Gaviiformes Band BTD Artist Interview

Welcome, Gaviiformes, boy do we have lots to talk about including a new song that’s coming out this month, nice! How about we start with some intros, who are all the band members and what do they do?

Thank you! We have Matt (me) on bass and vocals, John on guitar, and Zach on drums.

Where are you all from?

The three of us hail from the heavily wooded parts of New Hampshire where the sky meets the sea.

So you all have been buds since high school? Aren’t you tired of each other yet? LOL. You all must feel like a little family. What made you get together and start up a band?

John and I played Beatles covers together in high school and would improvise stuff, that’s how it started. We like a lot of the same music.

How would you best describe your music in twenty words or less?

Guitar, drum, bass, loud, quiet, fast, slow. There’s 10 words and for our remaining 10 here is something our friend Joe wrote. “Sounds like a wonderful outtake from the Velvet Underground third album”.

Ok, I got to know, who’s the most quiet in the band and who’s the one who won’t stop talking?

Well we all love the sound of our own voice, but talk is cheap. We let the music do the talking.

Let’s talk about this new single that is releasing, “The Weather”, which is from the same album title. What’s the song about?

The words for that song came together quickly, to me it’s about savoring the little things. I was playing “I Should’ve Known” by the Beatles in my head one day, humming it, and when I got home I sat down with my guitar and tried to pick it out. I ended up writing the verses and chorus for “The Weather” and later that week I worked out the bridge and chanting outro. I was listening to a lot of Waylon Jennings at the time and a lot of his stuff has these really simple, driving bass lines that are super cool. I showed the song to John, he liked it and added the lead guitar lick that’s played in the intro and verses as well as the outro solo.

I am sure you are excited about the release, how many songs are on the album?

It’s looking like 10-12. The music encompasses a few different styles and genre’s. We have 5 songs on Spotify already that we recorded two years ago with our friend Josh in the basement studio in Malden. Patricia and Empty Stall are two songs from that EP that stand out and are real fun to play live. We learned a ton from working with Josh during those sessions. When it came time to do our full length album the pandemic had just hit and recording in a studio just wasn’t in the cards. So I read a couple books, message boards, and watched a ton of YouTube videos, studying how to produce/engineer/mix audio. All that stuff. Everyday. We are by no means experts. But we got some equipment and self produced “The Weather” live sessions. We love the way the sound of that song came out. It’s got a rawness and immediacy to it that I believe only comes with playing live. That’s how we’ve approached this LP, playing and recording mostly live off the floor. It definitely takes a certain level of musicianship that we are always striving for but each of us is dedicated to our instrument and it’s been a ton of fun working on this project. The album might have alternate versions of “The Weather”, as well as “Goose”, “Empty Stall”, and “Patricia”.

So if I was sitting on the couch just watching this album all come together, what would I have seen and heard?

You would have seen fighting and laughing and endings and new beginnings. We actually switched out members halfway through. It wasn’t easy at all but it ended up coming together in the best way possible. Zach is new in the band and we are still learning each other but he’s a grade A human and brings a real passion for drumming and playing music. As a trio now John and I are able to really tap into that improvisational side of our musical relationship and chase all sorts of ideas down the rabbit hole and see where they go. It’s freed me up as a bass player to let my freak flag fly and the interplay between guitar, drum, and bass is very exciting, it’s sort of all I think about all day. We’ve always loved trio music, its some of the most informative stuff for us. Hendrix, Cream, James Gang, Sublime. Other bands too that are essentially trios from a music standpoint but have a lead singer like Zeppelin or the Chili Peppers. Thats some of our favorite stuff. So to answer your question in a roundabout way, the main thing you would have seen is a lot of jamming and talking about music.

I see that you won the Club Bohemia artist of the month, sweet. That must have made you feel fabulous. Tell us all about it.

Absolutely. We played a show at the Cantab in Cambridge and a friend of ours saw us and recommended us to some people. it’s led to some great relationships and was definitely a cool honor. The Cantab is one of many venues in our area that we are wishing the best for.

Who would you say are your musical influences?

My personal favorite decades of music is the 60’s, 70’s and 90’s. The stuff from those eras is unmatched. The guys feel the same way. The bands, players, and songs from those eras are never going to be topped, we just hope to honor that stuff in our own way with our songs and try to do our part to keep rock music alive. Some of the albums that have been very influential for us are Abbey Road, Blood on the Tracks, On the Beach, Loaded, Disreali Gears, Zeppelin 2, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Let it Bleed, Morrison Hotel, London Calling, Powerage to name a few. I love a lot of punk rock music as well that the guys don’t always like, but blues, funk, reggae, folk, outlaw country, we love that stuff.

Here’s a question I have been asking all the artists since this COVID virus hit. How has this changed the way you do music today?

Not having live music sucks but it’s been great for hunkering down and being creative. I think when stuff opens back up, everyone is going to emerge with their best stuff and live shows will be better than ever. There’s a lot of pent up energy out there and we can’t wait to help people cut loose.

Though you have a new song coming out this month, which I am sure it’s going to keep you busy… what other projects do you have coming up?

We just moved into a new rehearsal space so all our focus has been these new songs, getting super tight on them as well as studying audio production and engineering. The songs on this album have all been meticulously crafted. Pretty soon we will move in all the studio gear and begin tracking. First we’ll get a basic track of the song played live together, guitar, drum and bass. Once we have takes of the songs that we all love, there are talks of us moving the studio to a separate location to overdub guitar solos and vocals. We hope to have the record out in time for shows this summer.

Where do you want to see your band be in the future, let’s say five years from now.

We just want to write the best songs we can, put on a great live show and have a blast. Whether that’s in a smelly bar or at the Sinclair we don’t care, music is just something we have to do. We played the Somerville Porchfest in 2019 and hundreds of people stayed and watched us play all afternoon. It was like a festival! It’s extremely humbling that people appreciate our music, jam it in their cars, share it with their friends, and come to show. We are living the dream.

Where can our listeners buy your music?

DistroKid is putting us on these platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok/Resso, Google Play/YouTube, Amazon, Soundtrack by Twitch, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, ClaroMusica, Saavn, Anghami, KKBox, NetEase (beta), Tencent (beta), Triller (beta), MediaNet

One last question, it’s a question of a question. LOL, is there anything else you would like to share that I might have left out?

Huge thanks to all the radio stations and DJ’s playing “The Weather” right now. Marian Ferro at Mark Skin Radio, Good Music Radio, Thames Valley Radio U.K., Bob Nelson at WMWM Salem 91.7 fm, Catorweb Radio, and Banks Radio Australia where we hit #2 on the Radio Indie Alliance chart! We appreciate you giving us this platform. Basically, coming to a Gaviiformes show or listening to our music is an experience that we hope becomes a part of our listeners lives. We love our fans and want to bring a smile to everyone’s face who lets Gaviiformes into their world.

Thank you for reading, listening, and supporting!