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| MSJ:
It’s been a little while since we caught up with you guys. Can you catch our readers on what’s been going on in the Gunnelpumpers camp? |
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| Matthew Golombisky: My time spent with GP was exhilarating, daring, and loads of fun. It's wonderful that this documentation, something we recorded years ago, can now live on.
Douglas Johnson: We released our fourth album, Montana Fix, in July, 2013. We continue to perform somewhere in or around Chicago every month or so. I've also updated the web site, http://gunnelpumpers.com, and put up about 12 hours of live recordings that can be streamed at will. |
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| MSJ: I think your new album seems somewhat different than your previous releases. Do you think that’s true? If so, how would you sum up the differences? |
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| Douglas Johnson: Montana Fix covers a lot of new ground. For the most part, the 19 tracks are a lot shorter than on our previous releases, and there's a lot of variety. The instrumentation and even the genre drastically differs between tracks. But it's still very Gunnelpumpery, and retains the same cohesion found on the previous three releases. |
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| MSJ: What's ahead for you? |
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| Bob Garrett: Looking forward to fall, closing the doors and windows, making soup, and recreating the wheel.
Douglas Johnson: Bassist Michael Hovnanian is on sabbatical from the Chicago Symphony for a year, which also includes Gunnelpumpers. He's such an important part of our sound that it'll be interesting to see where we go in the next few months. David Keller (Origin of Animal, A Light Sleeper) has joined us on 'cello many times over the years, so hopefully he can continue to do so. I really like the multiple bowed strings thing a lot, so I'd like to keep that happening. We don't have any immediate plans to go back into the studio, but in the past year I've charted out some ideas and have held some rehearsals, which is quite different for us. The results were pretty cool, so I'd like to continue doing that. |
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| MSJ: What was the last CD you bought and/or what have you been listening to lately? |
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| Matthew Golombisky: Bonobo, The North Borders. I've been getting into this guy a lot. He's a great composer, collector, and bassist. I've also been listening to a lot of older recordings of my group Tomorrow Music Orchestra, which includes Doug. I plan on releasing a super box set of sorts.
Bob Garrett: Major Lazer - guns don't kill people, lasers do, Neil Young - Le Noise
Douglas Johnson: Wee Trio's Live at the Bistro, Stereolab's Emperor Tomato Ketchup, and Yes' Going for the One
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| MSJ: Have you read any good books lately? |
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| Matthew Golombisky: Sure. I recently read "Salt, Sugar, Fat" by Michael Moss. And it's not a "good" book, but it's informative for sure.
Bob Garrett: The Mysticism of sound and music; Hazrat Inayat Khan'
Douglas Johnson: I recently enjoyed "The Russian Debutante's Handbook" by Gary Shteyngart. Currently reading "How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization"by Franklin Foer |
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| MSJ: What about the last concert you attended for your enjoyment? |
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| Matthew Golombisky: The last fantastically concert in recollection was seeing Bonobo in San Francisco. I also went to hang with Quin Kirchner who was playing with Wild Belle, and they opened for Yeasayer. Yeasayer was awesome!
Bob Garrett: David Byrne and St. Vincent…so good!
Douglas Johnson: I just saw Steve Hackett do the inaugural show of his Genesis Revisited II tour. Fantastic show! Any show that opens with “Watcher of the Skies” and ends with “Supper's Ready,” followed by encores of “Firth of Fifth” and “Los Endos” on steroids is all right by me. The only annoying thing was the idiot two rows behind me that was talking the whole time. If you're not going to a show to listen to the music, just leave. |
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| MSJ: Are there any closing thoughts you would like to get out there? |
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Matthew Golombisky: I'm really excited about Montana Fix; it goes lots of places, near and far.
Bob Garrett: make art, don't be an a**!
Douglas Johnson: Lather, rinse, repeat, support live and recorded music, be excellent to each other. |
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| MSJ: This interview is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2013 Volume 5 at lulu.com/strangesound. |
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