Written by Stephanie Loftus; Photos by Stephanie Loftus
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
It was a regular day of touring on the “Tour Forever/ Forever Tour” for The Native Howl until they were setback with finding out that their trailer had been sawed into with all of their equipment missing. “Yeah, a wide-open trailer. All the instruments and my amp were gone,” recalls Alex Holycross, the band’s lead vocalist. This unfortunate incident occurred while they were touring with Zakk Sabbath, causing them to miss performing at the Aztec Theatre on January 17. We had the chance to conduct an exclusive interview with them about how everything was recovered, their experience on tour, and how they still traveled to San Antonio from Dallas to support Zakk Sabbath!
Formed in 2013 in Leonard Michigan, The Native Howl consists Alex Holycross on vocals, guitar, and the bouzouki, Jake Sawicki on guitar, banjo, and vocals, Mark Chandler as bassist and vocalist, and drummer Zack Bolling. Together they coined the term “Thrash Grass” as their music defies the genres of bluegrass and metal, fusing it into its own unique sound. They have released two albums and various singles, with their latest, Can’t Sleep, being released on October 18, 2023.
Thankfully for the band, they were able to locate all of their equipment and recover everything. Alex said, “Miraculously, Jake had an AirTag in his banjo case that his wife Katie reminded him of. The AirTag was connected to my phone and it was moving and we used my phone to follow the AirTag and it was changing locations.”
After phoning multiple police departments in the Dallas area, the police and The Native Howl met at the same time. They went to the wrecking yard, where their equipment was eventually found. Only Jake and Alex were allowed in on the scene, with everyone else overlooking what from behind a fence. Their sound engineer, Andrew, noticed all of their gear in a truck bed and shouted, “The blue pickup truck!” which everyone was originally following.
Despite all the chaos, nothing was broken or missing. The person who stole their equipment also stole the truck everything and was later arrested. Unfortunately, they could not arrive in time to perform, announcing this to Instagram hours before the show. San Antonio local Leon Sanchez found out he was opening up for Zakk Sabbath to fill The Native Howl’s spot only three hours before the concert started! In the comments section, fans rallied in shock and support, with @Tswanny86 even commenting, “I’m available for hire if yall ever need some extra security ? Instrument thieves are the absolute worst, but they make for great song stories!!!”
Zakk Sabbath was more than understanding regarding the whole situation, with Zakk Wylde even offering to buy Jake a new banjo. At first, Jake thought Zakk Wylde was joking saying, “It was cool when Zakk said he was going to buy a banjo because he’s joking around all the time… Phil turns around and goes, he was gonna buy you a banjo.”
Alex immediately responded, “It’s nice to see people that we look up to musically and career-wise also functioning in this tough industry with such a strong moral compass. We can look up to them not only musically but ethically. We’ve learned so much on this tour.”
The Native Howl has really enjoyed touring with Zakk Sabbath, highlighting that it has been fun opening for them, and there is so much unconditional love and support from everyone.
As some celebrities become more famous, they lose touch with their origins, and kindness can be considered an afterthought. Alex continued to touch on his appreciation for Zakk by saying, “I can say for sure that is not the path Zakk Wylde took. He can be the most humble, sweet, and helpful, and supportive camp ever.” After having such a heartfelt moment, the band took inspiration from Zakk selling his guitars to fans after playing them for a few shows and joked, “Once we make it, we gotta buy everyone banjos!”
At last, it was time for The Native Howl to come back down to the merch table, and to see the closing moments of Zakk Sabbath’s performance. What a crazy for The Native Howl and they still made it out to San Antonio thirty minutes after their set list was supposed to end! Their tour just ended on January 20 with no more break-ins thankfully. They have such gratitude for Zakk Sabbath, and it’ll be amazing to see where everyone goes from here.
Who knows who The Native Howl will inspire next!
