Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with GARVIES
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
My earliest memory is flipping through my father’s record collection. I remember seeing the large-format artwork of the rock bands of that era: Led Zeppelin, Santana, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath… and then my father putting on “Whole Lotta Love” really loud. My five-year-old self would chase the stereo pan of Jimmy Page’s electric guitar from speaker to speaker.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
I have been an artist for as long as I can remember. While I was in multimedia design school, I realised I could edit sound just as I could edit visuals on a computer. This happened right as I was learning to play the bass guitar. I remember creating a loop with my bass and it just blew my mind; I started making songs straight away.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
It all began for me in a city in South Africa called Durban. There is a beach there where I learned to surf as a child called Garvies Beach. I was there surfing while the old apartheid government was collapsing under international sanctions. Later, while studying multimedia design in Cape Town, I met a bunch of graffiti artists. You can’t use your real name when you’re painting public property, so I took the name of my home-break, Garvies, when I took to the walls in the black of night.
After my final warning from the law, I transitioned from visual arts into music and began writing the songs that would become our modern-day setlist. In the meantime, I was playing bass in another band that was offered a chance to play at Canadian Music Week. Before I knew it, I was in Canada on tour with a rock band, living the dream.
That dream crashed against the rocks when the band fell apart under the common stresses of four boys being cooped up in a tour bus for two years. When the dust settled, I found myself completely alone in Toronto; my plane ticket had expired and all I had was my music gear. Through a stroke of luck, a guitarist I’d met on the road offered me a place to stay in Kitchener. I stayed with John Marks for a year or so recording The Good Life. After that, I moved to Tofino, BC, to get back into surfing.
In Tofino, I recruited a local drummer (Nick Hill), a lead guitarist (Geoff Johnson), and a bass player (Carina Mach). We played shows all over Vancouver Island. The bass player and I fell in love and got married on the beach in Tofino. We had a baby and took a break from the band when the pandemic hit, but I gathered our best recordings and produced our second album, Durban Poison.
Eventually, for family reasons, we moved to Ottawa. We put out some ads, found a new drummer (Brent Hildebrand) and lead guitarist (Rich Bennett), and have been working on new material for a new album. We go into the studio next month for album number three, which is incredibly exciting.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Our music is eclectic and electric at the same time. We pride ourselves on being as original as possible, with no two songs sounding similar. We are a rock band, but we draw on many different genres to create a colourful set; we have bluesy songs, ballads, reggae influences, dance sections, and some rip-roaring rock with heavy riffs! I write the lyrics and draw inspiration from the likes of Jim Morrison, Anthony Kiedis and Saul Williams. There is some spoken word, some rap sections, and even some traditional African influences.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
One thing I’ve learned that floats to the top of the priority list these days is to not get too precious about the songs or the recordings, but to stay in a “flow” with them. I try to act on inspirations as they come rather than letting them collect until I’m overwhelmed. That way, they actually make it out of the studio and onto the stage.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
When writing songs, I like to start with just an acoustic guitar, a pad and pen, and some herb. Once I’ve got a hook and some chords, I’ll bring it to my wife and she brings out the “surgical tools,” so to speak. We are a dynamic songwriting machine together; I find her input invaluable. I record samples with a little field recorder and build ideas in a simple audio suite like Audacity. Once the idea has some soul, we bring it to the band to add the flesh and bone.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
Kail Baxley… I think he’s indie?
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
I survived a near-death experience in 2006 while surfing in Hermanus, South Africa, and that took me off a career path I would have regretted. I remember thinking I was living a lie by not being true to what was inside of me (I had songs thrashing around inside trying to find a voice). If I’d died there, my whole life would have felt superficial. My personal experiences created the direction of my artistic vision from the very beginning.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
I want people to feel the spark inside their chests shine a little brighter. If they glean anything from the lyrics, I hope that would be it. I want to destroy gloom.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Music has taught me so much—from learning how to trust people (and how to discern who is trustworthy) to following through on a project from sketch to stage, no matter how long it takes. I think without music, I’d still be a shy little kid inside, but music thrust me out into the world and made me stand tall with my band. I’m ever grateful for that.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
I’d love to play Reading Festival in the UK, or Glastonbury.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
I’d love to collaborate with The Police. The pure quality of Sting’s voice and the incredible rhythms of Stewart Copeland are legendary. To witness those guys at work would be incredible.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music?
You can buy our full albums at your own price on BandCamp: https://garvies.bandcamp.com/
Our main page is our ReverbNation page: https://www.reverbnation.com/garvies
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
We are recording album number three over the next few months. My dream is that one of our toe-tappers goes viral and launches us on a national tour, we make some dough, and we get to do this for a living!
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
I hope they discover themselves like I’ve discovered myself along the way. I hope they discover that life is for the living, so be alive! Love is for giving, so forgive. Make room for yourself when times are tough and be tough on the gloom!
