Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Giga Herbs: Riding the boat, Froggin'... all in a day's work.

Hello dear readers!  The third Hearts Bleed Radio Showcase is coming up on May 17th, at Matchless in Greenpoint.  Closing out the night will be Giga Herbs, a super fun indie pop band that puts for a kind of post-dada/absurdist vibe...  Or maybe they're just crazy.  You'll have to come to the show and decide for yourself.  I spoke with their collective mind.  Here's what I got:

Hearts Bleed Radio: Ok, so I'm listening to "Mad Weird", your debut album. It's a pretty big block of work, 16 tracks... How do you go about composing?

Giga Herbs: We lobotomize our egos and pack them into a spaceship. We then tear a hole in the space-time continuum and transverse through different dimensional membranes until some sort of cohesive structure is attained. Basically, we usually jam the tunes out.

HBR: Who would you say are your main influences? I hear kinda a straight up 90's indie side, but also, like a groovier Hall and Oates thing.

GH: Daniel Johnston, The Band, Unicorns, and the Wu-Tang Clan. More recently, the Black and Flaming Lips --respectively.

The band, in 16-bit mode.


HBR: I think "Froggin'" is my favorite track on the album. What's the song about?

GH: It's about comin' up and chillin' on that lily pad, y'know what I'm sayin'?

HBR: Oh, that's what I thought... but you never know if there's a hidden meaning. Hey, what is a Giga Herb anyhow?

GH: Well sometimes a predator done come along and park his car on your lawn.

HBR: And that's a Giga Herb?

GH: No, a Giga Herb is a dud.

HBR: A dud? Like, a bomb that doesn't explode?

GH: Exactly. A grand dud.



 HBR: Ok, got it. So you're all from Staten Island? What's it like down there compared to the rest of NYC?

GH: Staten Island is the Biloxi, MI of NYC. Backwater rednecks frying up a turkey using a gasoline barrel. The red dot that voted for Bush in 2004. Everyone rides the boat. We're south of the NYC Mason-Dixon. They left us out of GTA.

HBR: I know. That hurts.

GH: No, it was for the best. Too many damn turkeys.

HBR: What's "Row Your Boat" about? In the verse, did vocal melody come first? Or the keyboard part?

GH: Guitar first, then vocals and everything else.  It's the LOL that exists within certain groups of organization AKA organizations for all intents and purposes.

HBR: The "Laugh Out Loud"? What do you mean?

GH: Well, it's funny isn't it?

HBR: Fair enough. What's a "Chicken Nugget Girl"? (or boy for that matter?)

GH: We're all chicken nuggets.

HBR: You are what you eat, I suppose...

GH: Spawns of spawns of the Baby Boomers.

HBR: It's funny how like, "Kids Menu"s at restaurants are always fries and chicken fingers, or a hot dog or whatever. Trivia question, what year was the chicken nugget invented?

GH: In the end, however, I like to imagine a gigantic cyborg chicken nugget comes to life and begins destroying the city. Let me Google that for you...

HBR: Haha, 1980! So it's pretty fitting, cause chicken nugget girls/boys are like, everyone who came after Gen X. What do you think of a Staten Island music festival? Good idea/Bad idea?

GH: There are already a few, I think. For example, Van Duzer Day and St. George Day.

HBR: Are those just celebrations? Or standalone festivals? I know they're doing Punk Island down there this year... (ps, "Van Duzer Day" is like, the most Staten Island sounding thing in history.)

GH: If you mean straight up music festivals, then yes, we should have those. That would be a great idea.

HBR: Yeah, like, Northside or CMJ. But just on the Island.

GH: Indeed. There's a good scene going on here and not enough exposure. We're actually going on a tour just to spread out some more. We'll be going with Matt Wilson and the Snowmans of Love and the Seconds.

HBR: Awesome, where are you guys going?

GH: The tour is still in planning but we're aiming to stomp around the Northeast. Montreal would be a fun place to end up at.

The band, in B&W mode.


HBR: Who are some other bands from SI that we should be listening to?

GH: We recommend Les Vinyl, Yeti and Milk Cup.

HBR: Well, I'm pumped to have you playing our showcase on 5/17. Matchless is one of my favorite venues. Where's your favorite place to play?

GH: Yeah, we're excited for that show. I think the Full Cup has been our most dependable venue to this point. We can always count on good folks to come through there, even on quieter nights.

HBR: The Full Cup is rad. I definitely recommend seeing a show down there, y'know as if there aren't a million reasons to go to Staten Island anyway. 

GH: Is that sarcasm? Because there aren't a million reasons to come to Staten Island. There's just one reason really -- us. Maybe pizza.

HBR: No, actually, there are a lot of reasons. Just to get on the boat and leave the city for a day is reason like, 1-4,000.

GH: You are one in 200 million, my friend.

HBR: I like seeing hills too. No hills really, up here.

GH: Our callous hearts lean towards pessimism and self deprecation on this lonely rock.

HBR: If you were famous and on a world tour, who would you want to open for you?

GH: If we were on a world tour, I, personally, would love for zombie J.S. Bach to come out and rock our socks off. But since that's not possible, maybe Daniel Johnston. Daniel Johnston/Casper the friendly ghost.

And there you have it!  To RSVP to the show, click here.

For more info on Giga Herbs, click here.

"Like" Hearts Bleed Radio on Facebook here.

See you at the show!

4 comments:

  1. Wow, pretty awesome the Giga Herbs are playing the 17th. Seen them play shows...nothing I've ever seen before... can def count on fun times and sick songs.

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  2. they r mad weird

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  3. these dudes def sux. LOLZ

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