Y'know that feeling when you chance upon a band on Myspace that completely blows you away? Meet Dead Gaze, the musical alias of Mississippian R. Cole Furlow. A friend of ours described him as a 'tropical Wavves', but if you took Nathan Williams' straight-up distorted surf pop and threw in some Panda bear-esque atmospheric vocals and multi-instrumentation, you'd be closer the mark.
After having debut LP The Pride of Calling Panther Lake on repeat for the past few weeks, and with the follow-up EP Small Lava imminent, we decided to ask him a few questions.
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Tell us a little bit about yourself and how Dead Gaze started out. What are your influences, musically or otherwise?
Dead Gaze started out as outlet for me to write songs about my home state of Mississippi and the people living here. Initially, i just wanted to record as much loud, pastoral-ish pop music as possible. I think it really just ended up with me spacing out and forcing the music out the door. My father lives in the middle of nowhere, with really nice trees and a backwoods pond. that setting was definitely a nice piece of inspiration. He's a band director at the local community college in Wesson, and lets me use his band hall for recording. I've found sitting out there for a while makes you think a bit clearer, and maybe let's you focus a bit more. It was a nice atmosphere to record and have a place to be weird. And that was good. My influences change everyday. Right now I've been jamming a bunch of Jay Dee, Yabby You, Fleetwood Mac, Spacemen 3, John Hurt, Jorge Ben, R Stevie Moore, Harmonia, and Waylon Jennings to name a few.
To these British ears at least, you have a definite West Coast sound. What's it like making music in Mississippi? Is there a supportive local music scene? Do many touring bands pass through the area?
I dig the West Coast, for sure, but it's not me. I think Mississippi is a comfortable place to make music. It's really laid back. In my world, I am lucky enough to have a bit of a hideaway from the city. Which is where a ton of my inspiration for making these tunes comes from. Lots of bands come through the north part of the state where Oxford is. Next weekend Animal Collective is playing in Oxford which will be rad. Japandroids, Woven Bones, and Jacuzzi Boys are all playing in the next couple weeks as well. A lot of my buddies in Taylor, Ms have started an arts collective which has blown up. And Jackson has a couple decent venues. There are some great song writers from around here, which sometimes makes performing new tracks for people intimidating. But generally speaking, MS is pleasant.
You gave away your first release 'The Pride of Calling Panther Lake' for free. What was your reasoning behind this? Do you think new artists need to do something like that to get a foot in the door? And what are your thoughts on illegal fire sharing, mp3s blogs, and such?
I gave it out free so people would listen to it. I just want people to have it, and listen. I enjoyed making it, and i do see an understandable amount of worth somewhere in the mix sometime soon on the next releases. But i'm going to keep releasing music, no matter the case. Illegal file sharing is here. that's why making nice records is important.
Tell us a little bit about your next release.
I'm actually releasing a new EP called SMALL LAVA next week. It's more sample based than the full length. There's not nearly as much space as there was in the first release. I had a lot of fun making these songs, and i think it shows. I always wish my tunes would end up happier, and i think sometimes on this release they do.
What can people expect from your live shows? How does the band set up differ from your recorded output?
The band has it's first real show on the 9th of June. We got together and played a bit. It's way more sludgy live than on recording. The band is musically the most talented line up I've ever played with. so I'm super excited about the chance to sweat it out.
What are your plans for the summer, and beyond?
Keep recording, play some shows. seriously nothing too exciting. it gets really hot here in the summer time, and it kinda drains you after a while. so staying cool will probably be something i look into doing all summer. Hopefully a bit more drinking, and a lot more recording. Always check the myspace page and stay posted for new releases and shows. If i could release something every day, i would and i might try depending on how slow the summer truly gets.
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A Simple Man (taken from The Pride of Calling Panther Lake LP)
PARTYNICE readers can be the first to hear the new SMALL LAVA EP by clicking here.
myspace.com/deadgazetunes
INTERVIEW BY CRAIG NUNN
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