At an undisclosed location in a city somewhere in Canada, the highly guarded script for the greatest movie never made was born – featuring pirates, evil robot squids and a heroic one-armed football player. Long-time friends and collaborators Nathan Hiltz and Johnny Griffith, spent many post gig hours creating characters and worlds like the ones they lost themselves in as kids.

GHT began rooted in tradition and has since launched into the unexpected, appealing to more than just your average jazz listener. They’ve rallied impromptu dance parties with hippies on Salt Spring Island, played clubs, theatres and festival stages from St. John’s and Victoria to the Yukon and back again.

Their debut album “Now and Then” (2009) – named Best Album of the Year by Jazz FM – was produced by and featured jazz legend Don Thompson and received a Grand-Prix du Jazz Nomination at the Montreal Jazz Festival. GHT followed that with “This is What You Get” (2013), spending 3 weeks at #1 on the National Jazz Charts. Their sophomore album enlisted Canadian Indie music madman, Hawksley Workman, as producer and continued to push the boundaries of jazz with influences ranging from Ornette Coleman to Otis Redding to Black Sabbath and Kermit the Frog.

GHT’s latest release “Arcade” (2020), is a result of the global pandemic. Social distancing forced the band to give up the familiarity of recording live-off-the-floor to collaborating remotely from basements and laundry rooms across Toronto, Halifax and Germany. This format forced them to think in less conventional ways and resulted in their most experimental album yet.

Their acoustic sound has been augmented by analog synthesizers and chiptune style vintage digital gaming consoles resulting in an 80s themed throwback with a wholly contemporary sound. Both high-energy and unexpected, “Arcade” is what happens when jazz meets the nostalgia of childhood.

As Johnny sums up, “this is our mid-life crisis album, I can’t afford a motorcycle, but I can make music”.