"I thought the point of music was to ditch the boxes, and Loner will make sure to kill all and any boxes you might try and put us in," Drew Giordano told CL in an email.
The 26 year old frontman for St. Pete rock and roll band Sonic Graffiti is talking about a new album that his crew — which includes bassist Chris Cardon and drummer Trevor Mustoe — will release in the late spring or early summer (a vinyl release will follow). It clocks in at 40 minutes and features contributions from over a dozen different musicians including Jasmine Deja of Soapbox Soliloquy and Veiny Hands.
Read: Music Issue 2016 — a Q&A with Sonic Graffiti
"Our first two records were just the three of us and one dude hitting record. We've always kept it very minimal when it comes to recording," Giordano added, "[but] Loner does feature a lot of hands and an entirely new sound and direction within the band." The singer's commitment to not boxing the band into a genre or sound was the hallmark of our interview, and it stands to be the defining factor of Loner.
"We've never remained committed to any sound. I don't think we even know how to play the blues. Rock and roll is the idea that you can play music exactly how you are, rock and roll is a bastard and you can mix it up with all kinds of music," he added. "[The record] features a wide variety of sounds and songs that don't fit into any trend or genre. We pushed our rock and roll to include old time rockabilly, soul, funk, reggae, noise, jazz, punk and all sorts of psychedelic madness."
"Evil" — which is the first of Loner's 10 cuts — opens with a solo horn part before exploding into scorching collection of overdriven guitars, breakneck bass and sweaty, almost possessed, guitar solos. Listen to it, and read our full Q&A below. Sonic Graffiti first show after SXSW is at Don't Stop St. Pete on March 25 at the Morean Center for Clay. More information is available below and on local.cltampa.com
More info: local.cltampa.com
Can you talk about how you got hooked up with Alabama Astronaut as far as that last record went?
Alabama Astronaut found us from some random video on youtube that someone took of us playing at The Hub, they liked it so much they put a 7-inch out of us last year which featured songs from our first record and they are putting out our second self titled LP in April this year.
How was the Miami trip? Opening for Bloodshot Bill is pretty nuts.
Miami is always a lot of fun, we've had some really wild shows there, but it was actually Drew's other band; Deadborns who played with Bloodshot Bill, it was a really cool show and Bloodshot is the homie
Let’s talk about “Evil.” It’s the opening track of a new record? What is that record called?
It is the opening track of our new new record entitled Loner. The song was recorded live in my uncle's warehouse and then Jasmine and Fernando added some keyboard and synth overdubs afterwards.
Can you detail it a little? How long is it? How many tracks?
Loner is 40 minutes and 10 songs. I features a wide variety of sounds and songs that don't fit into any trend or genre hence the name Loner, we pushed our rock and roll to include old time rockabilly, soul, funk, reggae, noise, jazz, punk and all sorts of psychedelic madness.
Did Neil help with recording again? Who mastered it?
No, Neil only helped us record our first record; Friendly Unit Creation Kit, which was done all live in one take and mastered there. Loner was master by Tahlia Tinkham.
You records seem to end up getting a lot of hands on them. Who helped on this one?
That's funny, our first two records were just the 3 of us and one dude hitting record. We've always kept it very minimal when it comes to recording. Loner however, I wanted to try more. We had 16 different musicians including ourselves play on it. I mixed it with Jasmine of Soapbox Soliloquy, and she also did some backup vocals and played some synth on the record. We have always kept our records very simple; our last record was just the three of us playing, our first record only had our friend Dylan play keyboard on a song and our friend Danny play Harmonica on another. Not many hands for making an entire record, but Loner does feature a lot of hands and an entirely new sound and direction within the band.
You’ve been able to really sharpen your blues over the years. Talk about remaining committed to that sound, growing it while some bands are always looking for something totally new.
We've never remained committed to any sound, I don't think we even know how to play the blues, if you pick any two random songs off any of our records, chances are it'll sound like two different bands and that's something we hear a lot and really inspired the idea for Loner, to push our genreless-ness even farther into space. Rock and roll is the idea that you can play music exactly how you are, rock and roll is a bastard and you can mix it up with all kinds of music, people are always trying to put things in a box. I thought the point of music was to ditch the boxes, and Loner will make sure to kill all and any boxes you might try and put us in.
Lastly, how old are you? Where were you born and raised?
Chris is a 107. He was raised in the mountains by the thunder gods who decided to let him descend to Earth when he got his bass skills up to legend status. Drew is 26 going on 16, he was raised in the poppy fields of Cambodia, he was given a guitar at 21 when he got clean and returned to America. Trevor is 22 and was born and raised in Florida, he has a great family and girlfriend and is a really happy swell brew.
This article appears in Mar 23-30, 2017.