Pop and mushrooms: interview with the gifts

Tj Freda dei Gift says that “New York is not the right place for psychedelic drugs. It's all intense, things move quickly, you are tossed here and there … I prefer to keep me cathartic psychedelic experiences for special moments ». This did not prevent him and his companions from taking some mushrooms, “but we are not of those bands that are made and then they start jammmare, eh”.

They come from Brooklyn, there are five and in the second album Illuminator They make a kind of psychedelic rock full of pop refrains that can remember cure, spiritualized or spacemen 3, also at times My Bloody Valentine or Slowdive. But don't call it shoegaze. “The psychedelic band label was tight,” says keyboard player and guitarist Justin Hrabovsky with some irritation. “When we finally got rid of it, they began to label us as a shoegaze band.”

It is a November evening. Back from a European tour, the five sip wine and eat pasta in an Italian restaurant in Ridgewood, in Queens. They do not like to define their music and agree in calling it rock, and that's it. The important thing, says Freda, is that it is a transformative experience. «I want to make music that it is a portal or that you look ultraterrena. The new album was designed to be listened to at full volume, not in the cap ». As for the name, it is inspired by the book by Ram Dass Be here now: be present -> present -> gift -> gift. “Not a very clever choice for SEO,” he jokes Hrabovsky.

The first concert was done in December 2019. The second was scheduled in March 2020 but was canceled not because of them (Pandemia present?). Freda used the forced break to produce the debut album released in 2022 Momentary present In which the companions participated only in part (present the Lockdown?). When the world finally left, they were ready.

Photo: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Us

Gift members are thirty -year -olds who moved to New York from Utah, North Carolina, Massachusetts, California to New York. The drummer Gabe Camarano, the one with the blue hair, was born in Brazil and met Freda in Massachusetts. “I am super proud of being a musician in New York, it's not easy,” says Freda. “It is difficult everywhere, but here it is particularly tough.”

All or almost made their bones at the Alphaville, a Brooklyn room of which bassist Kallan Campbell is now co -owner. The guitarist and photographer Jessica Gurewitz had been playing for just a year when he entered the band. «It went from barely to be able to play an agreement of Mi to perform in front of audiences sold out. For this every now and then I tell you to sing. She says she doesn't know if she is able. But when he does it he is a bomb ».

Gurewitz and Freda collaborated in the drafting of the texts of Illuminator. The title comes from something Freda said during a nine -hour writing session. “Most of Illuminator has to do with the life that flows quickly », says Freda,« while Momentary present He spoke of introspection, such as meditation that helps people. The new album is the opposite. He says: he rides the wave and abandoned the sensations, surrendered at the speed of life ».

Wish Me Away It has a personal meaning for Freda. In fact, he speaks of the sister who survived a bad motorcycle accident. He wrote her as she went to her, on the road from New York to Boston. «Talk about living the present intensely and appreciating what you have. But also of the fact that you realize that three years have gone into a whisker and therefore you ask yourself: I did everything I wanted while time flies away? ».

The accident occurred to his sister prompted him to reflect on something else. «For too long I concentrated only on myself in place to take care of the important things. I got a lot of emotions on me and I didn't give myself time to process them ». He found it in the period between the two albums, when he lost the graphic work, “a little because I was fired and a little because I gave up”. Life as a musician who goes on tour was not very appreciated in the workplace. “It was a sharp awakening, I realized that I had to get busy.” He then dedicated himself to the GIFTs, recording at home from 23 to 5. “The best thing I could do,” he says, because he allowed him to focus on Illuminator. Now he manages to integrate his musical career with sound design and graphic design work. Band companions manage Alphaville from afar, organizing concerts from the rear seat while America turn.

When I meet them for dinner, they have the aura of the newly born bands, those who made a few concerts. And in a sense, since they were still, the gift feel newcraits. European fans appreciate American music, they say, they felt welcome. “It was a great tour,” says Gurewitz. «It was beautiful in an almost disturbing way. At each concert we wondered: how is it all full? Is he crazy, how do they know us? ».

Photo: Griffin Lotz for Rolling Stone Us

Since November, Freda has spent a month and a half in Los Angeles to write and was in Paris on vacation. He designed the artwork of Mortal PrimeTime of the Sunflower Bean, of which the concerts will open in May in the States. “Nice to have two bands on tour, in quotes, New York psychedelic rock,” says Freda. “Not many groups share tastes and values.” It is also the chance to deepen the musical ideas of Illuminator. “We don't want to redo the album as it is.”

Freda wants to see how far the band can go, since in the past it has made most of the recordings alone. When listening Illuminatorhears a unparalleled album, a fusion of pop, rock and electronics. «The next move will be captured the magic that arises when we are all five on stage, which is a diversal thing from creating songs in the studio and simply re -proposed them live. On tour in Europe we asked ourselves a lot of questions: what are we asking? What do we want to do? Where do we want to arrive? It's like starting from scratch ».

From Rolling Stone Us.