Originally posted at That Mag on Nov 2, 2012:
It’s a bad habit to gravitate towards bands and genres you’re familiar with. I encourage people to lean towards ones who maybe don’t much or any radio play at the moment. The world is full of great musicians, talented ones who aren’t noticed immediately just because they don’t fit the normal fold of what the music world currently wants. This isn’t always a bad thing, though. When you’re an artist trying to get people to look for something different with music, Gangi is quickly rising to the challenge.
The LA duo of Matt Gangi and Eric Chramosta just released their sophomore album, Gesture Is, on Matt’s own label, Office of Analog and Digital. “We have been working on it for a few years off and off,” says Matt. “But we’ve recorded hundreds of songs in that time. Gesture Is is the first collection of these. Some of the songs that might be on future records are very different from these.”
Chramosta replies, “The writing and recording of most of the album’s material seemed to flow out pretty quickly and fluidly. Most of the time spent on these songs was devoted to minor tweaks and remixing and those sort of things.”
As for those who influenced the guys of Gangi to create such different and noticeable music the way that they do, Matt says “We are into at least one band in every decade in every genre. The internet, record shops, and the information bomb.” Chramosta says that “ultimately, some of the differences in our musical tastes and opinions seemed to mutually influence each other- like a positive tug of war of sorts, which I think can be heard in certain places throughout the album.”
The band also recently released the gorgeous video for their song, “Railways Nos. 1-27,” also on their new album. But, last year’s video for the song “Outside Ones” really stood out and I needed to know the ideas behind both the song and the video. “It’s about everything you’ve done is your life is a self proving maximum,” says Matt. Both of the guys gave their takes on the video itself. Matt says “Montana Casey directed the video and did a brilliant job. Montana and I were talking about global surveillance, the work of the bureau of inverse technology and the continued imprisonment of private Bradley Manning- who most Americans haven’t even heard of.” Chramosta says “Montana took the concept and developed it into a more narrative form that the video ended up being.”
OK, enough about the songs. Let’s talk tour! “On this tour we have had a really good time making friends with folks who have heard of our music before,” says Matt. “These friends usually let us sleep on their floor and we get brought into a world of new people who are often pretty interesting.” Chramosta responds, “To be able to travel around and experience all these places and make new friendships is amazing.”
Of course, with every positive comes a negative. “Despite all the great aspects of touring, it certainly comes with its share of difficulties,” says Chramosta. “We once had our trailer jack knifed into a ditch during a freak snow storm in mid October. Not the most positive of experiences but pretty funny in hindsight.”
The band’s favorite city to tour in is Denver because David Mead is there and to the members of Gangi, he is an amazing musician and person. Matt’s other favorite is Albuquerque. “There is an energy in the desert and we have a lot of friends there. Chramosta is also a “sucker for Burlington. Beautiful in the fall.”
Gangi played a show last Wednesday in Philadelphia, however it wasn’t their first show in here. The band performed in Athens, GA last night and is now headed to Austin, TX for a show on the 30th. After that, who knows what these guys will be up to, but hopefully they’ll be back in our town soon.