“One of the pleasures about owning a sailboat is that you get to sail the boat,” Aaron Starkey exclaims from a dive bar booth in the late afternoon sun. “I don’t own a sailboat, by the way, but I own a van. So it’s similar?”
They continue, “Because if you have a boat, if you have a band, then the boat gets to do things… And if you’re not in a band, then you don’t get to tour or play shows. So the band facilitates these experiences in your life that can’t be, or aren’t necessarily attained any other way.”
And therein sits the guiding principle of Seattle’s Gibraltar: Sail the boat.
So what may have originally began as a voyage across the turbulent waters of himself, a wiser more reflective Starkey now sees Gibraltar functioning as the sum of its parts, existing to produce a kind of catharsis that cracks us all the way open. The sounds to fill the points between tension and release, certainty and doubt, the familiar and the disorienting.
Along with Starkey, pianist Holly Houser and drummer Nick Biscardi now comprise the core trio of Gibraltar. Layers of controlled chaos keep the music energized and energiz-ING. And on their latest offering, “Modern Mischief”, the trio incorporates a new element: horns! (Sari Breznau, trumpet + Nate Henry, tenor sax)
“We’re louder than we need to be, but [still] not as loud as I want,” says Starkey. Though don’t let the volume fool you: the music isn’t just angsty power-pop. It’s also joyful and gentle and weathered and inquisitive. It’s about sharing the bruised parts of ourselves, the pained parts, and the healing of connection.
Because creating music is only as good as the people you do it with.
Because there’s people on those boats, all working to keep it sailing.
Because that ringing in your ears means you’re still alive.
Let’s go get into some modern mischief.
PRESS
“Let’s Get Beautiful” -The forthcoming full-length, set to be released in March, 2017, finds the band returning to collaboration with Matt Bayles at the helm and Gibraltar fully exploring their sound, captured primarily with live tracking. “Our goal for this album,” says Houser “was a more spacious, stripped down sound that highlights a carefully crafted interplay between instruments and provides moments of tension and release.”
“…Seattle post-punk outfit [Gibraltar] has excelled at crafting driving, no-nonsense melodic rock songs that cut like knives. The band fully displays this aesthetic on “Cold,” the first single from its upcoming album, Let’s Get Beautiful.” – Seattle Met Magazine
“Power pop with a hammer and a brain.” -Seismic-Sound
“Their edgy, twanged-up power pop is one of the best local debuts of the year.” -Seattle Weekly
“…One of the better local EP’s I’ve come across recently. The new Gibraltar EP [Storms] is a mix of raw emotion, and heart felt energy.” -John Richards, KEXP
“Gibraltar’s shifting dynamics and penchant for emotive, post-punk precision fuels their roaring rock songs.”
-Jacob Webb, KEXP
“…a stadium power rock style that includes vibrant guitar leads and steel-your-attention-cymbal-crashes. They are rock incarnate.”
-Jake Uitti, The Monarch Review, KEXP
press contact:
Kelly Fleek // [email protected]
booking contact:
Aaron Starkey // [email protected]
http://www.gibraltartheband.com
http://www.gibraltarsongs.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/gibraltarsongs
http://www.twitter.com/GibraltarSongs