Gus Englehorn • Biography
Gus Englehorn • Career Biography
While his journey on this terrestrial plane has taken him from his native Alaska to Utah to Québec to Portland to his current home in Hawaii (for the next five minutes at least), Gus Englehorn is ultimately a citizen of Planet Gus, an uncanny universe created through a big-bang collision between serene beauty and apocalyptic chaos, populated by folkloric heroes, creepy characters, and oversized insects alike. A critically acclaimed indie-rock singer-songwriter, he spent much of his life as a professional snowboarder, but always dreamed of writing songs. Accompanied by his wife Estée Preda, his key collaborator with whom he produces his albums and creates music videos, his approach is visceral, subconscious and much like his snowboarding career — risk-taking and unapologetic.
When he finally emerged, first on 2020’s Death & Transfiguration, he had found a sound that was dark and delightful, fun and demented, packed with dynamics and the chug of a hysterical guitar. Dungeon Master, Englehorn’s Secret City Records debut, is an outsider opus — a playful juxtaposition of isolation, alienation and mildish OCD. The album was praised by critics: “This is hitting in a weird way,” enthused renowned critic Anthony Fantano from The Needle Drop, while American magazine Under the Radar stated that the opus was “a fascinating dose of outsider indie rock, carried by Englehorn’s yelping vocals, gleefully offbeat songwriting, and darting melodies. [A] fantastically weird […] record.” The artist has performed at SXSW (USA), The Great Escape (UK), Reeperbahn (DE), Festival MaMA (France), M for Montreal, and more in recent years.
Gus Englehorn • Personal Biography
Singer/songwriter/musician Gus Englehorn was born in the little fishing town of Homer, Alaska, located about three hours south of Anchorage. He grew up on his maternal great-grandfather’s sprawling homestead located in the Ninilchik, an even smaller fishing village than Homer, with a population of about 10. Gus' father was a fisherman, so the family split its time between Alaska and Hawaii, with Gus starting his school year in Alaska, and finishing it in Hawaii.
When he was nine or ten, his family moved from Hawaii back to Alaska full-time, but this time, to the city of Anchorage. Gus discovered skateboarding and snowboarding, rose to competing in half-pipe snowboard tournaments, went to the nationals, eventally became a professional snowboarder, and ended up on the cover of Transworld’s Snowboard magazine. He started working with sponsors, jumping off of mountains while riding the sponsors’ boards, and doing a lot of filming.
But, skateboarding came to a screaching halt when he horrifically blew out his knee while snowboarding, which put him down and out for about a year. With a whole lot of not being able to do much but stay in bed, Gus’ spirits were bouyed by a guitar class he had taken during his high school days. Propped up in bed, Gus started playing his guitar every day, and then got re-hooked on it. A true and deep devotee of Bob Dylan, Gus also learned to play harmonica, and a little bit of piano. He and his wife Estée currently live full-time on Maui.