Connection Through Communication With ALEX CENTOFANTI From GYPSY ROAD

Interview by Kris Peters
Preparing for a debut album - for any band - is an arduous task.
Once you make that firm decision and commit to laying down your
tracks for others to digest, it seems like, in many respects,
everything is violently taken from your control and placed at the
mercy of others.
As such, it would be easy - and almost forgivable - to take the
easier path, whatever that may be. Safe songs, safe structure,
proven methods and carefully mapped out schedules, but at what
cost?
You only get one chance to release a debut album, and in many ways
that one album can define the rest of your musical career.
Which is why a large number of bands take the safe passage. Or at
least their version of it, which invariably leads to a more
polished and socially acceptable offering of music from the lyrics
all the way down to presentation.
But every once in a while you come across a band who throw caution
to the wind and leave themselves and their music exposed as they
let their fledgling work of art loose on the world. A band who are
unashamed to leave large chunks of their own DNA splattered
throughout the release, thus laying bare their innermost emotions
and thoughts.
It is a brave and increasingly fading approach, but has also become
so much more noticeable in what is fast becoming a saturated market
where different often equates to good.
So it is with Melbourne-based post-punk, Midwest emo outfit Gypsy
Road who have laid their souls on open display with their debut
album Letters To A Friend, From Interstate which is released on May
24. An exhaustive and confronting collection of eight songs
highlighting the emotional struggles confronted by the band
throughout the entire process, Letters To A Friend, From Interstate
captures a band unafraid to admit not having the answers and honest
enough to concede defeat.
It is an eclectic and refreshing journey through a myriad of genres
that are woven together in a sonic tapestry that drips with
vulnerability yet exudes an air of confidence that suggests a
strong future.
HEAVY caught up with frontman Alex Centofanti to find out more,
asking if he is nervous, excited, anxious or all three together as
Friday's release date approaches.
"All of the above," he laughed. "For so many multiple reasons. The
last three singles we have released - which actually have been our
first ever singles because before that we released three EP's - has
been a new experience for me and pretty nerve-wracking. Those songs
have actually done the best for any releases we have done. That's
why it's also anxious, nervous and excited. I'm hoping that it
translates to the album. It's one of those things where you get
worried that when you release a couple of songs people aren't going
to listen to the full album, so I'm hoping they make it through the
whole thing because I think it's pretty good (laughs)."
We press Alex on the musical side of the album and what Gypsy Road
were going for sonically.
"I was going for quite a few things," he measured. "I was going for
a heavier sound than I've ever done before. I was going for a lot
more… I wouldn't say a darker sound, but I was definitely going for
that melancholy vibe. I was really just trying to make it sound how
I felt at the time."
In the full interview, Alex talks more about the musicality on
Letters To A Friend, From Interstate, what sorts of things they did
as a band in preparation for their debut offering, how they will
gauge the success of the album, the emotional side of the music and
committing that to paper, some of the themes and lyrical content
covered, future planning in terms of musical growth, upcoming gigs
and more.


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