United they rock
By Bob Gordon
IT'S
BEEN a hard but enjoyable road for Gyroscope. In 1997 they surfaced as a school-aged
outfit called Gyroscope Sunday, garnering a few party gigs and mentions on Perth
music websites. In some ways they were the babes-in-arms of Perth's pop/punk musical
quarter.
Today, however, they're an assured outfit who are the first Perth band in two decades to sign directly with Festival Mushroom Records. In five or so years they've been through it all together, musketeer style.
"We've learnt a lot about each other," says drummer Rob Nassif. "It's been the same four guys. We've become best friends."
Vocalist/guitarist Dan Sanders says: "We've seen each other's 18th (birthdays), each other's 21sts. First girlfriends, break-ups. We've all seen that as one. Someone in the band will catch up with someone else every day, whether it's one or all of us. It's like family."
Given the Gyroscope members know each other so well, from shared experience and instinct, it's not hard to guess who's referring to what when new songs are being written.
Sanders: "If anyone comes up with a lyric or even a song title they may especially like, everyone knows what it means straight away. No questions asked. When Rob came up with I Wish I Did When I Didn't, we all knew what that meant, past relationships, whatever. We don't have to question anything."
Importantly, it's a trait they share in terms of musicality as well.
Sanders: "Zoc (guitarist Zoran Trivic) will make up a lead or I'll do a vocal thing. They know where it's coming from. We have a good understanding of each other."
Gyroscope released a debut cassette in 1999 and two EPs, Scalectrix (2000) and Take Time (2002), the latter through Perth label, Redline Records. The releases were greeted with various descriptions ranging from pop, punk and er, pop/punk to the ever-bemusing emo tag - though the band apparently never set out to be any of the above.
Nassif: "We never wanted anything to restrict us. Being called punk or punk/pop is restrictive."
Sanders: "Being called a rock band feels much more comfortable where we sit. The genre of rock means . . . whatever, it just means 'it rocks'. In an emotional way or however. Being labelled punk just didn't fit us."
Indeed there was a point when Gyroscope were deemed too pop for punk and too punk for pop.
Nassif: "Through that we bred a sense of self-dependence. We thought, 'Stuff it, we'll keep doing what we do and hopefully we'll improve'. Over time we've all got better at what we do. In a large part we can attribute where we are now to what we did then."
An enforced break when Nassif went to Canada for nine months in 2001 also did the trick. Easing off from a constant gigging schedule, the band members explored various musical flavours (from jazz to Sigur Ros), as did Nassif on the other side of the globe. The new textures were found on the Take Time EP, which gained Gyroscope major label interest and an eventual FMR signing. With the benefit of pre-production, and experience, the band's new Midnight Express EP has the most light and shade of any Gyroscope release.
Sanders: "It's always been an aim to write EPs or albums with a mixture of songs, where each song can be quite different to the next. As a listener you can get into that more. We want to cover all bases."
While a full-length debut is due down the track, Gyroscope will now turn their attention to touring nationally in support of their new EP. There'll be hard yards aplenty, but that's never been an issue.
Nassif: "No one could accuse us of being a flash in the pan. We haven't come out of nowhere. We've played a lot of shows and stuck to our guns. We've always hoped for the best and that we would maybe get here."
Gyroscope launch the Midnight Express EP this Saturday at Amplifier from 2-6pm (all-ages) with Times Up, El Horizonte and Coxy. The licensed launch starts at 8pm with help from The Avenues, El Horizonte and Bob Evans.