Gypsys of Pangea chat their new music, Captain Goodvibes, and garden gigs

For the last two years, we’ve only had one question on our mind: when will Gypsys of Pangea drop new tunes? Believe us when we say that it has been worth the wait. Gearing up for the release of their new album, the added time has allowed their sound to grow richer, their already spectacular musicianship to flourish, and the final product to shine brighter than ever before. Lucky for us, the Sydney four-piece will be jumping on stage for Happy Mag’s STFD seated event (October 16th) to flex their performing muscles.

Supporting the talents of Fascinator at Newtown’s Marlborough Hotel, the band will be putting some of these new tracks to the test, while delivering the classics that audiences have come to know and love. We were able to catch up with the crew before the event to chat their recent recording adventures in Austinmer, a potential series of garden gigs, and the future.

HAPPY: Hey guys thank you for joining me here in the studio. Thanks for playing our inaugural STFD show!

BAND: Thanks, it will be great to Stand The Fuck Up!

HAPPY: [Laughs] It’s Sit The Fuck Down!

BAND: We won’t be.

HAPPY: That is very true, I stand corrected. You guys will be playing with Fascinator!

BAND: Yeah, he’s cool!

HAPPY: Did you know he’s from Children Collide?

BAND: Yes, I noticed that. He does some really interesting music.

HAPPY: What have you guys been up to of late?

BAND: We’ve been working on an album actually, we’re about 90% of the way through and we’ve started getting our set together. We haven’t played since December last year. We have the energy built way up inside and we’re going to explode…on the 16th of October.

HAPPY: [Laughs] Wow, well we’ll have to tell our audience to bring some hats then. No, actually bring an umbrella, wait no, bring rain jackets!

BAND: [Laughs] Maybe some gumboots too cause the floor is gonna get sticky.

HAPPY: [Pause] You guys are known for your extracurricular activities…

BAND: [Cracks up laughing].

HAPPY: You also put on events?

BAND: We’ve decided, just now actually, that we are going to put on some events. We want to get the Gypping Point  events back up and running, obviously we can’t do that for sometime, so we’re thinking of putting on some intimate backyard shows. We’ll be doing them in backyards around the inner west. We’re going to call them Garden Gigs, if Rose gets her way.

HAPPY: And does Rose always get her way?

BAND: No [laughs].

HAPPY: Alright, so let’s talk about your recent recording. Was it a DIY experience?

BAND: No, not at all. We went to a really nice studio in Austinmer, we stayed there for nine days, slept there. We did the majority of the recording there and now we just back in stints to do the finishing touches. Jenny just went down recently.

HAPPY: Oh, that’s right. This is the place in Austinmer, what’s it called again? Rancho…

BAND: It’s called Rancho Relaxo, it’s run by Sean Gyder. He did mixing on our EP once before, we nicknamed him Captain Goodvibes. Captain Goodvibes was a character from Australian ’70s surf culture, he was a pig that was super chilled and really good at surfing.

HAPPY: Yeah, I know Captain Goodvibes, the cartoon by Tony Edwards! Can you tell me a little about the recording process?

BAND: We learnt so machine the recording process, the improvements in our musicianship, from the demos, has come so far in the recordings. It’s improved tenfold. It really helps to hear yourself back and get a gauge of what you’re doing. It pushed us all.

HAPPY: I particularly love the harmonies you all sing in all the new material. I love the way you all blend your voices together. Can you tell me a little about the influences, because they sound so authentically of another time?

BAND: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear [laughs], AC/DC [laughs], joking…

HAPPY: It reminds sometimes of The 5th Dimension Age Of Aquarius, not entirely because you’ve got many other things going on, but definitely a nod to that Californian sunshine pop.

BAND: Yeah absolutely and The Mamas & The Papas, even with us being similar in terms of two guys, two girls. To be honest, our biggest influence is that, after many attempts of something sounding terrible for a while, when it sounds good, we just go with that. I remember where it started, Lochie and I had a demo and we wanted Rose to sing on it, then Jenny joined and she sang over the top and it made so much sense.

HAPPY: Those stacked harmonies, right? So, tell me, what are your plans for the future? What have you got coming up?

BAND: It all centres around August 2021, we’re going to release the album then. As soon as possible, we want to get a shit-hot set together that showcases all our new material. We want to do a lot of touring and get our live chops up.

HAPPY: Well thanks for joining us today guys, can’t wait till the show on October 16th!

BAND: Thanks for having us.

Grab your tickets to STFD here

Photos by Nic McKenzie