Meet Spirit Gun, a high-energy trio that blends razor-sharp rock, punk intensity, and soulful grooves. With Oren on drums, Tony on bass, and Pete on vocals/guitar, they deliver passionate, thought-provoking music and unforgettable live performances.
1. Tell
us a bit about Spirit Gun's lineup! Who are the band members, and what role
does each of you play in the band?
Oren - I’m the drummer and general “Cranky Old Guy” of the group. I tend to try
to keep us on task and maybe take on more than we can handle at a given time.
We all write the songs, but I like to come up with some lyrics, send them to
the guys, and see what they come up with musically and for the arrangement.
It’s always cooler than I hear it in my head.
Tony - I am the bass player. I tend to be the wild one of the bunch. I also tend to have a realist
approach on accomplishing what we try to do as a band. When it comes to song
arrangements, I usually add a bit more depth into the songs whether it’s adding
a certain effect or punching in a guitar. We always make a beautiful blend of
sounds based on our experiences.
Pete - I sing and play guitar. If I could sell my emotions, I'd sell by the pound. You need differences
in personalities to be unique. If there were two of mine, Tony’s, or Oren's
personalities in the band, it wouldn’t give us our unique sound. Having
differences can be a positive thing, sometimes, LOL! The three of us have
learned how to cover each other well when we are on stage, promoting the band,
and even sometimes coming up with similar ideas.
2. How did the three of you come together to form Spirit Gun? Was there a
specific moment that made you realize you’d make a great band?
Oren - So Pete and I have known each other for years and were already playing
together for a little bit before Tony joined. That was our lowest point. Our
original bass player had left and we weren't sure if we were to continue. Then
we started auditioning other bass players, and that felt even worse. All the
guys that came in were fine, but they just didn’t get what we were all about.
Pete keeps telling me he knows this guy named Tony and that he will be the guy.
It took a few weeks for Tony to come out and rehearse with us. I was skeptical
when he walked in the room, but I was open minded. He broke out a fretless bass
and I thought this could go one of two ways, freaking amazing, or horrible.
Lucky for us it was freaking amazing! That was the moment I knew we had something, on Tony’s first time
jamming with us. We had asked him to learn four of our songs and I think we
ended up doing like twelve! His tone, his timing, his playing, his personality,
were all the right fit. We haven’t looked back since!!
Tony - I remember Pete sent me a message to see if I was interested. At the
time, I was dealing with the loss of my brother (Carlos) and other things in my
life so I was a little unsure. Once we started chatting, things kind of started
coming together.
I hadn’t heard these guys before let alone even seen one of their flyers. So
the moment I stepped in for the first rehearsal back in January of 2022, I
wasn’t sure what to expect. Getting to finally meet Pete in person allowed me
to know him more but the true test was linking up with Oren since we are the
rhythm section. Not gonna lie, I was intimidated by him at first but once we
started jamming, the rest was history. As for the 4 songs they told me to learn
which turned into 12, they threw the kitchen sink at me! I thought I was going
to really mess up but that was not the case.
Pete - The Spirit Gun Saga is a long story to unpack. The most successful
period of the band has definitely been with Tony and Oren. When Oren joined in
2017, he came in to build additions to what I started and we really set out to
get the band’s name out there. We released our first EP and were playing a
bunch of shows, so things were going pretty well.
By late July, 2021 we were looking for a new bass player. I’ve never wanted to
just get somebody that plays and they just fill in a spot, we weren’t looking
for a hired gun. We wanted someone to be a full band member and a force all
their own. As I was scrolling one night, I came across Tony playing bass and
wearing a Misfits T-shirt. Like Oren said, I knew that he was the guy. After
that first practice we all knew we had something pretty special.
3. With “The Status Quo Must Go!” having just been released, can you
describe what inspired this EP and why the theme of protest is so significant
to you?
Oren - It was our song “Status Quo” and the world around us. I mean we all know
it’s an election year in the US and things are very tense around it. We also
had the song “Status Quo” for a while, it is usually our closer because it has
a great feel to end on. We knew we wanted to make an album around the song, so
it just went from there. We looked at what songs fit the theme of protesting
and changing your surroundings. So we had a few already written and wrote a
bunch of new ones and there it was. I’m super happy with how everything turned
out and It’s really great to see the response it’s been getting.
Tony - People need to make their voices heard. We also have to question
everything, especially if it’s something you feel is wrong! Fight back, point
out the corruption that occurs on a daily basis, and never be afraid of the
ones who are in charge.
They are mere human beings and not gods. With the Status Quo album, it’s our
contribution to buck the system that constantly ignored people for a long time.
On a lighter note, creating this album was a lot of fun. It reminded me of my
time in my mid 20’s when I had one of my many awakenings, so some great
memories came up.
Pete - The theme of protest is not as significant to me as is critical
thinking. We should not echo someone else's rants or thoughts, but take a step
back and find the truth. Standing up for a viewpoint in these times can either
tear down social resonance or, in the blink of an eye, negatively distract all
of us from the things that matter.
Are my actions, words, and decisions affecting the world in a positive way? Am
I doing more to help the world around me, or am I causing more division? I
always admired artists and bands that set out to contribute to something
inspiring by setting an example. I want to pay that forward.
4. The EP’s artwork features submissions from fans about their own 'Status Quo' protests. How did that idea come about, and what has the response been like so far?
Oren - The original idea for the album was pretty ambitious. We wanted to stage a protest in Downtown Norfolk in front of City Hall. Invite a bunch of people to make any sign you want and show up. Of course we wouldn’t have gotten a permit or cleared it with anyone, so we were going to do it guerilla style. We would have been in the middle and we’d have a bunch of pictures taken and hopefully one of them would be the album cover.
We would have also filmed it to get footage for the first video. We wanted to perform under an overpass downtown, not far from City Hall, and mix the footage together. It was just hard to get everyone together on one day. So after a few failed attempts, we just decided to have everyone send in their pics and we would collage them all together. I think it actually came out better than if we would have staged the protest. We still used the playing under an overpass idea and that is our first video off the album for track nine, “Stand 4 Nothing”.
Tony - I wish we had done everything originally planned on the fly, permit or
no permit, but we’re middle-aged dudes who can’t run that fast haha! It’s good
to dream and create a blueprint of what you want to make, especially with an
album. I feel an album sometimes tells the story for the listener while the
songs are being played.
The overpass Oren mentions is a spot in Downtown Norfolk where I sometimes park
to eat lunch while out on deliveries. I thought, man we should shoot a video
here and I had shown the guys a picture of it and we just went with it. The
location also kind of reminds me of some of the scenes from the Deftones video
“Be Quiet and Drive”.
Pete - What I love most about the album cover, and the whole idea in general,
is that people from all different backgrounds with different viewpoints were
given a platform to be seen and heard. It shows that we are a strong community
of people that can agree on music if not on anything else. I'm very thankful
that we still have that! The pandemic seemed to have broken down a lot of our
ability to be community-minded.
It’s never that we all think the same or we all agree, it’s that we can respect
each other's feelings, thoughts, and opinions! Are we able to put ourselves in
someone else's shoes? At the end of the day, we all have to live together.
Isolation has never been the right remedy for anything. A strong sense of
community can heal most wounds and we are lucky to have a very strong musical
community of fans and musicians.
5. Are there any particular events, social issues, or personal experiences
that inspired specific songs on this EP?
Oren - We consider ourselves positive people and a positive band, and we always
want to put out music that once you get through the emotion always has an
uplifting message. We’ve seen a lot of things in our many years and it all just
kind of built up. So just overall with everything we had seen and everything
that was going on in America, we wanted to use whatever platform we had to
leave people with a positive message. That even though things seem difficult or
hopeless, you have the power to change your surroundings. It might not be easy,
but you can do it. Also directly related to the first track of the album, Tony
has a cool story about that.
Tony - So, the chants that you hear on track one are from an anti war protest I
attended in Washington D.C. in the fall of 2007. I originally had actual audio
from a micro cassette we were going to use but it ended up not working since it
was so old. Luckily we found footage from the protest that we could use. You
may hear me chant with the crowd alongside the avant- garde guitar track played
by yours truly.
I’ve always been sort of a thorn in the side when it comes to the system as I
tend to question things which I feel people need to do along with doing their
own research. Just before attending the aforementioned march, a buddy of mine
from school lost his life while serving in Iraq. When making this album, it
sort of reignited some of the angst I was feeling from when I was younger and
to this day I still hold my boundaries when it comes to the way our country,
let alone the world, is run. And if I had the chance to have a chat with the 9
year old version of myself, I would tell him to not have any fear because
you're going to finally use music as a weapon against the system!
Pete - When we were writing Stand 4 Nothing, I struggled with the first verse.
On a spring tour, we visited the National Mall in DC, and saw a hate group
march down the mall, and that's all I needed to see. It was like the final
piece of the puzzle to finish the song. I believe in life you have to have a
why, a reason for something. I was definitely taken aback by the fact that
groups like this still existed in our modern times. But it spawned the opening
lyric: “You Come Marching On Through, You've Nothing To Say”.
6. Spirit Gun has been described as “razor-sharp rock with punk fury and
soul-drenched grooves.” How would you describe your unique sound and the energy
you bring to your live shows?
Oren - We just did the first leg of our tour to promote the new album and a lot
of people said we “Go Hard” when we hit the stage. It’s not like we make a
conscious effort to play fast or be intense, it just happens. When we hear the
music and feel the air move around us, it just does something that makes us
react. We don’t really notice till we come off stage drenched in sweat and
dripping some blood, that maybe it was intense.
We do focus really hard on our show, sonically and visually. I mean we don’t
have pyro or anything like that on stage, but we do have ourselves. We can look
at each other and know when to ramp it up or slow it down. We call it the
roller coaster effect. If we came out full throttle and stayed there for an
hour, it wouldn’t be that much fun. Roller Coasters are fun because you have
the anticipation of the fist drop, then you go back for another, then you speed
up, and when it is done, you want to go again. That is how we look at our show,
we want to pace it and control the tempos and the feeling so we take you on a
ride that you want to experience over and over.
Tony - The energy from the crowd is what sort of does us in. No matter the
venue, we would see perfect strangers who took the time to come out and rage!
So we try to give the people what they want! We like to have fun with it, I
tend to have a habit of interacting with the crowd while we are blazing through
the songs. I just love entertaining people. It brings me joy, you know?!
Pete - I don't know if it's going to become a quantum vacuum of sonic energetic
overload (or whatever they say about us). The music starts flowing out of us
and it’s like the adrenaline takes over. Being in the moment, but knowing that
you're in that moment is when extraordinary things can be achieved, that’s the
goal when Spirit Gun gets on the stage. It isn't based on virtuosity or some
sort of special thing like that, it's a matter of knowing who you are and what
you’re capable of doing in the moment. Great things happen when that awareness
is present.
7. You've played some notable gigs, including recent appearances on TV, a tour for your new album, and features on radio and Spotify playlists. How have these experiences helped shape the band’s journey?
Oren - Tremendously! You take every experience with you and build upon it. We are like a well oiled machine when it comes to load in and tear down, and speaking on the mic, or recording bumpers for a station. It’s funny that the stuff you get good at, most people don’t directly see.
Tony - It also shows a different light to us where we show we can do other things to bring attention to what we have in store. We like to have a little fun with making promos even though it can be a bit of work sometimes.
Pete - Even the stuff that we're doing now is beyond any sort of inclination of
what I had hoped for 7 years ago. One-minute things seem unattainable, then the
next we are on tour, with a new album, getting write ups from magazines all
over the world. Then there's a responsibility that goes with that, more
responsibility for that expansion, and realizing we are up for the challenge!
8. Can you walk us through a couple of key tracks on “The Status Quo Must
Go!”? What messages or stories do they hold?
Oren - I mean we have the obvious ones like “Stand 4 Nothing” and “Status Quo”.
Those are about standing up for what you believe and taking a stand. I really
like “The Heist”. It's an instrumental with a killer baritone sax played by our
buddy Raul Perez. I wanted to have an instrumental because I like the idea of
putting out a piece of music that can let the listener put their own direct
interpretation on the song.
I know what I think of it, but my lyrics can’t persuade you one way or another,
you have to give it a listen and see how it affects you. I really liked how
“The Opportunist” came out as well. That was a song that went through different
versions and it was always much longer. We were able to cut it down (although
it’s still pretty long, ha ha). That is a song that sounds like it’s about a
breakup, but if you take a second listen, you might find it’s about something
else. We also have a secret track too, but I’ll let everyone discover that on
their own.
Tony - We started experimenting with short songs to segway to full tracks which was different and very exciting. It allowed us to show a mysterious side to us that I’m sure catches people off guard. I really had fun with “Turn the Corner” whose lyrics were written by Pete’s close friends. I actually sing lead and with its sort of haunting sound, I was able to go into my underworld element and really belt it out. Recording the title track “The Status Quo Must Go” goes hard as it should but “Stasis” really gives you that standard post-punk feel that stands the test of time.
Pete - I'm an album guy, so when I listen to this, I see everything tying
together, and if you took any of these tracks away it would not be the same. I
like to listen from front to back and hear how it all fits together. Everything
counts and everything matters. It’s like a 10 course meal and no entrée, or
track in this case, should be overlooked.
9. Recording your EP in your own studio, I3, must have been a unique
experience. What did the creative process look like from recording to working
with Chris Kendrick at Whiskey Bear Studios for mixing and mastering?
Oren - For me, recording is necessarily evil. We need to do it, but I would
rather be playing live. That is what sparked the idea of putting our own studio
together. It took a lot of trial and error, but after lots of experimenting
with different gear, mic placement, and learning the software, we have our
studio in place where we always have a drum set miced up in the booth and amps
ready to go, so as soon as the inspiration strikes, we can be ready to record.
We can also record live with very little bleed over from instrument to
instrument, so that makes recording go quicker and give us more of a live sound
on recording which I tend to like better.
Chris is a musical wizard! His ears are crazy, he can just hear if something is
out of tune and if he thinks a song needs something, he will just add and it
will sound amazing! We recorded a single in his studio years ago and it was
super fun. This was before we had our studio up and running, so after we had
some recordings, we thought were good, we asked him to take a listen. He said
they were good and the rest is history. We love just sending him stems and not
telling him anything about how we want it to sound and when we get the first
mix back, it’s pretty much how we wanted it or better!
Tony - Recording is documentation of a song or songs that you have written that come to life to the ears of listeners. It’s necessary just to set it all in stone. But man, it’s never a moment dull with Chris Kendrick when it comes to his knowledge and amazing skill level when mixing and mastering. He is incredible to work with and he always tries to help improve the music and musicians themselves with great advice and tips.
Pete - In a way this kind of goes back to the community thing. They always say, teamwork makes the dream work, right? When you have people that are invested and they care about what you're doing, they're not just looking to edit your music and have you send them some money before they move on to the next band or musician. Instead, they actually care about what you're doing. That's a gift that has no price tag. Chris is pretty funny, too. We always end up cracking jokes when we're in the studio together and doing goofy impressions, LOL.
10. What do you hope listeners take away from this EP? Is there a central message you hope will resonate with them?
Oren - First off I hope they have a good time. Music after all is fun! I hope they dig the songs and it gets them moving. I also hope that maybe we plant a seed in the back of their mind, that if they don’t like something they can change it! It may be hard and it may not happen right away, but any change you want to make in your life or your community, you have the power to do it.
Tony - I just want our music, heck, this album to be the soundtrack of someone’s life. Whether it be a 20 something college student coming of age, someone advanced in their age who wants to reminisce about the days of being young or even a young child who after listening to our songs starts having dreams of starting their own band. Music passes along from person to person and it connects us all together which is very powerful. Without it, we would have never made it as a society.
Pete - I'm hoping that they see that rock and roll is still dangerous and
relevant. That you can have a powerful message in a song and it doesn't feel
like you're being hit over the head with it. I hope that people will go into
the graveyard of broken dreams, they will dig up their forgotten dreams, and
that they will be inspired by our music to follow whims and move forward with
something new.
11. Is there a memorable story from a gig or in-studio moment that captures
the spirit and humor of Spirit Gun?
Oren - I always consider us underdogs that work really hard and get lucky
sometimes. This story goes back to the beginning of the year. We had booked the
Richmond Music Hall in January. It’s a pretty big venue and it’s not even in
our city. (Richmond is the capital of VA and is about 2 hours away from where
we are in Norfolk). We play in Richmond a lot so we thought what the heck. We
got an awesome poster designed, we got some great Richmond bands to play with
us, and we promoted the show like crazy. We were prepared to have no one show
up, but we were very excited to play. The Richmond Music Hall has a minimum
amount they need to clear to pay for the sound guy, staff, etc before the band
sees any money. We had that amount ready to pay them just in case no one showed
up.
The green room is in the basement, so we were hanging out down there after
sound check. Fast forward to the start of the show, the first band goes on and
we walk up to see the show. We turn the corner and the place is packed!! It was
such a great show! All the band crushed it, we met so many great people, and we
were all flying high.
When the end of the night comes, the venue wants to settle up. We were still
prepared to pay them, but they ended up giving us a check! It covered all the
expenses, we paid all the bands, and still had money left over. That really
showed us that if we work hard and bet on ourselves, we can be successful. I
think that really captures the spirit of the band.
Tony - On our last recording “The Antonym”, it starts with me saying “Rollin’ with Burg” although it may sound like “Rollin’ with birds”! I don’t know why I said that! I say some pretty wacky stuff sometimes! Haha! By the way, Burg is one of my many nicknames but please refrain from calling me that when my dad is around. That’s his nickname too and it gets confusing!
Pete - As I answer this question, I can visualize Tony and Oren chuckling once
they read what I've said here, LOL. We were recording “The Antonym” (the title
track off our last EP) and I was doing the final vocals. There's a curved piece
of soundproofing in front of the mics in the vocal booth. It’s pretty massive
and made out of plywood, 2x4’s, and foam. So I was doing the final takes and I
was really channeling my emotions into the song.
I was grabbing the wooden frame while I was singing and the guys kept hearing a
thumping sound. I guess I was in a different zone and didn’t realize what I was
doing. I’m singing more intensely and then all of a sudden I'm pulling it out
of the wall! If I'm not mistaken you can hear me pulling this thing out of the
wall in the recording! The look on Tony's face was priceless! Don’t worry, no
damage was done, it was easily screwed back in place.
12. Finally, do you have any words of wisdom or favorite quotes that guide
the band’s ethos? If you could leave your fans with one message, what would it
be?
Oren - BFP(Be Fucking Positive!). We GET to do this. Even a horrible show is
pretty much better than anything else. How lucky are we that we get to play
music that we wrote in front of people that want to experience it??!! It’s
sometimes easy to lose sight of that. It is a lot of work and you don’t always
see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it IS worth it! Things don’t always
go according to plan, but whatever happens just stay calm and BFP!
Tony - Always have fun doing something you enjoy! I have been playing music for
over 30 years and I am thankful to continue to do this. Some people in my life
have crossed over far too soon and we are never promised tomorrow. Don’t let
time slip away, get out there and make something. Find happiness, be weird! But
most of all, never be afraid to be yourself.
Pete - I'm going to put this one out there. I’ve always thought this would be a
great tagline about our music, "Music For The Working Class And The Broken
Hearted". We want our music to make not just your day better, but it makes
your life better. Music as a whole has saved me thousands of times over.
Those late night drives, those albums that everybody listens to that keeps them
going, whether it's they've lost a loved one, lost their job, had a failed
romantic relationship, or any other tragedy that may befall them. The artists
and albums that got me through my work day also got me through my life. I’m
grateful for all the artists that have gotten me through tough times and I am
hopeful we can be one of those artists for someone else! Thank you for
interviewing us today. May your life be filled with abundance and
Rock.Roll.Soul!
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