*Madness To Creation photo: Lindy and Jace harmonizing at the show opening up the “Condolences Across America” tour for Wednesday 13 and Invidia. Gabriel And The Apocalypse is composed of Lindy Gabriel on vocals, Jake LaCore on guitars, Figgles McGee on keyboard/samples, Zach Williams on drums, JACE on bass, and Joey Connelly on guitar. Find Gabriel And The Apocalypse at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/GabrielAndTheApocalypse
www.gabrielandtheapocalypse.com
Editor’s Note: It was an amazing night at Lefty’s Live in Des Moines, Iowa. This band undoubtedly stole the night. Minneapolis, Minnesota’s own Gabriel And The Apocalypse brought their fury of harmony, sexy industrial grooves, and a stage show that is memorable, which I believe will get the band to the next level. Here I am on the tour bus, which kind of looks like a party bus and you get to read about various topics in regards to the band featuring the charismatic frontwoman Lindy Gabriel and the laidback chill vibe of guitarist Jake LaCore. Please pick up a copy of “The Ghost Parade”, which is available via Pavement Entertainment here Here is my conversation with Lindy Gabriel and Jake LaCore of Gabriel And The Apocalypse.
M.T.C.: Thanks for showing me a bit of the tour bus and JACE, you are hilarious, just a random question to start off the interview, when you think of “Madness To Creation”, what do you think of?
Jake: I think of the insanity to be creative. Basically, those words to describe the madness to be creative.
M.T.C.: What I enjoy about Gabriel And The Apocalypse is that its anthem driven with theatrics and a bit of shock value thrown in there. When you go into the studio, what drives you or what do you think about when you write a song?
Jake: For me, I’m more of the music side of it where Lindy writes the lyrics, just try to capture emotion, whether that’s being angry, or frustration or sometimes opening up a blank screen and start messing with sounds and let it just kind of create itself.
Lindy: For me, it’s always emotion, I want to convey emotion, I want people to know what I’m feeling, I want to come off as being sincere. I think a lot of newer music right now is really hokey and really cookie-cutter and I really just appreciate music that is sincere and raw, and real, and that is really the kind of music that I want to create out there.
M.T.C.: How can the music industry change it to where the music out there today isn’t as hokey?
Lindy: I don’t know, I’m a big fan of 90’s music, especially with Nirvana, Hole, and Alice In Chains, all of that, but the music industry has changed a lot. You hear all the cookie-cutter “butt rock” bands on the radio, you don’t hear all the artistic, moody bands right now. We’ve always just stuck to our roots and who we are and haven’t conformed to that. That’s just something that I’m proud about. I don’t want to sell out in that way.
M.T.C.: Jake, do you agree with Lindy’s sentiments on music nowadays, “butt rock”? *laughs*
Jake: I think that music nowadays has become overly commercialized in a lot of ways. Of course, there’s always trends that once something works for one band or one artist, then everyone does that, I try not to pay too much attention to that and just stay true on what we like to do.
M.T.C.: Do you find it annoying when a lot of music press does is seem to talk about what Corey Taylor of Stone Sour/Slipknot said about Chad Kroeger of Nickelback and vice versa?
Jake: I don’t really pay attention to what they have to say or the gossip. I just like to do what we do and be humble and do our own thing.
Lindy: Yeah, we try to stay away from the crap, we have our own circus going on. *laughs*
M.T.C.: If you had to open up for a circus, if Barnum & Bailey were still around, how would Gabriel And The Apocalypse prepare for that show?
Jake: Probably the same way that we always do. *laughs*
Lindy: I would say more pyro.
Jake: If we had more money, we could do that.
Lindy: What you can do if you had money, having girls swallowing swords and stuff, that’d be hot!
M.T.C.: That would be crazy! I’d probably stab my heart and die if I did that, how does one become a professional at sword swallowing anyways?
Lindy: I don’t know, I watched a show on it, it’s a muscle thing from what I’ve heard, you have to really focus, there’s a lot of training, you can’t really ease up to it, you have to stretch it out, I was watching this freak show thing before.
Jake: On this tour, we saw a girl put a like a shiv thing up her nose all the way, then she took a condom and put it through her nose and then prodded it out of her mouth afterwards.
Lindy: It was amazing, that was in Hollywood!
M.T.C.: Definitely wouldn’t happen in Iowa. *everyone laughs* They say the freaks come out at night in Iowa, I love the video off of “The Ghost Parade” for “Thrill Of The Kill”, it seems to have some shock value to the video, it almost looks like BDSM culture with the leather, the girl in the chair, etc, take us behind that song and what message is the band trying to portray in that song?
Lindy: A lot of people ask that and the way that I wrote the song lyrically, it’s very abstract, it’s just kind of like the way I like to write, I don’t like to be too obvious. The song was basically inspired by me being an animal rights activist, and I wanted to write about something that I have never written about anymore. It’s a big part of my life, but I have never really written about it that much, but it’s a big part of me, but I wanted to bring that out there and bring awareness to certain causes that I’m really passionate about, and so when we decided to do a music video for “Thrill Of The Kill”, I was like, “I want the video to be what the song is about”. I met with the guy that shot the video and with Figgles, our keyboard player, and I said, “this is what the song is about”, so I want it to be along the lines of that, as far as us talking about animal abuse, and the band and everyone was like, “yeah, let’s do it”, and I was surprised because that’s my personal belief outside of the band, but everyone was really excited and said, “yeah, let’s do it”, but we had to kind of narrow it down on what subject matter as far as animal abuse because you have to have a direction for that, you can’t be all over the place.
We narrowed it down to animal testing because I feel like what people are not aware of is that the majority of people say they are against animal test, but the majority of products that people buy are tested on animals, so I wanted to bring awareness to that, and to do your homework, and if you are against it, there are many other products that you can buy that do not test on animals, so basically we got these sexy girls in animal masks and did these actual tests that are done on animals. We did research to see what tests are done on animals, and we did it on hot girls in animal masks, but we wanted to do it in an artistic way that wasn’t too obvious or too pushy or preachy, I think that was achieved. We wanted to make it sexy at the same time, and for it to have a sex appeal, and you can’t stop watching it and all of a sudden it gets really f***** up, and you’re like, “what is going on”, and that’s good because everyone always asks, “how did that come about’, and that’s good because it gives me the chance to talk about that.
M.T.C: You should link up with Mixi from Stitched Up Heart, she’s big into animal rights activism.
Lindy: That she is, we did a small tour with them.
“Thrill Of The Kill” by Gabriel And The Apocalypse
M.T.C.: In terms of being a musician, what do you learn from songwriting or a craft that you can take away for that guitarist in a local band situation?
Jake: To be honest, I don’t really think of songwriting as a guitar player, I do a lot of keyboard stuff too, I like the multi-tracking and coming up with demos, that’s kind of my thing, multi-tracking with layers of sounds, then I’ll add guitar. Joey is our lead guitar player, I’m more of a rhythm guy, I focus more on the song as a whole and not just really my instrument, I feel that there a lot of bands that try to do too much, you’ll have something crazy going on the guitar, and the bassist is trying to do the same thing, and when you have four musicians that are trying to go over the top, but it’s covering each other up, for the one thing to stand out, you gotta pull the other thing back a little bit, and there’s a time and a place for each aspect of the song to shine over each of the instruments. I think that’s my biggest piece of advice is to not overplay as a musician, play your part, and when it’s your time to shine, that’s when you show the crowd what you have, it’s about the song.
M.T.C.: How about you as a vocalist, what have you learned from when you started out to now.
Lindy: When we recorded “Neural Disaster”, that’s when I really think I found myself vocally. I worked with a great producer and a great singer in the local Minneapolis scene, and he pointed out my flaws, he was like, “this is what you do, you shouldn’t do that”, and I took that constructive criticism and I became a better vocalist. You know when you’re younger, you’re really inspired by all of the bands that you listen to and I sounded like other singers in other bands, I think that’s kind of a natural thing when you’re young, but you really have got to break away from that and just let your natural voice come through and try not to imitate other people. I feel like in 2011 was when I really found my voice and I was comfortable with this, because this is my voice.
Also, take care of your vocal cords, you just gotta rest your voice and take care of it, don’t drink too much Jagermeister. *laughs*
M.T.C.: Let’s say you signed a record contract and in that record contract you had to cover one 90’s song, what song would you cover?
Lindy: I would say “Long Snake Moan” by PJ Harvey, but there’s six of us that like a huge variety of music, it’s going to be really hard to stick with one song.
M.T.C.: I see you all covering for some reason, “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” by Sophie B. Hawkins, it just seems like a good fit for the band.
Lindy: Oh okay! You can make that sexy and hot!
Jake: I’m not sure what we would cover, I don’t want to come off as a band that relies on a certain image or sound, and they end up covering a band that they’re inspired by and they end up coming off as a wannabe. I don’t like the idea of covering a band that we have a similar sound to.
Lindy: Although it came out in the 80’s, I wanted to do the song “Metro” by Berlin because the synth in that is great, if we had the synth we could just make it all dark and cool, but no one will agree to it! *laughs*
M.T.C.: What’s been the coolest moment on this tour with Wednesday 13 and Invidia?
Jake: Everyday is an adventure on this tour. When we were in Las Vegas, it was 118 degrees and our air conditioning went out and it just pulled you to the ground, it’s just exhausting and it was like 130 degrees inside this bus, that was challenging. A high point would be just going to new places everyday and getting to share our music with new people.
Lindy: Every crowd that we have hit, everyone is drawn to us and watches our set, no one walks away and afterwards they’re like, “oh my God, you’re amazing, I’m a new fan”, and there were people that saw us with Wednesday 13 last October that came back just to see us, it’s just a really good feeling.
M.T.C.: Have you had people come up to you after your set and say, “this song really hit home or connected with me”, what’s your reaction?
Lindy: We had a fan who is now a really good friend, this friend said, “Lindy, you’re singing and writing about my life, it’s helped me through and I can relate”, and that’s amazing because I remember being a kid and looking up to artists and stating that’s how I feel, to have someone say that to you, it pulls on your heartstrings a little bit.
M.T.C.: Why should I come early to see Gabriel And The Apocalypse in concert?
Lindy: Because you’re going to have a good time, we usually get people that say, “I don’t like female singers, but I f****** love you guys, and you guys energy is amazing” or, “I’m not usually into this heavy style of music but I like you guys”, you will be entertained no matter what, you will like it! *laughs*
M.T.C.: Who is the most entertaining person on stage?
Lindy: I would say Figgles.
Jake: Figgles and JACE. I’m more of the guy that watches over to make sure that everything sounds good and technically that we’re on point. I get into the show, I’m not saying I don’t throw down, but I would say the four of them, Lindy, JACE, Figgles, and Joey, I just like to check to make sure that everything is going according to plan, the sound is right, and that you’re going to hear a good show. I know that we’re going to throw down and look good, I don’t worry about that, we have six members and sometimes we have technical things going on.
M.T.C.: Let’s talk about the other single for “The Ghost Parade”, “Until We Dream”, what inspired the video and that song, it’s such a cool song by the way!
Lindy: Thank you! It was about a person that I was with that was addicted to heroin and I had never been exposed to that type of life, it was really a physically, emotionally exhausting experience basically trying to save that person. “I’ll drown trying to save you”, just trying to do everything to save that person until you realize that you have to walk away, you’re drowning yourself trying to save this person.
“Until We Dream” by Gabriel And The Apocalypse
M.T.C.: What’s in the future for Gabriel And The Apocalypse after this run?
Lindy: We’re going to keep touring, we have a tour announcement coming soon that we’ll be doing in November, we’re going to be releasing a live music video, we’re going to be releasing some behind the scenes from this tour, we always try to have something new that’s coming out all of the time.
M.T.C.: Where can we find you guys?
Jake: Find us Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, just type in Gabriel And The Apocalypse.
M.T.C.: I better let you all go so you can get ready to perform, thank you so much for the time!
Jake: Thanks man, I appreciate it! See you in there!
Lindy: Thank you so much! Rock out with us!
And there you have it!
Gabriel And The Apocalypse stole the night at Lefty’s Live in Des Moines, Iowa opening up for Wednesday 13 and Invidia. They showed the audience at Lefty’s why they deserve to headline there when they return.
There are many chemicals that can be mixed in the Gabriel And The Apocalypse formula that makes into this radioactive combustible element of a band. Lindy is draws the balance between fierce, determined, yet a seductive in her vocals and in her stage presence. FIGGLES, Joey, and JASE play off of that with their own stage antics on their collective instruments. I would love to see this band do a full on stage production. I could see this band soar once that happens.
They do a wonderful job of engaging the audience, making the ones in the back come closer to the front so that they don’t miss the spectacle that is Gabriel And The Apocalypse. The programming samples flowed smoothly into the set. They primarily played cuts off of “The Ghost Parade” and the crowd was especially into it during “Until We Dream” and “Beauty Under Glass”.
On a sidenote, to the dude that was practically trying to sexually assault Lindy and mess with Joey’s guitar while he’s playing, (shouldn’t be messing with his instrument period), you’re lucky that the majority of the crowd, along with the band didn’t put you in the hospital. It is absolutely never okay to be treating a woman like that, and people pay good money, and take a night off of work in many cases to come rock out, dance until their hearts are content to see live music! Live music is a release for a lot of us from the problems in the world, in the workplace, and in the relationships that we are in.
To the people at Lefty’s Live Music in Des Moines. You have a really cool venue, especially the murals of all the legends in modern music history that you have displayed on there. Please hire security to protect the bands and to protect concertgoers. I was covering a show and another guy bought a ticket at the show and we had to play the role of security so the bands can continue to perform. There are many venues closing down due to the lack of attendance(BECAUSE YOU DON’T PROMOTE THE SHOW AS A VENUE, IT’S A BUSINESS, TO KEEP A BUSINESS RUNNING YOU HAVE TO ADVERTISE TO BRING IN CUSTOMERS TO YOUR VENUE), and Lefty’s, you’re messing around and possibly getting sued if you don’t hire security, if something happens, you’re liable and if you don’t provide security, you might as well give them a blank check if they decide to sue you. I’m not mad at you Lefty’s, I’m still mad at that jerk who messed with Lindy and Joey while they were performing. Jerk, if you’re reading this, please contact me, and I’ll be glad to discuss this face to face with you.
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