Gig Reviews
The Smile
K.B. Hallen, Copenhagen, DEN - 13/3
Album Reviews
Gwen Stacy
Previous Nextauthor PP date 06/04/09
Gwen Stacy's debut album "The Life I Know" divided critics and fans into two separate cames last year because of it's constant breakdown-oriented approach to metalcore. Personally I loved the record, but there were many that didn't. Much has changed since in the band, they're writing a new record, and a total of three vocalists have tried their luck before the band has settled on their new guy Geoff. That's already a lot of topics that need answers in an interview, so we figured it's best to get a hold of the band when they're performing in Copenhagen for the first time ever. Brent, the band's bassist, and Geoff, the new vocalist, both sat down with me in the lounge of Pumpehuset, and the one thing that I took away from the interview was that these guys were incredibly stoked for their new album, scheduled to be released this fall. They'd reference the new album and how good it is in pretty much any moment they could, and especially when we were talking about the old album and how it compares to it. Read on to find out more.
Brent: I'm Brent, I play bass and I do the singing.
RF.net: So what's new in Gwen Stacy?
Brent: Geoff!
Geoff: Me. [laughs] I joined the band like two-three months ago in January.
Brent: We're writing a new record, and we're in Denmark, that's new.
RF.net: So how's the tour going?
Brent: It's going well man. We've had our ups and downs, you know, just adjusting to everything and some of the culture shock, but it's been pretty cool. Especially Germany, it was awesome. Germany likes Gwen Stacy, which is cool. Unexpected, but those are some of the best responses that we got.
RF.net: Did you consider any other names?
Brent: Those were really the only two comic book names that we talked about. Because we were trying to think of obscure characters, obviously Professor X is NOT an obscure character, and Gwen Stacy I guess really isn't either.
Geoff: We believe what we believe, and sometimes it comes out in the music, sometimes we just wanna write music.
Brent: Yeah, but we don't hate on anybody. If you guys were to sit here and tell us that you were satanist, I'd be like "sweet man, whatever works for you" [laughs]. We can hang out and...
Geoff: ...Not that we're saying that!
[all laugh]
Brent: I'm just saying for example, you know what I mean? We don't judge or we don't force anything on anybody. We just hang out.
Geoff: We are who we are, so if anyone wants to talk to us about it and get our opinions on certain things, we'll give it. That's basically it.
Geoff: I mean, you'll lose fans and gain some with pretty much any kind of move that you make in a band, especially once you become... not that Gwen Stacy is on this crazy high level, but once you have fans, anything that you do can make or break a fan for you.
Brent: Yeah for sure. The good thing is that while we've been through a few vocalists, but the people that write the majority of the music and the lyrics are still in the band: Pat, TJ and I. We're still a solid band. I guess that for a while, since we were filtering in and out members, I think that's been the core. We are still here, we're still kicking, so.
Geoff: Well that's basically it. I think Cole and I have similar styles, and I think that our voices in a certain point sound...not exactly the same, but very similar. But Cole had his own way of doing things, which was awesome, and I have my own way of doing things, which I hope will come off as awesome. But no, I remember when I heard that Cole left the band, because I was still with my old band Once Nothing. Everybody was bummed. Things happen for a reason, things that need to happen will happen.
Brent: And I think we're actually a stronger unit than we have been in a long time, as far as band members being cool with each other. I mean you're on the road, obviously people are gonna get annoyed, but I think we're strong right now. We'll have to get another guitar player and see how it goes, but I think we're stronger now.
Geoff: An additional guitar player.
Brent: An additional guitar player, yeah!
Geoff: Pat's not leaving.
Brent: No, Pat's here to stay.
Geoff: Definitely stoked on the new one.
Brent: I think that the new one is going to be way way better. It's more mature, it's awesome.
Geoff: The music is a little different too. Everything is a little different but it's still, to me anyway, it's still Gwen Stacy, because like I said, I came in on January 3rd, which is the day that I joined the band, which is the day that we recorded the New Found Glory cover. The band had the majority of the music written because they've been writing this album for over a year now. And just from the stuff that I've heard that I didn't contribute to, at that point in time, I can say from a fan's point of view that it's... awesome. It's a lot different but in a good way, and it's still Gwen Stacy. It's still highly the hardcore melodic thing.
Brent: That question was actually really hard to answer, because I've been thinking about the new album forever, and I haven't really thought about "The Life I Know" a lot besides the songs we play, but it's kind of a hard question to answer.
Geoff: It's a good one, I don't think we've been asked that since I joined the band.
RF.net: How about then I'll ask the same question from you, Geoff, since you weren't writing that album, you weren't involved. What do you think of it?
Geoff: Of "The Life I Know" [laughs] Honestly? Well when I first heard it, I didn't even care for it. I really didn't. [laughs] But I kept on trying to get into it as much as I could because...
Brent: Our bands were really close.
Geoff: There were a couple of bands that were really tight. These bands were always really close, even before I joined Once Nothing. When I joined Once Nothing, I think my second tour was with Gwen Stacy and another band called Life In Your Way, and that's when I got to meet you guys for the first time and everything. But then just that point on, we just clicked. We're just really good friends even just me personally with these guys. That's why I kept on trying to listen to the album more, because I was like "these dudes are awesome like but I don't about their music so much" [laughs] but then I had to start listening and learning the lyrics, and the lyrics is what got me pumped on the album, because I think the music's really good for what it is, but I think it's more of a... not a vocal-driven, but more of a lyrically-minded CD, because I think the most important thing on the album is what they're saying. And for me, that's what really sold me on the album. I love that album because the message that's been put across in all the songs, but I'm definitely stoked for the next one as well, because I think that the lyrics are being taken up ten notches, and I think the music is being taken up twenty notches... it's gonna be a lot heavier, it's gonna be a lot faster, and honestly the lyrics I think will be a lot more open and honest and straight forward, really straight forward.
Brent: It's real.
Geoff: Yeah, it's cool too because now that I'm thinking about it... because I used to live in Maryland, when I was in my old band, and then I moved to Minneapolis to be in Gwen Stacy, and one of the first nights that I was out there, Brent and I actually sat and talked about lyrics and looked over lyrics for the new album, and everything at that point... if you were to give me a blank piece of paper and a pen to write lyrics for a new album, that's pretty much what they already had written. It's really cool because it just shows that all of our mindsets are on the same page, you know what I mean? We're all on the same page as far as what we wanna do next. I think it's going to be really really awesome. And you know, to be honest with you, even if the record doesn't do awesome, I don't give a crap because it's gonna be a record that I wanna help put out. I'm stoked.
Geoff: I was gonna say that a really good rule of thumb seems to be: put you record out and hope that every magazine hates it, because then every kid's gonna love it.
Brent: Unless you're like UnderOATH, and then most people are gonna like it.
Geoff: Generally what I've seen with this band is that if critics don't like it, then the kids will.
Brent: And I love the new Poison The Well album, I think it's awesome, but I'm a musician... or I try to be a musician.
Brent: Actually, the cover came mainly about because we were bored. We hadn't really done anything new on Myspace in a while, and we had some time, we were bored, and we decided to do it for fun.
Geoff: It's a band that everybody really likes.
Brent: Yeah, all of us like New Found Glory. And we've been getting some crap for it, like "You ruined that song!" and stuff, but hey you still listened to us, thanks for the play. [laughs].
Geoff: It's funny too because kids think that's what our new album's gonna sound like. They're always like "Don't go that way, oh my gosh!!". It definitely is. [laughs]
Brent: There's gonna be a little more singing, but it's not gonna be like.. New Found Glory covers now.
RF.net: Are you guys playing any new songs?
Brent: Nope.
RF.net: Are you playing the New Found Glory song?
Geoff: Nope, we need to guitars to do it, which is why we said we have to get an additional guitarist.
Geoff: Yeah sure, just come hang out and enjoy yourself!
Brent: And go buy the record, if you want, but check it out on Myspace first, if you want.