Atlanta’s own, Gringo Star has made a name for themselves as indie darlings with a bit of Brit-rock fuzziness. Their 2008 critically acclaimed debut, All Y’all was praised by several music publications, allowing them to tour in the U.K. as well. The band released their follow up album, Count Yer Lucky Stars, this past October, and are back in their home town and playing at The Earl tomorrow. They joined us for our 5GB series.
What’s the first gig you’ve ever attended?
Bob Dylan in 1988, when I was about 8 and Peter was 4. Sure it was a little past his heyday, but everyone got kinda weird in the 80’s. It was at some auditorium. I remember they were handing out earplugs to everyone coming in cause they were playing so loud. This was when I first decided earplugs were useless if you are trying to hear anything.
What is the best gig that you’ve ever played/performed?
A couple months back we had the amazing opportunity to close the Pepsi Stage at the Super Bowl Village on one of the nights before the super bowl. We got to play for like 100k people. They had about 12 city blocks shut down, and it was wall-to-wall people everywhere. They had giant speakers/ video screens every block to project the music around the city. That was a lot of fun. We got warned that they were gonna have all this security, and they were gonna take a dog and search our van for bombs, and all this, and when we got there, we just drove right down a pedestrian path to the stage, and not one of the 20,000 cops even stepped forward to check our parking pass. We were just driving through a giant crowd, and no one said anything. But we still stuck all the pot in a peanut butter jar to be safe.
What is the best gig you have ever seen?
Sovus Radio at the Earl with All the Saints. THAT was a good night. Sovus killed it as always, but nothing tops ‘my fantasy is an apocalyptic western.’ I did however, by accident, throw a glass bottle that shattered around my feet and the feet of those around me, and then later in the night felt pretty bad when my friend Carly lost one of the diamonds in her wedding ring, but mostly because I realized how much broken glass looks like diamonds. Sorry about that.
Gig you would most like to play?
Jimmy Fallon’s show, and Conan, and Letterman.
What would be the lineup for your dream gig?
That would happen at the Tabernacle, with Lightnin’ Ray Jackson and Sovus Radio. Billy Fogg would be manning the lighting station.
And the whole thing would be catered by El Torero.
Catch Gringo Star tomorrow April 13th at The Earl
