Putting Winnipeg and Its Punks on The Map

Photo by Dwayne Larson

Anyone who has ever heard a song or seen a performance by Winnipeg punk duo, Mobina Galore knows the band is chock-full of angst, energy and badass attitude. Fresh off an enormous tour stretch across Europe and North America, the renowned pair has hit the road yet again to help spread their brand of great punk rock.

We spoke with guitarist and vocalist Jenna Priestner about life as hard-working road warriors, their current tour and how they’re helping to pave the way for women in punk.

JA: Can you talk about your history and how you started out?
JP: Mobina Galore started around 2011 in Fernie, BC. We were both living out there in the mountains just snowboarding and partying. We had a mutual friend from Winnipeg so Marica [drummer] and I ended up meeting and just jamming late night after the bar. That quickly escalated into me booking shows around BC. In 2011 we went on our first tour across Canada. It kind of just snowballed from there and we both decided it was something that we wanted to pursue.

JA: You’ve been touring like crazy since you started. Can you talk about your life on the road? I know it influenced your latest record Feeling Disconnected.
JP: Definitely, for sure it was a theme on the record. That was a little bit unintentional because you sort of write songs here and there. We don’t really have a proper method as to how we write our songs. They always differ.

We’ve spent so much time on the road in the last few years and we sort of found a common theme between both of our writing, lyrically. We both love the adventure and the uncertainty of being on the road but you also kind of miss home at the same time. It’s just a constant struggle trying to find the right balance between tour life and home life.

I think we found a good balance of that in the last year or so. It’s something that you constantly have to think about because you each have your own limits. When we’re on the road one of us can hit a wall before the next person and just want to stop everything and go home. But you can’t because you’re working.

JA: Another thing your record talks about is the struggle of being a musician from Winnipeg.
JP: As you know as someone who lives in Winnipeg, it’s kind of one of those cities that people sort of skip over.  If anyone comes traveling in Canada they don’t come through Winnipeg. It’s just not a place that people go, so it’s very much a local scene here which we have so much respect for. I think that’s what makes it a really cool scene and community to be a part of.

When you go traveling and talk about Winnipeg, especially in other places in Canada or the States,  people are like “Oh, Winnipeg that’s too bad” or just make some kind of rude comment about a city they’ve never even been to. People are essentially being bullies about the city that you live in. They’ve never met anyone there and they just give it a judgment based on the media, which everyone knows the media can sort of blow things out of proportion. Either someone says, “oh that’s too bad! Why do you live in Winnipeg?” or they’re on the other end. These are usually Europeans that say this but they’re like, “oh my god you’re from Winnipeg! Propagandhi! The Weakerthans! Comeback Kid!” People in Europe love that we’re from Winnipeg,  and have so much respect for that.

 I feel very proud and lucky to play music in the city and to be spreading the word about Winnipeg to other people in North America and Europe.

JA: Do you think because it is a place that some people don’t take seriously as a music-centric place, that kind of lends itself to why so many good bands come out of here?
JP: That’s the thing, when you have a conversation with somebody on the road and they start talking about Winnipeg and they ask how the music scene is or how the punk scene is, they kind of expect me to say, “oh, it’s really shitty” or “yeah, we’re thinking about moving to Toronto.” But the scene here is so good. The arts community here is so good that people are always surprised. Any time we have a conversation with people that don’t know much about Winnipeg, we’re very much advocating for the city and its music and arts scene because it’s great.

I think that isolation of cold long winters breeds creativity in people. You don’t even realize it’s happening, but I think it’s just part of Winnipeg. I think that’s what is so special about the city. I’m not from here but I’ve lived here now for five years. I really like it because we’re not quite on the map, but when you can get your foot in the door and be able to say you’re from Winnipeg it makes me feel really proud. Even though I’m not originally from here, I feel very proud and lucky to play music in the city and to be spreading the word about Winnipeg to other people in North America and Europe.

JA: Punk is supposed to be all about breaking social norms and being fearlessly yourself and things like that. Hearing some of the struggles that you have to face, not just as women in music but specifically in your genre, it almost seems like those ideologies only apply if you’re a man. Is that kind of your experience with that?
JP:  For us, being women in punk and women in music is like so many other industries that are male-dominated. That’s just how it has historically been. I do see a movement in that. I do see a change. For us, when we’re going on the road, and with this tour specifically, I’ve been more actively involved than I ever have about local bands and talking to the promoters saying we want there to be women involved with the show somehow.

I think it’s important for everyone to have a voice.  I know with numbers, there’s just more male bands around than there are female bands so there are some cities where there’s not even the option to get a local band on the bill that has women in it. But it’s just such an annoying thing that it’s even a conversation but it’s such a conversation right now.

For example, we went to Punk Rock Bowling and we were really stoked to have had that opportunity. There were a couple of bands that had women in it which was cool. We played on Saturday and we went on Sunday. All day was just like 50-year-old dude bands that were just so uninteresting. Everyone was the stereotypical punk rocker with mohawks and a million patches on their vests and everything. I have nothing against that. I’m in that punk genre and I’ve got a patched up vest and a fake leather jacket but it just becomes this boys’ club in a sense that they’re the same as a group of jocks. I think The Dickies were playing and they had inflatable blow up dolls on stage and were pretending to have sex with them. Me personally, and Marcia, we’re not into that. It just doesn’t seem funny when there’s just so many women and so many young kids that are going to these shows and it’s coming from these older guys with that old school mentality.  But we’re women in music and we don’t really let it get to us. It just makes us want to play music even more and keep writing songs and keep getting our names out there. We just happen to be women so we’re just going to keep doing it.

JA: Tell me about this new tour you’re doing. You are going to be bringing a couple of bands along.         JP: Yeah we’ll be on the road until September 1st. I think it’s like a seven-week tour. It wasn’t initially planned that way but as things go you can get a good offer. You get some good anchor dates then go from there. We’ll be going to California for the first time actually which is really exciting. It’s been the most difficult state to book ever, but that has finally come together. We’ll be going to California and down to Texas and up through the Midwest.

We’ve got four dates with After The Fall. They’re a punk band from New York. There’s a band from London, Ontario called Heart Attack Kids. We’re going to do about eight shows with them out to the Coast. It’s cool because we’ve never really toured with other bands before. Our first tour in 2011 was with another band and since then it’s just been us. I think it’ll be nice to switch up the dynamic with another band and just head down into the blazing heat of the southern states for bit.

 

Catch Mobina Galore all across Canada and the United States on their Album Release Tour – North America Part 2.

 

Grab a copy of Feeling Disconnected on Bandcamp. Follow Mobina Galore on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. All Winnipeg fans, make sure to catch their show at The Cavern on July 19th.