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Introducing your next psych rock obsession, Gaspar Sanz

For over a decade now, Perth has been a global hub for psychedelic music, producing bands like Tame Impala, Pond, Methyl Ethel, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, and many others. Sydney has now been gifted their own taste of this incredible scene, a group of five incredible gentlemen having made the pilgrimage from Western Australia down to the big smoke.

In a small Leichardt studio in early 2016 these fellas came together to become your next favourite psych-pop band, Gaspar Sanz.

gaspar sanz sydney band i swim happy mag

A colourful explosion of danceable, loveable disco-psych, Gaspar Sanz are set to takeover party playlists all across the country.

Consisting of Jimmy Bell (Vocals), Sam Devenport (Drums, formerly of Tame Impala), Tim Grimes (Guitar), Jesse Lawrence (Guitar), and Dom Coulton (Bass), Gaspar Sanz deliver a familiar, yet refreshing take on psychedelic music.

“The band started with Jimmy and Sammy writing songs together pretty casually and Dom equally as casually adding some bass lines; but with the arrival of Timmy the writing and seriousness of the band really started to step up,” Gaspar Sanz say of their inception.

“We’ve been together in this format since 2016, mostly hiding away honing our sound and live show. We’ve been through many iterations (we were an acoustic folk band for a little while and to this day none of us are quite sure how that happened) but Gaspar Sanz as we are now, when we finally settled on a sound and vibe that worked, has been in action since the end of 2016.”

Gaspar Sanz feel like an intergalactic voyage through a vibrant and high energy mix of surf rock, pop, psych, disco and dance. The band credit this unique fusion of genres to varying members bringing different elements to the table:

“Everyone in the band has such different and varied musical influences and tastes it has definitely been a huge part of how this current sound has come to be,” they say.

“Dom came from a predominantly metal background, Sammy psychedelic rock, Jimmy shameless pop, Jess miscellaneous, and Timmy Celine Dion etc.”

As such, it took us quite a while to actually settle on a cohesive sound. It was mostly through extensive trial and (a lot of) error. Ultimately we think the process has been for the best, but it certainly took a bit of work.” 

The band have already released two infectious singles, On My Way and Watch You Go, both receiving play from triple j.

Their latest single I Swim is a bright, synth driven, dancefloor ready track that, truthfully, is a damn hit. If this song doesn’t make you feel like moving, then I honestly don’t know what will.

“The song originally began from Jimmy cutting a whole bunch of loops together and crafting the vocal over the top,” the band say of the track. 

“We then had to deconstruct it all and put it back together with the vocal line as the anchor. Our producer Ben Tierney played a large part in honing the sound and structure of the track.” 

Gaspar Sanz have also continued to gather attention for their spirited and vibrant live show, which they have taken all across the country. The band say their only goal is to ensure everybody’s having a good time.

“We’ve put a tonne of time into our live show; the main thing for us is to ensure that the audience and we have a grand ole time no matter where we play.”

Going forward, Gaspar Sanz plan to continue taking their high energy live act to audiences all over, and also have plans to record “a whole bunch of new songs,” which they intend to get started on over the next couple of weeks.

If you want to catch Gaspar Sanz live in action, (and believe me, you do), they’ll be joining Perth psych behemoths Psychedelic Porn Crumpets at SOSUEME (Bondi’s Beach Road Hotel) on Wednesday 24th January. Check out all the info here.