By Will McGuirk
TO country-rockers the Howlin’ Gales blow into the Atria in downtown Oshawa Friday Jan 13 2023. The ‘Gales are singer/guitarist Mark Sinclair and drummer Marcelo “Johnny” Maltez and formed in late 2019. The name comes from Sinclair’s love of Howlin’ Wolf and the howling harsh winter wind tunnels of Hogtown’s high-rise alleys. Interesting dynamic.
Besides Howlin’ Wolf the band name-checks The Band, Guy Clarke, Blink 182, and Marianas Trench as influences on their punked up psych-folk sounds. Its a broad range for sure but the band says they strive to reflect not recreate.
“We’re students of music, we draw from artists who we’re influenced by but we’re never gonna sound like them (and we wouldn’t want to.) We make it our own by simply being different humans, having different experiences then the artists that came before, and building on what so many great acts have done in the past and continue to do to this day.”
The band plans to continue on their own past, on a path that includes playing as much as they can, honing the craft. Thus more shows, more faces and as they say, more “kickass shows!”