Gingerbee - Sound In The Signals Interview
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| 📸 hotstuff productions |
I recently had the opportunity to interview Gingerbee. We discussed how they became interested in music, musical influences, writing and recording their first EP, artwork, when to expect new music, and more. Check it out below.
First, thanks for the interview.
Thank you for having us!
Can you tell me how you started the band for those who may be unfamiliar with it? How did you become interested in music?
We met on the internet, over discord. Jordan had started a discord server called Bedroom Skramz/DIY JAMZ. Melody posted a demo on the server asking for feedback and Gustavo added guitar to the demo. From there, they made a group chat together and started making more music. Originally Jordan was on vocals, but after a little bit we found another vocalist named Philia who we recorded a few demos with. Sadly, things with Philia did not work out and Melody reached out to another person who posted demos in the server named Dani. Melody asked Dani to join the band and they said yes.
Gus: I became interested in playing music after my sister started playing guitar when she was 11. I thought it was cool and rad. I picked up guitar at 8. In high school I got really into jazz guitar and that was my main thing for a while. In Junior year of high school, I started making jazzy bedroom pop/rock inspired by rex orange county and snail mail. Towards the end of HS I became interested in making emo after hearing the bands lobsterfight, TBLA, weatherday, glass beach, your arms are my cocoon and hey, ily. Starting college I was making bedroom-folk/shoegaze before ending up in Gingerbee.
Melody: I mainly got into music when my brother introduced me to the bands that he liked back in the day. I got obsessed with Green Day, Linkin Park, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Breaking Benjamin and such. He also introduced me to retro gaming which eventually played a big hand in my chiptune influence. Afterwards I got obsessed with Gorillaz soon after and all the collaborations they did lead me to explore into more artists I ended up liking. I then had a huge metalhead phase from about the 6th to the 9th grade. After that I found things like Car Seat Headrest and Weatherday which gradually led me to finding 5th wave emo stuff, including Your Arms Are My Cocoon which influenced me greatly.
Dani: My interest in creating music began after taking a few bass lessons from my grandfather. I had asked him to teach me on a whim, and after only a few lessons, I was hooked. He had self-produced a lo-fi solo album on an 8 track in his home studio in the 70s, and was very knowledgeable on the subject of home recording. I had been messing around in GarageBand for awhile, but only got into it seriously with his guidance. From there, I taught myself guitar and music production.
You released your EP ‘Our Skies Smile’ last year. Were you pleased with the reception it received? What are your thoughts on it now that’s it’s been out for a while?
We were astonished by the reception that the EP received. Our biggest influences were listening to it and it was quite overwhelming. At times we revisit the EP and are still surprised at the intricacy of the EP, though we're confident that we can top our previous efforts!
What was the overall writing and recording process like for the EP?
The writing and recording process came in the form of sending demos back and forth on discord. We would frequently call and screen share our DAWs and work on songs together. Lots of the recording was done individually. There were a lot of tempo manipulations, scraping together songs from multiple disparate demos, and guest appearances.
I really like “We Float Together”. Can you tell me about writing that song? What were some of your sonic influences for it?
We Float Together started as a chiptune demo that Melody created. Melody intended it to be an upbeat, catchy and dancey tune and created the main synth line with that in mind. Melody sent it over to the group chat and we added instruments gradually until we came up with a structure which eventually included a half time section with screaming and a speed up near the end. Older retro games were a big inspiration for the base of the song as it started as a chiptune demo, NES games like Mega Man 2 and GBA Pokémon games were influences. Bands like Anamanaguchi and Math The Band were also pivotal influences.
I really like the artwork for the EP. Who came up with the concept for it and designed it?
The color scheme and concept for the cover art was decided by all three of us after sending a lot of art inspiration back and forth. Navi_frog_art was commissioned to do the final cover.
You had the chance to work with a few labels to release some cassettes and lathes. Everything has sold out. Is there any chance that we’ll see more cassettes or possibly vinyl options available for the EP?
There will be more cassettes and hopefully more vinyl of Our Skies Smile. Definitely on the horizon. No concrete vinyl plans yet though.
Can we expect any new music this year? If so, what can you tell us so far?
Hopefully a second EP before August. Perhaps a cover album by the end of the year. Our goal is for EP2 to be more adventurous, refined, ambitious, and complex than EP1.
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions. Do you have anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you for the wonderful questions! Stay tuned for more Gingerbee! <3
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