STATUS/ NON- STATUS
AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF AMASSING CANADA-WIDE ATTENTION, Ontario rockers WHOOP-Szo delivered Warrior Down in 2019, an album steeped in sludge and psychedelia that dug into the devastating effects of colonialism and the Canadian government’s acts of genocide against Indigenous people. As the project begins its next evolution, it comes with a reckoning of bandleader Adam Sturgeon’s Indigenous identity, and a story that might be familiar to many Indigenous people across the country.
WHOOP-Szo have been reborn as Status/ Non-Status, a vehicle for Sturgeon’s musical pursuits with a variety of collaborators. He explains, “Status/Non-Status kind of just represents my identity and where I’m at and where my family is at. My family is non-status.”
As Sturgeon tells it, his grandfather Ralph gave up his Status Card in order to enlist in the Armed Forces and become a Canadian citizen. It’s a decision that continues to impact Sturgeon’s life, telling Exclaim! his non-status designation had prohibited WHOOP-Szo from opportunities for Indigenous musicians.
“The SOCAN [Foundation’s TD] Indigenous Songwriter [Award] required a band membership or something like that in the qualifying [requirements], and I was going to nominate this collaboration for ‘Cut Your Hair,’ which is a story about residential schools. And I worked with [Ojibwe musician] Daniel Monkman [of Zoon] closely on that track,” Monkman’s “Cut Your Hair (Zoon Remix)” that appeared on WHOOP-Szo’s 2020 remix album, Warrior Remixes. “And it was not something that we could apply to.”
In a statement to Exclaim!, a representative from SOCAN said, “Non-Status Indigenous peoples can apply to the program, but such applicants will need to share a letter of reference from someone in the community (e.g., elders, chiefs, etc.). We are following the teachings and guidance from advisors, and always open to collaboration.”
“I think it’s just about the overrepresentation of indigeneity within the structure, right?” says Sturgeon. “It’s just how we’re grouped. Like, if we’re nominated for a Juno, we’re beside Northern Cree, and I don’t think that that’s entirely appropriate. I have a lot of respect for my traditional culture, and it isn’t always imbued into my art that way.”
To inaugurate the project’s next phase, Status/Non-Status has announced a new EP, 1, 2, 3, 4, 500 Years, set for release on May 28 via You’ve Changed Records/the Grizzlar. Though the band’s name has changed, Sturgeon’s commitment to analyzing and questioning colonial systems of oppression remains.
“As an artist, I’m an artist who is also Indigenous, and a lot of times, we are Indigenous artists, right? And so I’m taking a look at that, where it’s like, ‘Okay, this is who I am; I’m a non-status person. There, it is very clear. Now can I get to making the music?’”