Spirit Gun is a hard-hitting power trio based in Norfolk, VA. The band blend quite a few different genres together, such as punk, indie, alt rock and garage rock, making for something really interesting! Their EP, The Antonym, is a great example of the band’s sound – check it out at the end of this interview if you haven’t already!
By Jane Howkins
How was your 2022?
Oren: It was pretty good. Especially after not being able to play for 2020 and 2021 because of Covid. We really wanted to hit it hard. We played a bunch of shows at venues we never had before, we recorded and released an EP, and we played to one of our biggest crowds of over 1100 people. We’re excited to see what happens in 2023.
Tony: 2022 was a new beginning for me. 2020-2021 was a dark period with the pandemic, dealing with the loss of friends and even close family members, so ‘22 was a landmark year. I actually became the bass player for this project in January 2022 and it has been a heck of a ride. It’s been great being a part of the band playing shows and recording and releasing material.
Pete: 2022 has been very good for us as a band, this past year has equipped us to definitely take on 2023 and we’re excited to see what happens.
You recently released an EP titled The Antonym. What can you tell us about the EP?
Oren: It’s the first music we are releasing that we recorded at our studio, The I3. We have recorded a whole bunch in there over the years, but it was never ready to release, just more for ideas and demos. Since Covid was still lingering and it still wasn’t super easy to get to a studio, we decided to buckle down and make this EP sound great at our studio! After lots of trial and error and messing about with gear, we got it to a place where we could record the EP.
We like to group songs on an album or EP around a theme. The theme to this one is life, loss and the city. We wrote the title track, The Antonym, about our friend Jeff Hewitt. He ran a magazine called The Antonym dedicated to capturing the vibrant art scene in the city. He was a poet, a writer, a photographer, a musician and so much more. We lost him a few years ago and we wanted to pay tribute to him because we all still felt the loss.
Tony: The EP pretty much is a story book of the people and the city that they dwell in coming of age. It also allows us to tell the story of Jeff Hewitt through different spectrums, as all 3 of us knew him from different times. With recording in our own studio, it allows us to really put our mark on the songs without too much pressure on ourselves. It’s practically DIY which is key in my opinion, but then again, that shines a light to my musical background.
Pete: The EP is a sonic move forward in our recording process and these songs weave together nicely, but also stylistically stand on their own.
How has the reception to The Antonym been so far, and where can the EP be purchased? Do you plan to release any singles from the EP in the near future?
Oren: So the title track is the first single. We have a lyric video out for it now and will have another video for it soon. It’s already getting lots of radio play in the states, but also in the UK and beyond. It also appears on a bunch of Spotify playlists. There are 4 songs on the EP and we plan on releasing them all as singles with videos in the coming months.
Tony: It has been gaining a lot of traction and it’s only been out for a little over a month. Once we get more promotional videos out, I’m sure things will take off even more. People create a buzz around content that is constant. I’m loving the response and it’s just amazing having put out material that we believe is solid.
Pete: The reception has been great! The first single, The Antonym, has been getting a lot of rotation here in the UK. The first show to pick it up a few months ago was The Blackout Radio Show with Mike Pagonounas. Another song on the EP, No Reverse, has been getting added to a lot of Spotify playlists in the US and UK. We are not sure what the next single will be yet, but we want to highlight all four songs as singles.
All Spirit Gun releases can be purchased on CD on our site or in the PowerStep Records PowerShop! www.powersteprecords.com www.spiritgunmusic.com
Do you plan to release a full-length album anytime soon?
Oren: For sure. Next up for us is another EP. This one will have more songs, musical interludes and have a different feel than The Antonym. A full length is in the works as well, but after the next EP. So far our releases have been available digitally and on CD – for the full-length we want to release it on vinyl as well.
Tony: To be honest, I got a jolt of whatever and I wanted us to get wild and do an album after The Antonym – just because I was probably sort of flying high with how well we were doing at the moment. But, Oren had to reel me in a bit and it makes a lot of sense to take things a bit slow. It’s better to have a build up then to just go off with a bang and have nothing else in the tank.
Pete: To echo what Oren said, we are moving in the direction of a full-length, and the best is yet to come.
Your music has a punky, garage rock sound. What/who influences you most as artists? What have you been listening to recently?
Oren: It’s funny that we all have such different musical tastes in the group, but if you looked at a diagram of it, we would have a bunch of overlap. It’s easy for us to find common ground musically, because we are into so much different music. We actually made a Spotify playlist called Under the Influence of Spirit Gun that had just over 100 songs that influenced us. We’ll be doing part 2 soon. If you look at the list, you can see how different it is, but also how similar it is.
As far as stuff that is always in my rotation: The Darkness, The Cardigans, Flickerstick, Kiss and Ted Leo.
What I’ve been listening to a lot of are some of the musicians we are friends with. It always charges me up to hear great music from people I know. Herschel Hoover, Turncoat Syndicate, Nerve Scheme, Tornado Bad, Miles Hoyle, Old Scars – the list goes on and on. The cool thing is that if you check out all those bands you will hear how diverse they are, but how they each found their way to cut through and really rock the listener. That is what I like to hear.
Tony: First and foremost, I am a big fan of heavy distortion which pinpoints my sound and is the driving force of why I listen to punk, rock and metal. I listen to a lot of artists from the west coast, usually from SoCal, or Seattle/the Pacific Northwest or even stuff from the UK. But I like a lot of stuff elsewhere. There are definitely some great bands from our area, let alone the state of Virginia.
I would listen to some really underground stuff from Jermflux back in high school and one of my old drummers from back in the day was in the band Nobody. I listened to those guys a lot, but it’s hard to find stuff like that now. Whenever I walk my dogs (Autumn and Spring), I’ll usually catch myself listening to Alice In Chains, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Subhumans (UK), The Jesus Lizard, Bloodlet and Slayer to brighten my day.
Pete: In Spirit Gun there are many aspects – the punk/garage thing is a thread that holds the sound together, but we weave soul, funk and our other influences in there too.
Influences for me are vocalists Chris Cornell and Mark Lanegan. Some of my guitar influences are Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Pinback and Link Wray. What has been great about our Under the Influence playlist is that it gave me a chance to appreciate the influences of my bandmates and their favorite artists as well.
What do you think is the biggest challenge in the music business at the moment?
Oren: Just getting noticed. Everyone makes killer music, but there are hundreds of great songs that get released everyday. It’s a great big world out there, so getting your music in people’s ears is the trick. Luckily websites like yours help spread the word.
Tony: Getting exposure at the right time can be a bit of a challenge, just given the sea of bands and content that is out there. You definitely have to start small within your area and even that can be tough. You just have to have the right tools and go out swinging with what you got and always draw attention to yourself. Either it’s a certain hairstyle, a tattoo or whatever, you want people to be able to remember, you want to make it something unique.
Pete: Despite all challenges I think it’s best to keep the balance of meeting goals but to also continue having a blast playing and writing. Most of all, bring a positive experience to everyone you encounter on stage and off stage. Start with that and then getting noticed will follow.
You’re based in Norfolk, VA. What is the local music scene like?
Oren: Diverse. I listed some of the bands from our area above, and it is a diverse list. Norfolk is a bigish city on its own, but we are also part of Hampton Roads, Tidewater to the older locals. This is a collection of 7 cities that form a large population of people in South Eastern Virginia. This is killer for a music fan, because there is so much variety. Bands from Hampton could rock a little differently than bands from Norfolk or Virginia Beach. You could be in a different city within 20 minutes to an hour that has a totally different vibe, and that makes our area great.
Tony: It’s totally a different dynamic out here in the Hampton Roads area. Each city has its own sort of realm which is interesting, but it can also be a competition – like a city against city rivalry. When my family and I moved to Virginia Beach from San Diego a long time ago, that town was kind of a dud for me. It was slow yet too polished for my liking, but as I became a teenager, I started hanging out in Hampton with a buddy of mine and it was a totally different animal. It was like the Wild West and everything was grittier and more laid back. I eventually moved there in my 20’s when I was the drummer for the Minusmen. Even today, the 7 cities still have their own ways and surprisingly, Virginia Beach has changed for the better as for more out of the box creativity.
Pete: Norfolk has a lot of musical history in a bunch of different genres. I am very grateful that even as transient as this area can be with the military, we have flourished and can captivate an eclectic audience embracing a vast spectrum of musicians and performers. There are so many options of music in our city and the people really come out to support. That is the mark of a great musical scene in an area.
Do you have any tour dates lined up for the UK?
Oren: Not this year, but that is definitely a goal moving forward. We would love to cross the pond to play some music in the UK. I think I need to renew my passport first.
Tony: If you can put us up and get us a gig, we’re there dude! I have to for sure get my passport up to par as well, but I would love to do some shows in the UK – heck, anywhere the people would love to have us.
Pete: It is definitely a goal we are working towards.
Any last words for the fans?
Oren: First off please check out the EP. But most importantly, be kind to yourself and others. I feel music is something magical. It can change your mood, be a time capsule to another time in your life, or just make you smile.
People can do that to each other as well by being kind. I know it sounds all new agey, but sometimes it is easier to say something positive than something negative and that can be just as magical as a good song. You’ll be surprised how far it goes.
Tony: I have a few points I would like to share:
Support the artists and musicians, not the politicians. We are the ones that are doing more for the communities and we bring joy and entertainment to all, but that’s just me!
In the world that we live in, we have seen people do the right thing but we have seen a lot of others do the unthinkable. This world and the people are hurting and my advice is this:
We have to start showing love and respect no matter what. But, in order to do that, we must first take the time to show love and respect for ourselves as a person. Other than that, keep your ears peeled for any news from us, listen to our new EP at full volume and live life to the fullest. Like someone once told me: “Music soothes the savage beast”!
Pete: I appreciate you interviewing us today, happy to share our music with all of you ..
Most of all, don’t give up and keep going! You are so valuable to the people around you, not giving up makes interviews like this happen. Cheers!