Gazz are a Los Angeles based trio formed in March of 2000. The band is young and their history is being written... The group consists out of three people, Angie, Melle and Jimmy. "It sucks being labeled "Alternative ", that's such bullshit. Alternative to what? Modern rock, Brit Pop, glam...I can't even keep track of all the labels we've been given since the album came out.
On the forming of GAZZ
Angie:"We just sort of happened. We were born in a little music studio near Silver Lake out of bits and pieces of other projects that we were involved in at the time. Jimmy was really determined to do a solo project, but when Melle and I went into the studio to help out, it just clicked and we kinda' all knew it was right. We had so much fun making this album! Especially me, since I'm the baby in the band."
Melle:"We were all a little bit "over" our current situations and looking for something that would really just be sort of spontaneous and fun. It ended up being something that we couldn't ignore, and here we are."
Jimmy:"We were friends, we were roommates...and there's a common thread in our musical tastes, however diversified. It made sense. I just can't believe how well it came together."
On recording their first album
Jimmy:"We've only been together a year and our sound has really evolved. We did sort of the opposite thing to most bands.We started recording the album the same day that we formed the band. It really flowed...usually no more than 1 or 2 takes...I think that gave it a good energy. I'd rather spend hours getting the right sounds, and minutes getting performances that are fresh and alive. Anyway, three weekends later, the album was finished and we never looked back."
Melle:"Jim and I were working out a song and we needed a bass part. We had Angie in the studio doing some vocal tracks. So she just picked up a bass that was laying around our studio and tracked her first song within an hour. She'd never even picked up a bass before. She's amazing!"
On their sound
Jimmy:"It sucks being labeled "Alternative ", that's such bullshit. Alternative to what? Modern rock, Brit Pop, glam...I can't even keep track of all the labels we've been given since the album came out. I think our sound is signature in that we are not afraid to write good songs. Most bands now are being signed or pushed based on a sound. Unfortunately, when you buy the disc, you find that it sounds exactly like the track you heard on the radio, but there are generally not a lot of real songs on the album, just that sound...usually something similar to another sound that just cracked the top 40."Pop" has become such a dirty word. If you think about it, anything popular is "pop". That would include Limp Bizkit, Korn and Marilyn Manson...not to mention rap, ambient and hip hop."
Angie:"Let's see, crunchy guitar, signature vocals, with live and sampled strings and keys. I guess we're sort of The Pixies, meet Cheap Trick and Bowie. Now we're moving in a little different direction, incorporating new sounds, more electronic enhancements and great visuals. Sort of multimedia. It's really exciting!"
Jimmy:"We're sort of crunchy, but then kinda' creamy too...We're all really getting into playing with electronic toys. It will be interesting to see what the new material sounds like."
Melle:"I think we're sort of Nirvana meets Moby."
On what's happening with the band
Jimmy:"One of our songs is gonna' be in a movie called "Too Smooth. We've done our first outdoor festival and we just finished a video for Sex G."
Angie:"Well, now that we're doing the songs live, I think our sound has really had a chance to develop. We're writing so much new stuff and we're still evolving and the music is just taking on a life of its own. I can't wait to record the new stuff! That's the main thing. We just really want to make music that we would want to listen to."
Melle:"I just can't wait to play this stuff...to everybody! It's so cool to see how people respond to the songs. We played our first show, totally impromptu, with no rehearsal. We hadn't even started rehearsing to play live. We were on a snorkling trip together and Angie had never played live before. We ended up doing a 4 night stint at a local baja bar at the insistence of the house band - on their equipment! It was beautiful."
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