This month I ventured to the WhitePaw Records’ sanctuary to commune with Justin Krahn, the artist behind (and fronting) Winnipeg’s fastest rising indie band –
God and the Bear
Good news – God and the Bear fortnightly hosts Shannon’s Irish Pub’s stupendous open mic night, where they’ve proven instrumental. Krahn delights the crowd and fellow artists with catchy originals and curated covers, often backed by “Bass Boy” Craig and drummer Joe (of The Sushi Worms, Sometimes Heavy, et al.). Krahn, at the heart of God and the Bear, makes this three piece band a triforce to be reckoned with.
He first appeared on Spotify December 25th, 2021 with the clandestine hymn O’Holy Night, live from The Ranch the eve prior. Our faith was rewarded on 2/22/22 with a full album, reassuring listeners God is Alive and Well. Albums and singles continue to amass, with ~19 releases to date. God and Bear can be found within your own streaming service, but Spotify is his preferred pulpit where his followers are bestowed a selection of Top X songs each Sunday.
I pelted Krahn with questions and I’m blessed to be able to recount the rest of my revelations below:
Why do you like music?
“Why do we like anything?” Krahn countered. “It has a lot to do with biology and history and uh, human nature.”
It’s biological, natural, even supernatural. Blessed with an artistic soul, Krahn has been playing music since a time before memory. Nature – human, super, and otherwise – drew him to creativity and he drew it right back, simultaneously pursuing musical and visual artistry.
Fed on a steady diet of Meatloaf and animated influences, Krahn inevitably produced his own graphic novels and band propaganda to promote his projects. Over the years he’s headed up groups such as The Divine Comedy and Transcender. This inevitably lead to the immaculate conception of God and the Bear, a name given to him through providence or divine intervention.
What’s your worst song?
“I have a hard time saying what my worst song is, because I have a lot of really bad songs that I’ve never put out, but I write so many songs that I usually just put out the ones that I do like,” Krahn explains.
Discerning as he is, we still needed an answer. To help, he sought to leverage the psychological insight of his God and the Bear: Collected playlist.
“Which you can find on Spotify,” he reminds us.
Presumably, the tracks composing the end of the list would be the least palatable. Alas, their Krahnilogical order meant his heartfelt Christmas music congregated at the bottom and left us praying for perspective.
In the end he settles on Justice the Time-Travelling Gun. The machination is featured on his collaborative EP with ChatGPT – BOT AND THE BEAR: Songs of Tomorrow for the Young and Curious.
“They’re not really my songs. I feel like, you know, I didn’t really write them for the most part. I probably did like 10 songs maybe, but only put out 4 of them. So that should kind of tell you something about the success rate of working like that.”
While Justice the Time Travelling Gun and Robot Fox Bop are certainly bops, he lumps them in with other humorous tracks like My Daddy Didn’t Want Me to Rock. The songs need an elaborate preamble to bridge the gap between them and the rest of his music. While fun, they’re goofy and embarrassing to perform live.
“It doesn’t even sound like me really. It’s not how I usually sing.”
If you worship those tracks, know they don’t measure up to the rest. Try the best instead.
What liquid do you find the most inspiring?
Drowning in choice, Krahn praised a plethora of prospective picks for people:
“Some form of alcohol might be the liquid that inspires them the most. It gives them the courage to explore. Liquid courage, they call it. But me, not so much. I’m not a big drinker.”
“Blood, sweat, tears, all very inspiring liquids. They really make up the backbone of this country and what makes it great.”
“Rain. Rain’s inspiring. Honestly, a good rainy day. Sometimes that gives you a vibe that like, you know, I feel a little, brings out the emotions, you know.”
“Tears. Now there’s a liquid that’ll bring you to tears.”
But the liquid that inspires him the most?
“The liquid inside the lava lamp, like, what the fuck is that shit? How do they do, how do they do that thing?”
Lava Lamps. Vessels exhibiting the dynamic grace of two immiscible substances in harmony. Never truly blending into each other and yet, in the right circumstances, working together to create something mesmerizing.
And that’s inspiring, dude!
What’s your favorite shape?
“Well I am rectangular, that much I know.” Krahn asserts immediately. Something I cannot argue with. “But that doesn’t mean that’s my favorite shape,” he notes.
“I love a good rhombus. If I had a child I would definitely name them Rhombus. It’s a beautiful name for a boy or a girl.”
Check for updates on this quadrilateral quandary later, all.
What’s the difference between geology, geography, geometry?
“Very little, letter -wise. Like, it’s virtually identical. One’s about rocks and one’s about where the rocks are. Well, I guess geometry might just mean earth measurements. I don’t know, but science knows and that’s what matters. So geo, earth meter, earth measurements, would be what geometry directly translates to. So pretty much we just figured out everything. I think we solved it.”
I don’t know, but science knows and that’s what matters!
Rubblutionary. But the revelations continued to flow:
“You could say that I mostly play rock music. So really, I am very involved in geology, and geometry, and geography when you really think about it. All the everything is about rocks.”
Great sediment – rock on!
What instrument would be easiest for a cat to play?
Krahn proudly panders to his pets’ mewsical prowess, purrclaiming they’ve been known to play both keyboard and guitar.
However, the key seems to be keys. Keyboard Cat famously struck a chord with animals around the world, inspiring myriad would-be mewsicians.
But cool kittens and cats have known where it’s at since at least 1970.
“The Aristocats were a big inspiration for a lot of animals I know. The cats could play the saxophone.“
Alas, until real life cats develop the mouth moves required for horning into that market, this remains only lip service. Odd, since Disney movies are notoriously historically accurate.
Krahn agreed, noting “This is where I get most of my geology from. Hercules was my favorite movie as a child, so I’m pretty well versed in Greek History.”
I heard a rumor you might be starting a children’s band in the future, is that true?
“Well, I think it’ll be set in the present. But if it’s a children’s band in the future, they might all be adults in the audience. I don’t really know how time works, but I know enough to know I might be wrong. Does that answer your question?”
Honestly, it didn’t. If anything this raised more questions. Perhaps he already started a children’s band in the future in the past, and we are those children. I look forward to future developments erasing present confusion.
Of all your instruments, which is your favorite?
“Oof,” he says, lovingly surveying the trove of musical devices. Then, without beating around the bush, “I’m second -guessing it, but my answer would be my P -bass. Bass is always my favorite instrument to play.”
The dark green Fender glitters proudly at the scale of the compliment.
But Krahn couldn’t leave out his faithful Stratocaster, which blushed pearlescent pink.
“They’re very classic instruments and I like to play a lot of different styles. Both of these instruments kind of lend themselves to that.” That’s the gospel truth.
A pretty basic choice if you ask me, but I’m not well versed.
When I asked why the P-Bass was better than a Q Bass or L Bass, he hadn’t even heard of them! Apparently people choose a J-Bass if not a P-Bass. What happened to the other 24 types of Bass??
Have you ever played an acoustic guitar around a campfire?
“I have a vague memory that I have at some point. I don’t really go camping much”
When I inquired why, Krahn lamented the lack of P-Bass. Then, regaled me with horrific stories of Bible Camp, concluding with “there’s like, bugs and stuff.”
Was the Bible a big influence on your life?
“I couldn’t name another book that I had that many copies of, let’s say that.”
If you could never perform again, what band would you want to have your discography?
“My first thought is Barenaked Ladies, partially because they were an influence for me growing up.”
Bare naked ladies are an influence on all of our young lives, but this is not that kind of interview.
It’s all about the harmonies
“They’re good at the harmonies. It’s all about the harmonies,” he insists.
“Ween. I think that might be the real answer. They’d pull it off. If I had to give my music to another band, and I could never play it again, I would give it to Ween because I feel like that they would just make it better.”
What a testament. Weening choice!
How old is too old to rename a child?
Krahn preaches, “I think if The Office has taught us anything, renaming your child does not go well. Andy Bernard was not his original name. That was not a man. That was a boy trapped in a name of the past. In the past he was a child. In the future he was an adult. In the present he is both. A man -child, as we might call it, colloquially.”
In the past he was a child. In the future he was an adult. In the present he is both.
So, what is the threshold?
We drew the conclusion that the threshold for renaming a child is one week. (Exceptions can be made within the first six years in the case you name your baby Adolf right before Hitler rises to notoriety, or something equivalent.)
“I was almost named Esmeralda,” Krahn confesses. That wasn’t kindness, it was cunning!
What was the second CD you ever owned?
“Well, hmm. It’s easy to remember the first one I ever owned. What a strange question to ask me! I don’t have to think about that for a second. It was definitely Britney Spears’ “Oops, I did it again”.”
Holy moly! A historical masterpiece!
“With that album cover, I’m surprised my parents let me purchase it,” he reminisced. His salvation? “They were kind of ignorant regarding our innocence.”
But he’s not that innocent!
What was his first CD, you wonder?
The Lion King Soundtrack. “Great album. The best song on that soundtrack is “Be Prepared”,” Krahn attests before bearing out a sermon on the virtues of Jim Cummings, “One of the greatest voices of our time.”
“He’s one of my biggest inspirations. He’s the voice of Winnie the Pooh, he’s the voice of Tigger, he’s the voice of Darkwing Duck. He’s the voice of the centaur in Hercules. He’s the voice of some characters in King of the Hill. The great Jeremy Irons was the voice of Scar but, Jeremy Irons lost his voice before he finished recording that song, and so the last verse of that song is actually sung by Jim Cummings. Because Jim Cummings is a master voice, it works. But, if you know Jim Cummings’ voice, you will immediately realize that the last verse of that song is sung by a completely different person.”
Tremendous.
“I may have to ask you to cut some of this,” Krahn said. And I did.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
“I assume you’re not talking about what I’m already trying to do because that’d be a weird question.”
Ursanine question or not, I wanted to know what’d he say!
Another option did not cross his mind – Krahn’s spirit is wholly dedicated to his measure as a musician.
Ultimately, he conspires to be entertaining.
Leprechaun 4: In Space. I think that was my biggest influence in music.
“If you’re just kind of good nobody’s gonna listen to that, but there’s a whole spectrum of bad. You can find beauty in something terrible. Like a bad horror movie, you know, the best movie of all time, Leprechaun 4: In Space. I think that was my biggest influence in music. The whole purpose of my music is to inspire people to do great and terrible things.”
The whole purpose of my music is to inspire people to do great and terrible things.
A devil’s advocate! We hope he a choirs his goal.
I heard that you heard you had a Leap song coming out?
Krahn considered putting out a Leap song on February 29th of 2024 but it would have been a bit of a leap. Choosing to look ahead to a releap date of 2/29/28 (a more satisfying trinity) for “probably the best song I’ve ever made.”
Set your schedules for Feb 29, 2028, probably the best song I’ve ever made.
What’s it about? He’ll just have to wait and find out like everyone else. He’s intrigued and hopes you are too.
What he does know is “by the time that song comes out, people who used to be children will be adults.” They may have even produced new children, bringing us the full circle of life.
Look forward to the leap song “Babies of the past, adults of or in the future”, or “Children in the future, adults from the past”, non-mutually exclusive working titles.
If you look forward to it now, you might be able to look backward to it in the future.
And that’s time dude.
Final Notes:
God and the Bear…
Likes: rhombi, rock music, Jim Cummings, bass, Barenaked Ladies, rainy days, harmonies, Leprechaun 4: In Space, Greek history, Ween
Dislikes: Either camping or the Bible, drinks, when bands have too many writers, bugs, renaming children unless it’s absolutely necessary, putting out subpar songs
I think we all learned a lot about God, and the Bear, and the world.
I learned that Jim Cummings could be anyone, even Jeremy Irons. I learned the difference between a Motel and a Hotel (it’s lobby based). I learned about the Texas BBQ Conspiracy Theory. And, I learned we don’t really know how time works.
Regardless, we had a rapturous time here today.
Thanks to Justin Krahn, and his angelic manager Bear, for immersing me in the wholly awesome spirit of God and the Bear.
You can find his music in the stream. Any stream. You can follow him on instagram, or in real life – maybe home from Shannon’s Irish Pub where he hosts the open mic night every other Wednesday. In the meantime, mark your calendars for February 29th, 2028 – when the children of today have become the adults of the future. He thinks he said it’s gonna be a really good one.
Go with peace and love.
The whole purpose of my music is to inspire people to do great and terrible things.
Oh man. How long was that? An hour and 14 minutes. Wow, that’s a lot.