Interview

I was able to sit down with the ever so enjoyable Gasoline Heart frontman, Louis DeFabrizio. The band just finished a string of dates with Mike Dunn (http://myspace.com/mikedunnandthekingsofnewengland) and the Panic Division and will be out on the road until mid july with Adam and Dave's Bloodline. With "You Know Who You Are" being one of absolute favorite releases of 2006, it's only natural for me to tell you that this isn't a show to miss...


EP: Well the first thing I was going to do was have everyone introduce themselves, but we’ve just got one guy here.

Louis: Yeah, you know. It’s kind of confusing if there’s like five people. My name is Louis DeFabrizio.

EP: Italian. Are you Italian?

Louis: Yes, very Italian. Red head Italian.

EP: That’s great. My mom is full blown Italian.

Louis: Really? What’s her last name?

EP: Well, she was a Bartolone, now she’s just a Jones. She went from cool to not so cool.

Louis: No, Jones is great. There’s Davy Jones…

Emma: Mr. Jones.

EP: Yeah, the famous Counting Crows Mr. Jones.

Emma: I always have one token line in these things.

EP: Yeah, I type up her line every time.
Anyways, I tried to do some research and I know that guys were all in previous projects before this. Do you want to talk about that a little bit and then how you came together?

Louis: Yeah! That’s fine. I’m 30, so I’ve been on tour since I was like 18. I was in an old indie rock band called Dear Ephesus – myself and the drummer were. That’s how we met Squad Five-O and our bass player, John. He was in Squad Five-O and we were both signed on the same record label. We met and we toured. I was also in a band called Tenderfoot. We put out one record – I don’t think it’s very good. It was alright, it was cool. Then I was in a band called The Kick. Me and Ricky were in The Kick. Our drummer was also in a band called My Hotel Year. So we’ve pretty much been playing in bands since we were 18, 19 years old. When the Kick broke up and when Squad Five-O broke up, it was at nearly the same time, I was just producing a couple of people – that’s what I was planning on doing. But I had written some slower songs and thought, ‘Let’s just jam out.’ It was me, John, and Jeff and we’re all best friends and we thought, “Let’s just record.” We didn’t think we’d go on tour or anything. However, there was Mono Vs. Stereo. They were always pretty into The Kick, but I never wanted to sign to a Christian label. They asked us if we wanted to do it, and said it didn’t have to be in the Christian market. So I figured, “Yeah, let’s just make a record.” Again, I didn’t think we’d be touring or anything. We thought we were ready for the second part of our lives, you know? But then a lot of things changed and the record came out really well, we were getting some good reviews. So I thought, “Let’s try it”, and here we are.

EP: Well that’s great. My next question was about MVS. You already covered it a bit, but it sounds like they picked you and then you recorded the album?

Louis: Yeah, we recorded the record about a year ago and we’ve only been a band for…I guess we’ve been a band for almost 2 years. Our first show was in October and then we made the record just after the New Year’s in 2006.

EP: That’s the first record, right? There wasn’t an EP or anything prior?

Louis: Nope. The Kick had a few EPs, but not Gasoline Heart.

EP: Since the record was released about a year ago…I’ve heard “Look Up Baby (Are You Bleeding)”.

Louis: Oh yeah? That’s very cool. Do you like it?

EP: Absolutely, I love it. Have you started recording the new record? Or were you just laying down a couple of demo tracks?

Louis: No, we’re recording a new record as soon as this tour is done with Matt Goldman.

EP: Oh yeah, Copeland.

Louis: Yeah, he did Copeland’s records and he also did the new Underoath. The last record we did with Steve Albini and he worked with Nirvana, the Pixies, Bush…but I never tell anyone he did Bush. But anyways, Matt is an old friend of ours and he told us he’s tired of doing hardcore albums or recording bands who think they’re Copeland. So, he told us he’d love to do a rock band and we told him that we’d love for him to work with us. The Kick did our first recordings with Matt Goldman. It’s going to be called “This Is How We End Up.”

EP: Sounds great.

Louis: Yeah! Anyways, “Look Up Baby (Are You Bleeding?) is actually an old Kick song that I put out.

EP: Oh really? I won’t tell anyone.

Louis: No, you can tell everyone. I don’t care. It’s about 3 years old, but we do it a little bit different live. It’s going to be on the new record.

EP: I always like to ask about influences. Everything I’ve read about you guys I always read a Replacements or Westerberg reference…which is great.

Louis: yeah, especially here.

EP: Absolutely, he’s kind of our local legend.

Louis: Well, what’s funny about that is that I’ve never even heard of the Replacements until the Kick recorded out first record. Matt Goldman was like, “Man, you just love the Replacements, don’t you?”. And at that point I didn’t even know who the Replacements were. But I remember that I had the old Singles soundtrack. Do you remember that movie Singles, by Cameron Crowe?

EP: Nope, I’ve never heard of it.

Louis: It came out in the early 90’s, it was set in Seattle? Cameron Crowe did Elizabethtown and Almost Famous. He did Jerry Maguire and Say Anything. Anyway, he does all these weird romantic comedies that have great soundtracks. When I was younger I had that soundtrack and Paul Westerberg put the soundtrack together so there were a couple of his songs on there. So when Matt let me listen I remember think, “Oh yeah, I always wondered who that guys was!”

EP: That’s kind of a great find, then.

Louis: Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, my main influence has always been Pearl Jam. They’ve been my favorite band ever since I was 14. I stumbled upon one of their concerts in a place probably as big as this (First Avenue Main Room), and it was during their first tour. I thought it was so cool. So, Pearl Jam and Pedro the Lion has always been a huge influence. Tom Petty, Patti Griffin…but these are all people I like. I don’t know if we actually sound like that, you know?

EP: This must be kind of fun playing here then because this is where the Replacements cut their teeth.

Louis: Did they really? I didn’t know that! What’s funny is that John wanted our band name to be something like rum and alcohol or gasoline and rum or something like that. Then another guy was like, “Well how about something heart.” So we figured, “Alright, Gasoline Heart.” It turns out that it’s a Paul Westerberg lyric…“With eyes like sparks and my heart like gasoline.” So, that’s certainly one of the influences. John is a huge Rolling Stones fan, Ricky is big into the Misfits, the Ramones, and the Clash. Gasoline Heart, when we first started, I thought was going to be kind of slow. I think our record is a little bit like that, it’s a little singer/songwriter. The Kick was so punk and aggressive and I was always pissed off, and yelling, I’d be all crazy on stage. With Gasoline Heart I thought, “Ok, this can be the opposite. Tons of piano, slower tempos, etc. So we made the record and I love the record. But when we started playing live I was like, “I want to breaking things again.” You know? It’s not like the new record is going to be totally different, but it’s going to be a lot more aggressive, but with good songwriting. The Kick, I thought, was a lot of aggression without any really good songs and Gasoline Heart was good songs but didn’t have enough attitude. So, there are some new members in the band now who are more from that punk rock aspect of the Ramones and the Clash and stuff like that. So, hopefully the new record will reflect that.

EP: I love it already.

Louis: yeah, get physched.

EP: I got an email from David Condos a few backs…did he already tour with you, or is he coming up?

Louis: Yeah, he did the first two weeks with us. Mike Dunn is with us, and a band called the Panic Division, and a local guy who lives in Minnesota.

EP: David wanted me to post something about the tour on another site I’ve been working on. I kind of joked with him by calling it the Super Tour because I’m actually a big fan of Mike Dunn, David, and then obviously Gasoline Heart as well. So, in a lot of ways it is a super tour because Mike Dunn and some of those other guy are pretty good friends with you, right?

Louis: Yeah! I produced Mike’s record, and Jeff and I played on it. He’s actually my next door neighbor. So, it’s cool that we’re on tour with him right now. It’s like we’re back home. We just got out and have a couple beers, and do nothing…

EP: Emma and I were saying the other say, “Dang, we want to go on tour.” It’s like our dream.

Louis: Just do it, go on tour. I’ll teach you how to do it. Be broke…

EP: We already are.

Louis: And don’t shower that much…

Emma: Check.

Louis: Go to a city and have nowhere to go for ten hours until doors open. Some of the shows have been really good. I wouldn’t call it a super tour, though. Orlando was awesome…that was our hometown show. So, that was kick ass. A good show is about 40 people. We’ve had two or three awful shows where there is only 6 or so. We’ve figured out a way to make it fun, though. We’ve been playing a lot of big places. I’ll just bring everyone on stage…

EP: Do you have a tambourine? We’ve talked about that.

Emma: It’s another dream of ours, we need to get it off the checklist…

Louis: I’m going to teach you girls to get a new dream! A dream where you actually end up happy. No, I’m just kidding. Let me see these interview questions.

EP: There’s only one more left. When are you done with tour?

Louis: We’re done July 20th. Is this annoying that I grabbed this? I should interview you. Our last show is July 20th.

EP: You’ve got a ways to go, then.

Louis: Yeah. We’re going out with this band called Adam and Dave’s Bloodline. They’re awesome. They are two of the guys that used to be in Squad Five-O, but they play in Marah now. Have you heard of them?

EP: Yeah, from Philadelphia, right?

Louis: Yep! So we’re going out with them and we think that’s going to be awesome. So, it should be fun. So this for EmotionalPunk.com, right? Where is that based out of?

EP: I think he’s living down in the Denver area right now.

Louis: Ok, cool. I really appreciate that review you did. It’s funny, we’ve gotten a lot of great reviews, but we’ve gotten some really awful ones as well. One guy said, “How do you sound like Dave Grohl, Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen…and still suck?” That’s the one I remember, and it’s still funny.

EP: Thanks for sitting down with us. I appreciate it!

Louis: Yeah, no problem!