Spirit Hotel performed during Sled Island on Thursday, June 18th at Palomino (Main Floor) & Saturday, June 20th at BLOX Arts Centre.

Interview Audio:

Interview Transcript:

Willow (CJSW)
All right, I’m Willow Pflueger with CJSW 90.9 FM from Sled Island 2026. I’m with the band Spirit Hotel. Hello.

Nataanii Cornelius
Hello.

Noah Glover
Hello.

Kaleb Cook
How’s it going?

Colin Merrick
Hello.

Willow (CJSW)
Would you guys all mind introducing yourselves and just your roles in the band?

Nataanii Cornelius
Yeah, so I am Nataanii Cornelius. I play guitar, I sing, I write a lot of the parts, and then I’m gonna hand this over.

Noah Glover
My name’s Noah Glover, I play the drums.

Kaleb Cook
I’m Kaleb Cook. I play bass guitar.

Colin Merrick
I’m Colin Merrick. I play guitar, and yeah, I play guitar.

Willow (CJSW)
Awesome. And this is Spirit Hotel’s second year playing at Sled Island, right?

Nataanii Cornelius
Yeah, it is.

Willow (CJSW)
What are you guys looking forward to this year?

Nataanii Cornelius
I mean, honestly, the biggest thing for me personally is just being around, like in Canada, in Calgary, kind of just taking in the culture, walking around, being in some place that does not feel so familiar. Like today, I had a lovely walk downtown and just put my headphones on, and just really like enjoyed how the sun hits different up here. There was, there’s just a lot of magic to the city. It feels familiar, and it feels so different at the same time, like I’m, like, spent time in Seattle, I’ve spent time, and you know, down in the southwest, and there’s things that kind of line up with my experiences, but it’s just so different at the same time. It has a very special magic to it in this city, but as far as like musical acts, very excited to try and catch Black Country, New Road tonight. I think everyone’s going to be fighting over how to get into that, so that’s a really cool one.

Noah Glover
I’m really excited to see Snõõper after they dropped last year, but yeah, kind of same as Nataanii. It was just nice to walk around a new place today. We were here last year, but I feel like we didn’t get to explore as much, so it’s nice to be around a lot more diversity. We don’t get much of that in Missoula.

Kaleb Cook
Yeah, I’m just.. I walked around today a little bit. I took the bus right into Chinatown, and I mean, it just.. it’s blown me away. How much different foods, and I mean, there’s just so many different people here, and it’s just so cool to see everybody in their flow, just moving around, living their lives, and yeah, the river. I took the bus over, and someone, you know, float in the river, and reminds me of Missoula, because we’ve also got a river that cuts right through the middle of it, and yeah, I’m, I’m stoked to see, yeah, this band Etran de L’Aïr, I love psych rock, like Saharan psych rock, and they are, they’re just like, so like powerful and rootsy, and also a little bit psychedelic, and yeah, also Snõõper. Just explore and see everything, and yeah, I’m excited for it all. Here’s Colin.

Colin Merrick
Snõõper. Snõõper’s from Nashville, where I grew up, and I know Blair, and yeah, it’ll be sick to see him. I haven’t gotten to see them live, so I will get into that show or die trying. Black Country, New Road tonight. Also, yeah, and then there’s a, there’s a long list of other artists that we’ll try to catch, but this year I think, like last year, when I was here, when we were here, I caught as much music as I possibly could, and I think this year I’m like chilling out a little bit, and just kind of enjoying taking my time, and yeah, like to echo everyone else, just kind of enjoy the city and explore a little bit more. Today’s our day off, and we’re all just kind of like meandering. Everybody’s been really kind, and yeah. We love, we played the Palomino last night, and a lot of good bands played there with us. It was really sick to be in that environment again. That was like our favorite spot to hang out last year, so.

Willow (CJSW)
Awesome. How long are you guys in Calgary for?

Nataanii Cornelius
So we’re here till Sunday morning, and then we’re taking off back, sadly. It’s, it’s really nice to be here. I mean, like, just the opportunity to get away is like not lost on any of us. We’re all workaholics, so everyone’s just like constantly pushing and pushing and pushing. It’s really hard to get together. Like, maintaining a band in this economy is pretty rough. You know, like, it’s getting harder to keep a band together. It’s not getting easier, and you know, we’re all just artists. We work to make art, you know? Like, we don’t work to work. So, I mean, it’s just, it’s kind of the grind. And so, I mean, being able to step away from that and be able to actually engage with our art, and be around a lot of like really new fun interesting and lovely people because Canadians are stereotypically nice, so it’s yeah, it’s great.

Willow (CJSW)
Is that a true stereotype?

Nataanii Cornelius
I think so. I mean, like a lot nicer than Americans. I mean, like, come on.

Colin Merrick
Yeah, I think, yeah, yes, and also like, like me and Noah are both from the South, and there is like that southern hospitality stereotype. I think that there’s kindness in different ways, and there’s like performative kindness, and then there’s like genuine, like, ‘how are you doing, like what’s going on with you?” And I think that I’ve had like five conversations with strangers over the last 24 hours that like actually wanted to know what was going on with me and how I was doing, which is, which is very different vibe. It’s not just like being nice to look like you’re being nice, but it is like people are genuinely interested in what and what we’re about and what we have to say.

Nataanii Cornelius
Yeah, we’re super interested in speaking in mass generalization, so absolutely take us for a word, you know.

Kaleb Cook
I feel like there’s just a general slower pace, and like there’s a less rush, less of a rush, and maybe I’m just like in a new place, and kind of like, you know, have like my happy blinders on to like reality, but I mean it just feels like everybody’s moving slower and enjoying themselves more rather than just like blasting around like you know being maniacs.

Noah Glover
I do think I was walking double speed everyone else today. Yeah, I do that in Missoula too, though. I guess

Willow (CJSW)
Maybe Calgary just has a lot of slow walkers, more nice but slow walkers.

Colin Merrick
It’s, it’s different, and also not that different, you know, I mean, like, it’s not as much of a culture shock as I think I don’t know, it’s both going to like a city at all, like even going to like Seattle or Portland from Missoula feels similar.

Willow (CJSW)
I wanted to ask a little bit about Spirit Hotel as a band. How did the project start?

Nataanii Cornelius
Yeah, so the project started with me, like I’ve written and recorded music solo for quite a while, and I had my first album come out back in, I think 2021 and it was just, it was, it was something where I’d been playing in this other band called Fuuls for a minute, and it was like my main expression, it was very deeply politically charged. It was, it was a very loud and very intense act, and it was really great to have that expression, but I was always dealing with things externally, and then I wanted to be able to start processing things internally as I grew and became an adult, and was like really trying to step into some growth patterns, and really needed an outlet to talk about these stories of my life and what I’ve gone through, and like, whether that be, you know, said in parable, or whether that be, you know, an honest fiction, so to speak, and so, yeah, I mean, it just started with that, and I just started writing and recording and doing certain things, and it’s kind of been on and off. This is the second, like, full band presentation of Spirit Hotel. I had a previous band that was filled with a lot of different friends, and that shortly, that had like a run over like a course of a year, and that ended, and then I had stepped back into Fuuls, and Fuuls took off and was doing a bunch of stuff. That project ended. Then I kind of like just wrote and recorded another record, and I had, I mean, these sweet people were very encouraging, were like, ‘let’s please, please start a band, and let’s please, like, play these arrangements live,’ and because originally I hadn’t planned on performing it in a live setting, I was like, well, you know, I just want to put it out in the world, it’s more so for me than anyone else, and was very encouraged and very supported by our friend Will. By, I mean, I, yeah, I mean, it’s just kind of overwhelming to think about, because I mean, like the amount of support that you know, Noah and Colin and Will, and Nick, like, all gave me was just.. it was very touching, you know. And you know, so. Yeah. And then Caleb is also like one of our near and dear friends, who, like, is also my roommate. Colin’s now also my roommate. So we’re all just like living together, working really hard. But I mean, it’s, it feels like a family band to me in a lot of ways, because it’s like I love to have my people close, and yeah, that’s kind of how it came together. Anyhow.

Willow (CJSW)
That’s awesome. I wanted to ask, where does the name come from? Like, does it come from something?

Nataanii Cornelius
Yeah, I lived in a haunted apartment.

Colin Merrick
That I actually almost moved into, like a month ago, before I moved in with them. I’m actually not. I paid rent this month, but I have to move in two days when we get home. It’s gonna be a grind, but I almost signed the lease, and Nataanii was like, “Oh, that’s where Spirit started. It’s haunted.”

Nataanii Cornelius
Yeah, it was kind of rough. Like, I mean, it was a.. it was a beautiful apartment. It’s like 100 years old, or maybe older. And so it was like one of those things where, when I first moved in there, I wrote a lot of those songs in there, and had been in and around, but there was a lot of crazy things that would happen in that apartment that you just would not expect to happen. I could give you examples, you look like you’re begging for examples.

Willow (CJSW)
I would love to hear some examples.

Nataanii Cornelius
So like, okay, I ran like sometimes I’d hear like random knocks on the wall. There was one night, like, where randomly someone like, just like extreme things would just be attracted to that. Like, I’ve got – I had my house broken into multiple times, my car got broken into. There was someone who put up like a weird little battery bomb in the dumpster right outside my house, and it blew up in the middle of the night, while me and my kids were sleeping. Like, my kids would often see this, like, one particular person walk, like, from my bathroom, or, like, peek their head out, and then they’d come back. It was just, it was very weird time. At the same time, it wasn’t all spooky, because there was also a lot of, like, protection, and, like, the plants and the plant life that were around there would really create like a very diverse kind of interaction, because there were also like extreme moments of growth, and like guidance, and I would hear encouragement, and a lot of just different things. So my house began to feel very crowded, and so that’s why it was called the Spirit Hotel, is because like I invited a friend over, they lived with me for a short period of time, when we were just like they needed a place to stay, and I was like, well, yeah, I guess this is kind of just like a spirit hotel, you know? People come and go, I just have to get used to it, like I don’t have any privacy.

Willow (CJSW)
It’s such a cool name, though.

Nataanii Cornelius
Thank you.

Willow (CJSW)
How long did you live in the apartment?

Nataanii Cornelius
In that apartment? Feels like forever, but it was only like two and a half years.

Willow (CJSW)
That’s still pretty long.

Nataanii Cornelius
Long enough. Yeah.

Willow (CJSW)
Where do you get inspirations for your songs?

Nataanii Cornelius
Everything. Life is a life is a diverse, never-ending palette. I mean, you could wander the halls and never run out of any of God’s colours. Like you just, you stumble into like magic in every single moment, and we had this like joke where Colin was telling us, like, when we were driving, they were just like, “Oh, I’ve never been here before,” and then we drive like another ten feet, you’re like, “or here, or here, I’ve never been here either. Actually, no, I think I have. No, never mind, I’ve never been here,” and it’s like, it’s like that kind of feeling of like you move through time, you move through this understanding of your consciousness. You get to these particular points where you have to embrace that you are only in this one breath that you have right now. You’re not in the future, you’re not in the past, you’re singular in this one moment. So everything is beautiful when you start to embrace it that way. You start to see the world as like this never-ending, like fluorescent, just kaleidoscopic presence, and it becomes something so overwhelming and magnificent. I just never run out of any inspiration seeing it that way.

Willow (CJSW)
Wow, that’s a really beautiful way of looking at things.

Nataanii Cornelius
I hope so.

Willow (CJSW)
What does the process of writing songs look like?

Nataanii Cornelius
Gratuitous. It’s gratuitous. I mean, a lot of it has been like from, like, I will sit and write a lot of this stuff myself. Recently, I’ve been trying to make sure that I’m opening it up to being able to collaborate with these fine people, because they’re extremely great, great musicians, and I’ve been very blessed to have worked with so many great musicians, but this project has been mostly just me, at least as far as the writing portion goes, and so, like, in the past it’s been me just slaving away in my bedroom, like into the like late hours in the night, just processing or coming up with spurring sounds and hearing noises in my head. That sounds so weird, but you know, but that’s the artist process, right? It’s a heartbreaking, staggering process of just like engaging in this, in the mud of your own shadow, and that’s been a lot of it, but recently it’s been nice to kind of like spread that out and not have to go so deep into my own process and like spend time like just playing music and feeling each other’s energy, and as we’ve grown in a lot of trust with each other musically, we’re writing some stuff that feels very unique in and of itself, because I mean they’re incredible songwriters and all in their own respect.

Willow (CJSW)
What do you hope listeners take away from your music?

Nataanii Cornelius
Whatever they want. Like again, it’s, it’s all like things are so subjective, right? Like, like I write a song and I’m like, ‘oh man, I feel like I wanted, I was trying to do this crazy thing, like it reminded me of Spirit of the Beehive,’ or like, ‘oh shit, that’s like, this thing is, like, it makes me think of this particular song, or whatever,’ and then I show it to someone else, and they’re like, ‘man, that’s crazy, this is like straight up Smashing Pumpkins,’ I’m like, ‘what!’ And it throws me off, because I’m like, ‘that’s a really cool way of interpreting that, and I can kind of hear what you’re getting at, but I have no idea how you got that,’ and so I mean, like, it’s, it’s really just like you, you give birth to this thing, and that piece of yourself engages on its own with someone else, you don’t want to police your child in having an interaction with someone else, like you just trust that its life is going to go and do its thing right? So it’s like I’m not trying to police how people interact with my art.

Colin Merrick
Recently, we’ve been told that the music is very interesting, beautiful, and very spooky and uncomfortable, which I think it’s Nataanii’s voice, honestly, is what’s the word, enrapturing. It’s very, you know, even if we’re having a weird show or something, like her voice carries us so far, and people are just kind of stuck listening to her voice, because it’s, it’s that beautiful, and it’s that powerful.

Noah Glover
I don’t remember where the question started. I mean, I just hope that people feel, you know, what I feel when I hear Nataanii’s demos for the first time, and what I feel, you know, playing those tunes from from behind the kit, like I, you know, I think I came into this band when, you know, Nataanii mentioned earlier, she made that record without intending to make a live project out of it, and we all heard it, and before a band member, I was just such a fan, and it just pulled me in, in such a way, so I just, I mean, I just hope that people feel the way that I felt when I heard her stuff for the first time.

Kaleb Cook
Yeah, I think, I think you know, whether it be good or bad, hard, or, you know, beautiful, like I just, you know, hope people feel something, like connect with themselves, connect with just the intensity of life, and you know, our, the music is beautiful and hard and really intense, and, and I think that’s just life, and I think connecting to that, and just feeling something is, is, you know, what I hope people experience.

Willow (CJSW)
All great answers. I wanted to ask, because I know you guys only have your music on Bandcamp, and you guys recently took your music off Spotify.

Nataanii Cornelius
Yeah, it’s tough. What were you gonna ask?

Willow (CJSW)
I was just gonna ask if you wanted to talk a little bit about why you chose to do that.

Nataanii Cornelius
Yeah, I mean, so I mean, I’m an Indigenous trans woman, right? Like, and we’ve, like, my people, I’m Navajo, I’m also Oneida, and like, where I’m coming from is like I have seen and felt the effects of colonization and genocide my entire life. Cultural, physical, emotional, spiritual, like all of it. It’s been extremely, extremely painful having to grow through all of that. At the same time, my spirit can’t be crushed. Our people can’t be crushed in that way. We have resiliency because of the way that we’re connected to life. And Spotify support of AI and AI military use, and the way that it rolls out with this industrial death machine just absolutely is disgusting to me. I understand that there’s no such thing as, like, ethical consumption within like, you know, within capitalism. Yeah, because I mean, like, really, there’s there’s no real good way to get your music out there right now, in a lot of ways, and I understand that, like, even with kind of like saying, like, okay, we’re taking it this back, it’s like, sure, it might just be a drop in the bucket, but I don’t want to like continue to grease the wheels of this nasty tank that’s running over our world with just, you know, the measly like five cents that I get in streaming, because they barely pay us anyway, you know what I mean? So I just, like, I felt very much that that was something that, even if symbolically, I just don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t want to have anything to do with Spotify. I hate it. It sucks, they don’t treat us well to begin with, and it’s hard enough to make a living as a musician, you know. And so, I mean, we have our music up on a few different platforms now. I think we have it on Apple Music, not that much better. We have it on YouTube Music, also not much better, but you know, we are trying to get things out there so that people can have availability to it, but I think divesting from Spotify and from these huge monopolies that you know are really only interested in our exploitation is necessary, even if it’s just a symbolic thing, like it’s my, it’s my choice. I just, I hate it, and it’s harder and harder all the time. I feel, I feel the squeeze. I feel the pressure of it, like anytime that someone talks to me, like, “Where’s your, where’s your Spotify link? Where’s this, or whatever, where’s.. you know, like, when are you going to throw it up on here?” And I’m like, “I really don’t want to do that,” you know? And I’m going to resist that for as long as possible, and hopefully that’s forever.

Willow (CJSW)
Hopefully, I think that’s great that you guys are, you know, sticking true to what you believe in. What do you find is the best way to support bands like you guys then?

Nataanii Cornelius
I mean, buying physical media, buying merch, that’s like the I think the biggest way to support any local projects or any touring projects is like buy merch, buy merch, buy merch, buy merch, show up to shows, you know, like buy physical media, just do whatever you can to support. If you, if you like what a band is doing, see if they have, like, you know, a tip jar or something like that, like, find any way to support them, because you can be a patron, like, I mean, that’s that’s a thing, and you can support your favorite bands.

Colin Merrick
You can donate more on Bandcamp, right. So it’s like you can buy a record, like another project that I’m involved with, we’ve received some really generous donations for a free album, right? And I think that there are ways, like if you really want to support a band, you can, and you will find a way to.

Willow (CJSW)
Awesome. And for my last question, I know you guys just released a new single, Bones and All. Do you have any plans right now for future releases?

Nataanii Cornelius
Yes. Yeah, no, we definitely do, and there’s quite a few songs that are like that have been sitting there. I will probably announce that coming more. I think we’ll have like maybe one more single, and then just go into releasing the next record.

Willow (CJSW)
Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for talking with me, I really appreciate it.

Nataanii Cornelius
Yeah, thanks.