The Gift is from Portugal and their latest record, Explode, was released in North America in September. They play music you could, broadly, call alternative rock but that is such a catch-all these days it is embarrassing to use the term—especially for a band as interesting and musically diverse as The Gift. Their music ranges, sometimes in the same song, from low-key pop to the epic, to a grandiose mélange that calls to mind a wide swath of music--both sonically and in time--from Sonic Youth to Queen. A further, and exhaustive, list of analogs would be, to put it mildly, unwieldy.
John Gonçalves, bassist and keyboard player for the band took some time to talk about the music, the tour and even a bit about the music scene and business in Portugal.
“The Music business in Portugal has two different faces. The most important one is the artistic one. In that case I say many times that we are the best kept secret of Europe (even if we don’t want to) because there are a lot of talent a lot of diversity in terms of styles, we sing in Portuguese or in English and there are a lot of new musicians doing very creative things,” says Gonçalves, “The other side of the same coin is a industry in crisis like the country. No one sells many albums; we don’t have so many venues besides Lisboa and Porto - although there are a lot of great theatres programming new tendencies of music everywhere - although we have a great festival scene during summer.”
Gonçalves says the people are very alternative, aware and interested in what is musically happening around the world.
“It is a very interested and enthusiastic crowd.” he says.
John Gonçalves, bassist and keyboard player for the band took some time to talk about the music, the tour and even a bit about the music scene and business in Portugal.
“The Music business in Portugal has two different faces. The most important one is the artistic one. In that case I say many times that we are the best kept secret of Europe (even if we don’t want to) because there are a lot of talent a lot of diversity in terms of styles, we sing in Portuguese or in English and there are a lot of new musicians doing very creative things,” says Gonçalves, “The other side of the same coin is a industry in crisis like the country. No one sells many albums; we don’t have so many venues besides Lisboa and Porto - although there are a lot of great theatres programming new tendencies of music everywhere - although we have a great festival scene during summer.”
Gonçalves says the people are very alternative, aware and interested in what is musically happening around the world.
“It is a very interested and enthusiastic crowd.” he says.
The Gift formed in 1994 when the band were still teenagers and have remained together since—although they are not afraid to bring in “outsiders.”
“We are together since teenagers and the benefits of continuity are the common goals we can achieve with that continuity, the albums we can do, the tours that we love to do and the fact that we still get along very well,” he says. “We are very open to all different styles, we work with a lot of musicians on stage - not only the 4 members of the band - and we change from having horn sections in one tour, strings sections on other or more guitars and keyboards now.”
If you see them once, you haven’t seen it all in other words. It is a refreshing attitude because many bands may trot out new songs but often their live shows stay the same musically.
“We are together since teenagers and the benefits of continuity are the common goals we can achieve with that continuity, the albums we can do, the tours that we love to do and the fact that we still get along very well,” he says. “We are very open to all different styles, we work with a lot of musicians on stage - not only the 4 members of the band - and we change from having horn sections in one tour, strings sections on other or more guitars and keyboards now.”
If you see them once, you haven’t seen it all in other words. It is a refreshing attitude because many bands may trot out new songs but often their live shows stay the same musically.
Explode
Made For You (from Explode)
But how would he describe the music, to the many potential fans in the USA?
“Some people say its epic, some people say its elegant, some people say its creative, some people say it’s very melodic but in the end it’s always a matter of listening and feel something when you listen it. I like to think of our group now in a very mature phase with strong songs with a great connection between the analogue keyboards, the power of some guitars and the extraordinary voice and stage performance of Sonia. If you own a music store and want to put the album in a category I believe alternative/indie rock/electronic would be ok.”
This tour is, obviously, to support Explode, and buying a copy should be first on everyone’s musical to-do list. Second on that list should be getting out to see this band live.
“We want to shout out loud to everyone possible that we have an amazing album and we are so excited to present it Live to new audiences. The adrenaline to have a small venue pack with new fans that are arriving to our music now - compared with European fans that know us for several years - is the best thing that can happen to a band like ours. We love tour and we love the stage.” he says.
They have been touring all over the world, Europe, South America and now North America. But this band is also the boss. They are their own label. Gonçalves says that even though their priority is Explode and the Explode tour but he doesn’t rule out doing some recording in the two weeks they have off in November.
-by Patrick Ogle
“Some people say its epic, some people say its elegant, some people say its creative, some people say it’s very melodic but in the end it’s always a matter of listening and feel something when you listen it. I like to think of our group now in a very mature phase with strong songs with a great connection between the analogue keyboards, the power of some guitars and the extraordinary voice and stage performance of Sonia. If you own a music store and want to put the album in a category I believe alternative/indie rock/electronic would be ok.”
This tour is, obviously, to support Explode, and buying a copy should be first on everyone’s musical to-do list. Second on that list should be getting out to see this band live.
“We want to shout out loud to everyone possible that we have an amazing album and we are so excited to present it Live to new audiences. The adrenaline to have a small venue pack with new fans that are arriving to our music now - compared with European fans that know us for several years - is the best thing that can happen to a band like ours. We love tour and we love the stage.” he says.
They have been touring all over the world, Europe, South America and now North America. But this band is also the boss. They are their own label. Gonçalves says that even though their priority is Explode and the Explode tour but he doesn’t rule out doing some recording in the two weeks they have off in November.
-by Patrick Ogle
Tour
10/07 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex (FILTER Culture Collide, w/ YACHT,
Hands, The Morning After Girls, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour)
10/11 – Chicago, IL – Double Door
10/12 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
10/14 – New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge
10/15 – Philadelphia, PA - Milkboy
10/16 – Cambridge, MA – TT The Bear’s
There are also dates in Portugal before and after this short USA jaunt. Get them here...(I couldnt copy them for some reason!)
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