Glimpses of the South Florida Scene is a column devoted to the artists thriving within Broward and Palm Beach counties featuring interviews with the folks making it happen. This week, the Gun Hoes.
The Gun Hoes, at first glance: a punchy pun of the classic term "gung-ho," which at its root implies an eager willingness. The not-actually-Hollywood-based duo (you'll see) are certainly gung-ho to get people moving; their surfy, garagey jams stand apart from the rest with their catchy, almost pop-structured hooks. It's scuzzy stuff, true, but lighthearted at its core. We spoke to Gabe Miranda over email about their self-recording process and how messing around led to the formation of something legit.
New Times: How did the Gun Hoes come together -- when did you guys meet, and how'd you decide to form a band? Was it planned, or did everything just fall together?
Gabe Miranda: Anthony [Hernandez] and I have been friends for a long time. We've always had the same group of friends, and I've seen him play his drums in a bunch of different bands over the years. In late 2010, he decided he wanted to record some cover songs for fun, and he knew that I liked recording music, so I helped him out. We recorded some drums, some synths, and vocals. It was horrible. Those recordings were so bad that they will never see the light of day, except the one drum loop that I stole to write "Spooks and Apparitions." When I showed Anthony the song I wrote with his little short drum loop, he couldn't believe it! We started a band ten seconds after "Spooks" stopped playing in my stereo. We were just fucking around at first, but it all led us to start the Gun Hoes, and we've been pretty happy with the way things have turned out.
You've got an album and then an EP of sorts up on your Bandcamp, both from August 2011. What was the actual timeline with that? Was everything recorded at once and then divided up like that, or was the full-length recorded well before your single? Basically, tell me a little bit about your recording history.
The LP came first. Some of those songs in the LP go as far back as December 2010. But while I was finishing up the mastering for the LP in June, I had already started recording and mixing the three songs for the Ain't Gotta - Single. I ended up finishing both projects around the same time. We could've merged both projects together and released it as a 14-track LP, but I saw those three tracks from the Ain't Gotta - Single as a completely separate thing. I just don't think they would have fit with the songs from the LP, so a separate release was made. We could have also saved those three songs for another LP, but I admittedly rushed the release! So that's why we had two releases in August.
That would have been a great 14-song LP, but I see your point about keeping the new work separate. What are you currently recording and working on?
We've been working on our live sound a lot recently and we've improved so much. I recorded most of the songs before we even had an idea on what we were going to sound like live. I mean, I don't think we ever sounded bad, but we definitely sound a thousand times better now.
We also recorded a handful of songs not too long ago. I lost faith in a lot of those songs, but we did release one of them recently in September titled "Lotion Squeeze." We've also been playing this new song live called "LSDoom" that we haven't recorded yet. I have a bunch of ideas for new songs floating around in my head, and I might even revisit some of those "reject" songs later, but you can expect something new from us early next year!
Can you tell me a about your songwriting/recording process? Who writes the lyrics -- how does the collaborative process work for you guys?
I usually have a pretty clear picture in my head on how I want the songs to sound, so I try my best to make that vision happen. The recording process feels like its always different, and it also feels like a blur right now! Sometimes it's collaborative and sometimes it's not. I also write the lyrics for the band and thats probably my least favorite part. Lyrics are completely secondary to me. Thats why I recorded complete gibberish for our song "Moonstone Sisters." I just write to whatever fits the song; it's not meant to mean anything.
Talk to me about the local scene here, how long you've been playing in it and your relationship with it.
I'm located in Miramar, and Anthony in lives in Opa-locka -- we're not really from Hollywood -- and we've been playing around here for about seven months now, mostly in Miami. We're really happy with the quality of artists we've played shows with. I didn't realize how many different acts there were out here until we started to play out. I wish Miami's music scene was as known as the nightlife is here.
Last question, cheesiest of all... Tell me about your musical influences.
I don't like music that is too serious... I like to have fun. I'm influenced by good song titles!
The Gun Hoes. With Kool Skull, White Pages, Claws, '90s Teen, Dion, Eyelash, GG Mozart Band Experiment, and Blackout Anima. 9 p.m. Tuesday, January 10, at Churchill's Pub, 5501 NE Second Ave., Miami. Tickets cost $5. Click here.
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