Last week Great Gable dropped their shiny new clip All Day Long, their first foray into the world of video and a colourful one at that. Featuring the boys lined up against a paintball firing squad, it was exploding with the fresh energy we’ve come to expect from this bright-eyed four piece.
Ahead of their launch party at Perth’s Indi Bar on June 9th, Matt (guitar) and Alex (vocals) sat down together to answer a few burning questions we had. Find out all their secrets below.
Whether they’re playing to a sold-out crowd or being pelted with paint, Perth’s Great Gable won’t stop at anything to deliver you one helluva good time.
HAPPY: G’day fellas, how’ve you all been lately? Keeping busy?
GREAT GABLE: G’day! Been brilliant! We hadn’t played a gig in a while and just played a sold out show supporting Ocean Alley so we’re buzzing right now! Keen to get back on the bandwagon… right now we’re actually packing our bags to head deep into the south west of WA for a week of writing, recording, and drinking gin. Hopefully we’ll come back to Perth with an album worth of ideas… if not I’m sure it’s going to be a trip to tell the kids about.
HAPPY: Been loving the new video, where did the idea for that one come from?
GREAT GABLE: We were tossing up a huge range of ideas for a while (one actually involved a game of cricket and one involved our parents playing instruments) but we eventually settled on the idea of having our friends throw paint at us, which totally makes way more sense right? Our friend Jack from Psychedelic Porn Crumpets suggested the idea along those lines, over a game of Connect Four, which he lost.
HAPPY: Could you talk us through the process of making it? And perhaps the process of cleaning up…?
GREAT GABLE: We decided to go with a very DIY feel for it, but we didn’t really know how we were going to pull it off, so we had to kind of wing it. With the help of the brilliant Jake Crawford (director) we planned the process from start to finish and came out the other side without a hiccup! There were a few hours dedicated to cleaning up that’s for sure… pretty sure a lot of shampoo was used.
HAPPY: This is the first video you’ve released from the EP – can we expect any more?
GREAT GABLE: Yeah it’s taken us way longer than it should’ve to pull a video together, now we’ve got the itch for it. We are going to get some new songs together soon and try and accompany them with some fresh new film clips, it’s just a matter of bringing a visual representation of the sound, we want it to have meaning, be fun to make, and to keep the people interested while watching!
HAPPY: It’s a really great tune as well – what kinds of artists were you listening to when you wrote this latest EP? Who do you feel had an influence on it?
GREAT GABLE: We were listening to a lot of British based stuff, and Alex watched the Blur and Oasis documentaries on a flight to Manchester and came back with a full English accent and some catchy hooks. We all listen to such a wide range of stuff that it’s hard to pin down a specific influence on this EP, but we definitely had a Brit-pop feel going round when we were in the studio. Matt Gio, the producer, had a big influence and help on that as well.
HAPPY: You’ve got a couple of EPs out now – how does it feel seeing something you’ve created out there in the big bad world?
GREAT GABLE: We have two out now, the first EP GG – none of us in the band had actually released anything before so we didn’t really know what to expect, but it was refreshing having it out there. The second one we had a bit more of an idea, that was more unnerving because people had already listened to the first EP and we didn’t really know what they would make of the second EP. We’re pretty bloody stoked with it anyhow, and people seem to be receiving it well!
HAPPY: You’ve got a video launch show coming up next month I believe – what can people expect heading along to that one?
GREAT GABLE: An explosion of minty fresh new GG, a twist on some old songs, a couple of special guests. We have good friends of ours Mal De Mer playing – it’s so great to see a super talented group of female musicians (and the wonderful John) absolutely killing it! Then we have Wooly Mammoth, they have some beautiful songs that you won’t forget anytime soon. We want to provide a space everyone will have a thoroughly enjoyable time and feel safe in, and provide a lineup of music we believe will do exactly that.
HAPPY: How much of a priority is the live show to you guys?
GREAT GABLE: I think the majority of Perth bands pride themselves on a tight live show. The standard is set high in which is great fun yet super challenging. We love learning from other bands and improving our set each time we play. It’s definitely something we’re always constantly trying to work on and bring new ideas to the table. We’ve been playing some of the same songs for a while so we try to figure out how we can make them fresh again, and even changing the setlist every time we play a show keeps it new.
HAPPY: What does the future hold for Great Gable? Any plans in the works?
GREAT GABLE: The not so distant future will see GG release a single and tour that around Australia and hopefully a couple of shows in NZ maybe! Then we’ll start recording our debut album! After that… maybe we’ll all get hair cuts.
Catch Great Gable are launching All Day Long at Indi Bar on June 9th. Grab your tickets here.
A note from Great Gable: At our shows we do not tolerate anti-social behaviour at any level. Please respect everyone around you, if you feel unsafe report it immediately and action will be swiftly taken. Most of all, enjoy the music and feel the love.
