Back in the early 90’s Canadian band Sven Gali was a staple on Canadian Rock radio stations and MuchMusic television. They started out as a cover band in 1987 based out of Hamilton and Niagara Falls, Ontario. The original line-up consisted of Dave Wanless on vocals, Andy Frank and Dee Cernile on guitars, Shawn Minden on bass and drummer Steve Macgregor. In 1989 Macgregor left the band and was replaced Rob MacEachern.
Based on the strength of their original songs and live shows, Sven Gali got signed to BMG Canada in 1991 and began recording their debut album. Former Billy Idol drummer Gregg Gerson took over behind the drum kit and by 1992 Sven Gali‘s self-titled album was released. Produced by David Bendeth (Papa Roach, Killswitch Engage, Bruce Hornsby, Hedley) the album’s singles included Under The Influence, Tie Dyed Skies, In My Garden, Love Don’t Live Here Anymore and a cover of the Teenage Head song Disgusteen featuring guest vocals by Frankie Venom.
Under the Influence won the MuchMusic Best Metal Video award in 1993. That same year Sven Gali was nominated for two Juno Awards – “Most Promising Group” and “Hard Rock Album Of The Year”. Sven Gali‘s debut album ended up reaching gold status in Canada selling over 50,000 units.
From 1992 to 1994 Sven Gali toured Canada, USA, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the UK, headlining and supporting acts including Foreigner, Meatloaf, April Wine and Def Leppard.
It wasn’t long before Sven Gali recorded their follow-up album, Inwire, in Seattle, Washington. Released in 1995, the album was produced by future Queensrÿche guitarist Kelly Gray. By this time, the band was on their fourth drummer, Mike Ferguson.
Inwire features guest musicians Christopher Thorn of Blind Melon and Kevin Martin and Scott Mercado of Candlebox. Sven Gali toured for Inwire before breaking up in 1996.
The members of Sven Gali have done other projects over the years – both in and out of music. The band has reunited for a few one-off shows over the years, the last time being in December of 2017 in St. Catharines, Ontario.
On June 10, 2018 Sven Gali released a brand new single/video called Kill the Lies produced, once again, by David Bendeth. The band announced its Unfinished Business 2018 Tour in Ontario from mid-July to mid-August before they head over to the UK to play at the Hull Metal Festival with fellow Canadians Brighton Rock and Killer Dwarfs.
The band currently consists of three original members – Wanless, Frank and Minden. Cernile passed away in 2012 as a result of cancer at the age of 46. On drums is Dan Fila from BMG recording artists Varga. And joining the band on tour will be Sean Williamson, also from Varga, on guitars.
Music Life Magazine caught up with Wanless recently at a Niagara Falls Starbucks to talk about the band’s past and present, the new single, the tour, a possible new album and much more! Wanless is excited about what is happening. When asked how this all come about and why a new single and tour this summer, Wanless responds:
“Basically, what happened was, it is the 25th anniversary of the first record going gold. I got a call from Dan, from
Varga. He, to this day when he practices his drums, he always plays Inwire, our second record. He liked it. We’re the ones that got him seen by David Bendeth at BMG, helped him with a record deal, got him pointed in the right direction,” explains Wanless. “He was playing one day down in his basement. His girlfriend came down and said to him, ‘Why don’t you call those guys and see if they want to do a show with you?’ So he called me out of the blue and I said, ‘I’m in.’
“Before I know it Andy called me from China. He said, ‘If you’re in, I’m in’ and it turned from doing a couple of shows to ‘Well, you know what? Why don’t we just write a song and release a song with the 25th Anniversary?’ Then we just called David Bendeth out of the blue and he said come on down. So it turned into reuniting with everybody and I was writing a song and putting some closure to things and reminiscing and it was a great experience.”
When asked what it was like getting back with his old bandmates again, recording the new single, was it any different than the old days when they recorded their first two albums?
“Back then I felt a lot of pressure. We all felt a lot of pressure because we were these young guys with our first record deal, it was sink or swim. Everything was all there, under a microscope and you’re going through all these things for the first time,” says Wanless.
“But this time around we went down there totally relaxed not even worrying about it because there’s no pressure. And taking all the experiences that we had after doing the other two records, we wrote the song basically in the studio. We had an idea that we went down with, we had the idea of what was it going to be and some lyrics but when we got there, again, as in lot of studio recordings, things started changing during the writing and the process of that. I think that within the song there’s a story and I think that you just hear guys enjoying playing the music and for that period when we ended the band there was always that sense of unfinished business. And we brought closure to all that when we were together. ”
Wanless pointed out an interesting fact about the new single, Kill the Lies. The band wanted to remember Cernile in a special way.
“We wanted to have something for Dee in the song. Before he passed away he wrote a poem, so his poem is actually in the song and his poem is in the breakdown of the song and to keep it going we’re going to be donating some of the funds to a charity.”
Recording the new single and planning the tour without Cernile didn’t come without trepidation admits Wanless.
“It was tough. We stopped doing it because of what happened with Dee, right? He is a brother of ours. It was very unfortunate, it did affect us. But all these years later, all that built-up feelings and all those things that we discussed as family, if you will, in the band. In just the way things were left, it was nice to get together and I think Dee would love it. I think he would love the song. He would be rooting for us to go get ‘er done, right? So we just got together and it was good. Time heals.”
Wanless is excited about going back on tour and says rehearsals have been going well.
“We sound better than we ever have, sounds phenomenal. We’re just at a really good place where we sound mature, it feels really, really good.”
When asked if there is a new album in the near future, Wanless responds, “I don’t know where this is all leading to. All I know is, I think we’re going to do these shows, go to England, assess how we all feel and then go back to the studio and keep going like we can do it, we have the songs, we have the material. It looks like we may be back in the studio in the Fall.”
And what about re-releasing the first two albums?
“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about anything like that. We’re just taking it one day at a time.”
In the meantime, Sven Gali is looking forward to going back on the road beginning this Friday, July 20 when they play Norma Jean’s in London then This Ain’t Hollywood in Hamilton the following night. The remaining dates are August 9 in Sudbury at The Asylum and August 10 in Ottawa at The Brass Monkey.
“Everybody’s looking forward to it,” says Wanless. “It will be nice to see everybody again and just go out there and give ‘er, you know what I mean? I think it’s going to be big!”
Connect with Sven Gali online for updates with the band, tour and ticket info: https://www.facebook.com/svengalicanada/
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