q and also a :: Gray Goods
Thursday, April 14th, 2011Mr. Ryan Brown of Gray Goods sent us these answers to our questions in this next installment of the q and also a series.
q: What is the last song you (really) heard?
a: I heard Instant Karma! in the car this morning and it got me going, usually does. I’ve also been giving Fleetwood Mac a serious run for the first time in my life. A friend turned me onto Tusk and its been downhill from there. I always thought they were bullshit, jokes on me. The new Obits record is the real deal as well as is Disappears‘ new record.
Streamables:
Instant Karma (youtube) by John Lennon
Tusk on Solid Gold 1980 (youtube) by Fleetwood Mac
q: What is your favorite beverage?
a: I don’t really discriminate. Canned Dr. Pepper, cheap canned lager (Budweiser and its international equivalents), whiskey, gin, rum… whatever shoe fits the foot. In the cold months I’m usually a scotch/guinness guy, but bourbon season is just around the corner.
q: What is your favorite band(s) to see live?
a: The Obits, The Soft Pack, Disappears, Air Waves, Tijuana Panthers
Downloadables:
Pine On (mp3) by Obits
Walking With Jesus (Spacemen 3 Cover) (mp3) by The Soft Pack
Halo (mp3) by Disappears
Knockout (mp3) by Air Waves
Red Headed Girl (mp3) by Tijuana Panthers
q: What is your favorite venue in NYC (if applicable)?
a: We love everyone at Cake Shop and Union Pool. Never had a bad time on either side of it at both of those places.
q: What piece(s) of culture are you really really excited about right now?
a: The upcoming Baseball season.
q: Anything we should know about your latest project (whatever that might be)?
a: We’ve been very prolific as far as writing and documenting is concerned over the past six months. We haven’t had a steady drummer, so Austin and I have been writing on average about one song per week without rhythm parts laid out, then taking a heap of them and playing with whomever is willing to sit down at a kit with us. So far we’ve shared some time with Nick Stumpf from the French Kicks, Scott Gursky from the Obits, someone we found on craigslist, and a friend of a friend.
While we’re still looking for a long term fit, working this way has really forced us to become better song writers, better musicians. Speaking personally I feel like I have a much better attitude about the whole band thing than ever before, consequently I feel like we’re writing our best material. Playing the songs with different drummers certainly keeps you sharp as far as playing live/improvising is concerned while rounding out the rough edges of the songs themselves.
The downside to the experiment is we haven’t been able to play live as frequently we would like and we have a full lengths worth of new songs we could go into a studio with tomorrow but no drummer. Between playing sporadically with people we really feel good about versus going through the motions with people we’re on the fence about, we’ll take it this way.
Downloadables:
I Can’t Take It (mp3)
Francis (mp3)
Closet Trash (mp3)
Upcoming Show:
- May 11th @ Union Pool w/ D. Charles Speer & The Helix + Zachary Cale
And be sure to check out the rest of the q and also a series… here.
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