A Conversation With Reef’s Gary Stringer
| 1st March 2016
If you don’t recognise the song ‘Place Your Hands’ by its name, type it into YouTube and I promise you will. The band, originally from Glastonbury, have made a name for themselves over the past 20 years with their rock n’ roll sound. I had the chance to speak to Gary Stringer, the vocalist, about what the band have been up to recently. Check it out below!
How has 2016 been for you guys so far?
It has been fantastic! We’ve spent a lot of time writing, making music, writing music. It has been really good fun.
You’ve got a new guitarist, Jesse Wood. How has this changed the dynamic of the band?
Well, he’s brought a whole new ball of energy to the band. After the last guitarist, Ken, decided that he no longer wanted to create music and stepped aside, we held auditions. All the guys could play, but Jesse just stood out with his style, but also we wrote a song together in the first hour of our first day together – that really stood out.
We’ve read previous interviews you guys have done, and we know you’ve been back in the studio. What can we expect to hear from the new material?
Well… It’s hard to describe music! But we are a rock n’ roll band making new songs. We did two sold out shows down in St Ives. So we did the One Show piece on Place Your Hands on the Tuesday, and ran through the new songs on the Wednesday, and then the Thursday we went down to St Ives – surfed down on the beach, played and recorded the show live at St Ives in the Guildhall that night. We did the same venue a second time and recorded it. Both shows sold out. We put the two films together to create a live record which has been sold at shows and will be released on the same day as the new single, which is called ‘How I Got Over’. That should start being played on the radio soon – Chris Evans played it as an exclusive the other day. We travelled back up to London, performend once again and then on the Sunday, we started tracking the single ‘How I Got Over’ – we recorded the bass, the guitar, Jesse nailed it all in one hit, then I flew out to Los Angeles to do the vocals a few days later, before we put the piano and the choir on. So yeah, we’re really happy with how it sounds!
Wow. Very busy schedules for you all!
It’s been crazy busy. Since last summer, it has really been kicking off for us and we’ve got this tour now – we did two warm up shows last week and we leave again tomorrow. We are basically working straight through until the first week of April, and then we hope to go into the studio in May to record some new songs!
How will your upcoming tour differ from the ‘old days’ such as Glastonbury in 1995?
That’s hard to say. I like to just come out on stage and throw down some energy and usually you get it back. 99 times out of 100 you get it back and that whole thing balloons. I don’t like to be too regimented – go out, have fun, play old songs, play new songs and make a rock n’ roll night of it!
When you go on stage, do you get a vibe, as to whether you’re going to performing to a good crowd or not?
Yeah, definitely. The vibe of the crowd is how the night goes. It is the same with the band, but the crowd is so important to the character of the show! Luckily, all the recent shows we are playing are full houses – people doing crazy things and dancing in the audience, which is a really good sign. It is nice to be around. And to think that I can go and sing, and people sing back to me. Especially after doing it for so long, it’s really cool!
What has been a personal highlight, or a highlight for the band during the past 20 years?
Well, I reckon it is everything to do with music for me. Going out to LA to record three different records – we were there for three months: recording, visiting amazing studios, going surfing all over the world. I’ve played gigs in Sydney, Norway, New Zealand, Istanbul, Spain… North America, Canada – it’s all those things mixed up! It’s everything: Top of the Pops, playing in a barn in the middle of nowhere. Pulling out one thing wouldn’t feel right, it’s everything you can imagine. It’s been such good fun. I’m very lucky.
Who are you favourite musicians, who really influenced you to get into the industry and who influence you now?
The first guy that really got me interested was Bon Scott, the original singer with ACDC. I liked how rebellious they were and that they didn’t follow any rules. They were kind of like proto-punk but with long hair! They were cool.
Once I started to sing, I got into Aretha Franklin and James Brown. Live at the Apollo blew me away. Nowadays, I love what Queens of the Stone Age have done over the years, Kings of Leon… I love what Lorde does with her melodies, I think she is really clever. There is all sorts, it is nice to listen to music and get into it.
How did you feel after the news that David Bowie, a music icon had passed away?
It was obviously incredibly sad, and a massive surprise. He kept his passing and illness a bit of a secret among family, I think, so yeah it was a surprise. I thought the BRIT’s the other day was quite moving; to hear Annie Lennox talk so kind, and Gary Oldman come out and speak beautifully about David Bowie – he knew him, so I don’t think I can top what he had to say. He was a visionary in his music and very honest.
‘Place Your Hands’ is one of those songs that, no matter how old you are, when it comes on in a club, everyone sings along. Would you say this has been the best sound you’ve created as a band or is that the one that just gained the most popularity?
Well, maybe both. The sound is classic – you have to take your hat off to George Drakoulias for that. He helped create and craft that sound. Yeah, I mean, I love that song! We still play that song and we get really into it. It’s the song that stopped me from having a real job, it’s the song that people know. We have had nine top 40 singles, and that’s the one that is the real big hit. I love Place Your Hands.
Well, so do we!