Gyroscope - The art of world domination

Since forming back in 1997 Gyroscope have come a long way. The lads have just finished playing a couple of dates to promote the single Fast Girl off their upcoming album. I caught up with lead singer Daniel Sanders to see how the band felt about being out of the studio and back on the road touring.

“It’s a good feeling mate!” explains Sanders.

“After being in the studio for such a long time you forget what touring is all about, after being on the Fast Girl tour, having that hour on stage, it just gives you a head check and reminds you this is what it’s all about again.”

The band have just recorded their sophomore album Are You Involved with a man who Dan claims is the bands favourite producer, Mark Trombino, who has worked with the likes of Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World and Jebediah.

So what was it like having such a high profile producer at the helm of their new album?

“It was unreal,” says Sanders.

“We couldn’t have even dreamt that, if you asked us that a couple of years ago we would have just laughed at you.”

With a high profile producer on board the band headed to LA to record the album.

All this would make most people lose their head, apparently not so with Gyroscope.

“Studio time is studio time, no matter where it is to us,” says Sanders.

“But then again knowing that you’re a bunch of Perthies from the most isolated city in the world going to one of the most craziest cities in the world was always a bit of a reality check.

“Going man, this is so cool, let’s just do our best so that we can look back at this and go that was the best time ever.”

Now that they can look back on recording the album that Dan says is the highlight of his career, how does he feel the new material compares to the critically acclaimed first album Sound Shattering Sound and their previous EPs?

“I suppose in hindsight the difference is this is how we should be writing, this is how we should create an album, that [there’s a feeling] we got it right this time if you know what I mean?

“These are the songs we wanted to put on and this is the way we wanted to deliver it. The end product is us at our best.”

While the band is happy with the new album a lot of new material was written over the six month period. The band then had the hard task of narrowing it down to the final 12.

“When you’ve created something it becomes your baby so when you’ve got 25 babies you want make sure they all get to see the light of day or get to see some sort of a release somehow because you just love them all,” he says.

“I think we all collectively agreed on about 15 songs then Mark came into the equation and we culled them from there.”

Since their beginning as “a bunch of snotty nosed punk type dudes,” Gyroscope have been lumped squarely in the punk category. Now the band and their sound have grown how does it feel to always be lumped into a certain genre?

“I suppose as you grow older you just appreciate things more and you appreciate your instruments more and you just appreciate song writing as an art more. You kind of just take a step up and you challenge yourself or better yourself in that certain way,” says Dan.

“People will try and put you into a punk or emo tag or whatever, but at the end of the day your making music to please yourself, and then for other people to make them feel something, it doesn’t phase us whatever people call us.”

So if the single Fast Girl is anything to go the album Are You Involved will only see the band move to even greater heights. So with the Australian music scene nearly conquered most bands would be looking at the prospects of world domination.

“We’ve always been a band to look in front of us so touring here [Australia] is pretty much it for the next month or so and you can only take that as it comes, you can’t really look too far ahead.”

Although he appears humble at first, Dan let’s us know that the thought of unleashing Gyroscope to an international audience isn’t too far at the back of his mind.

“But I mean in saying that we’d love to get some stuff overseas, whether that be Japan, the US or the UK whatever we’ll just put some stuff out there, put the feelers out and feel what the vibe is and see if there’s anything to follow up, be it a tour or a release and just keep all the options open really.”

Gyroscopes new album Are You Involved is out now through Festival Mushroom Records.

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