Getting to Know: Ambient Rockers, Gracie Mae
In today’s Getting to Know, we meet ambient rockers, Gracie Mae, a band that strives on avoiding the artistic limitations they had in past musical lives. If you are in an up and coming band that would like to partake in a Getting to Know feature, contact editor@riffyou.com to receive the questionnaire and instructions. Thanks!
Band Name: Gracie Mae
Band Members: Aaron Barry (vocals, guitar), Tanner Havens (bass), and Ryan Caron (drums).
Years Active: 1/2 a year
City of Origin: Chatham, ON.
Who are you and what do you do?
“My name is Aaron. I sing, play guitar, and primarily write for the band Gracie Mae.”
In 100 words or less, tell us how your band has gotten to this point.
“When Tanner and I saw the writing on the walls of our previous post-hardcore band folding, Anu Beginning, we began writing for a new band. We both love ambient rock, folk, punk and rock, and decided to take that approach to music. We immediately called in Ryan, whom we both knew to play drums, as he seemed to be the perfect fit. We’ve been working at it since.”
What is your latest release and how would you best describe it to someone who hasn’t heard your band?
“We’re actually just getting ready to release our physical CD. We recorded a three song EP and released it in November (digital only), and then an additional three songs this April (which close off the concept for the first EP in completion). We plan on releasing all of that on one disc soon. It’ll be split in two halves, the first three songs under the title: I: Harbour and Ship, and II: Storms and Stars.
“To someone who hasn’t heard the band, I would describe it as ambient driving rock. We take a lot of influence from bands like Sleeper Set Sail, Deftones, Incubus and Sunny Day Real Estate… kind of ambient, with as much catch appeal as we can squeeze in to our songs.”
When making an album, which aspect of the process do you put the most time into and why?
“As the sole songwriter, a lot of my time is spent alone tracking demos and writing songs. For the most part, when I bring a song to Tanner and Ryan to work on, it’s 90% completed as far as structure, and content goes. We then spend a lot of time working out parts to compliment the main lines of the song. Both Tanner and Ryan are very tasty, and tasteful players. We spend most of our time in the process rehearsing and figuring out how to best compliment the songs with the instrumentation. When we hit the studios, 99% of the parts are written. We tend to work in the studio very quickly.”
What is the best part about your band and why?
“The last band I played in a band, we kind of got lumped in with metal bands. It was a tough scene…we were friends with everyone, but the metal world is funny. Over the five years we were a band, we saw these trends of who can tune the lowest, who can play the heaviest breakdown or the fastest blast beats etc. It was like, if you didn’t detune your guitar, and play these uber heavy breakdowns, you didn’t quite fit in. We never did. We were the band that was too heavy for pop-punk shows, and not heavy enough for metal shows…yet we did both, and actually played tons…typically 80-100 shows a year. But, it was tough to try to do anything out of the boundaries of the ‘metal mold.’ This band has allowed us to be creative, and do what we want to do, write the way we want to, and express ourselves in a different way. We can write an ambient seven minute song, and the next song be a driving pop song. The creative freedom aspect is one of the best parts for sure.”
What makes your band unique from the rest?
“Every band thinks it is unique, but when it comes down to it, every band is following some kind of trend, or in the footsteps of another band. I think we are unique because we meld ambient parts, with driving parts, then hook people in with a killer pop chorus. My forte is writing killer choruses, so maybe that’s what makes us unique: we write good choruses. I mean, we aren’t Katy Perry or anything, but we have memorable choruses!”
How does your band survive the challenges of touring/gigging?
“Well, we are actually just getting ready to start playing shows. We took our time writing these EPs, and rehearsing, and didn’t want to start playing shows prematurely before we were ready. Fortunately, as I’ve said, my last band did a lot of touring around 
and tons of gigging – 370ish shows in 5 years – so we learned a ton of stuff about keeping our gear up, keeping our bodies in working order, the importance of rest, and to always do our research about cities and venues we were going to. Ryan and I both work in a guitar shop, so we always are prepared with cables, sticks, strings, extra gear, and backup everything. We find that to be the best way to survive touring and gigging, especially when you are 10 hours from home, in a city where you don’t know where the music stores are.”
Would you rather be critically-acclaimed; rich and famous; or an under-the-radar band with a dedicated fan base?
“Any musician that tells you they don’t want to be a critically acclaimed, rich and famous band is full of shit. Every musician wants to get paid! Under the radar is cool though, you connect to fans on a different level, and you can walk around without cameras on you. But, I’ll take the critical acclaim and money thanks. I’ll sell out to pay off my student debts and car payments and Visa any day!”
If you’d have to compare your band to another one out there, living or dead, who would it be and why?
“Well, I can tell you what people have told me we sound like, and I can tell you what I think we sound like. We hear things like Manchester Orchestra, Thrice, Deftones, Sunny Day Real Estate. I kind of liken us to Sleeper Set Sail, Brand New or ‘70s ambient rock. It’s all subjective.”
Which band/musician would you like to share many drinks with? What would you talk about?
“I’d like to spend some time with my favourite frontman, guitar player and lyricist, Claudio from Coheed and Cambria, so that I could pick his brain. Then, get him hammered and take advantage of him.”
Please be sure to follow us on Twitter @riffyou and at Facebook.com/riffyou.
