Hey gang! Introduce us to Great Gable – who’s in the band, what do you all play and how did you all meet?
Cal: So Alex sings and plays rhythm guitar, Matt plays hot riffs on his guitar for the lead stuff, Chris shreds bass and I plays drums. We all met at different stages but it started with Matt and Al. They used to play cricket together and wanted to start jamming. I met Alex at WAPPA (uni) a bit more down the track and pestered him for a jam because I thought his voice was awesome. We had a jam and it was super fun, so yeah, we kept jamming. We had another bass player Brando with us for a bit but he moved on, and I was mates with Chris and got him in and then boom, now we’re all best mates and play in a band.
You guys are notorious for your work ethic: you seem to be one of those bands who are always touring, and it seems like it’s obviously paid off. How long have you been touring relentlessly for, and what’s your advice to similar artists who are looking to the road to grow their fanbase?
Matt: We’ve been touring since 2016, it started out slowly because it’s super expensive to tour for a band who really has no idea what they’re doing. Once we had our first under our belt it became a lot easier after that.
I’d say for anyone looking to grow their fan base on the road – play every show like no one in the room has seen you play before, because if they’ve never seen you and you wow them enough, they’re likely to become a fan.
Do any of you have a notable tour story you want to share? Has there been any absolute disasters or totally surreal moments that’s really stuck with you?
Chris: A phone reception glitch and some other circumstances resulted in us missing a really early flight from Sydney to Brisbane on the day of a show. It was a day after flights had been grounded in Sydney so the airport was chaos and all flights were sold out to Brisbane. Our manager was looking into trains, buses, all sorts of stuff but we ended up getting a flight to the Gold Coast and driving up to Brissy. Even made it to the AirBnB in time for a nap before the show!
The most surreal moment would have to be selling out all the shows on our first international tour in New Zealand last May. That was amazing.
Tell us about your new single, ‘All My Friends’. Can you give us an insight into your writing process?
Alex: ‘All My Friends’ was one of those tuna’s that came together quickly. I think I had the verse chords and melody for a wee while and when we started jamming the idea at the Old Museum in Brisbane during pre-production for the album. The rest just fell into place.
You guys actually had Matt Corby help you produce ‘All My Friends’, which is a pretty bonkers collaboration. What was his role in developing the sound of the track? Did he have any sage advice to share with you?
Matt: Yeah! We love Matt’s songwriting and soundscaping, so we were stoked to have him help on the album. He’s a wonderful guy and very good at bringing the best out in a song. It’s always good to have another source of input from a third party, and he really helped us look at our songs from a different perspective. Which is something that is handy to have when you’re stuck on an idea. In terms of advice, don’t over complicate things, building the song around layers of simplicity can be really effective.
Let’s chat gear for a second. What forms the heart and soul of the Great Gable sound, and what’s the one piece of equipment that each of you couldn’t live without?
The heart and soul of GG is the four coming together to play our music. Each of us have different taste when it comes to music we listen to and play for enjoyment out of the band, so when we write new music all of our individual idiosyncrasies come through.
Chris: A piece of gear I couldn’t live without would have to be my white Fender Jazz Bass which I’ve had for 12 years.
Alex: My trusty old Nylon string acoustic guitar. I think it’s a Valencia. It was my very first guitar too!
Cal: Kenny Aronoff Sig Snare 14×5. It’s my favourite drum I own.
Matt: My Fender Telecaster that I got in America. Wouldn’t be able to play any shows without it.
Similarly, what are the five records that have shaped the way each of you approach music?
Cal: That’s a hard one, because we all listen to such different music, but I would say collectively we all are influenced by Corby’s stuff, so Telluric and Rainbow Valley we thrashed. We always manage to chuck on Andy Shauf The Magician on tour car rides. Other records include Revolver by The Beatles, AM by Arctic Monkeys, Kinfolk by Nate Smith and IV by BADBADNOTGOOD.
What does the rest of 2020 bring for Great Gable? Can we expect to hear more music from you guys soon?
Alex: We’ve got a big ol’ album ready and we couldn’t be more proud of it! Can’t wait to release more songs and get it out into the world. It’s a while until we can gig again so we could end up writing two more albums before the next tour…
Great Gable are touring the country this October/November – check out all the dates here.
