After receiving an email that said “we” needed to check out The Gary [MySpace], we did (sometimes it really is that simple). “In the Central Texas sunlight, in the full-bore drone of Summer…” Surprisingly, it wasn’t bad at all – not usually our cup o’ tea but it’s good in a way that if and when it pops into our rotation, we won’t punch a baby to make it stop. It’s rock (erm, post-rock) and the crux of this post-rock act is experimentation; the sounds reproduced by the guitars and strings on these tracks are like an unavoidable acid trip. It’s tripped out (and not in the Animal Collective sense) and fun, the lyrics are simply playful and evocative and much of what we’ve heard so far is well worth checking out more. I think we just might.

Check out some tracks from The Gary “after the jump”

[mp3] The Gary – “Damn Machines”
[mp3] The Gary – “I May Have a Drink”

Dave saw no reason why they shouldn’t play in a band called The Gary, and so it began. It should be noted that both were several beers into their river journey, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. The beer-goggle phenomenon applies to band names, as well.

A week or two later, Trey Pool suggested he come and play some guitar. The band was complete. Songs were written and the band checked into East Austin’s infamous Hot Tracks recording studio in November to record the seven-song Chub EP. They began playing shows with bands such as DD/MM/YYYY, Medications, Maserati, and Grant Hart of Husker Du. The band began exchanging prose and verse about a fictive stoner ne’er-do-well named Gary, which will soon be made available in chapbook format. Suddenly, being called The Gary didn’t seem like such a bad thing, after all.

The Gary’s sound is as rooted in a sense of place as it is in their influences (Silkworm, Guided By Voices, Chicago post-rock, New Zealand noise-rock, etc.). Lyrics and song delivery convey the sense of defeat accompanied by “getting by” in their Austin/Central Texas surroundings…

…not to mention the unfathomable heat that drives us into rivers and causes us to form bands with peculiar names.

The Gary is Dave Norwood on bass and vocals, Trey Pool on guitar, and Paul Warner on drums.

Last 5 posts by Jon Sevastra

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