Whiskey Manner Remade the ‘Friends’ Theme for Canadian Wildfire Survivors

This July, wildfires swept across northern Saskatchewan, forcing the evacuation of nearly 10,000 people. Canadian Armed Forces, firefighters, and volunteers worked to save infrastructure, but homes were lost and families were displaced. After the flames settled, Val Halla Music Publishing partnered with The Exchange, a Regina venue, to put on the Friends with Benefits concerts from August 13 to 16. It’s a 26-band hootenanny and fundraiser for wildfire relief efforts, and 50 percent of the proceeds go to the Prince Albert Grand Council, which represents over 30,000 First Nations members.

Among the featured bands performing at Friends with Benefits, a bunch of stoner rockers called Whiskey Manner knew they had to do more to help. They looked at the task before them and thought, “When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year—I'll be there for you, Saskatchewan.” Whiskey Manner did what any good citizens would do following a humanitarian crisis: they recreated the intro for the sitcom Friends. Members Jared Paton (guitar/vocals), Roberto Giannini (guitar/vocals), Matt Fraser (bass/vocals) and Adam Ennis (drums/vocals) filmed their version of the iconic Friends shenanigans for a promo video set to The Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There For You.” After witnessing the glory of their Friends clone, I spoke to Whiskey Manner’s Adam Ennis by email to find out more about the charitable cause and how he really felt about Monica and Chandler's wedding.

Noisey: Why did you feel the need to fundraise for the communities in Saskatchewan affected by the fires?
Adam Ennis: I remember when the fires were really strong, it was so smokey here [in Regina]. We often talked about it when leaving rehearsal. How could we not? I mean, sure, jams get a little hazy, but for once outside was hazier than inside. We thought how crazy it must be where the fires were actually happening. We get off work, head to our nice comfy homes for supper, and then head to our jam spot for rehearsal. I can’t imagine a fucking force of nature like those fires taking all of that away from us. The fires literally took people's whole lives. Shit, if we can help raise some money to rebuild anybody's anything up there, we're happy to do it. Especially when we can do it with our music! What inspired you to recreate the Friends intro?
Kim [girlfriend] and I have been watching a lot of Friends before we go to sleep. I see that intro every single night. I’ve also had the [Friends with Benefits concerts] on the brain for a while. They used the Friends font on the poster and that idea just came to me. We had discussed doing some unique things to get some people’s attention, and a promo video seemed fun. I have a background in video production and marketing things. And, you know, it seemed fucking ridiculously awesome.

What level of Friends fan are you?
Probably the level you'd expect. I used to watch that shit on TBS while I was waiting for supper to be ready when I was growing up. Now my girlfriend and I put it on before bed. She loves it, as I think a lot of mid-20-year-old girls do. They followed that shit when it was on, and then they all went out and bought the DVDs so they could relive it again. In fact, a couple weeks ago, my girlfriend explained we couldn't skip over any episodes on Netflix because she had started from the beginning (again) and wanted to make it all the way through without missing one. For me, it's kind of not overly annoying background TV, for the most part. I also enjoy when Joey says things like “fart” and “boob” and “boner.” You know, all that mature humor.

How do you feel about Monica and Chandler's wedding?
There was a lot of the Monica and Chandler relationship stuff that made me wanna puke. That being said, isn't that where Ross and Rachel hooked up and made a baby? After the Chandler/Monica wedding? Maybe I’m wrong. In any case, I like single Chandler way better than with-Monica, Chandler. For some reason, he's funnier and less cutesy. I like when he had his stints with that annoying Janice girl. Just the right amount of annoying gets me going, ya know? What is Whiskey Manner?
We started as an eight-piece folk group. After a few basement recordings and a handful of shows around Saskatchewan, we decided to plug our shit in and turn it up. That’s when we were called Whiskey Manner Blues Band, and that was fun. But with turning up amps, came turning up the fuzz, and two of us come from a stoner-rock background. We got another guy who’s a classic rock guru and a dude that has an equal love for metal. Put all those things together and that’s what Whiskey sounds like. Thin Lizzy/Boston/stoner rock/head bangable, with a cherry on top. Good grooves, with face-melting, harmonized guitar solos and sing-along type choruses. It's fucking awesome, man. We have a shit-ton of tunes. We recorded the Whiskey Manner EP a while back with [Regina’s] bass guitar god and sound technician supreme, Byron Chambers. [The EP is] made up of four tunes including “Eastbound,” the current fan favorite. We also put out a fun video for another song featured on that EP called “Just Dance.”

Continued below… Does the band have a favourite coffee shop and why is it Central Perk?
Central Perk is not our favorite spot. They take me as the kind of place that would bitch at me for turning off Lights and or whatever Mumford-and-Sons-type shit they were playing in there. Apparently when you throw on some Atomic Bitchwax while people are drinking overpriced, shitty coffee and pretending to work on their MacBooks, it doesn't go over too well. Nah man, we're more of a parking-lot-loitering band. 7-Eleven has everything you could ever need, ya know? Plus, it's cheap and there’s no bullshit.

Any current Whiskey Manner projects you have on the go?
Sounds like we'll be heading into the studio when the snow flies this winter. We got a couple guys heading back to school for a while, and it just seems like a good time to hibernate and come out with something spectacular for people in the spring. Like I said, there is no shortage of tunes; we wanna get them out. I'd like to shoot a real music video too. Rob White is the guy who helped us out with the Friends thing. He shot that and put it together in like an hour. His skills are mad, especially when he's able to get creative in the editing suite. Hopefully, you'll see something cool on Youtube from us in the future. Which Friends characters do the members of the band identify with?
Phoebe's series of weird boyfriends. Or their shitty, grumpy-ass landlord that was also in Wayne’s World.

Which Friends character do you think is the most attractive?
Everyones got a mad hard on for Rachel, and I don’t get it. Something about her makes me mad. I can tell you: it’s not her body. It might be her face. How about this: Rachel’s body with Monica’s chest and Phoebe's face with Joey’s brain. Woo!

For more information about the concerts and fundraising check out the Friends with Benefits Facebook page.

Devin Pacholik is a total Ross who writes in Canada. Follow him on Twitter.