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theseventhhex · 6 years

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Gang Gang Dance Interview

Lizzi Bougatsos, Josh Diamond & Brian Degraw

Photo by Ari Marcopoulos

Gang Gang Dance marks their return with the release of ‘Kazuashita’: their new full length record. ‘Kazuashita’ is an intoxicating mix of shoegaze and electronic ambience, all held together by Lizzi Bougatsos and her otherworldly vocals. Bougatsos, alongside founding members Brian DeGraw and Josh Diamond, formed the group as an improvisational outfit in the early 2000s, and have consistently worked to blur the boundaries between music and art; as comfortable today performing at the Whitney Biennial as they are at Coachella, and count Dash Snow & Nate Lowman, Tinchy Stryder and the Boredoms as previous collaborators. With Brian DeGraw self-producing, the album was recorded in whatever space would play host to them. The band were joined by a number of collaborators including drummer / percussionist Ryan Sawyer and Jorge Elbrecht (Ariel Pink / Lansing Dreiden) who was enlisted for additional production and the mixing of the album. Gang Gang Dance’s two decade career has never acknowledged a barrier between the art and music worlds – consistently offering an impressive array of diverse sounds across seven releases to their credit. ‘Kazuashita’ epitomises this hard working group of individuals with a body of work that is truly captivating and immersive… We talk to Josh Diamond about recording in various spaces, the perils of social media and imaginary celebrity guest lists…

TSH: After a seven-year break, how would you sum up the band dynamic and chemistry as ‘Kazuashita’ began to take shape?

Josh: I think we are coming together in a new way and I think we are still forming our dynamics as we are starting to play gigs again, so the record maybe started the process but now the dynamics are beginning to take form even more. I guess for better or for worse we are adults now and I think we are doing the band because it is very special to us, so we can perhaps voice things we wouldn’t have been able to with each other years ago. I think everyone has been feeling very positive about our project and we have so much history together, therefore I think we can approach it with extra love and respect - I think the break helped this to happen.

TSH: It’s been noted that there was a conscious effort to configure the arc of the record as one piece of music. Do you feel this is why it works as a whole piece of music so well?

Josh: For most of our records we have tried to make a more or less seamless listening experience, where songs and interludes run together and we often do a similar style in our live sets. That said I do feel this record has a kind of narrative arc that works very well as a single piece of music. I find that listening to it as a whole piece of music is more interesting than listening to it chopped into individual “songs”.

TSH: With the album being recorded in New York studios and art spaces, this was very much a different process due to the band being in various places through the whole thing; until close to the end – was this a challenging way to work or did you simply take it in your stride?

Josh: I think it was a challenging way for us to work, it really was a new sort of process for us and it wasn’t always easy. I really like the immediacy of the material coming together with everyone improvising/being in the same zone together. I think having a different process this time around was a good learning experience and also yielded interesting results. A challenge is good and a difference in process can be as well, some avenues perhaps close but others open up. I think it was good for us to even attempt something new.

TSH: In terms of themes and narratives, what sort of subject matter does the album primarily reflect upon?

Josh: Well I can’t speak for everyone, as I’m sure different people and other band members could have slightly different ideas about this. I think in some ways it is difficult to extract our history as a group for so many years from what I feel as far as the themes and narratives of the record. I think it has to do with the passage of time, the fragility and beauty of our planet, and how we are destroying it. Also, the madness of social technology which can be used to create beauty but can separate us from a more pure human experience, and isolate us. I think it’s both despairing and hopeful with more hope than despair. It’s about our family that we have made together through Gang Gang, the title comes from our dear friend Taka’s baby.

TSH: For your guitar work on this release, did you experiment with any new techniques and gear?

Josh: I am always trying to expand my palette on the guitar, a lot of the guitar on the record was done with overdubs, mostly due to the process that was brought up before - that we were in different places for most of the recording process. So each song, or each little part might end up with a different sound or effect depending on what fit to the song in that moment. Jorge, who did a lot of production work in the last leg of the recording helped me dial in a lot of sounds. As for new gear, I normally play the guitar synthesizer and trigger a bunch of synths and samplers as well as the normal guitar sound. On this record I did less of that and mostly played straight (as straight as I get, ha!) guitar, so I guess gear-wise it was a bit stripped down for me.

TSH: What was the process like as the band fleshed out and structured the excellent track ‘Lotus’?

Josh: The track started on Brian’s Electribe - he had a basic skeleton of the song including a melody line that I ended up playing and embellishing on the guitar. I went upstate where Brian was living at the time and him and Liz and I worked out a live version - just the three of us that we performed once at a small venue up there. Then we recorded it, it went through some editing and I think we reworked it again at some point. I remember it used to have a different ending that was scrapped at some point. A lot of this record started very simply, then was reworked and rearranged over a longer period of time.

TSH: Moreover, can you tell us more about ‘Young Boy (Marika in Amerika)’ originating from improvisation…

Josh: I guess what I consider the centering part of the song - the guitar and synth line that happens in the beginning and re-emerges in the chorus, this part was improvised. There was improvisation in our entire process, not just in this song, but the larger process I think this was done through re-editing and re-approaching songs until they felt right.

TSH: Lizzi’s vocal style has always been so stellar. What’s it like to see her style close up and to see her add unique touches to compositions?

Josh: Lizzi is very unique - she comes up with melodies that I think defy expectation - there isn’t anyone quite like her at all. It’s always exciting to hear her vocals on some instrumental that Brian and I have been working on - a song form we have can be completely transformed and elevated when she adds her vox, often in ways that surprise me, despite having worked together for so long.

TSH: You’ve previously talked about wanting the live shows to be a separate medium to the record releases. Are there certain changes that you’re looking to imply for the evolution of your upcoming live shows?

Josh: I love the immediacy of our live shows, and I think we will continue to try and bring that when we perform. We are currently performing some of the material from the new record in our live shows, but we often change our live material from our recorded material and I think they are very much different experiences. We are currently playing a version of ‘Kazuashita’ that feels very cathartic to perform; it has elements and melodies from the recorded version but is also very different. I really like the live version actually - it’s one of my favorite songs of ours to play at the moment.

TSH: I understand that Lizzi became a huge fan of London’s grime music scene many years ago. Has she been delving into the resurgence of UK grime in the last few years?

Josh: We were all into grime many years ago. We heard some of the pirate radio stuff happening in the early 2000’s, through a friend of ours Oliver Payne. I remember I had a cassette set called ‘UK crews 2003’ that we used to listen to a lot which had Roll Deep on it. Grime was definitely an influence (particularly the grime live radio sets from that time) on our early sound. Tynchy was on a jam from our record Saint Dymphna and we did a show with JME years ago. I don’t know if Liz still follows what’s going on now? I personally like the original raw sound from back then and haven’t really gotten into much of the resurgence. I am open though, if you have any recommendations on what to listen to?

TSH: Having never been on social media, what are your views on this medium in general?

Josh: I am sort of terrified of it but interested at the same time. I come from a time when being humble, or self-deprecating, or mysterious, or not wanting to share every intimate detail about your social life was sort of the cooler way to roll. I like meeting up with people in real life and having conversations into the night. I do think social media entails very real risks. I think it can isolate individuals. People get all of this validation from how many “likes” they can get, and this becomes a sort of addiction - it’s an artificial world in many ways, and people just get lost in it. Of course everyone has experienced the modern phenomenon where people are out somewhere with friends but everyone is on their phone, and no one is actually experiencing their actual time together? Somehow the artificial world becomes more important than the one we are living in together. I think it’s also sort of problematic to share such a large part of yourself with giant corporations that spy on you, and target you for ads. It’s nice info for the government to have as well, which they may or may not do anything invasive with, but you never know what sort of corrupt demagogue could be the next president - we have Trump now so clearly there are terrible possibilities - it all makes me a bit paranoid. Another danger of social media is group thought - while it can be a very good medium to organise protest (which I think is positive) it can be very dangerous to have so many people so aligned instantly with some idea that can often be dangerous. Beyond social media I think we are living in an age where information has in some sense flattened our experience of time. No matter where we are we can Google what something is or access a piece of information that would be sought out through means not as instantaneous. We can instantly go on YouTube and be exposed to music that in previous times would have been very difficult to find - one could perhaps naively imagine that it was special somehow because to discover something new could be difficult. I think before there was more of a sense of history, and healthy respect and admiration for those who came before you which was learned with experience - like living in the lower east side with the remnants of Warhol’s factory crew... now this experience of the connection to our past is all easily obtained from an online search. There is something which is good about all of this information being available at all times - it is very helpful, and it makes communication around the world so much easier, and information is probably meant to be free. Still, there are certain dangers, particularly with the social component that I am uncomfortable with. It truly is “everything time” as Taka said on our previous record.

TSH: How have your solo show ventures been since you started a year ago?

Josh: I’ve really enjoyed them. The first one I did felt like a giant accomplishment for me personally - I am somewhat shy about what I do, and am more comfortable collaborating, but it felt so good to be able to get in front of people on my own and play. I would like to do more of them in the future and I really want to make a record as well. A lot of the stuff I make feels half-formed to me and it usually prevents me from releasing it - still I think there is something nice about this suspended quality. Playing a live set was my attempt to “finish” loose ends-because if I can play for 45 minutes with a beginning and an end it turns into something that is whole, at least for the night I do it. I want to record the live set as well and am hoping to put something out there in the coming year.

TSH: What brings about most vocal input and band laughter when Gang Gang Dance is on tour?

Josh: Ah, anything can set us off into laughter. I am fond of the imaginary guest lists we make of random celebrities who will be “attending” our gigs.

TSH: Outside of music, how do you maintain a positive headspace?

Josh: It’s so tough, ha! Music is a special medicine for me. I’ve been making music since I was 4 years old which is needless to say a long time ago. I guess I sort of depend on it to keep myself focused in as positive a direction as I can manage. When I’m not doing music I often don’t maintain a positive headspace and I am prone to depression. However, I do like taking walks - a simple but effective way to keep your brain and body in a state of positive flux.

TSH: Finally, looking ahead with Gang Gang Dance, what matters most with your musical endeavours?

Josh: I want it to continue. I love Gang Gang. I have grown up with this band and have invested so much of my creative energy and time into this thing that we started to build so many years ago. I care deeply about our music, and feel like we have so much more we can create. I think what matters most at this point is maintaining a proper balance with the band and our separate lives. We aren’t in our twenties anymore, and we also have never really had “financial” success or whatever that means these days. I want us to do the things we want to do together and ignore the noise that tells us we have to do this thing or that thing for our career, which can put too much pressure on this project that we do only because we care about it, and each other, and because we want to - not because we will get rewarded for it somehow. If we can find a balance, we will make more music and more records, and I am very hopeful about this. I think we can figure it out, haha!

Gang Gang Dance - “Lotus”

Gang Gang Dance - “Young Boy (Marika in Amerika)”

Kazuashita

#Interview #Gang Gang Dance #lizzi bougatsos #brian degraw #josh diamond #Kazuashita

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