Gatsbys American Dream

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Gatsbys American Dream


From left to right: Bobby Darling, Kyle O'Quin, Kirk Huffman, Nic Newsham, Rudy Gajadhar and Ryan Van Wieringen
Origin Seattle, Washington
Years active 2002–present
Genres Indie rock
Labels Rocketstar and LLR and Fearless
Members Nic Newsham
Bobby Darling
Ryan Van Wieringen
Kirk Huffman
Rudy Gajadhar
Kyle O'Quin
Past members Dustin McGhye
Joey Atkins

Gatsbys American Dream [sic] is a prolific Seattle-based Indie rock band. Since their founding in 2002, they have released four full-length albums and one EP. They have also appeared on several compilations with original songs and covers. Gatsbys American Dream drew their name from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Although it's widely agreed that the band is difficult to classify into one subgenre, it can be said that they draw influence from alternative, pop/rock, indie pop, indie rock, post-hardcore, and punk rock.

Contents

[edit] Line-up

  • Nic Newsham: vocals
  • Bobby Darling: guitar, vocals
  • Ryan Van Wieringen: guitar, vocals
  • Kirk Huffman: bass, vocals
  • Rudy Gajadhar: drums and percussion
  • Kyle O'Quin: keyboard

[edit] History

Gatsbys American Dream began with the disbanding of the groups One Point Two and Good For Nothing. Bobby Darling, a guitarist for One Point Two, met up with Nic Newsham and Ryan Van Wieringen, who were the lead singer and guitarist (respectively) for Good For Nothing. The Gatsbys lineup wasn't complete until Kirk Huffman (formerly of K Through Six) was recruited to play bass and Dustin McGhye signed on as their drummer, making them a five piece band.

When Acceptance guitarist Kaylan Cloyd heard a Gatsby's demo, he handed it to Darrick Bourgeois, owner of local record label Rocketstar Recordings. Shortly afterward, Gatsbys signed a two record deal with Rocketstar and worked with producer Aaron Sprinkle to record their 2002 debut album Why We Fight. Their first show after being signed drew in a crowd of 500+, which was largely due to Rocketstar's extensive promotion.

After Why We Fight was released, the band replaced drummer Dustin McGhye with Rudy Gajadhar, formerly of Waxwing and Bugs in Amber. In 2003 the band released their sophomore record, Ribbons and Sugar, which is a concept album based loosely on George Orwell’s fable Animal Farm. With this release it became apparent to critics and fans alike that literary references were a hallmark of the band. Musically, the album found them exploring an ambitious and experimental harder-edged pop sound, opting for unusual time signatures and tempo changes. Although literary references are common through most of their material, Ribbons and Sugar also began a motif of record label disdain. The lyrics of 'Cut the Strings' read: "This is awful to think who decides what should or should not stay, what ends up on the cutting room floor. Apparently it's not my choice to make."

Gatsbys' two record deal with Rocketstar was fulfilled with Ribbons and Sugar, and as neither party wanted to renew the contract, they decided to go their separate ways. Later, guitarist Ryan Van Wieringen would leave the band to further his college education.

Following the release of Ribbons and Sugar, the band started to field numerous offers from other, larger record labels. Slightly embittered by the process, the band nevertheless signed a one-record deal with Chicago-based LLR Records (formerly Little League Records) in 2004. Their contractual record, the more mellow and subdued In the Land of Lost Monsters EP, was in part a response to the post-Ribbons record label attention the band had received. Most of the labels that approached them thought they were excellent musicians, but wanted the band to write choruses for their next record (a standard songwriting technique the band had, up to that point, seemed to avoid). Feeling uncomfortable about forgoing their integrity in order to get a record contract, Gatsbys continued writing music they liked in the way they wanted to write it. Newsham's lyrics for Lost Monsters reflected this struggle, criticising the music industry and expressing the band's wariness of record labels. (For example: "the signal is corrupted/the songs are uninspired/where's the fucking chorus?/here it is/but you can't fuck with my integrity" - from 'The Dragon of Pendor'). The band's independent, individualistic approach simply brought them more acclaim as an uncompromising progressive rock band.

Several months after the EP's release, the band settled on Fearless Records, former home of such acts as the now-defunct post-hardcore/indie rock legends At the Drive-In. With their 2005 album Volcano, their first for Fearless and third full-length overall, it became clear that the group's skill had shot skyward. People began to sit up and notice that Gatsbys had inspired songs and a unique sound that set them apart from other bands usually lumped into the same genre with them. Thematically, Volcano revolves around, unsurprisingly, a volcano (Pompeii in particular, as evidenced by the title of the second track on the record), which stands as a metaphor for the uncontrollable intensity of human emotion. Once again, the album is rife with literary and cultural references from such diverse works as children's film Pee Wee's Big Adventure, William Golding's dark fable Lord of the Flies, Tolkien's classic fantasy The Lord of the Rings, the Xbox and PC RPG Fable, the popular action film Jurassic Park, and Orson Scott Card's science fiction epics Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead.

During the tour that followed the release of Volcano, Gatsbys added a new member, Kyle O'Quin (also a member of the band Surrounded By Lions). A few months after O'Quin was added to the band, Ryan Van Wieringen met up with the band in Arizona while they were on tour there and rejoined the line up. Since then, he has been touring and performing live as part of the band.

Van Wieringen did not, however, participate in writing any guitar parts for their self-titled fourth full-length album, released August 8th, 2006. Unsurprisingly, the album bears all the hallmarks of a Gatsby's record- an organic and original album of musical experimentation in a pop context, peppered with numerous pop culture and literary references (which appear in both the lyrics and song titles, ranging from works by Philip K. Dick to the television show Lost.) The album is, however, noticeably bitter towards the music industry (as compared to previous Gatsby's' releases), scalding both current "trend" bands (lyrics to 'You All Everybody' read: "I hate this place and all these guys with their fancy clothes. It doesn't seem like music at all") and greedy record labels.

Since the self-titled release, the band has been on a break, only playing sporadic shows in and around the Seattle area. During the break, Huffman and O'Quin started Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground as a side-project. Newsham has also started a side project with Justin Harcus of Pale Pacific, called Red Red Blue, which is a reference to a Gatsby's song from In The Land Of Lost Monsters, which was itself a reference to an army's color code from the book Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. Van Wieringen and Darling partnered with Kaylan Cloyd from Acceptance to form Search Rescue. Rudy Gajadhar currently has no other known projects.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Full-Length Albums

[edit] Singles and EPs

[edit] Compilations

  • A Santa Cause: It's A Punk Rock Christmas (Immortal, 2003) - "Christmas Time Is Here"
  • In Honor: A Compilation to Beat Cancer (Vagrant Records, 2004) - "The Rundown"
  • Punk Goes 80's (Fearless, 2005) - "Just Like Heaven"
  • Warped Tour 2005 Compilation (SideOneDummy, 2005) - "Theatre"
  • Music On The Brain Vol. 2 (Smartpunk, 2005) - "Theatre"
  • Taste of Christmas (Warcon, 2005) - "Saint Nicholas"
  • Music On The Brain Vol. 3 (Smartpunk, 2006) - "Station 5: The Pearl"
  • Paupers, Peasants, Princes & Kings: The Songs Of Bob Dylan (Doghouse Records, 2006) - "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
  • NHL07 (EA Sports, 2006) - "Theatre"

[edit] External links

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