Interview With 'Go Gracious'

Firstly, introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the band and how you came to be?

Dee: My name is Dee and it is a pleasure to meet you. I am 50% of Go Gracious and do the Sing Song bits and the guitars….

Go Gracious is the brain child of Morris (the remaining 50%, backing sing song bits, drums and keys) and myself. We both have an unconditional love for Pop music which I know is a very vague term so let me elaborate slightly.

The pair of us met initially on the road working with a band called Indoor Pets. Both of us musicians and professional road crew; we would drink whiskey around festival camp fires and revel in the idea that perhaps a young, fresh project wouldn’t have to be so restrictive. We all have slight issues with our work lives, some greater than others of course. However our main peeve was the inability to truly be creative based on the constant fears of ‘how’. How do you write music that moves you if you cant afford to tour with an orchestra? How do you put on a stadium Rock show in dive bar without convincing the owner they really should have a dry ice machine and it is absolutely more important than paying the leccy bill? How can 2 people sound like 20? These were the level of questions we would joke about, yearn for the answers and eventually come to work out.

Welcome to Go Gracious!

What were you all up to prior to the band, was this always the chosen path or did you have other dreams and aspirations?

Dee: Well prior to this band I worked as a tour manager for all kinds of Rock and Pop wonders, Ed Sheehan asked me not to mention who I work for.... also most stylish generation X’ers rarely wear the appropriate footwear for the weight of name drops I’m capable of. Before touring I actually was on track to study government and politics at Westminster, yeah I felt that bullet dodge too. Nothing that a few tour buses and knuckle tattoos couldn’t fix.

Morris: We were mean’t to choose a path? I’ve just been making it up as I’ve been going and trying not to die. Nothing much has changed.

I’m a jack of all trades sound and vision, although firmly a noise boy at heart, and that’s how I keep myself fed and a roof over my head, but the dream is to be able to stem hunger and stay dry by exclusively making making music.

My shoes are fairly sturdy and I’m astonished by how many people Dee has worked with that I’ve never heard of. Who is Ed Sheehan?

Tell us about your latest EP and why our readers should check it out?

Dee: Well our first ever EP ‘Petrol Money’ really has pushed me to find out a lot about myself. Before Morris came into my life I was writing stories about things that effected me. I loved writing, I loved playing and the therapy of getting things out in the open without having to confront the obstacles of a conversation was and still is pure bliss.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore conversation and speaking about issues is one of the few ways to really deal with things, however those things you can’t talk about? Those parts of your day to day that would require an obscene amount of self loathing to inflict your thoughts upon someone else in a conversation? These parts of us that we all have sometimes need a non judgmental outlet and I find writing does the job perfectly.

Sorry I rambled. Where was I? Ohh yeah Morris…

When Morris joined me in working out how to record these songs they went from something very mine, very personal to a whole new experience for me and I hope for everyone. It’s a very strange feeling to have something you thought was your personal experience opened up and for the first time you can listen to it as someone should. Open and vulnerable. That experience for me has made me love this record in a brand new way. Also it’s really good.....

Morris: The EP was really fun to make. Right through from demoing in my front room to the studio. It wasn’t all easy though.

Me and Dee approach music from different perspectives, with Dee focused more on lyrical content and vocal melody (of which he is a master of both) and me focusing more on the tone and dynamic of the song as a whole. So we had a few disagreements along the way, but the result is something which is interesting lyrically, for people like Dee who have an emotional connection to what is being said, and has something for people like me who tend to connect more with the energy of the instruments.

Also, it’s really good…

It’s available in digital and streaming forms everywhere you’d usually look and most places you wouldn’t on the 31st March 2018.

Have you ever come face to face with someone within the music scene who has left you awestruck and why?

Dee: I met Liam Gallagher at a security lock-down artist area at Rock Am Ring. The festival had been suspended due to a terror threat (all was fine) and we were being forced to stay in a free bar in the artist village. He was probably the calmest person in the room and for that reason..... he wins the Awestruck Award for not giving a F**K. My best pal Sam took a photo with him and somehow made it look like LG was the one asking for the photo..... so much swagger. That moment and the free bar make this a treasured memory. I think.

Morris: There was this guy called Dee… He was just so pretty.

If we were to head out to one of your live shows what can ourselves and others expect?

Dee: We have genuinely tried to bring all of our combined love for live music, showmanship and music into our show. Working out how to perform a record as big as ‘Petrol Money’ musically with just the two of us was a challenge to say the least and to be honest the only judge of that should be you. So come down and get weird?

Morris: Or come down and remain weird? The live show is a representation of 2 overambitious people trying to bring a stadium show into your local pub.

If you had one artist/band that you could go on tour with tomorrow who would it be and why?

Dee: Id love to tour with The Killers, they are one of the few bands im still yet to even see yet alone work with. I genuinly think Brandon Flowers is a genius and although standing next to a man who looks that good clean shaven is a terrible idea for my confidence, can you imagine working with a man that talented? He is so perfect it’s like I made him in a computer. Vegas did good people.

Morris: Dave Grohl. Everyone knows why.

You can spend an hour with a musical icon living or dead, who would you pick, why and what would you speak about?

Dee: Johnny Cash! Other than the fact he is the original baddass? Ok well, I have an argument a lot about Johnny Cash with friends. You have to understand I’m a super fan but, can you tell me one other artist who more consistently refused to sell out? Refused to cash in and refused to compromise on his art? As much as it would pain me, I’d have to ask him about his final months. He recorded so much music after June passed and although I already know what he would say, I’d ask him why he spent his last days in a studio? He savoured his last moments doing what he loved and I can honestly say no other human whom has walked this Earth has brought me more joy to listen to. Peace my old friend!

Morris: Jared Leto. I’d ask him what he does/eats/sacrifices to satan to allow him to look like he’s still 23.

And finally and most importantly is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

Dee: NO!!!! It’s THE CHRISTMAS MOVIE!

It’s perfect, you have carols, you have humour, you have one mans struggles to get back to his family for Christmas. Every year without fail I'll watch Die Hard on Christmas Eve and I will continue to do so until I die. Hard.

Also if anyone disagrees with a Die Hard fan on this subject, remember we all have visual training on how to kill people with Christmas lights…

Morris: It’s March and I don’t care.

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