by Evie Saphire-Bernstein
The Pistolwhips, a Canadian rock band from Saskatoon, comes off as both original and nostalgic on their EP released last year. It consists of four singles that range from feel-good summer jams to introspective rock ballads. With a voice that reminds one of Marcus Mumford and a sound that resembles Kings of Leon, the music is powerful, sharp, and focused. Read what Ryland and Zack had to say about the band’s origin, their future plans, and what makes them unique.
Evie Saphire-Bernstein: How did you come up with the name Pistolwhips?
Ryland Schultz: The name came from a long list of names we threw out. One of the names we wanted originally was taken by another band, so we chose Pistolwhips.
ESB: There’s a band in Albany with that name. Did you know?
Zack Davies: Yeah, well, we found that out recently. (laughs) We’ll have to duel it out for the name at some point.
ESB: How did you all meet and decide to form a band?
RS: A while back, the two of them (Zack and Christian) were in a band and when their lead singer left, I took his place. Then we got Paul (lead guitars) to join the band, so that’s how we are right now.
ESB: You took a hiatus then recently reformed. What motivated the reconnection?
RS: We were all working on different projects for a while and still are. Christian plays the drums in another band, and Paul lives in Vancouver right now. It makes it hard to play a lot of shows when we are all so all over the place, but we are really focused on getting some real music done right now.
ESB: Are you working on a full-length album?
RS: Right now, we are working on a single, which we hope to get out there soon. Hopefully, we’ll be able to launch the single and the website at the same time.
ZD: We’re also working on our social media and YouTube presence, so hopefully, all of that will come together pretty soon.
ESB: What are some of your main musical influences?
RS: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin…
ZD: Lynyrd Skynyrd.
RS: Nope, not them.
ZD: Sorry, yeah. A bit of sarcasm there.
ESB: What was your worst and best live show. Any good stories?
RS: We actually haven’t played any bad shows. The best show we played was when we opened for the Sheepdogs a couple weeks ago. That crowd has huge—around 4,000 people. Our last four shows have been sold out, and we’ve had some really great reactions to the music, so we’re hoping to keep on going.
ZD: Yeah, I mean I get pretty drunk after the shows, so I don’t really remember any bad ones.
ESB: What are your future plans? Tours, new albums, world domination?
RS: We’re hoping to be able to tour, a bigger Eastern tour, this fall. Hopefully, if things fall into place, we’ll be able to tour some of America. It’s actually harder than it seems to get into America to tour—we all need work visas and such, so it’ll take some time. But we definitely want to get out there and play our music for more fans.
