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INTERVIEW: Aaron Barry of Gracie Mae

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Gracie Mae are an ambient rock band from London, Ontario. The three-piece, who are currently looking to release their third EP later this year, have experienced a pretty steady rise since their formation last year and are looking to further that growth in 2015. Recently, I was able to speak with frontman Aaron Barry about the band’s music, his hopes for the new year and where he sees the band going down the road.

How would you describe Gracie Mae’s sound to those who have never listened to the band before?

This is always such a tough question to answer. What I perceive the band to sound like is obviously totally different than the next person would describe it. The best way I could describe it is just by what people have told me: old Alexisonfire, Coheed and Cambria or Circa Survive-esque. I would just say indie rock with post-hardcore roots.

The band formed in 2014 and has had a pretty quick rise. What do you attribute to this?

I don’t know if I’d say [we’ve] “risen” yet, but I can say we’ve just worked hard. I came out of a band before Gracie Mae that worked hard. We played 50+ shows a year and worked really hard. It was kind of a different era, where shows happened more, but that’s where I learned to work hard. 

Social media has been a really great tool in spreading our band. We’ve been pretty selective about playing shows, so we aren’t on everyone’s radar as far as being able to see us, so we use social media to extend or reach past Southern Ontario. Applications like Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook are a modern band’s best friend. 

I would attest the gains we’ve made to working hard and understanding how important it is to be active in the online world.

We’ve spoken to quite a few London, ON-area bands who have attributed a lot of their success to the city’s strong music scene. Would you generally agree with their sentiments?

For sure. I grew up in the London scene; I spent my high school years at The Embassy and Call The Office, and the scene has been strong as long as I can remember. There are so many venues and opportunities for bands in the city, [in] any genre – that’s been a huge part of it. There is a lot of great scene builders and people that work tirelessly to make sure London keeps thriving and those people deserve countless thanks. The city of London has been blessed with a lot of people [who] believe in the arts and live music, and with that, London has also been blessed with a great community to support it.

You released “(Reggie Mantle’s Revenge On) Riverdale”, the first single off your upcoming EP, late last year. I love how it melds multiple sides of rock into one. What was your mindset going into the recording studio?

That song was kind of [a] step in a different direction for us. For that particular session, we went to Xii22 Studios in Windsor, ON, which I’ve made eight records between this and my last band. We have a great relationship with the producer there and he let’s us be pretty free as far as ideas. We went in with the mindset of making something different than our last two EPs and I think we did it. We typically go into the studio and bang out three or four complete songs in a 36 hour period. But we decided to take our time, be relaxed and get some cool tones, try out weird ideas and add some “flavour”, and I think that mindset of relaxing helped a lot.

There’s definitely a change in sound from the band’s debut EP. Is the single a hint at what the full release will sound like?

The great thing about this band is we haven’t been pigeonholed as a “genre-style” band. We have the luxury of making whatever we like. I came from a post-hardcore band (Anu Beginning), as did our bass player Tanner [Havens], and we got defined as a post-hardcore band. We wanted to write some slower jams, throw an acoustic tune in [every] once and awhile, and people couldn’t accept that we wanted to do other stuff than write metal.

With this band, we made it a goal to write what we want and not let people define us through genre (although, I’m aware of the genres we fit into). We started out with our two EPs a little softer. You can hear traces of my roots in metal in songs like “Crisis”, but, for the most part, we dabbled in more ambient pop-rock and indie rock vibes. So the three EPs (the first two released [were] Harbour and Ship and Storms and Stars) are concept EPs. They tell the story of a crew on a ship [that] passes through a storm, capsizes and everyone [becomes] lost at sea. The vibe of the music kind of reflects the story. 

The EP we will be releasing next is kind of wrapping up those events, so the ship is sinking, everyone is fucked. “(Reggie Mantle’s Revenge On) Riverdale” is at the point of the story where the ship is like “Oh shit, this is bad”. The other two songs are a bit different, vibing musically with the parts of the story, panic, and then acceptance that they’re in trouble.

We also went to a different studio for each song, so different producers, different styles. This last EP is kind of all over the map… in a good way. It’s been exciting to wrap up the story [both] musically and lyrically.

Do you have any sort of release date in mind?

Soon, haha. I’d imagine beginning of spring. We have to finish recording the last songs, then send things off to be mastered and finish the artwork… [it’s] always a long process. We’re excited to release the rest of it though!

What do you see happening with Gracie Mae in 2015?

After we’re done recording, we will obviously release the CD, along with the other two EPs. We will release a physical CD with all nine songs and corresponding art for each song. It’s like a giant art project.

After that, we’ll probably just play shows as much as we can, apply for festivals - you know, do the band stuff that everyone does. During that time, we will continue to write and record another new CD next fall. Alway, always, always writing.

What’s the ultimate goal you hope to accomplish with Gracie Mae?

Anyone that says they don’t want to be rich and famous and make music for a living is crazy. That’s obviously what we want. Haha, I guess the ultimate goal for me is that people get it. I want people to get what we’re doing. We are just writing typical songs. We are writing stories - with the stories there is art. It’s three-dimensional. I want people to get it and [to] understand what we’re trying to do.

I want people to understand the metaphor of the songs. Are these three EPs about the story of a ship and its crew? Yes. Is it about something more if you read between the lines? Yes.

What message do you hope to spread through your music?

I don’t really know how to answer this clearly. Like, my last band was Christian and the message was pretty clear, easy. You could read between the lines and take what you wanted from it, but it was pretty clear.

With this band, you won’t get the message unless you look past the story. It’s pretty obvious to me, but I’m the one that wrote [the music]. I guess the overall message is “hey, anything you’re going through, you aren’t the first person to experience it”. Another message could be you have to accept your fate in life. Life deals out a deck of cards: sometimes, you get a great hand, sometimes you don’t. But you can’t let the fact that you’re dealt a bad hand consume you because the next hand you get might be amazing.

Final question: name four bands you’d like to see Gracie Mae tour with?

Hot damn! I’m gonna go wide spectrum: Glassjaw, Coheed and Cambria, At The Drive In (come back to me) and Circa Survive.

You can find Gracie Mae’s music on Bandcamp, and be sure to follow the band on Facebook and Twitter.

By Clare Fitzgerald

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