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Gas Giant interview (13.03.2003)
Gas Giant is a heavy Danish group from Copenhagen playing groovy,
bluesy stoner rock with psychedelic touch. They are coming to play
at our club on the 19th of April 2003, so I thought that some kind
of introduction was needed. Their excellent lead singer Jasper
answered my questions in the beginning of March.
You used to be called Blind Man Buff in the past. How did that
band differ from GG? Did you play in any other bands before that?
 Jasper: We changed the name Blind Man buff, because it sounded more like
a blues rock band and Gas Giant sounded more like "out in Space"
and that's more like us today… totally far out in deep space!!!!!
But still we got the blues in our hearts and music, we don't
wanna get stuck in any type of sound or music, we just
wanna play what's in our hearts right now.
What are your main influences? What motivates you
to do the kind of music you play?
In the beginning our main influences were Black Sabbath,
ZZTop, Hendrix, AC/DC, and blues rock from the late 60's
and early 70's. Jesper was the heavy metal stoner rock
and roller, Stefan was the blues guitar man and Thomas
was the pop guy with strong roots in Depeche Mode and
funky bass! So on our musical journey we passed by bands
like Kyuss, Monster Magnet, White Zombie and our music
changed into a harder and groovier way. Today, we listen
to all sorts of music, Indian tribal music, Irish folk,
psychedelic music from the 60's and 70's, blues, dark metal,
Scandinavian folklore, classic music, and music that our
kids make when they are playing on the floor! But the biggest
motivation for us is still and will always be the love
of Music. Hail, you old Gods!
You do have a lot of guitars on albums. Why do you
have only one guitar player in the band? Ever thought
of getting another one? Or is there enough noise as it is?
Stefan plays already like 3 guitar players!! Ha Ha… No,
we don't think we need a 2nd guitar player, but sometimes,
when we play live it would be nice to have a kind of
rhythm pumping and backing up Stefan's solos
How do you write your songs? There seems to be a lot of jamming…
We love jamming! And all our songs are a result of
a good jam, so we constantly jam when we play!
"Too Stoned" from your "Pleasant Journey in Heavy Tunes"
album is, i.m.h.o., a true stoner rock classic. How did you
come up with that song? Are the lyrics based on real life?
The song Too Stoned is based on a true life story from real life!
It's a mixture of smokin' and drinkin' too much for a couple of
days and then I (Jesper) had this flight to another dimension and
the girl I was with, turned into a demon (Which she was!) and tried
to take over my body. So when I opened my eyes I knew I had gone
totally insane! But a good friend of mine convinced me that it
was only the drugs... "It's only the drugs, man… Wake up!!!" so here I am back again…
How did you manage to get to play at the 2002 Cannabis Cup
in Amsterdam? Please tell us something about it!
Jasper: Gas Giant fan named Jeanett from Fredericia, put us in
contact with Rob from High Times magazine and he really
dug our Pleasant Journey CD and invited us to play.
Well, that was a lot of HIGH fun… We were the opening band
and there were cameras and people everywhere, so we were
kind of nervous. But the gig turned out ok! We went into
this big jam with the djembe and people were really digging it!
After the show, we smoked the last year's winner of the
Cannabis Cup, Super Kalamist... ....Waoooooooooooow,,,, that was
some strong shit... but we had a really good time down there. Very nice people!
7. You have a new album called "Mana" ready and waiting to be released.
Any luck with the record companies yet? What do you think about the
new album? Is it in the same vein with "Pleasant Journey…"?
Yeah… that's right, we have contacted 9 different labels all over
the world and we are waiting to hear… The new album, MANA, is made
in the same vibe as Pleasant Journey but some of the new songs are
more "open" in a way. We tried with this new album to capture some
of the more quiet moments in our music and just let them build up
to something higher and heavier! There is a good blend of fast and
slow songs and of course some jamming!
Is there going to be any single releases from the album? What
do you think about singles in general?
We don't know about any single releases right now but it could be
a song like Mana or Dragons Cave. We just don't know yet. We prefer
whole albums instead of singles, coz... A single doesn't tell
the whole story of a band.
You have gigged quite a lot. What band has been the best
to play and tour with? Why? Any special gigs that you'll
remember when you're 80?
Colour Haze was great to play and tour with, but the gig in
Leipzeig at Illes Erika, was one of our best gigs ever! The
Good Witch of the South started up around midnight and we
played 2 hours late… just a great crowd and atmosphere…
blood and sweat all over!!
If you could choose any band you like, whom would you prefer to play with?
We would like to play and jam with Black Sabbath, Free and
a whole bunch of tribal warriors with drums and stuff… yeah…
that would be cool… A big gathering of western rock music and
ancient tribal music.. To the Bone!!!!!!!!!!!
I've heard that you guys are rather heavy boozers. Is there
any truth in that? How can you manage to drink that much?
Jasper: Ha..Ha..Ha.. yeah.. we drink about 30 beers and smoke a half
forest of Ganja every night and in the morning we sail out in
dragonships just to conquer a new land and rape some new women!
We will hopefully see you in Helsinki at our club on
the 19th of April. What can we expect of you?
whole lot of Noise! No, we are really looking forward
to playing up north at your Club! We have never been to
Helsinki so we are really excited to see you guyz and girlz.
We will play a lot of new songs and with a little luck
there will be some jamming too...
Gas Giant is usually labelled as a Stoner Rock act.
Do you agree with that label?
No, we are not a stoner rock band. We are a band that plays rock and are stoned!
How has the addition of Scott as a guest on synth changed your sound?
It's cool to have Scott on synth when we play live.
It gives the songs a little more vibe and psychedelic touch.
What's the Copenhagen psych scene like nowadays? Are there
any good Danish bands that you would like to mention here?
The Copenhagen scene is full of Jam bands who play shitty
versions of old Dire Straits songs! No, the psych scene is
small but there is still something growing beneath the
surface and it's just waiting to explode. On Trial,
Mantric Muse, Baby Woodrose, Monoton and ILDHU!
What was the latest album you bought? What was it like?
Lou Reed- Transformer, Amon Duul II- The Anthology
17. Anything else to add?
Keep on Rockin and keep your spirits HIGH!
Check out Gas Giant's home page at www.gasgiant.dk.
There is a great, long spaced out jam by them on the new Copenhagen Space Rock Festival
2002 Compilation released by www.burnthippie.dk. They have also
recorded "High in a Flat" for a Bevis Frond Tribute. The April
issue of High Times magazine is out now, featuring a small
picture of the band and a mention that they played at the Cup.
More stuff on Gas Giant can be found at www.aural-innovations.com.
Please check out this great band!!!
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