The Whiskey Jerks

Saskatoon's Whiskey Jerks give fusion another lively sound with Neat, a shotgun wedding but happy marriage of jazz, rock, blues and lots of klezmer music.

Check out the lineup of instruments: over drums, bass and guitar, the accordion, violin and clarinet come out to dance. As an added bonus, all six of the musicians sing, the nod going primarily to Gillian Snider on accordion and Anna Bekolay on violin.

The album opens with a swinging, rocking klezmer song about time travel, quoting a couple of lines of Amazing Grace in each chorus as they tag along with Time Travelling Jesus.

Golden Boy is a rueful jazz/pop look at folks who aren't as golden as they appear, all led by the violin and with a brilliant sax solo from helper Gregory Edmunds. Solomon's Creek has a lovely slow ache to it, while Dead-Eyed Darling, with its Celtic feel, is about the kind of fun that gets drunk up.

There's a Ray Charles bluesy feel to Rantin' Fools, about our "messed-up species," saved only by our ability to laugh. Nesslin Lake, with its strong bass line, is a nod to a retreat, a Saskatchewan paradise done in klezmer fusion style, much of which carries right through the rest of the album.

This album can start and close the party, reeling and rocking all the way. - The Star Phoenix

Wordy folk that doesn’t skimp on the stomp or the storytelling, The Whiskey Jerks serve up a neatly complex mash-mix of instrumentation that serves as a solid foundation for a playful platter of vocals. Also, that crow is way too cute. - Ominocity

A Saskatoon band with a diverse musical background is heading west for its first tour outside of Saskatchewan.

The Whiskey Jerks will be making their debut Lloydminster performance at The Root where members Gillian Snider, Anna Bekolay, James Diakuw, Nevin Buehler, Peter Abonyi, and Kevin Buzinskand will be introducing audiences to their eclectic sound.

“There are six of us, we have accordion, clarinet, violin, upright base, guitar, and drums, and the songs range, we’ve been described as gypsy folk, klezmer, country, rock, blues, and jazz,” said accordion player and vocalist Gillian Snider. “It’s hard to pigeon-hole our sound.”

For those not familiar with the genre, klezmer is Eastern European Jewish music typically played with violins, clarinets, and often accordions, all instruments used by The Whiskey Jerks.

In its current incarnation the band has been together for two and a half years. Its members are as diverse as the music they play, having obtained several music degrees, two post-graduate degrees, and one working as a bartender. The group was formed by Snider who had been part of various musical projects with the band members, including an a cappella ensemble with violin player and vocalist Anna Bekolay.

“We rehearse once and sometimes twice a week, and we play lots of shows here in Saskatchewan,” Snider said. “It’s a very different world from the corporate jazz world. The corporate jazz world you are always guaranteed an income, but to have these wonderful musicians commit their time to this project when it’s not necessarily lucrative is a really wonderful thing, so I was very glad that we were able to put a CD out, and we actually started to record a second CD at the end of September as well.”

The band’s debut album, Neat, was released in February and Snider said their sophomore effort probably won’t be released until summer 2016. With Neat, the band did four songs live off the floor so it would have an EP released before the album was out. For their second album, the members are hoping to have everything done and ready to master by either late spring or early summer, and will once again be working with recording engineer Ryan Andersen, whom Snider described as extremely good.

“It will all depend on Ryan’s schedule and the rest of our schedule and things like that. We don’t like to take a pressured approach to it so that this project is actually always fun,” Snider said. “If we’re worried about album release deadlines we would start to panic and then it wouldn’t be fun anymore, so we just go in and let the songs evolve and it’s really fun.”

In addition to Lloydminster, this month The Whiskey Jerks will be performing in Edmonton and then at The Jasper Folk Music Festival to continue introducing themselves to a new audience outside of Saskatchewan. In addition they have been getting radio play courtesy of CKUA radio and CBC Radio One.

“We have a good solid following in Saskatoon and Regina, but when you venture out into a different province it’s a whole different ball game, so we’re very happy to have CKUA and CBC supporting us on that,” Snider said.

The Whiskey Jerks will be playing at The Root on Thursday, Sept. 10. Snider said audiences should expect a lot of stories from the story-telling band, as well as probably whiskey on stage.

“We’re really thankful and grateful to venues like The Root,” she said. “The Root actually in Lloydminster, I hosted house concerts and still do occasionally, but I did quite regularly monthly for five years, and so I know a lot of Canadian musicians and when I approached them about where to play in Alberta I had about three or four people say ‘oh, you have to play The Root in Lloydminster.’ I was really glad that Amanda was able to accommodate us because that venue and Lloydminster came highly recommended to us.”

@BoosterArseneau - Meridian Booster: Simon Arseneau

I talked to The Whiskey Jerks' Gillian Snider about storytelling through songs, eclectic musical expression and sources of inspiration.

Gillian Snider started out playing classical music and didn't write any original songs until she was in her early 40's. Her songwriting career began when a friend gave her an accordion. She thought ‘what a fabulous instrument!’ and started writing songs. Gillian explains, "I began playing open stages as a solo artist, but I kept hearing other instrumentation for the songs that I was writing. Saskatoon's a really small, beautiful community of musicians so I contacted a few friends that I'd played with before on different musical projects and asked if they'd like to meet in my living room once a week to learn some new and original music. Thankfully, despite very little pay, they all said, 'Yes!' "

The Whiskey Jerks (L to R): Kevin Buzinski, Anne Bekolay, Gillian Snider, Nevin Buehler, James Daikuw, Peter Abonyi
The Whiskey Jerks (L to R): Kevin Buzinski, Anne Bekolay, Gillian Snider, Nevin Buehler, James Daikuw, Peter Abonyi
Debra Marshall
The band's eclectic nature has led to a collaborative approach to songwriting. Gillian says, "Everybody brings their influences to the table and the songs emerge out of that process. It starts with what I present to the band, but the songs blossom from there. All of our songs seem to tell a story and the music comes out of the stories that we're telling. I’m happy to say that both Anna and Peter have also brought songs to the table - our last album ‘Neat.’ has two of Anna’s songs, and our next album will have more of Anna’s, and one or two of Peter’s as well. "

All of The Whiskey Jerks’ musicians are steeped in unique backgrounds that lend different sounds to the band. Gillian points out, "Kevin, our drummer, plays speed metal and punk. Our klezmer/gypsy tempos have been a bit of a learning curve for him, but his influence is what helps give our sound so much versatility. Peter is just an all around guitar player. He plays everything. I've done several musical projects with him before and they were all very different. He brings in a wonderful Spanish classical influence, and also plays some serious hard rock, country and blues as well.”

She continues, “Nevin, our upright bass player, is classically trained, but is primarily a jazz musician. He's very versatile and he's in a whole string of projects too. He adds beautiful touches and riffs to the songs. And James’ lovely clarinet adds a kind of flavour that gives our sound the edge it needs to stand out in a crowd. And Anna? Well, Anna is Anna - her voice and violin speak for themselves, and her beautiful stage presence draws people like moths to a flame!"

Gillian feels that she writes songs 'backwards' compared to many songwriters. She says, "I envision a character in my head and a story emerges based on that character. After I have the lyrics, I'll sit down with my accordion and get a basic chord progression and then I'll try to figure out exactly what I want to come across musically. For example, our song Baba Was a Bootlegger is about a friend of mine's Ukranian great grandmother who made illegal hooch during Prohibition and sold it help keep the family farm going. The song begins with a traditional eastern European sound, but transforms into a good-old fashioned country tune."

The band's eclectic approach extends to their preferences for recording albums. In Gillian's case, she prefers live off the floor recordings. She explains, "Personally I love having the room set up so we can all see each other while we're playing. We feed off of each other's energy as a band. However I do understand the benefits of the multi-tracking process - it’s good to get things just right."



She adds, "Our violin player Anna, who is a tremendous classical violin player, isn’t so much about live off the floor - she’s a perfectionist and likes her solos to be exactly how she wants them to be."

The band is building momentum and playing multiple shows and festivals in western Canada, but challenges remain for them. Gillian says, "All six of us are involved in multiple musical projects and all six of us work full time too. Getting everybody organized time-wise to go on tour is very challenging. We're managing to make it work though - and we have lots of fun on the road."

Over the years, Gillian has hosted a house concert series in her home. She explains, "It was a little oasis in between Alberta and Manitoba if touring bands didn't have a place to play in Saskatchewan. In just over five years, I hosted over 70 shows and I had people coming from all over Canada playing in my living room. It showed me how many musicians are playing this wonderful music right across the board. Roots is a very open category of music and I saw it manifested in so many different ways - and I only saw the tip of the musical iceberg! It's so inspiring for me to see this organic music having a resurgence across the country."

In the immediate future, The Whiskey Jerks are recording a second album and getting ready to go on a tour first of eastern Canada next summer and then of Eastern Europe in 2018. Gillian says, "I just hope that we can keep doing what we're doing. Slowly but surely we're getting a wider fan base in Canada. We've been getting radio play on CBC Radio One and Two, and lots of play on community and college radio stations as well, including regular rotation on Baba Singh’s wonderful Mid-Morning Mojo show on the CKUA Radio Network."

Music has always surrounded her and so she's never short of inspiration in that regard. In terms of the inspiration for the band, Gillian says, "The songs are still being written and all of the inspiration we find for the songs comes from people sharing their stories with us. I think as long as the stories are there, we're going to just keep making music."


For more information on The Whiskey Jerks, please visit their website here.

This profile of Gillian Snider is based on an interview conducted and recorded on Nov. 10, 2016. - Wizzley

Saskatoon's The Whiskey Jerks released 4 songs with "Just A Sip", an EP that showcases their distinctive and highly original prairie sound, blending klezmer, folk, rock, country-blues, gypsy-punk, and jazz. The group is comprised of Anna Bekolay, James Diakuw, Nevin Buehler, Peter Abonyi, Kevin Buzinski and Gillian Snider (www.thewhiskeyjerks.com) - The Session, Vol.30.2, Summer 2017