The GTVs love Stax Records soul and they aren’t shy about letting you know. Out of the 13 songs awash with Hammond organ and reverb, seven are instrumentals and three are covers. The covers are of artists from the Stax repertoire including Booker T and M.G.’s and Ray Charles.
The GTVs also boast they didn’t use a single microphone newer than 1975 and recorded background vocals “gang style.” This is all quite apparent on their debut record “Sh’Bang!” a solid collection of garage-surf inspired soul. One thing is for certain, these guys can play.
Our sound might be best described as….
Garage-soul-mod-a-go-go, or thereabouts
We are…
Sam Steinig – Vocals, Organ/Piano
Scott Galper – Drums
Pat Wescott – Guitar, Vocals
Jude Dandelion – Bass, Vocals
We are originally from…..
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cleveland
The first time we met was…..
Sam and Scott knew each other from their neighborhood babysitting coop. Pat answered an ad. Jude answered another ad.
Our musical influences are…
Booker T and The MGs, Small Faces, Kinks, Beatles, Georgie Fame, Stax, etc.
Tell us about the Philadelphia/Mount Airy scene………
Mount Airy’s just a neighborhood in Philly. Philly itself has a helluva scene. Lots of different bands/styles/venues. Pretty cooperative and supportive around here. Very welcoming of touring bands. Gig trades abound. Crowds can sometimes indifferent, but very knowledgeable, and they’ll come out in droves for the right show.
You guys are playing with Reigning Sound at the end of the month, how did that gig come about? Who else have you played with , or who would you love to play with?
We played a kick-ass gig with Dick Dale, and on the heels of that we asked the booking agent for an opening slot with Reigning Sound. Doesn’t hurt that Sam knows Reigning Sound’s organ player…
What we are currently listening to on the road….
The van’s CD player is broken, so whatever’s on the – gasp – radio.
For fun we like to…..
Sleep. We’re older than you are.
The one thing we want you to remember while your listening to us……
We’re having fun, so it’s OK if you do, too.
Expect…………… From us in 2014
World domination. Short of that, a lot of sweat.
