Get Thee To A Nunnery: An Interview with The Garrys & Show # 904

Get Thee To A Nunnery is the fourth full-length album by Saskatoon’s The Garrys. This three-piece sister trio features Erica Maier (guitar/vocals), Julie Maier (bass/vocals) and Lenore Maier (drums/vocals). They first started appearing on underground music radar with 2017’s Surf Manitou, which brought their prairie inspired surf dynamics and combined them with folk-like tales of Manitou Beach, SK, a family vacation spot that the Maier’s visited when younger. They also sung of sea monsters that lurked those parts. In 2020, The Garrys released their score to the 1922 silent film Haxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages, which was performed and recorded live as the film played in a theatre. They describe their music as “dreamy blood harmony surf rock doom-wop on morphine.” Surf, psychedelia, doo-wop, garage and cinematic sounds of composers such as Ennino Morricone influence the music, but it is so much more than that description. Produced by Dallas Good of the Sadies, Get Thee To A Nunnery was released on vinyl, cassette, CD and digitally on September 24th, 2021 via Grey Records.

“Get Thee To A Nunnery” starts off the album. The song begins with a splurge of organ sounds before the mod-pop sound of artists such as April March and Frances Gall filter in with the band’s surf dynamics. This album and this track specifically are influenced by stories of the band’s mother in her teenage years attending an all girls Catholic boarding school in the 1960s Saskatchewan. Lyrically, The Garrys delve into themes of Catholic guilt and the push and pull redemption that comes with it with words such as “You’re breaking your mama’s heart, baby/They hardly even know you lately/Could you straighten out now maybe?/Gotta get thee to a nunnery,” while at the same time there is an undeniable tension and nostalgic quality that runs through this track (and album). “Ambrosia Salad” provides an instrumental break in the early moments of the album, but one that is painted in cinematic tones of sepia. Although there are no lyrics in this track, other than the haunting vocal harmonies that drift in and out between surf riffs, the title of this song ties in with Greek Mythology and the folk-like tales that have familial and roots of the surrounding prairies that are present throughout Get Thee To A Nunnery.

“Sintaluta” brings in darker psychedelic surf vibes. Taking its title from a small prairie town in Saskatchewan, lyrics such as “And when I knew it was something good/I was afraid to leave where I stood/I called to you but you walked away/And didn’t notice, I guess that’s okay,” express a fleeting existential feeling in-between swirling guitars and otherworldly sounding vocals. “Devil’s Dip” brings in trippy, psychedelic surf guitar riffs mixing in with soulful basslines and laidback drumbeats. “Bury Me With My Money” is an on edge, yet melodic track that is surrounded in waves of darker lyrical thoughts of a greedy outlaw that wouldn’t be out of place in black & white western movie. With its B-movie horror inspired organ and descending basslines that lock in with the travelling drumbeats, “Hwy 11-Tumbleweed” floats with wandering surf guitars, as “Fallen Woman” comes in as the eighth track on Get Thee To A Nunnery. With its crunchy garage rock guitars and words such as “You keep tellin’ me but I can’t see the light/I can hear what you’re saying but it can’t be right/From the demon, liar, priest, and sacrificed,” this song questions a religious upbringing and oppression. It also operates on other levels as it analyzes trying to find your place within traditions and values you had growing up in the present.

“It’s Over” is a song that is heavily influenced by doo-wop music. Or as described by the band “doom-wop,” this catchy and melancholic track captures a 1950s atmosphere drawing on 1950s heartbreak songs and girl group aesthetics. It also swims with feelings of wistfulness. While it deals with lies and an ending relationship, it also ties in with other themes present on album when juxtaposing with stories and occurrences of the past. “R.M. of Wolverine” ends Get Thee To A Nunnery. The longest track on the album at four minutes and thirty two seconds, this track has instrumental interludes between sparse lyrics such as “Just a hole in the ground/nothing more” and “Just the wind/In the grass/Now it’s all in the past/Like we were before,” that creates a mood as it ebbs and flows with cinematic dark surf vibes, intense fuzz guitar and eerie vocals. Taking its title from the Rural Municipality of Wolverine in Saskatchewan, The Garrys take this small town setting and characterize it, giving the song and album some deeper metaphysical open-ended thoughts in its final moments.

Get Thee To A Nunnery presents The Garrys capturing that nostalgic feeling that they do so well, that exists both in the past and the present, as it questions topics relating to family roots in Saskatchewan, isolation and decay of rural life, worldviews and faith in different generations and oppression. It doesn’t just address the past saying everything is great because that isn’t how it was. While also taking influence from Shakepeare’s Hamlet, Get Thee To A Nunnery goes further in The Garrys’ songwriting abilities. It explores new and old themes placing them in larger contexts that drift out beyond the borders that we once knew.

Listen to the interview that Revolution Rock did with Erica, Julie, Lenore of The Garrys:

Show # 904 (Originally Aired On October 16th, 2021) (The Garrys Interview):

1.  The Mummies - The Thing From Venus
2.  The Goldstars - Stroll In Hell
3.  Raeburn - Bongo Dracula
4.  Mothership - Fire In The Sky
5.  BBQT - High Wasted
6.  Tricky Woo - Let Us Sing
7.  James Sullivan - Lea Bridge
8.  The Garrys - Ice Cream Sandwich
9.  The Garrys - Mike's Beach Bar

THE GARRYS INTERVIEW PT I 

10. The Garrys - Karna
11. The Garrys - Fallen Women

THE GARRYS INTERVIEW PT II 

12. The Garrys - Burger Buoy
13. The Garrys - Devil's Dip
14. The Garrys - It's Over
15. Illuminati Hotties - MMMOOOAAAAAYAYA
16. Low - White Horses
17. BADBADNOTGOOD - Signal From The Noise
18. The Replacements - I Hate Music (Studio Demo)
19. The Replacements - Takin' A Ride (Live)
20. The Zeros - Wild Weekend
21. The Zellots - Vampire Love
22. The Dishrags - I Don't Love You
23. Pylon - No Clocks (Channel One Version)

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE HERE.