1.        You’ve been hinting that 2026 is going to be a major  turning point for you. What’s the energy you’re stepping into this year?

I think just playing more shows and branching out to different  venues. You know, it’s easy to get stuck just playing one or two venues,  and honestly, it gets boring without variety. Now having St.James from  the western death ballads join me has also been a huge turning point. I  feel a little more free and accepted. It’s hard being a solo musician,  because nobody really cares unless you’re sitting there with a loop  pedal, looping mouth sounds and playing 15 minute songs. This year is  going to be the best thus far.

2.        Edmonton has watched your sound evolve fast. How is your 2026 material pushing that evolution even further?

I think Grim Stone is kind of always evolving, oscillating from heavy  dark folk stuff to “hey let’s play Taylor Swift”. The material that we  are writing, and the changes we are doing to old songs are pretty  different from what was being done the last few years.

3.        You’ve teased some big shows coming up  what can fans  expect from your live sets this year that they haven’t seen from you  before?

Well there’s new instruments and ways of playing those instruments  that is pretty different from before. There also seems to be a bit more  energy. It’s exciting

4.        Are there any new collaborations or surprise guests lined up for your 2026 performances?

I don’t think so, other than the odd Grim Stone-Western Death Ballads  mash-up. But who knows, we welcome anyone to collaborate with.

I guess there is Dave Reynolds from Noiselab Studios in Las Vegas  that is working on a couple of the upcoming songs, which is exciting.   He was the audio mastermind behind Agents of Oblivion, some Goatwhore  and Dax Riggs stuff.

5.        When you think about the new music you’re releasing this year, what themes or emotions are driving it?

I think the constant themes with us are sad depressing things. Not  always death or despair but more personal apocalypse, or literal  apocalypse. Still really dark stuff. Then of course there’s songs about  wives, kids etc. And those are lovey dovey doo doo. I’m actually quite  fascinated with sadness HA. One of my favourite movies is Blue  Valentine, and when ever I am having a hard time writing, I like to  revisit the mood and feeling within that film.

6.        How are you preparing creatively and mentally for what looks like your busiest show schedule yet?

It’s easy, and tough. We both have busy personal lives with a zillion  kids and trophy wives, day jobs that we mostly hate.  The easy part is  getting on stage and doing it. James and I can literally play for 3  hours straight, like we could compete with Taylor Swift on show runtime,  no problem. And with the songs, we are always looking at ways we can  change things up or make things sounds a bit more fresh.

7.        If you could describe your 2026 era in one sentence, what would it be  and why?

2026? Trying our best to bleed our art a little more than before,  while the world seemingly burns around us.  Oh and SIX SEVENNNNNNNNNNNNN