fronts. After 20 + years, it still feels like an amazing adventure and is still something in my life I wanna keep doing with no end in sight. I think another big part of why I still love it is I never tour more than 6 months a year, so I never hit that point of burn out. Yeah, my voice gets sore and sore muscles and fingers and knees from all the stomping, but never to the point of any major damage. I think I have a really great balance of tour and playing, but also a life back home.

4. What have been some of the highlights of the recent bout of touring? Any particular shows that stood out?

Sooooooooo many shows were amazing! I’m a bit scared to answer as it all kinda becomes a blur and I hope I’m not forgetting an amazing show if I start to name of a few. The 10th anniversary of Walk the Line in Larissa Greece was incredible. Maybe the biggest show for attendance. Larissa has become somewhat of a second home for me in Greece and so many friends were there singing along and stuff. Vodka Juniors headlining was incredible! What a great band they are and awesome people too. Nuremberg I got to play an Anti Nazi fundraiser show that was really great! Again super packed, Awesome bands, and a great cause. Vicenza in Italy i played a really cool festival put on my Another Skate of Mind. That’s not mentioned all the amazing house shows that were unforgettable. Just too many to name and the whole article would just be me bragging about all the awesome places so gotta leave it there for now!

5. What were some of the more challenging moments of the recent bout of touring?

I had a few shows fall through so a bit of a struggle to re book stuff last minute but at my level it’s not uncommon for this kinda stuff to happen so barely a challenge to be honest. On a more personal level, I lost a friend recently and found out her passing on the tour. Trying to deal with that and find time to mourn, when surrounded by and bunch of people everyday was hard. At times, I had to put on a smile and tell myself my friend loved my music and would want me to finish the tour and not feel sad everyday. A few times, it was just too much and I broke down which reminded me how awesome the people around me are and how much they understood and were there for me.

6. Of course, this has been in support of your latest record, ‘Sinners Go to Church, Saints Go to Jail’. It’s been out for a few months, are you pleased with the response so far?

Yeah! People have said really great things about it and a lot of people have felt it might be the best thing I’ve done. It was the first time Shea recorded with me on drums as well as Blue on bass and bg vocals. They both brought tons to the table and kinda added a different flavour to the usual Rekus jams from past records. When I release a new album, I never like to play too much of it right away but on my fall tour, I’m excited to add a few more new songs to the set and really dig into the new record for the live show.

7. What does it mean to you to have had such a positive response to the record and to have had the opportunity to play so many shows in support of the record so far?

I know how privileged I am to be able to do this. It didn’t just fall into my lap. I worked very hard to get where I am. But I also had the opportunity to work that hard and to be able to choose this path I’ve had the pleasure of wandering down. I hope pertaining to this record as well as all the stuff I ever get to do, I’m always eternally thankful to all the people that have been in my corner to help make it all happen. If it wasn’t for the people that have listened to my music or came to see me live, gave me a place to sleep, fed me, booked me a show, helped me on the way, I would never have been able to do all this amazing stuff!

8. Is there a particular track from the album that you’ve been surprised to see such a positive response to? One that perhaps blew up more than expected?

Yeah, Fool me Twice. Track 7. I liked the song but always thought it was just kinda plain. But a playlist picked it up and it’s one of the leading songs online for plays on the new record.

9. How about live? What songs from the new record have been going down well live?

Wretched of the Earth, Track 3, was the first one I started playing and works really well solo. The vast majority of my shows are just me, so not everything we record as a band can translate into solo stuff. But this one I think fit both with band and solo. Encampment is the second one I added to the set and it took a bit of tweaking the arrangement to really be happy playing it solo, but now, I really like it just me as much as with the band.

10. You seem to always be doing something. Do you find it difficult to ‘sit still’ for too long?

Not at all. I absolutely love playing classic RPG and other video games when I’m home. Chilling on my patio is another one of my favourite things to do. Don’t get me wrong. I barely ever get to sit still with all the things I wanna do, but when I do get to relax I very much value my down time.

11. What does the second half of 2024 look like for you?

I’m playing a super fun punk festival in Gainesville FL called “The Fest” in last oct. I’ll be doing a ton of dates all over North America approaching The Fest, and then a bunch after to kinda play my way home. When I’m not touring, I work as a sound tech setting up festivals and plugging in mics and running sound boards, so that will keep me busy all summer. I also hope to go on vacation in sept with my wonderful partner Katie. She has always been mega supportive of my music and lifestyle and we are very overdue for a little holiday together.

12. What’s something you’d like to accomplish over the next 12 months?

I mean I guess there is the tour, gotta book it. Play the shows. There is the summer work schedule endure and get through it. But something on the list that I really wanna do is get stickers made. I’ve had sooooo many complaints I don’t have stickers anymore and I’ve been meaning to get them but $$$ has just been too tight. Now that the album is out and I have the van situation figured out, I think it’s finally time to get more stickers!

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