Gyroscope interview: touring, experience, new album
- Nov 17, 2008
Twelve years playing together has given Perth band Gyroscope a lot of time to grow as musicians. Guitarist Rob reflects on how they have developed.
"We've grown as songwriters and arrangers and as players, you know."
Things aren't always perfect, but Rob explains that this is all part of the process.
"If you're serious about what you do you pick up little mistakes. It might not be noticeable, it might just be you but you pick them up and iron them out and promise yourself you won't do them next time."
"You learn, that's the best thing. All your mistakes you learn from."
And one thing they have learned is that touring is an integral part of being in a successful band.
"Coming this far, eleven or twelve years with the band we know that's how it works."
"Without that touring formula there's nothing. We started as a touring band and we'll end as a touring band. The studio and all the other stuff is kinda the fun stuff in between."
Getting older has made it more difficult to head out on the road for long periods, but Rob maintains that it's still a necessary part of the job.
"It gets harder with age 'cause you get older and get more attached to home, your family and friends, but fundamentally it's the same thing as when you started touring that first time, when you were bright eyed and bushy tailed. You really wanted to get out there and you know that you have to do it because it's promoting the songs you're writing."
The band cut their teeth negotiating the vibrant music scene in Perth. The "sort of mentality where it's very eager and keen and competitive but healthy at the same time" and an environment that pushed the band to work harder.
"There's a whole bunch of quality bands that are gigging week in and week out over here. You don't have an industry type that's breathing down your neck. We tend to just go hard until we're ready to show the rest of the country or the rest of our peers what we're about."
"There's not a lot of venues. Everyone's competing for that dream to get over east. The eastern state bands might take that a bit for granted because that's something they can do easily. That's essentially what it is. We know we've got it hard so we go harder."
For the next couple of months Rob says Gyroscope will be busy working on new material and keeping the touring to a minimum.
"Just a few festivals here and there on the weekends but apart from that we're doing some writing."
"We've got about ten demos at the moment. That's where we're sitting at the moment and that's where we'll be for the next few months until we get in there next year and record the album."
Any new album brings with it new ideas, but Rob is unsure how it will all sound when they're done.
"I don't know yet man. It's hard to say. It's all sounding good though, very happy with it all."
For more info, check out http://www.myspace.com/gyroscope
Words: Dan Clarke, Interview: Mikey Carr. Musicfeeds - Spanish for awesome!
