Interview: The Gadsdens
The Gadsdens‘s sound has been described as “awkwardly beautiful pop”, with a contemporary feel. They have that kind of band and music you just don’t forget, live in London, and released their debut single “The Sailor Song” November last year. They also did a brilliant cover of Beyonce’s ”Halo”.
A debut album will be released very soon!
How are you? And how did Autoheart (The Gadsdens) form?
Hello, I’m Jody, the singer and lyricist from The Gadsdens. The Gadsdens started back in 2007 when I met Simon at a party in East London. Simon and I did a cover of Bronksi Beat’s “Small Town Boy” (which is on our myspace/youtube) for an independent film Simon was doing the score for. And so the band began, David joined us on the drums, Barney on guitar and Jihea on bass, Simon on keyboards and me singing….we are very much like a musical family even though none of us are related.
What’s your musical background?
I played piano from the age of 5 through to 15 and then taught myself guitar at University. I used to sing The Mama and the Papa’s “California Dreamin’ ” as a child and thought I had a semi-ok voice, and then it broke and I thought it sounded ugly and weird, luckily friends at University coaxed me out of this self doubt and I stated doing open mic nights to build up my confidence, the rest is history.
How would you describe your music?
Our music is slightly moody with pop sensibilities… It definitely has a Rufus Wainwright/piano/orchestral vibe. Lyrically I write from the heart about what I’m feeling or thinking, or if my heart is feeling particualrly vacuous I’ll write about other people and their hearts. I choose my words carefully as they are important to me and once they’re nailed down they’re there for life. That’s not to say I haven’t written some awful lyrics, but I obvioulsy thought they were good at the time…
What is your favourite song you’ve written and recorded so far and why?
The Sailor Song was one of the first we wrote as a band and recorded and produced ourselves. I think a song like that gets written by an artist once in a blue moon. A song that hasn’t been recorded yet which is a very close second is “Hungover In the City of Dust”. I cannot wait to get this one recorded and put it on the net – it get’s great feedback when we play it live.
Do you do everything yourselves or do you have a manager or booking agent? Is there anyone else that helps you promote your music?
We have a manager and other wondeful people helping us with promo, PR, radio-plugging. Aside from that we work mostly from word of mouth. We’ve also called many, many favours from friends and acquaintances to do photoshoots, graphics, website design and animations for which we ae eternally grateful for.
Can you tell us about what you’ve released so far, and any future releases from you?
In Nov 2009 we released “The Sailor Song” and the B-side “Trouble in Mind” on itunes and Amazon. We aim to release further material at the end of this year.
What are your plans for 2010?
We plan to keep gigging, recording and hopefully working with new producers. We are constantly writing new songs and evolving our sound so there is plenty going on creatively.
Thanks to Jody for the interview! You can follow Autoheart on Twitter and Facebook.
