Interview with Garo Tanzi from Australia’s TV SNOW; Debut album “Red” dropping in January! @tvsnowofficial @thesyndotcom
Hailing from Perth, Australia, 5-piece indie-pop band TV SNOW are set to drop their debut album, Red, in January 2013. Though the group has only been around for a short time, they’ve experienced a series of ups and downs that even some seasoned groups will never know.
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With their wonderful debut EP circulating down under, the group forged their way back into the studio to continue recording, only to lose their bass player, Ben “Red” Linden, after an attack by a shark while surfing. Though overwhelming sad and impossibly difficult for almost anyone to imagine, the band decided it would forge on.
I got in contact with drummer Garo Tanzi via email to talk about their new album, the music scene in Perth, and what we can expect from the group in 2013!
Interview:
G- Hey what’s up and thank you very much for taking the time to speak with Live High five today! If you could, please introduce everybody in the group for our readers… Who is everyone, what do they play, and where does everyone come from?
GT- Our band consists of Sean Tyler on vocals, Anthony Di Giovanni on Guitar, John Mariani on Rhythm guitar, Derek Wardrobe on Bass, and myself, Garo Tanzi, on the drums! 3 of us were born in Australia, Sean was born in Hong Kong, and I was born in Germany, but been living her since the age of 5. So, everyone is pretty much Australian 🙂
G- How long has TV Snow been around and when did you first get started? Do you remember the moment that you really felt the group “click?”
GT- Sean and Anthony have been messing around in bands for 4-5 years now and when they contacted me about jamming with a band, I was still studying Jazz at the conservatory. Being a full jazz head, the only thing that got me to have a jam was that I didn’t need to bring my own drums ;). That was about 3 years ago.
At that stage, we were called The Bulletproof Gypsies, and were your typical original band. We then decided to take things seriously and hone in on a sound, and in 2010 we recorded our first EP as TV Snow with our then bass player, Sam Blackburn.
In terms of feeling the band “click,” probably when Ben joined on bass in mid-2012, and also when John and Derek joined after Ben’s passing. With our first bass player, it was good, but it was not great due to the fact that 3 us of were real tight, but he was slightly outside just because of that fact we are different people and wanted different things. But we are super thankful that he was there at the start 🙂
G- Right on. Now, you are getting ready to release your debut album, RED, in early 2013. Can you tell us a bit about the record and tunes… Where was it recorded, who was behind the boards, and what were the inspirations behind some of the songs?
GT- Yes, it is out now on iTunes as of December 1st worldwide, and comes out in Australia January 4th, 2013. This album came about by re-recording our old EP and changing things, as well as adding five new tracks. It was actually Moose at The Syndicate who gave us the idea for an album because we wanted to work with them to get our music out to the American public.
We recorded it all at Anthony’s house, or bedroom rather, as he sorted all the gear for vocals and guitar recordings. We did the drums at our friend’s house, Elliot Smith, from the Australian band The Chemist, who is a dope drummer and a dope engineer. Once we put all the pieces together, we went to local mixing and recording lord James Newhouse, who was pretty much a 6th member of the band with all the production hooks he added that brought new life to the old tracks.
The inspirations for our songs, I think, just come from what we want to hear in a song, you know? This album started off with most songs being birthed from a guitar riff and then we layered things on top. From a lyrics point of view, the song “Death & Blues” comes from Sean’s hatred for the news always being about bad things happening, putting a downer on everything. Ignorance is blisssssssssssssssssss. “I Will Dance” is an homage from Sean to his mum. Other songs like “Downtown,” “Animal” and “Boy Wonder” are singing about a person, fictional so to speak, who is trying to get somewhere, see someone he loves, have a good time, just loose themes that allow Sean to write some connectable lyrics over.
G- Nice, man. I dig it! So what is your writing process like, and who in the band typically comes up new music? Do you have a primary songwriter, or do you write music more organically through jamming during rehearsals?
GT- As mentioned before, they usually start with a guitar riff from Anthony. Then, we send it around and Sean does some melodies and then we just all layer our parts together till we can jam on it. We workshop things, ideas, lengths of chorus and verse etc.
The new songs we are doing are actually old ones from our first band, Bullet Proof Gypsies, but we are revamping them to suit our current sound and adding things to them, but yes, usually it starts with Anthony coming up with a riff. Every now and then, when I have a cool drum beat, I just send it over to him and see if he gets inspired to write anything. It’s always a real collaboration between all of us.
G- Excellent! What should your fans, both old and new, expect of the performances when you guys hit the road? I’m not trying to spoil any surprises, but can we expect any new material or special appearances, and what should some of the first time listeners expect to see when you take the stage?
GT- Definitely new material, extended sections where we rock out more and some rad guitar solos from our in-house Lord of the Shred. Musical shred, of course. Some people know him as Anthony Di Giovanni, but we like to call him Father Fettuccini, aka The Sultan of Spaghetti aka The Wog Father!!
G- Hahaha awesome! With a name like that, he must be Irish 😉
Ever changing it would seem, what are your feelings about the larger music industry at this time, and do you feel that it is in peril or simply reorganization and being revolutionized by tech and digital?
GT- I think the modern musical age is great! It is so much easier to get your music out there and to see if people can connect with it. I mean, we recorded our album at home!!! I think anyone in any industry should recognize where their craft comes from and then see how they can add to the ever-evolving art. It is so easy now to make music and to be a part of a wider community.
Granted it’s a lot harder to make GOOD music, and for that, one needs to dedicate hours on honing in on a sound or idea.
G- Very true statements. What would you say your favorite TV Snow song is? Do you have a favorite song you have ever written? Why?
GT- It always changes! Somedays I’m into one song, and then it changes. I think it’s because I just know them inside out, so every now and then I hear something different in one of them that reaches out to me.
It’s funny, the song “How Young” was on our first EP and we all thought it was shit! We then remixed and it was, for lack of a better term, reborn. It rocks hard now! So yeah, I like all our songs, thank God, haha.
G- Haha yes that definitely helps the cause when being in a band! Are there any bands or artists that you hope to share a bill with in the future?
GT- Too many to even list. It is pretty much any band that has come from nothing to success through handwork and dedication to their art.
G- Much respect. So, what is the craziest or most memorable show that TV Snow has played to date? Where was it and what was it like?
GT- Nothing has been too crazy yet, they have all been pretty standard. We look to get more wild very shortly. We did have a gig as our old band, first starting out on a boat. It was horrible and brings back horrific memories, but it was on a boat haha.
G- Haha cue Saturday Night Live sketch!
To finish up, as a band that is currently on the build yourselves, what advice can you give some of the young, up and coming bands everywhere who want to make it in music, on the road, and as a professional musician?
GT- Don’t shit where you eat, be humble, be yourself, be willing to learn and make mistakes so you CAN learn and have a ton of fun, because original music is literally just a gamble. It doesn’t matter how good your music is, but if the wider public can’t connect with it for some reason, you don’t get anywhere unfortunately. So always take the wider audience into consideration because they decide “what’s good and what’s not” and the scary thing is they love One Direction……..
G- Haha 13 year old girls will always run the world. Thanks for chatting today and look forward to catching you guys stateside!
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 TV SNOW FREE DOWNLOAD OF NEW SONG VIA HUFFINGTON POST  DEBUT FULL-LENGTH, RED, AVAILABLE NOW (December 10, 2012) – TV Snow’s new single, “Downtown,” is being exclusively offered as a free download via Huffington Post today. The song appears on the quintet’s debut full-length, Red, which was digitally released in the U.S. last week. Reflective of the group’s homeland of Western Australia, the music is sunny and showcases TV Snow’s love of catchy hooks and indie rock rhythms. Download TV Snow’s new single “Downtown” exclusively here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/nyc-high-school-bands-ben_b_2269091.html The group has already established itself down under through touring and sharing stages with such artists as Rainy Day Women, The Ghost Hotel, The Warning Birds,Bleeding Knees Club and Lydia. Speaking on their musical sound, drummer Garo Tanzi says, “A lot of our sound is very much layered, using a lot of effects and piling sounds on top of sounds. We’ve been adding more and more to our live show so we can recreate that flawlessly on stage.” Red was recorded this summer and includes brand new material as well as re-recorded/re-mixed versions of songs from their well-received 2011 EP. On the heels of wrapping up recording, bass player, Ben Linden suffered a fatal shark attack while surfing. The album’s title pays homage to Linden’s nickname and is dedicated to him. In addition to the song, expect to see a video for “Downtown” to premiere online shortly. TV Snow is also planning to hit the U.S. next spring in time for SXSW. More Info: http://tvsnow.net/ Purchase Red: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/red/id572901569 |
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