Vancouver indie rockers the Zolas released a new track this week that serves as a tribute to two of the locations band members frequented most while coming of age in the city.
But despite plenty of sitting-on-the-beach-enjoying-the-sunset vibes, "Wreck Beach/Totem Park" isn't necessarily the love-fest about one of Vancouver's favourite beaches and a nearby university residence that you might expect it to be.
As frontman Zachary Gray wrote on Instagram, the song is intended "for everyone whose homes are on Native land, and all the half-truths we grew up with."
The song's lyrics include phrases like, "we had our reservations, yeah we knew something wasn’t right but we drove around the edge of ‘em and went on with our lives," and "Cemetery city. The truth about where I grew up. Songs I loved to sing revealed themselves as requiems. A virgin place, the cleanest slate, and all the whitest lies yeah for 27 years I guess my mind was occupied. Yeah the clubs are all closing it’s time for everyone to find their homes. the street spirits stumble in circles, 'it was here I could’ve sworn, here I could’ve sworn.'"
In a message to V.I.A., the songwriter explained that Wreck Beach was the go-to sunset spot while studying at the nearby University of British Columbia, while Totem Park is one of the UBC student residences where many undergrad days were spent partying. However, "'Wreck Beach/Totem Park' is about living my whole life beside the Musqueam reserve, never being taught nor thinking to ask why they live quietly in a small corner of a land that used to be all theirs."
He continued, "In the last five to ten years, like most people, I started hearing a lot of voices about our country’s history from an Indigenous point of view. The clear unfairness of it all really pulled back the curtain on the glossed-over, white-lie version we were given in Grade 10 social studies class"
The song was released along with a lyric video by Amazing Factory Productions.
Check it out below:
