Status/Non-Status
Status/Non-Status, formerly known as WHOOP-Szo, is a Canadian alternative rock band from Guelph, Ontario led by Anishinaabe-Canadian singer-songwriter Adam Sturgeon. The band is most noted for its 2019 album "Warrior Down", which was longlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize. History. WHOOP-Szo. WHOOP-Szo was founded in Guelph, Ontario in 2009 by Adam Sturgeon and Kirsten Kurvink Palm. The band's name comes from Margaret Craven's "I Heard the Owl Call My Name". When the band relocated to London, Ontario several years after their formation, they expanded and incorporated three  new members: Joe Thorner, Andrew Lennox, and Eric Lourenço. In 2014, WHOOP-Szo released the two-part album "Qallunaat/Odemin". The record was inspired by the band's year long stay in Salluit, Quebec working with Indigenous youth. In March 2019, as part of Juno Week for the 2019 JUNO Awards, WHOOP-Szo opened for Canadian metal band Voivod. In November 2019, WHOOP-Szo put out their album "Warrior Down" through You've Changed Records, which was later featured on the 2020 Polaris Music Prize longlist. "Warrior Down" features Sturgeon's grandfather on the cover, a survivor of Canada's  Residential School system. WHOOP-Szo was set to embark on a North American tour in 2020. In mid-March 2020, after playing only a handful of shows, the band was forced to cancel the remainder of their tour due to COVID-19 restrictions. Status/Non-Status. In 2021, Sturgeon announced that he was changing the project's name to Status/Non-Status, calling attention to the political and legal distinction between status and non-status indigenous people in Canada. Concurrently, he released the EP "1 2 3 4 500 Years", which was recorded in 2018 during a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico