In Conversation
With
‘Out of The Gray’
A little background:
This interview hasn’t set a record ‘Setting Sun’
Wise for the quickest ever interview completed
And got back to me at ‘Setting Sun’ head quarters
But it has come pretty damn close.
Since with the next to be published interview
By ‘Hexen’ – I e-mailed this interview over
To the band on a Sunday afternoon and when
I went into work on Monday, the interview
Was waiting very patiently for me which was
A real sweet surprise.
Sweet however isn’t a word I wouldn’t
Call Bolton (UK) based 5 piece ‘Out of
The Gray’ which despite having some
beautifully touching moments certainly
cannot be called sweet, rather melodic I guess
in places, but more often heart-breaking in
the same breathe with a girl singer who has a
voice to die for almost literally, which in a
just word would make them much huger
superstars than what they are.
I first discovered them by chance as you
Always do – in this case by the band
Contacting me through myspace.com
As a number of promising new groups
And acts sometimes do, but sadly
Sometimes also turn out to be a bag
Of rubbish.
I was really taken however by ‘Out of
The Gray’ I must admit with the delicate
Pose out of the group almost making me
Shiver in places, but only in a good
Way.
As I should have, I contacted
Them for a interview and like I
Said before – I heard back
From the guitarist ‘Yarky’
And this interview was
Enclosed.
For more information on
The band – please visit the
Band on their website
www.outofthegray.com
Some of the live recordings
In particular are incredibly
Touching!
Thanks again to them all
Cheers
AEN
Setting Sun:
How are things and what’s
happening at the moment?
Out of the gray:
Things are going really well. We're getting loads more fans
Through Myspace and all the gigs we've been doing.
We just played three great shows in Leeds, London and
Bolton and we're off to Manchester on the 24th August and
Planning a tour of Scotland in September.
We couldn't be happier really.
Setting Sun:
Next, can you tell us a little bit
About the history of ‘Out of the
Gray’ how you all met up and
To use my favorite word – who
Fired the starting pistol etc?
Out of the Gray:
Well, I went to a gig in Bolton at the end of 2004 and I
Was chatting away when I heard Heather and Gab start
Singing. I'd been going to lots of gigs as a writer for a
Music mag and I'd just never heard any better singers.
I went to see them again do a little acoustic set and I
Approached them and Asked to be their guitarist.
We wrote Broken Memories in the first practice,
Recorded a 4 track EP after just a few weeks together
And played over 60 gigs in our first year.
We added Andy on drums then Gabby on bass
around April of 2005.
Setting Sun:
What are your influences and
What have you been listening
To recently?
Out of the Gray:
The thing about us as a band is we're
All very different.
I lived in America for 5 years and
Love stuff like Matchbox 20, Goo Goo Dolls,
U2, Matthew Good Band and Dave Matthews.
Heather's a big KT Tunstall fan, Alanis
Morrissette etc.
Gab's more into dancy stuff.
Gabby likes Emo
And Andy is also in a hardcore punk band
Called Billyclub. Bring all that together
And you get something like Out Of The Gray.
Setting Sun:
Certainly from listening to your
Tracks on myspace.com –
I guess with the almost live
Feel to your recordings that you
Must play gigs on some kind
Of regular basis – how do these
Compare to your recordings /
Releases? Is there one you prefer
Over the other?
Out of the Gray:
I'm not sure how many live gigs we've
Done but it must be coming up on a
Hundred.
And when we're not giggin we're often
Doing little acoustic sets all over.
I love playing live and I love recording.
They're both great for different reasons.
As a musician you just want to connect
With your audience.
When you're live it's instant feedback,
You can see how people respond
To things. When you're in a studio you
Get more time to get things right.
We probably sound live in our studio
Recordings because we only ever
Record what we play live.
We also tend to just play the songs live
Together from start to finish.
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We don't use a lot of added tracks so what
You hear on the cd is what you get if you
Come see us live.
Setting Sun:
Listening again to your tracks,
Out of the four of them on there –
I think my favorite was probably
‘Washed away?’ – What is the
Inspiration behind that out of
Interest?
Out of the Gray:
Heather and I were jamming one time and I'd had
The basic riff to Washed Away in my head for
Quite a while.
Heather liked it and sang "Was a man in a
Backstreet..." we just went from there.
We wanted to know who the guy was and what he
Was doing. We wrote the whole song and lyrics
In ten minutes.
It's obviously a song about how drugs can
Ruin lives, but it's also got the circle
To it - the user becomes the dealer and
It'll all goes back to the start.
I like story with a structure like that.
The rock chorus is a bit more my influence.
It's funny actually, the girls weren't
Too sure about the "spinning me around like
A hurricane" but it's quickly become one
Of our favourite moments live.
We write all of our songs differently.
That's why we have such a range
Of styles in our music.
I wrote "Air To Breathe" before I was
In the band.
Heather wrote "Butterflies" before the
Band too. Gab wrote all the lyrics to
"Misty Morning" before I joined.
"Broken Memories" we all wrote
Together in our first practice.
Sometimes Heather will write a little riff and I'll
Put some stuff over the top.
Mostly all three of us write lyrics, Heather
And I write guitar parts. It keeps
It from all sounding the same.
Setting Sun:
What’s next for you all? Do you have
Any more gigs / recordings planned?
Out of the Gray:
We have about 15 songs. We've got nine
Of them recorded, but only four are really
Album ready. We have most of the rest as live
Recordings. We'd like to go in and record
Some of the songs we missed, hopefully before
Christmas. A couple more studio
Sessions and we'll have enough for our debut album.
In the meantime, gig offers are coming
From all over and we're trying to get
To see as much of the country as we can.
Setting Sun:
What is also the inspiration behind
Your name ‘Out of the Gray’ –
Is it some kind of reference to
Bolton (lol)?
Out of the Gray:
Haha. Yes and no. We get a lot of
Comments about it. The real story is
Pretty lame.
We struggled with names for a while.
I was messing with Heather,
Gab and Yarky (we were still a
3-peice at the time) and if you mess all the
Letters around I found 'the gray' with bk
Left over. I hate names that begin
With 'the' and the girls suggested
"Out of the gray". It seemed to fit with
Why we wanted to make music and reflected our
Dark northern mill town roots.
Setting Sun:
Anyway, a few slightly more
Light hearted questions to start
Winding down with… I notice
Firstly carrying on from the last
Question that you come from Bolton –
A city I know quite well from me
helping to run a writing group
Up there – although I don’t know
The live scene…. What is the live
Scene like up there? Have you been
To any good gigs recently?
Out of the Gray:
The live scene was none-existent really
When I got there. You had lots of
Metal bands at the Alma but very little
Else.
A group of us started off the Bolton
Music Collective and I got into promoting
Gigs in 2003. I started the first Bolton
Music Showcase in 2003 and we're in the middle of the
Third one now.
The difference today is immeasurable.
Gigs almost every night of the week,
Lots of venues.
It's a great place for young bands to
Get a gig and get the feel of playing live.
Setting Sun:
What would be your dream
Job(s) if you were not rock
And roll stars?
Out of the Gray:
I think being a rock and roll star
Is all of our dream jobs, it doesn't
Leave much room for any other dreams!
I've just finished writing and
Recording my first short film
(www.theloversfilm.co.uk), so I guess I wouldn't mind
That as an alternative.
Setting Sun:
Lastly, something light to finish off
(Borrowed from a pal's zine almost) –
Imagine you were ship wrecked on
A desert Island and could have
(Clearly have second sight here –
Lol) the choice of having 5 records
Or Cd's with you With a stereo of
Course- What would be your Desert
Island discs?
Out of the Gray:
I hate this question! haha. When I was
Writing I listened to way too many bands.
It expands your range but it's rare I get
Really blown away by a band anymore.
That said, at this moment in time I'd proably
Take:
U2's 'Achtung Baby',
'Beautiful Midnight' by Matthew Good Band,
"Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live" Cd,
Anthony & The Johnsons
And Matchbox 20.
It's a bit of an outdated question.
You'd take an MP3 player today and
I think that reflects how people
Listen to music now. Nobody listens to
Whole albums, we all pick and mix
The music we like.
