So how does one go about crafting such omniscient compositions? “Well, honestly, we don’t really have any kind of method or we don’t really set any kind of goal as to what the song’s going to be. So that leaves it kind of open,” laughs band progenitor and keyboardist Brian DeGraw. “But mainly it’s just about improvising for a very, very long time, then going back to the recording of the improvisation and sort of picking out weak spots that we’d like to extend on. Then it’s just recreating those spots and taking it from there to see what happens, basically. But it’s never a very traditional, you know, someone coming in with an idea for a song, or a chord progression or anything like that. It’s really, initially anyway, just about jamming for a really long time until something sort of comes out of it,” he elaborates.
Eye Contact retains the rhythmic sensibilities which permeate the group’s stunning earlier releases, but the record marks the most absolute exploration of melody yet. But as DeGraw explains, don’t expect Gang Gang Dance to jettison their worship of all things rhythm anytime soon. “I think it’s always been much more rooted in percussion and rhythm than anything. And then I think lately, in the past few years, the past few records, it’s a little bit more about melody and about everything besides the rhythm,” he muses. “But the rhythm is definitely always the basis, and the most important thing. I mean everyone, well, three of the four members of the band play percussion, so that’s a big factor in that. Everyone except our guitar player has some form of percussion instrument, or multiple percussion instruments. So, when we’re improvising, obviously a large percentage of the improvisation is based in that percussion, around those instruments. We just kind of start there, I guess,” DeGraw offers. “I think it’s kind of new and exciting for us to be exploring that [melodic] side of it, you know, because we kind of didn’t do that for so long. And then once we started it became very exciting to be thinking about this whole other side of things that I didn’t really think about that much in the past. It seems like a whole new world which seems exciting to explore, it makes it extremely enjoyable, almost like a challenge to crack that code or whatever.”
The constant exploration of rhythm calls to mind comparisons with likeminded Japanese art-noise project Boredoms, who assigned Gang Gang Dance curation duties on the simultaneous second incarnation of 88 Boadrum – a musical installation in which 88 drummers performed an 88-minute composition on 08/08/08. “They’re an extremely important band for us, in musical ways, and spiritual ways,” DeGraw states on the groups pseudo-mentors. “Just the way they choose to exist as a group of musicians is really ideal to all of us, for sure. This whole family aspect that they have, and their connection to nature is also kind of inspiring to everyone in the band. Also, their kind of openness to kind of reinvent all the time and to do things like Boadrum where it’s not really a kind of stereotypical band performance,” he states. “They’ve never really fallen into that traditional sort of band existence, it’s sort of like an art project but then it’s sort of something even beyond that. I don’t know what they are, they’re really heavy in so many ways. But, yeah, it’s definitely inspiring to all of us, for sure.”
Coinciding with a constant musical growth being charted by the group’s studio output comes the constant challenge of recreating such material in the live setting. As DeGraw explains, it hasn’t reached the point of impossibility quite yet. “Yeah we usually make a point not to get too crazy in the studio, to the point where we can’t play anything. This time we talked about letting go of that and not caring, just doing whatever we wanted, just for the sake of the record – even if we could play it live or not. But it actually ended up with us being able to be play most of it live,” DeGraw assesses. “We didn’t go far beyond our live setup. There’re a couple of songs, like the song MindKilla, on the record that we play a much different version live, because we can’t actually do what we did in the studio for that one,” he explains. “I mean, we could actually, but we haven’t really had the time to figure out how to do it. We play a much more organic version of it onstage. But everything else, except for maybe the transitions between songs, are definitely very, very similar live as to how they are on the record.”
Though sporting a fully-realised band setup all throughout their existence, there are those distinct elements of house and dance music which more often than not shine through Gang Gang Dance’s material. “Definitely, definitely,” agrees DeGraw. “I mean that’s about 80 percent of what I listen to – I mean not specifically house, but dancefloor based music is, more and more, what I listen to,” DeGraw reveals. “Everyone in the band, too. I mean Josh [Diamond, guitarist] and Jesse [Lee, drummer] are really big fans of Detroit house and Chicago house and that kind of stuff. And the little bit older stuff too, like the ’80s and ’90s material,” DeGraw lists. “And I DJ a lot, so that’s mainly what I’m thinking about too – the dancefloor environment, and how music works within that environment.”
With the band making their long-awaited return to Australia, I bring up the band’s last visit which included an appearance at a tumultuous, now-defunct music festival. “A bad experience? No no, we had a great time. I mean, we didn’t get paid, so maybe you heard about that part,” he laughs heartily. “I mean, that was a bummer but it was worth it. We were with so many great friends. I mean the festival they did was pretty much a failure I guess,” he chuckles, “which is why we didn’t get paid, but I definitely wouldn’t take it back. I had a great time.”
While their last appearance may have coincided with a rather shoddy musical gathering, I assure DeGraw with Meredith’s reputation as the most-loved festival in the country. “Cool, I didn’t know anything about it, but I just got off the phone from another interview from Australia and they told me a little bit about where it takes place. I had no idea it was so far out in the wild,” DeGraw beams. “Is there a camping like setup? Oh nice, it sounds like it’s very open, like un-claustrophobic.”
