Gyroscope - Breeding Obsession

They’re one of Australia’s most revered homegrown talents. With a number one album under their belts, Gyroscope are amongst one of their biggest national tour yet. We spoke to vocalist Dan Sanders about touching base with fans, Fall Out Boy being complete tossers and still calling Australia home.

When asked what Gyroscope were doing with themselves recently, Sanders was enthusiastic. “We’ve been preparing for the upcoming tour, rehearsing and working on getting that right”, he began. “We’ve also been demoing some new songs, just playing some new music and seeing what comes of it.”

The band’s latest album, the critically and commercially acclaimed Breed Obsession, released earlier this year, debuted at number one on the ARIA album charts. Sanders described having a number-one record, and all the support that comes with it, as “great, really overwhelming. I mean, we were happy with the album as a finished product, which I suppose as musicians is the main thing, but to have had such a great response from the public is just more than we could’ve asked for.” In support of the album, Gyroscope are embarking on the nationwide ‘Australia’ Tour, described as “our biggest tour yet… we just wanna go all out, and I suppose tie up everything we’ve done with Breed Obsession.”

Having shared the stage with some of the biggest local and international acts in music, Sanders cites The Living End as a highlight, referring to them as “great cats” and claiming that the band “learnt a lot from them as musicians”. Conversely, pop-punk superstars Fall Out Boy were less popular.

“They were just tossers!” Sanders said. “We played a few shows with them and they just kept to themselves the entire time, they didn’t even bother to meet us, they just didn’t have anything to say to anyone which isn’t cool.”

Regardless of where they’re playing, or who they’re playing with, Sanders considers the nature of the live gig as entirely important. “ For us a band, I guess it’s kind of like the grand plan. You want to play live as much as you can, for as long as you can. I think it’s almost a motto for Aussie bands especially, and has been for a long time and hasn’t let up. Bands are still willing to spend two months in a Tarago playing shows for everyone”. Judging by Gyroscope’s extensive tour dates, they’re one of those bands.

Yet, one can’t help but wonder why a band with a number one record and a huge fan base, who are entirely capable of selling out shows at larger venues continues to play smaller shows. When asked, Sanders replied that “more than anything it’s to touch base with everyone. There’s lots of kids in rural areas that often can’t make it to the big cities, so to be able to play for them and interact with them is really awesome. And in the same respect, some of the city folk almost become visitors because they travel out to the smaller rural shows and it just adds for a really good environment.”

The ‘Australia’ Tour is in support of Breed Obsession, which Sanders says was “probably our most organic record yet in the sense of writing and recording. We put it together over in the UK, and that in itself was a change from LA, where we recorded last. I’m personally not a fan of LA, and making this record in the UK was probably ten times better for it. The album’s basically the end result of eight to months of writing and demoing, it’s the longest we’ve taken to make a record and yeah, like I said before, it was just a really organic, awesome process.” For the production of the album, the Perth natives worked with Dave Eringa, who has previously worked with Sherwood, among a Plethora of others, and who is said to have “had some really good ideas on places to take songs that we hadn’t thought of and we just got a great vibe working with him.”

So, with a hungry fan base, two successful albums (Sound Shattering Sound and Are You Involved?) already under their belt and a healthy recording and production environment, Sanders reflects, “with this record, we sort of just put it together song-by-song… it’s more of a song journey than an album journey. But I suppose that’s where the overall feel of the album comes from, the chaos sort of makes sense.”

The current single off the album, the organic (and somewhat patriotic) Australia has been described by some as a modern-day anthem for the lucky country, and Sanders describes the creation of the song as humbling experience. “I went back to Western Australia with my wife, to a place called Derby just under Broome. I’d never seen that side of Australia before And anyway late one night, about three in the morning, I was reminiscing and I just had to write something, whether it be lyrics or a poem or just a line or anything. I ended up writing the acoustic chord and the lyrics, it all sort of just came out. It’s a bit of a tip of the cap to Australia our perspective on the country.”

The same country, it must be added, that continues to be treated to blistering live shows from Gyroscope. “Australia’s always on our radar”, Sanders assures. “I mean like it’s such a big country, there’s so much to see within our own home and you get to do things like touch base with the rural places. If you spend time in other countries, it’s good just to come home and travel the country and come to understand it better.”

With all the success of Breed Obsession, and the ‘Australia’ tour beginning in the coming weeks, the future looks bright for Gyroscope. Yet Sanders, speaking for the band, seems calm, if not silently optimistic.

”We’re just keeping the cards on the table and not worrying too much about where things are headed. That’s the Gyroscope way! I guess the next step for us is this tour, then demoing new songs, it’s all really just an ongoing process, which is what we love doing.”

Share this article on Facebook