Seminal Perth outfit and mainstays of alternative rock in Australia, Gyroscope are back with a new rollicking Double A Side single, ‘Crooked Thought’ / ‘Dabs’. The release is the band’s first official offering since 2010, and the 7 years of growth truly show in the remarkable songs.
We wanted to get inside the background of how these two lively tracks came to be after such a long break between releases, so we had Gyroscope take us behind the tracks.
‘DABS’ was the first new song we wrote as a band in 6 years. So much had happened to all four of us in that time. Zoran, Brad and Dan had all had kids, I had been living in New York for 2 years and we were finally all back on the same page for the first time in a long time. It’s kind of amazing to think that the chemistry of a band can still be intact when you havn’t worked together in so long. I remember being pretty nervous before that first jam session, unsure if we would still have the chops to make music that stood up against our previous work. Fortunately I had nothing to worry about. As we started writing ‘DABS’ it was like being transported back to the early days of Gyroscope where it was just 4 guys in a room writing music that made us feel something. Music that allowed us to channel the energy and spirit with in us as individuals and create something that was bigger than the four of us. The song came out very quickly…In the space of 30 minutes we went from not writing a song in over 6 years to a rocking tune that we were all really proud of.
Usually we have a jump off point when we start writing a song as a band. It can be a guitar riff a bass line and even a drum beat from time to time. In the case of ‘Crooked Thought’ it came out of thin air. Whilst waiting on members to get ready often a few of us will start jamming. At some point everyone has joined the jam and we just keep playing around with different grooves and parts. Eventually Dan hit on the main riff you hear throughout ‘Crooked Thought’ and we started to build the jam session around that. I would yell out whenever I heard a part that stood out…”yeah Dan…that part is cool” or “Great riff Zok” eventually…after taking the extended 10 minute jam session as far as we could, we stopped and quickly reassessed what we all liked and what was working. So much of writing a song for us is about tapping into the energy and momentum of the room and pushing on quickly. Often the quicker the song gets written the happier we all tend to be with the results. This took a few hours and by the end of it we were all stoked. The real cream on top is always when Dan puts the vocals down on a song. Until that happens we never really know if it will be a winner. I recall Dan and Brad getting together to work on the vox and spending most of the night laying down the tracks. When we heard the finished demo the next day we were all blown away. ‘Crooked Thought’ feels like a great reflection on who we were as musicians mixed with everything we have learnt over the past few years as people.
Gyroscope are heading back out on the road to celebrate the release, and you can catch them all across the country throughout January. Check out the dates below.
Wed 10th Jan – Woolly Mammoth – Brisbane
w/ Horror My Friend and Crum
Thur 11th Jan – The Corner – Melbourne
w/ Horror My Friend and Sweet Gold
Fri 12th Jan – Oxford Art Factory – Sydney
w/ Horror My Friend and Hatakaze
Sat 13th Jan – The Gov – Adelaide
w/ Horror My Friend and The Best Extras
Fri 19th Jan – The Rosemount – Perth
w/ Horror My Friend and The Faim
