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A conversation with Dave Griffiths of Gasfoodlodging By Brett Jameson.

4/29/2019

3 Comments

 
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*Photo credit: Kato Media
I have been a supporter of the British Americana and Alternative band Gasfoodlodging since I came across their music videos on YouTube. Not having an aptitude for music myself I have always had a fascination with what makes musicians and bands I enjoy tick. Gasfoodlodging released their 2019 album, All Trashed Out on April 25th. It is a great musical achievement that proves yet again how interesting and vibrant music still is in darkened corners of the musical world. I did a Skype interview with Dave Griffiths of the band recently and I thank him very much for his time. 


How does it feel being interviewed by a fan? 
I think its cool and I feel honoured! {laughs} When I was first asked to do an interview in aid of promoting the band I was thinking "Erm? great! But who is going to be interested in what I have to say? I'm hardly in a band that is sweeping across the nation with fans galore!"
But after I did my first one I received messages from some musical friends who said they really enjoyed reading the interview online. 
Since then I've just carried on with them {smiles}. 

There's no point hanging around for music magazines to come knocking at your door to interview your band or review your album. You have to get people involved and make things happen yourself. 

What do you find is the toughest thing to do when putting a new album together?
Being sure you have the right songs in place I guess. What I see as a fluid running album others may not. There are albums by bands where I've enjoyed virtually every track whereas musical industry reviewers have only enjoyed 3 or 4 songs at the most. One thing I usually do is put my home demos of new songs online to see what reaction they get. That makes sense to me. But for the most part you simply have to trust your instinct and hopefully people will enjoy the songs you have chosen.

I remember you saying that you used alternative guitar tunings for some of the songs on the album and I also hear slide guitar on a couple of songs. Do you play a lot of slide guitar?
No, not really. Sometimes I think a little slide will work here and there on a tune so I figure something out. As for alternative tuning, I'm only familiar with open G and drop D ones.
Although I only used open G tuning on the album and only on three songs, Life is for Living, Bug in the Grass and the title track, All Trashed Out. I wanted to have a bit of a Keith Richards thing going on with the rhythm guitar on the Life is For Living track so using that tuning worked well on that one I think. 


What are your views on English guitar legends such as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page? 
Their musical discography speaks for itself. You can only have the upmost respect for what they've achieved and the way they've influenced people. We have another guitarist from the UK called Richard Thompson and although he's not a household name like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page he is classed by many as one of the all time greats of guitar playing. He's crazily talented. I also think Keith Richards should end up high on any best UK guitarist poll as well. His riffs and rhythmic playing have influenced thousands of musicians including myself.

Did you spend a lot of time planning your own performances for the the new album? 
Well vocally I had to make sure I knew the lyrics! [smiles}. Although we'd played some of the new songs at gigs anyway so I was familiar with the way I was approaching them. As for the guitar parts, sure, you need to have things planned in advance otherwise you'll end up in a mess with a studio album. I probably spent the most time on some keyboard parts I played, some of them became a bit of a headache! But I sorted things out the best I could in the end.


Do you ever fantasize about a world where Gasfoodlodging have a huge following worldwide?
{Laughs}. I'd be happy if some people a couple of streets away from where I live had heard of us let alone people in Cuba or Iceland! I've always been realistic with my music pursuits, I know I'm not a mega talented songwriter like Lennon/Mcartney, Jagger/Richards, Bob Dylan, who is going to influence a generation! I'm not daft. I'm happy just selling a few copies of a Gasfoodlodging album and doing interviews like this mate! I really count myself lucky I've been able to keep this band going to be honest. Original bands are falling by the wayside everywhere, most venues are only booking cover and tribute bands and that is a major sting in the tail for original music.

Would you like to live in America if you had the chance? You are obviously influenced very much by the music here.  
No, I'd rather live in the UK. For all it's governmental bullshit and blunders Id still feel more content staying here than living in America. Canada at some point maybe if the opportunity arose but not America. I've been to America for holidays and I have some American friends who are great but its a crazy country in many ways. I think its an insular existence that Americans live in with the country being that huge. So its unsurprising that they have enough on their domestic plate to cover any daily news show. Still, I'd love to go over for 6 months or so and see all the sights over there especially the music hot spots.
​I remember going to visit my Uncle in San Francisco and I had no idea that Chuck Prophet lived there. A guy whose music I was starting to follow after going through his previous band's (Green On Red) back catalogue. I could have walked passed him on the street! {laughs}.


If you could sing like a famous recording artist either dead or alive who would you choose? And who do you admire vocally? 
Hmm? I think Marc Bolan, David Bowie and Johnny Cash had great voices. I don't like modern country music vocalists, they all sound like boy band singers to me. Its just pop music with people dressed up in cowboy boots and a stetson.
Bob Dylan is one of my personal favourites (especially his voice in the 1970's) he was refreshingly unique, as was Jim Morrison, John Lennon and Mick Jagger who still is. Liam Gallagher when he was younger was great. I really like Pete Doherty's voice of Babyshambles, Libertines fame. He's like the British equivalent to Lou Reed. I thought Jimi Hendrix was great as well.
I'm not really big on technically gifted singers because they sound too perfect and robotic at times although I do own 2 Alicia Keys albums! [smiles} Freddie Mercury was an amazing operatic quality vocalist but Queen were never my musical cup of tea. 



Guitar bands seem to always pay their respect to blues music during some point in their career, do you think you will ever do the same?
Yeah, I'd like to do that. Recording a blues album would be great. Before I even got into playing music myself there was a time when friends at the time would come round to my place at night and we would chill out, turn off the lights and listen to blues music compilations until the early hours. Happy times! Lightning Hopkins, Junior Wells & Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, T bone Waker, Roosavelt Booba Barnes, RL Burnside, Taj Mahal, Asie Payton, Howlin Wolf were always regulars on the compilations. 

Some bands seem to have conflicts with producers in the studio? Have you ever had bad experiences? 
Yeah, unfortunately. I worked with a guy the once who didn't have a fucking clue what he was doing. His production and mixes were worse than rough demos I was quickly putting together at home. A view that was echoed by other members of the band at the time after we heard his results. Due to a recommendation that he was a decent producer, I decided to keep my mouth shut and follow his way of doing things. A big mistake looking back but hey ho you live and learn. Following this shambolic experience I reverted back to our former producer, Simon Reeves from Birmingham. a guy who puts his heart and soul into everything he does and knows how to adapt to different bands that come through the door. He may not have fancy dancy recording equipment but It was such a relief for me to be working with him again after working with that other numpty dumpty. 


​Where do you see yourself in 10 years time? 
Well hopefully I'll be in good health and can still strum away on a guitar to write new songs. I doubt whether I'll be on an extended beach holiday in Hawaii living off the revenue of Gasfoodlodging album sales! {laughs} But I'm definitely not ready for the pipe and slippers anytime soon. I know I joke around a lot on social media etc because I keep things realistic with the way thing are. But in my quiet moments alone, I'm still proud of the songs I've written and songs like Six Strings Ringing, Caitlin Silvers, Get with the Program, Life is for living and Walking the Wire from the new album are as good, if not better, than the songs many professional guitar bands are churning out in my opinion. Its not arrogance, you just have to have belief and  faith in the music you're writing otherwise its a pointless exercise. 

​
A big thank you goes out to Dave Griffiths once again for taking part in my interview.
You can buy the great new Gasfoodlodging album, All Trashed Out by clicking the link below: 

https://gasfoodlodging.bandcamp.com/album/all-trashed-out



Brett Jameson 2019. 
3 Comments

"Be Careful What You Throw   Away"- Interview with Dave Griffiths of Gasfoodlodging by Phillip Jarvis

4/4/2019

2 Comments

 
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Photo courtesy of Kato media
It has been 2 years since Gasfoodlodging released their debut album, Blue Collar Rain
. This Americana & UK Indie influenced collective fronted by Dave Griffiths of Sutton Coldfield could be compared to a valuable item that one might find at a car boot sale. You never knew it was there but what a great thing to find after rummaging around. In a time where new bands and music arrive on the internet at a frequency that is downright impossible to keep up with, its of no surprise that many interesting and refreshing bands fall under the radar and go undetected.
With their musical influences seemingly stemmed from homegrown America such as Bob Dylan
, The Velvet Underground, through to the UK shoegazing jangles of Echo and the Bunneymen and The Kinks. They most certainly have an impressive portfolio of original songs tucked away under their guitar straps and belts already. They release their follow up album, All Trashed Out, later this month. 

A busy 2 years since your debut album was released?
Yeah, for sure. I started putting pen to paper again before the first LP was released. I'm guessing most songwriters work that way, its an ongoing process that never stops. Although if lack of inspiration steps in you have no choice but to take a break for a while. Thankfully those periods are rare overall and I'd finished writing this album in the spring of 2018. 

How do look back at your debut album, Blue Collar Rain now? 
I still enjoy it, I wish I'd done a better job vocally on several of the tracks but hey ho, you live and learn. I'm still proud of some of the songs, We've Done Alright, Corporate Disease, Moving Along, Banging Drum come to mind. I did record another collection of songs with former members of the band that made it onto a demo CD called Happy Ever After, but we had issues releasing that online because there were cover songs on there. Still, one of my songs from that called Dirty Little Love Song was really fun to do and I made a video for that which made it onto on youtube. But yeah, Blue Collar Rain was officially our debut LP and contains all original material of mine. 

Do you think the new album, All Trashed Out is an improvement on your debut? 
Yeah, without doubt. You have to view music as a progression and taking constant steps forward otherwise what's the point of carrying on? I think a band will always view their next album better than their previous one when they're recording it. In time that view can change but in the moment that's the positive and common sense approach to have. 

Before approaching the process of writing a new album do you spend a lot of time listening to the key musical influences you have? 
I'm constantly listening to the music I enjoy anyway so I wouldn't say I listen to it anymore than I normally do when I start writing again. I'm never going to be as good as the people I admire anyway, so I just make the best of what I've got. The important thing is putting your heart and soul into what you do and in that respect I can't do anymore than I have been doing.

Are you politically motivated as a songwriter? Your song Corporate Disease from the last album was clearly a lyrical attack on the class system.
You need to keep in check with reality and what you see going on around you even if you don't like what you see. So naturally many songwriters will end up writing songs that are political and social issue related. But I wouldn't want to write an album of songs devoted to the war against terrorism or this current Brexit saga for example. People are angry and frustrated in relation to both topics but I think music still needs that escapism or fun quality for the listener too. However, the tangled web of relationships and the theme of love in songwriting is something that will always sell records because as human beings its what dominates our existence. 

The new album title, All Trashed Out is interesting, what are you referring to?
You can look at it whichever you want really, but my thought behind it was  related to people who've sorted or are in the process of sorting their lives out and are far better for it. Off to pastures new and all that. It takes a lucky person to travel through life without complications and dilemmas to deal with and I've never met anyone who has had that amount of good fortune!

For someone who was impressed by your debut album as I was, are we likely to be getting more of the same on the new album in respect of the mixture of musical styles? 
Yeah, definitely. I've never wanted Gasfoodlodging to be restricted to one type of musical style alone. But equally, I don't think Blue Collar Rain or the new album suffer from poles apart musical differences that don't make sense from one track to the next. There's definitely cohesion there. I enjoy retro punk, alternative country, indie, blues and rock & roll and I think there's elements of all those to our sound.
For marketing purposes we've always described what we do as Americana/Alternative because under that banner it covers a lot of the above. We're definitely not a country rock band. Songs like Corporate Disease which you mentioned earlier are hardly country rock. But for our few fans out there I can assure them we'll be keeping things just the way they are as long as Gasfoodlodging carries on. Its a formula that I believe in because when relevant music fans do come across what we do, they more often than not enjoy it. The trouble we have constantly had is acquiring regular gigs because the whole live music gig scene is saturated with cover & tribute bands.


Did you use all your own musical equipment for the making of the album?
Yeah, pretty much apart from vocal mics. Every guitar part on the album apart from a small segment on the title track were miked up through a couple of Fender amps I own. The other guys in the band also used their own equipment apart from the drum mics that were already in place at the small studio we used for recording. 

I presume Fender amplification is your favorite to use then?
Well it's the amplification used by many of the guitarists and bands I admire so it makes sense to stick to what sound you enjoy the most. Its no secret to people that know me that an American guy called Chuck Prophet is my favorite guitar player. I preferred his lighter sounding guitar tone on his earlier solo albums such as Brother Aldo and Balinese Dancer but they were Fender amps he was using even back then. Regardless, I love his style of playing and technique. He's a great songwriter, vocalist and producer too, it makes you sick! Haha.

I noticed on a video interview you gave recently that you mentioned having a dance music mixing page on soundcloud. Another musical passion of yours?
Yeah, I like to play around with drum loops and edit different vocal parts in by other singers to make something different. Just something I like to do from time to time if the mood catches. I had a thing going on with a track for our new album where I'd sampled some Lana Del Rey vocal parts in but couldn't quite get it to work. Maybe not the greatest disappointment seeing as I could of got sued! 

Are you a big fan of Lana Del Rey then?
I like quite a lot of her earlier music. Reminds me of that whole Leonard Cohen type thing. I can hear elements of Lee Hazelwood in there too. She's seems to adopt that whole Nancy Sinatra thing with ease when it suits her.

Any other female singers you admire while we're on the subject?
I love the voice of Linda Thompson. The former wife of the UK guitar maestro, Richard Thompson for those who don't know who she is. In fact I'm a big fan of him as well. They worked so well together doing that quintessential British folk rock thing in the 70's. Richard Thompson is a crazily talented guitarist that anybody who likes guitar playing should be aware of. Obviously more widely known as a former member of Fairport Convention. He turns 70 in a couple of weeks and still going strong which is great to hear. 

Do you get excited when a release date for a Gasfoodlodging album draws ever closer?
I would if I knew we were going to sell 10'000 copies of the thing! Haha. It's just pleasing that's it all wrapped up and done. There are times in the process of making an album that you think, "Man, is this ever gonna get finished!" due to various issues. Even when the music is recorded there's still the task of mixing, mastering, designing the artwork for CD's etc etc. It can all take a lot of time. It's definitely worth the effort though. I'm fully aware its not professional quality music we can offer people, we have to record on a tight budget like countless of other bands so professional recording studios are way out the question. But taking that aside I'm still proud of what gets done. If the quality of the music sounds decent through studio monitors, headphones, a car stereo, hifi system, through to a laptop and mobile phone etc then it's good enough quality to distribute out to sell in my opinion.

The time to worry about perfection is when you can afford the resources that can potentially create the perfection! I like keeping things raw anyway, a sickly over produced and professionally recorded album might attract more musical clientele and interest from the music industry moguls,  but it will cost you 1000's to get done so you need to sell a handsome amount of copies to get anywhere near breaking even. Times have changed, record deals are rarely offered and recording artists are losing money hand over fist with illegal downloading and the physical music market being overtaken by streaming and digital downloads. The sensible approach in my view is head to the back street studios, do the best you can and at least have your music floating around the internet. Something is better than nothing after all. Be careful what you dismiss and throw away in recordings you do as well. You could potentially have an album worth of songs at a later date when your opinion changes.    
  

       All Trashed Out by Gasfoodlodging is released on April 25th.

©Phillip Jarvis 2019. 
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