More about: Cleopatrick

Luke Gruntz and Ian Fraser met when they were four-years-old, began playing music together aged eight, and dropped their first EP in 2016 as Cleopatrick. Since then, the Canadian power duo have become something of an underground sensation, and their vital, innovative brand of rock now finds them close to gate-crashing the mainstream. As of 2021, the pair have accrued a vast worldwide fanbase and multiple sell-out tour: a good time to drop a debut album. 

Produced by 21-year-old peer and producer Jig Dubé in a basement, BUMMER is a poetic and epic coming of age story, as well as a fresh, sincere and invigorating piece of rock. It is in their words "a record made to mean something". We talked about creativity within limitations, their musical collective the ’New Rock Mafia’, and how to keep rock real:

Gigwise: First guys - nice one on the album, I really loved it beginning to end. 

Cleopatrick: Thank you so much!! We are truly proud of this album from front to back. This album is really meant to be listened to fully through; we put a lot of thought into the track-list and are super proud of how it worked out. So again, thank you for saying that.

GW: What music was driving you when you were writing the album? Are there any unexpected influences there? I can hear hip-hop.

C: The writing process of this album has spanned over quite a bit of time and we definitely take influence from all sorts of different types of music. A few influential names that come to mind would be Dinosaur Bones, The Districts, Anderson .Paak and Drake.

GW: Was there an overarching idea behind BUMMER? Were you like ‘right, let’s create a whole world inside this project’? It’s so cohesive, it feels like a real piece. 

C: We have always adored the art form of the ALBUM. I think beyond anything, that was our biggest goal. We wanted to create an album filled front to back with songs that we really believed in. Every song on this album means a lot to us and that was intentional. We also wanted to make an album that felt like it could be the dopest live set on it’s own, which I think we both believe could be the case with BUMMER. 

GW: Do you think there’s a way in which being a two-piece directly affects your songwriting? All the songs are so tightly wound and energetic, do you find you focus more on dynamics and trimming the fat as a two-piece? 

C: Totally. It definitely limits what we can do, but I think at the same time it enables us or maybe just pushes us to be more creative within our songwriting, Which I like a lot. I would say dynamics in this band feel equally as important as melodies and rhythm. Maybe the missing layers allow us to think more critically on the limited layers we can provide as the two of us. Something as simple as cutting the bass out in a verse, simple in practice, but for us it feels incredibly effective in the right places.

GW: What would you like listeners to take away from BUMMER? 

C: I truly just hope it can inspire more kids to make honest art with their friends. This band and all of the experiences it has brought to my life have been truly the best, and this was before anyone was even listening. I hope that anyone who is on the fence about making art can look at us (two kinda dorky dudes from nowhere special) and feel encouraged by how fortunate we have been, making the most out of our circumstances.

GW: I really love the production: the sound of the drums and vocals particularly seems to tread this cool line between ultra lo-fi and then really popping, plus so many cool sonic details and icing, it’s all really creative. What were you guys aiming for with the production?

C: We really wanted to take elements from different types of music that we love (like hip-hop and different kinds of pop) and bring those to guitar music. We are by no means trying to “genre bend” but we wanted to try to combine ELEMENTS from different styles of music we love. It was more about the energy rather than the genres. For example, the bass sits at this low sub frequency and the way it works with the kick really feels like hip-hop 808 in moments, yet it still is very raw.

Our goal was to produce and make these sounds as specific as possible without allowing the album to sound overproduced. It's easy to put trap hi-hats over a filtered guitar riff and call it a day, but that really was not what we were looking to do. I think it relied more within us pushing the boundaries of what we could do with these instruments that we know so well, and trying to create something new in essence, yet still raw and familiar.

GW: There’s a real epic element to the record, which can be so difficult to get right in rock music, but that’s amazingly well handled on BUMMER. ‘2008’ really hit me hard, it’s so raw but keeps you in a choke hold with the lyrics and melodies. How do you put a song like that together and ‘keep it real’? 

C: I guess doing anything other than “keeping it real” isn’t really an option for us at this point. One of the biggest parts about these songs is the honesty within the lyrics and '2008' may be one of the best examples of that. I think there is a certain feeling that we try to attain when putting songs together, and once that feeling is achieved there is not much looking past that needed. I think just because of the nature of this track, when it was done and when that feeling was achieved all around, it was really obviously done. We’re very excited to keep pushing boundaries like this for ourselves and to keep on keeping it real.

GW: You’re co-founders of the New Rock Mafia. What does the New Rock Mafia want to see in music? 

C: I think it’s really about seeing more communities and supportive people blossoming in guitar music. There is a long history within rock music and I think it would be cool to turn the page and continue to see what kids can come up with. It’s really not about “saving rock and roll” or anything like that, just about seeing what you and your friends can do with these instruments. instruments that we believe are so cool, despite how long they have been around.

GW: Finally, what’s your favourite UK venue to play? 

C: I think my favourite UK tenure would have to be Deaf Institute in Manchester. That was really a moment for us because we had been over to the UK previously and had seen a show at that venue. Luke, our TM Jake and I were all so blown away by the energy and vibe of the room, it was really a moment to come back.

BUMMER is out now.

More about: Cleopatrick