An Interview with RAW Sydney Musicians of the Year: Gypsies & Gentlemen
Source: Gypsies & Gentlemen
We're starting to wrap-up our series of interviews with the recent Sydney RAWards category winners and today we focus on the band awarded the prize of Musicians of the Year - Gypsies & Gentlemen.
Not only do they have a great band name, but Gypsies & Gentlemen won audiences over with their strong vocals, catchy songs and all-round musical talent.
Check out the full interview with band member Alex below!
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Q: Congratulations on winning first place in the music category! Please tell us, what have you loved the most about your RAW Sydney experience?A: I think what we loved most about RAW was the opportunity to share our music to a crowd that was dedicated to supporting independent artists. Everyone there was already showing support to a wide variety of artistic styles and it's not often you get a room full of people that are so receptive to what you're doing, especially as an unknown. We also loved that RAW gave us the opportunity to play at some awesome venues, like the Manning Bar.
Q: What was your initial reaction when you heard the news that you would go on to represent Sydney in your category?A: To be honest we didn't even realise we were nominated to represent Sydney! We also only found out the day after announcing the winner for the national competition that we had won. One of the band members texted us all a screen shot of the RAW Instagram page with us as the winners. We were a little confused at first, but that quickly gave way to excitement. We were very honoured to have been chosen to represent for Sydney, especially after seeing the quality of bands that played at the Sydney and Wollongong showcases.
Q: When did you first discover your love of music?A: Personally my love of music came about a bit late in life, or at least later then most. I was always semi-musical but never really pursued it until after high school. At age 18 I knew that I wanted to be in a band and I started learning guitar and singing a lot more. The love of music grew as I learned more songs and especially when I started writing my own.
Q: What inspires your creativity the most?A: I'm inspired by a lot of things. Usually lyrics come from bits and pieces of everyday experiences. Sometimes I hear or see something and it puts a word or phrase into my head and I'll quickly write it down to use for later. Sometimes that grows into whole songs. I just need to be ready to write or record something at any moment because you don't know when inspiration will strike or from where. Also as a band when we build a song the music itself becomes the inspiration to write. The mood or characteristics of the chords play a large part in my writing. I tend to write to the music, if the music sounds good already I don't want to write something that will clash. I let the music inspire the melody and the lyrics.
Q: What do Gypsies and Gentlemen hope to achieve with their music career in the near future – are there any exciting, upcoming plans that you guys would like to share with us?A: We just want to keep writing and releasing music, and hopefully back it all up with some gigs and tours. We love music and playing live, so hopefully we get a lot more opportunities to do so. We have actually been in the studio the last few months and are preparing to release a few tracks. We will have details up on social media in the near future.
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We want to thank Alex for taking the time to answer our questions on behalf of the band and we wish Gypsies & Gentlemen the very best of success in 2015! You can find out more about the band through following them on Facebook or Instagram (@gypsiesandgentlemen). Enjoy!