Project Description

Interview

with

GABRIEL VARGAS

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Interviewer: Kelsey Hentschel

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Gabriel’s musical experience is vast. He has headed up bands such as Gasoline Inc. and Veludo, which saw him supporting acts such as rock icons INXS, and The Feelers, and having his song Superstar picked up by the AFL (Australian Football League). Gab was nice enough to take time out of his busy day to chat with Amnplify Interviewer Kelsey about his new single ‘Like Wolves’. Read on below…

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Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in music? Was there a specific time or event that you could pin point when you decided that music was something that you wanted to make a career out of?

Yeah there was, I got into it quite late, but I’d always loved performing. I remember as a kid I’d always put on these shows at night for my family. And even at 8 years old I remember mum asking me what I wanted for Christmas, and I wanted an Elvis costume. So they made me this costume with the flares and diamantes on it and I used to wear that thing everywhere. I’ve still got it! So I always loved performing. But then through high school I always wanted to play AFL footy, that was my dream, and when that seemed like it wasn’t gonna eventuate, and I was almost finished studying psychology, I said what am I doing? I don’t know what I want to do! So I decided to go back to Brazil, which is where I was born. And it was there that I started thinking about music. I remember clearly thinking that’s what I want to do. So I came back to Australia. I’d never written a song. Never done anything. I just started writing. Got a band together in a couple of years & that was it. That was Gasoline Inc. back in 2010. Its been an 8 year kind of journey to get here.

 

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You said you’d never written a song before you consciously decided to make a run at being a professional musician, have you always been musical growing up, or did that passion come about later?

I’d grown up around music, it was always around me. Got my first guitar when I was 13. I was always singing, always entertaining. Even when I was playing football I was always the one entertaining the team. It was always around me yeah.

 

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You’ve said that you enjoy collaborating with other talented musicians in different musical styles, and artists from different mediums, to see what is produced in those moment-to-moment interactions. Can you expand on that?

Tonight is a very good example. I don’t know if you’ve seen but we’ve got some artwork up on stage. One which was painted by a lady named Elvira Del Biondo, who painted it as a gift for me. She painted a portrait and its really beautiful but then Isabella Iskaf, decided she wanted to do a piece based around the music video. Its bringing people in and sharing our gifts and using music as that vassal to do it. In terms of the single and recording, that was all in all a very collaborative effort. I had the song down, which id written with a friend of mine, Jake Low, that was just bare bones Piano & Vocals, from there I called some people in and they were given direction but really it was up to them to bring what they could offer and bring a part of themselves into the song. We have Nath here (was sitting next to us) who played the drums on the original recording, and tonight he’ll be joining me on the guitar, amongst other instruments. And then Teila Packman, who did an amazing job on the vocals, bringing a raw feminine energy into the song, & then Red Horse on the native American flute. My brother added some electronic elements. I just enjoy bringing people together and having that community spirit about the whole thing.

 

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Speaking of all of your collaborative efforts, how would you best describe your sound?

G: I’d love to get Nath’s opinion on this because when I get asked about that its very hard to answer, my sound is quite sparse. Nath and I have been working together for the past 4 years or so, he has a fair idea from his perspective. What do you think Nath?

N: Its difficult for me because I’ve seen you go from the rock band thing and transition into what you do now, but as far as genre wise I don’t know if you could even put a genre on it. I sit back and watch him and the way he has the crowd wrapped around his finger, he is a storyteller. It doesn’t matter what’s happening in the room people just stop and they look and its just captivating. People might have their own interpretation of what the song is, but they’re there. It’s a very organic thing.

 

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As you’ve just mentioned people will listen to the song and make up their own interpretation of what it means. To you what does ‘Like Wolves’ mean? Is there a story behind it?

When I was recording the demo it was mainly just sounds that were coming out and phrases that were popping up here and there, initially when I write a song its about capturing a feeling. So the melodies are just gibberish, but every so often there’ll be a phrase that just pops out, and “wolves in the fire” was that phrase. I sat with this imagery of wolves in the fire I was trying to figure out “what is it?”. It became obvious as I was writing the lyrics that it was actually about a situation that was happening within my family, that we’re all going through this healing process, individually and collectively. I was reminded of a Native American proverb, about the two wolves, where one wolf represents good in people, the heart, the soul, togetherness, joy and love. And the other wolf represents the negatives, the jealousy, the greed and these kind of emotions. And the idea with this proverb is the wolf that wins is the wolf we feed. With that I decided to take the song in this Native American direction.

 

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All proceeds for ‘Like Wolves’ will be going to White Ribbon Foundation. If you don’t mind me asking, what inspired this?

All in all the song is really about growth through healing, and within my family we’ve experienced domestic violence and sexual abuse so I decided that when I released it that all profits would go back to the White Ribbon Foundation. That’s something that I aim to do where I can. I’m not saying I’m going to do that all the time but when there’s an opportunity for the power of music to evoke positive social change I will do that.

 

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With the music video were you decided from day dot on what you wanted to put out for that? You mentioned about the Native Americans etc. It’s evident that a lot of thought went into the video.

I sat down with a guy called Ian Ritter, and we came up with the idea, but it was actually the director Matt Holcomb that came in and made it all a reality. During the location scout we were stressing, “Where are we going to get a wolf from? We’re in Australia. Where are we going to find a wolf?”. It was a bit of a miracle how it all worked out. I sat down with the director after a full day of location scouting and we were having a beer talking about the wolf dilemma. We discussed maybe getting a husky, but we figured that everyone knows its not a wolf. Literally as we were saying that this lady across the road was walking her dog, which was a spitting image of a wolf. It happened to be a Tamaskan, which is like a wolf hybrid. There’s only three in Australia. Just in that moment in time there she was. So I ran over and explained to her what we were doing, and I asked “Is it okay if we use him for the music video?” and she said sure. We were so lucky.

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With the writing process of this track, how long did it take to put together?

Well recording was a long process because I was travelling a bit as well, but we were never in any rush. The actual writing itself happened really quickly, maybe one session. But recording took about 3 or 4 days. Most of it was don’t in our houses, not in studios. So yeah about 4 days but over a period of a year and a half! Haha.

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Do you have many other songs sitting on your laptop ready to be released? What’s the plan for new music?

Yeah! I have a single I’m looking to release mid-year. I think I might do that as a giveaway. And then I’m off to record with Jeff Martin in April, which is a bit more of an edgier number, ill look t releasing that later in the year, and in the meantime I’m writing an album with my song writing partner Jake Low, so we’re doing an album together as a separate project.

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So with that separate Project is that the two of you as a duo?

Uh yeah, we’re writing but again we will bring people in to play. I think that’s going to take a bit more of my energy.

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I read on your bio, your looking to redefine the characterisation of a live music experience, expanding your performances into multi-dimensional encounters, for the ears, eyes, mind and spirit. What do you mean by that?

I think you’ll se a bit of that tonight. We’ve got a lot of interactive stuff going on with the audience, a very small scale to what I mentioned in the bio, but definitely bringing people onstage and bringing artworks in etc. I don’t wanna reveal to much. You always gotta have something up your sleeve.

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I always like to end an interview on a lighter note, so I’ve got some fun little rapid fire questions, so don’t think too much about them just go for it.

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When you go grocery shopping, do you make a list, or go in blind?

Ooh a bit of both, I usually make a list but I end up buying so much that wasn’t on the list!

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What’s your go to late night meal, when you come home at 2am?

If I come home really late I usually open the fridge and there’s something there. I’m really lucky my flatmate Shauna is a beautiful cook and she looks after me. Anything from a stir-fry to yeah whatever.

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What’s your Juice order?

I like to put everything in it and just blend it up! Today I had a beetroot, orange, apple, carrot one. It was great!

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Have you ever asked someone for a photo or autograph?

Yeah definitely! I asked Jeff Martin to sign a poster for me a couple years ago when we were supporting him. And when I was a kid I used to go down to the Essendon ground and get all the footy boys to sign my book! Haha!

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What’s the most ridiculous item of clothing that you own?

(Entire room bursts into laughter) Oh my goodness! You know what I wore last week? An ostrich costume! It has these little legs that dangle on the side and you bounce around with it. I own that! But I have a very eclectic multitude of stylistic fashions!

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Can you name all the spice girls?

Ooooh hold on, Sporty, Ginger, Scary, Baby & Posh.

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Thank you so much for the interview, you’re a legend!

No no, thank you so much for coming down. Please stick around enjoy the show!

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Follow GABRIEL VARGAS

Website         Facebook         Instagram         Twitter

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AMNPLIFY – KH