Interview: Gap Dream – Part Two

The following is the part two of our interview with Gabe Fulvimar of Gap Dream. Be sure to check out part one if you missed it, where we touched on Gap Dream’s humble beginnings and what it’s like to tour with a travelling festival like the Burgerama Caravan Of Stars.

 

KV: You once mentioned you saw a fan cry at a show and had to fight off years yourself. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of that emotional connection reflecting back on the performer so vividly. What is it like to create a connection like that with your music?

Gap Dream: I think that’s the first time I had ever felt something like that. It’s a crazy-ass thing. It’s crazy to write songs and have people take them seriously. And it’s a whole other level of crazy to see them emotionally invested in what you did.

KV: Are those the best shows, the small intimate shows?

Gap Dream: We played a bar in Portland the other night, and I don’t even want to know how many people were there. But I like it all, I just like playing. I like having people watch and having them really be into it and feel it. We play better when there are more people at the show. Any room that’s filled with people watching you is great.

KV: So what was it like to see Giorgio Moroder of all people connect with your work?

Gap Dream: Oh, man. That was crazy. Insane. That’s a feeling I never want to forget. I mean, what do you think that’s like? I can die happy now.

KV: The guy doesn’t tweet much, you’re on a very exclusive list. He’s got 78 tweets and you’re right there in the thick of it.

Gap Dream: I know, right! He’s my hero, man. The best thing about is that he has two twitter accounts, and he hasn’t used one for a while, might have forgot the password to it or something. But when he tweeted about me it was from the verified account with the blue checkmark, it was crazy.

KV: While we’re talking Moroder, what did you think of his cameo on ‘Random Access Memories’?

Gap Dream: It’s great. It’s a nice glimpse into his life in his own words. It’s funny because a lot of people don’t realize that he has a background as a bubble-gum pop singer in the 60s. He’s been around for a long while so when he’s talking about sleeping in his car and driving to the gig it’s just so sick to hear he was just like us. Now he’s known for working with Donna Summers, he’s the man! And the song sounds like an authentic Giorgio Moroder song from those days. It’s cool to see Daft Punk just be like “We love Giorgio Moroder, no shit. Let’s get him on the record!” It’s the concept of allowing yourself to be someone who is a professional musician but also a fan, and that’s the best way to ground yourself. That way you don’t let yourself get too caught up in your shit. You really can get caught up in your shit, and if you do you’re doomed.

KV: And they’ve done that before, they have a song called ‘Teachers’ in which they mention all the DJs they loved, and that’s the whole song.

Gap Dream: That’s probably off Homework right? I’m not overly familiar with that album, but I love Discovery obviously. That’s the one that hit me. By the time they did the next couple albums I was in guitar mode. The Tron Soundtrack is a really great sound, but it’s not their best Daft Punk album. Random Access Memories is great, that came out when I moved out here and we were getting stoked on that. It definitely inspired a lot of the new Gap Dream, it has its mark on that. It got me back into synthesizers and got me slowly working on them again. It’s cool to have that relation to Giorgio. I was ready for that tweet to be a prank, and I really thought it was.

KV: That’s one cruel prank.

Gap Dream: Well, it’s one cruel world. I was ready.

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KV: Well it all turned out OK. Now Bobby Harlow thinks your album sounds like Moroder.

Gap Dream: It’s funny because he really pushed me, he could hear things not many other people notice. When people hear the first Gap Dream record they focus on the guitar, on the obvious rock band elements. They don’t realize it’s an electronic music record. It was made with electronic music on Ableton Live, so that’s just what I was doing. I started to make a record that sounded like a rock record, but Bobby could tell it sounded like something else. Bobby really inspired me.

KV: Was it a conscious decision to stick with a drum machine on Shine Your Light?

Gap Dream: He told me the way it was looking it didn’t seem like we would have enough time to get comfortable and go into the studio and do that. I wanted to, but that’s something we’ll probably do on the next record. Bobby just told me to do the record the same way again, and that it would be great. It’s like the Beatles’ first record, it’s an improvement on the first, they aren’t going into Sgt. Peppers, yet. So it’s about giving myself time before I go off and do crazy shit. He reined me in and got me where I needed to be. It was something I needed at the time.

KV: It sounds like Bobby has been a great mentor for you.

Gap Dream: I couldn’t ask for anyone better. It’s not just him, It’s (Burger Records founders) Sean and Lee and Kyle (King Tuff), everybody. Cosmonauts and Pangea too, we all inspire each other.

KV: Speaking of other bands on Burger, what have you been listening to lately?

Gap Dream: I’ve been on the road lately so we haven’t had much of a chance to listen to anything. But I really love Part Time, they hit me this summer, that was my summer crush. I’m still on the new Daft Punk record, and I’ve always listened to my old Kraut records and stuff. It’s the stuff I’ve always liked. Sir Psych and L.A. Al have an EP out called Smoking Trees that is really good. Burger also released a hip-hop compilation called For Weed Smokers Only that we’ve been listening to a lot. Lee is my hookup for classic rock, so he’s always showing me stuff too. He was bummed when I couldn’t name more than a couple names from Fleetwood Mac. He was like “what the fuck is wrong with you?” but he’s really into that stuff. We’ve also got Brian who runs the record shop, and he puts on Kraut and a lot of weird shit. He turns me on to a lot of stuff. It’s a great place to be, the record shop. If you’re going to make a record, make it in a record shop. The thing is they’re not snobby about it, they just want people to listen to good tunes. They love music and care about it, we all do.

 

The Burgerama Caravan Of Stars Tour touches down in Gap Dream’s hometown of Cleveland September 30th at The Happy Dog and continues on October 1st at Lee’s Palace in Toronto.

Gap Dream’s second album Shine Your Light will be released on November 12th via Burger Records.

Online Editor