Interview with Ian Krochak: ‘Running Away was written out of angst’

Ian Krochak, the Winnipeg, Manitoba-based country-rock singer, brought out the single ‘Running Away’ earlier this month, a song he says was ‘written out of angst’: ‘It’s about folks thinking the grass is greener on the other side,’ he said. ‘Some people want to run and it can feel so good but some people stay, which is harder.’

‘It’s about a guy chasing a girl but he gets distracted along the way’

In October, he will release ‘Firm Grip On Me’, a decidedly Springsteen-like track, which is about ‘the stories you make up in your head’, according to Krochak: ‘It’s about a guy chasing a girl but he gets distracted along the way,’ he laughed. With lyrics such as ‘I’ll use the light of the moon to find my way back to you, I’ll see you soon unless the back roads get their firm grip on me’, you’re not quite sure by the end if he does make his way back to her.

”Firm Grip on Me’ is my favourite song so far,’ he said. ‘It was a late night song that came together quickly, which rarely happens! It’s non-traditional from a structural perspective, it has a subtle chorus.’

He is planning to release an EP in December, which will include ‘Firm Grip On Me’ and another song he wrote in lockdown, ‘We Are Invincible’, which he describes as ‘about being a better version of yourself’.

Krochak’s strong story-telling paints a vivid picture of life’s ups and downs and everything in between. His music is often described as ‘rootsy-country’, with a little Americana thrown in.

‘A lot of the rites of passage in my life have been tied to the road‘

‘Drive Steady’, which he released earlier this year, is a more nostalgic song. ‘A lot of the rites of passage in my life have been tied to the road,’ he said. ‘I wanted to capture that in a song.’

Krochak has kept himself busy on lockdown in Canada, doing a lot of virtual shows which he says acted ‘as an incubator, so I did a ton of writing’.

‘You’d have to be living under a rock not to be affected by lockdown,’ he said. ‘It makes you very sensitive to your surroundings. It’s a reboot for a lot of people, isn’t it? It makes you more reflective, for sure.’

He has been heavily influenced by singers such as Neil Young, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan. If he could collaborate with anyone, he’d pick Dylan: ‘From a songwriting perspective, someone like Bob Dylan is very poetic and catchy and also very melodic, so I’d love to work with him.’