gal pal on Growth, Grief and Gestures of Care in New Album 'This and Other Gestures'
Photo by Carly Rene Hough
Los Angeles-based band gal pal’s newest album This and Other Gestures is a testament to the band’s long-standing friendship, allowing for three creative counterparts to dive into life’s challenges and beauty, coming out with an experimental record and a resonating listening experience. Composed of Emelia Austin, Shayna Hahn, and Nico Romero, the band found each other early in their lives at college in Santa Cruz. Now in their 20’s, This and Other Gestures is their first album in six years, showcasing elements of growth and change they have experienced individually or with one another. In a conversation with Unpublished Magazine, the band dove into the new album, reflecting on music videos, creative collaboration, and their deep-rooted friendship.
Photo by Carly Rene Hough
[UNPUBLISHED]: Can you guys tell me a little bit about yourselves and how gal pal came to be?
[NICO]: I've been playing music for a long time and met these two in college when I'd only been playing guitar and wanted to play in a band. I bought a drum set so I could pretty much be in a band because that was the thing that no one did. There were few drummers, few people who had drum sets. So, I was like, okay, if I have that, then I'm in a band. I just remember meeting in school and things just kind of clicked together in that way of like, "do you have a garage that we can be really loud in?" So, that's what we did. Then yeah, we've just been growing insanely close ever since really. I'd say we're like family now.
[EMELIA]: We were all in the same dorm our freshman year at UCSC in Santa Cruz. Nico and I studied film together, so we took a lot of classes and worked on each other's films and just had a really integrated community. Shay was an art major and did photography in college and stuff. So, we all kind of had our own connected stuff with music and with school and our community and whatnot. We all lived together at one point in college and that kind of united us to start the band and start making music. So, that's kind of how it all started.
[UNPUBLISHED]: For someone who hasn’t listened to your music before – how would you describe your sound?
[NICO]: Rock N’ Roll.
[EMELIA]: Experimental.
[SHAYNA]: I think there's a lot of variety. You can be surprised to find one song that sounds like another because we all have such broad tastes and interests. Over the years we've honed in on a collective sound that you can pick up on whether it's Nico and his guitar tones or just our different playing styles, especially after writing together for so long. A lot of us learned our instruments or at least some of our instruments within the context of this project. I had never played drums before gal pal. I had only played acoustic guitar in my room. So, I think over time, we've developed a sound that's very much our own that we haven't learned in a technically trained way. We've just kind of learned in this space. That's something I've always been really proud of, it's very unique to us. But, it is quite hard to describe genre-wise.
[EMELIA]: The kind of music we like to make, we kind of like to bounce outside of genres and not really stick to one. I would say a good overall theme that I feel like would describe our music is unexpected. I think when we attempt to maybe write a traditional song, I think the way we finish it is always sculpted in a way that's experimental and still kind of unexpected. We'll write in more interesting time signatures or maybe end on a phrase that feels like the song isn't finished or needs more. There's always kind of this push and pull of tension that I think is an overall thing in our songs. So, I wouldn't say maybe necessarily a genre word to describe our music. But, I think we try to keep all our songs really fresh and really interesting. And we just like to experiment with new, interesting sounds.
[NICO]: I think that with the way that we write, we try not to get satisfied too early in the writing process. I think that we try to push ourselves to do something that maybe we haven't heard before or something that we have heard that felt really rare to us. We like to try to stay in that world of not just writing an indie rock tune. But, then of course, we've got a song like "Angel in the Flesh," which I think is very rooted in genre and can be easily defined. So, it's just hard to define gal pal as a genre. I think there can be a genre to each song. But, you couldn't have a blanket genre for each of our songs just because we like to bring in a lot of different things to the table, which keeps things really fresh, just because we have a lot of different tastes between the three of us.
[UNPUBLISHED]: It has been about four years since the release of your last project, can you tell me about how your creative processes have changed over this time?
[SHAYNA]: I think we've all grown immensely both as individuals and as musicians and just as a collective project together like a group of people sharing a creative process. There are parts of that process that have changed over time, but, there's also parts that have stayed very much the same that we're able to tap back into. Like something as simple as just the way we can generate together, like when we're just hanging out and practicing. If we stop to just mess around on a new riff Nico wrote or some chords that I came up with, we'll all just kind of jump in very seamlessly. And that's a lot of how we wrote our early stuff. I think a lot of that was more improvised, we all kind of learned around each other. And Emelia had this crazy knack for just spitting out lyrics off the top of her head that were these phenomenal melodies and over time, I think we've become a lot more intentional and thoughtful with our writing process, and will have things more revised. In our early days, we would stick with earlier drafts of things. And I think over time, we've had the opportunity to do more refinement with that and especially with our last studio album, we got very lucky having the time to write extra guitar parts and fully flesh out certain songs in ways and think critically about what we were making instead of just a very earnest spewing of creative expression. Although I feel like that spewing is very much at the core of what we do. I think, overall, to put it simply, we've become more refined in what we end up creating and what our process to get there looks like.
[EMELIA]: I totally agree with that. I think we've all just become much better musicians and we've crafted our skills to just learn how to write songs better and learn what kind of songs we want to write and also realizing we can really take a song and put all these layers onto it that we didn't really think about before. So, I think it's just we all have the knack to kind of grow out our songs and just make them the best they can be with the skills we've gathered over the years. And that's the most exciting part, is just seeing our growth from this first album to what we have now. It's enormous. I cannot be prouder of this album. I couldn't have ever imagined making something like this when we were making our debut. So, it speaks a lot to our efforts and how much we've grown.
[NICO]: I will say that COVID at least personally had a big influence, just all the time spent that we could just be alone and just practice honing in on our own separate skills separate from each other. I think there's something to be said about just being stuck in a room and having to learn your instrument on your own and not just indulge with other people and be loud and fun with other people. That was really great and that comes across in our old stuff. Personally, I don't know where I would have found that time to practice these things and write these songs that just helped me become a better musician and having all that time to be just like "okay, this is it, I'm gonna just do this." And I agree about being just as proud.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Can you tell me about some of the themes and ideas you all explored in your new album, This and Other Gestures?
[NICO]: A whole bunch of stuff. I feel like it seems so blankety to be like oh "life, death, love." But really, I like to think that because we're so close, it's really easy for us to talk about really difficult stuff with each other. I feel like we've gone through so many hard things with each other. So, this band, this project has become a place where we can be like, "Where can I put these really difficult feelings?" And really intense feelings too. So, I feel like this album is just these three really intense feelings from life, these experiences of celebrating life. Grieving, loss, and all sorts of kinds of change. Identity and love too. The first songs we've written about love experiences are on this record. All these big heavy hitter feelings, I feel like we were able to really hone in and specifically touch on in this record.
[SHAYNA]: Yeah, I would agree entirely. Each of us have certain themes that we've tapped into because we all switch off on writing, whether it's song parts or lyrics, each of us have the space to put our experiences out there with this and hold one another within that and create something from that together. Each of us kind of have certain themes that we'll tap into more depending on what's going on in our lives. For me, I know working in mental health care for the past five years, I get a lot of energy input from others and have a lot of experiences from others that I need to move through with grace. Both Emelia and Nico have their own thing and I guess all of us are coming into ourselves in this period of our twenties. I think that's a prominent theme for all of us, is us growing into ourselves. Then we have our own pockets beyond that.
[UNPUBLISHED]: It feels like you guys are inviting your listeners into the conversations of growth and experiences in life.
[NICO]: Absolutely. At least personally thinking about some of the things that I've written lyrics for, thinking about how others perceive it and how others can use it for their own benefit too, it gives me energy to write. Thinking about songs that I've written about my own transness and giving that to people. I think that that's been said about this whole record between the three of us. I mean Shay you can speak more towards the name of the record, This and Other Gestures, this being for the listener, it is a very intimate thing that a listener can take and try to have in their own life and relate to really. We want to be relatable. But, more than that. Which is interesting thinking about a lot of it being written in COVID when isolation was the theme of the day. So, to write something that's just reaching for human experience.
[EMELIA]: Yeah, I feel like each of the themes, it's like an offering to people. It's a story, a lesson to people to reflect in their own ways.
[SHAYNA]: Definitely. Not that we're like "teaching you lessons." But very much tapping into these collective human experiences and like the title track "This and Other Gestures" is very much about coming out of a time where so many people are struggling in so many ways. There's so much pain and grief and an immense amount of challenges in the current state of the world. And just thinking about what are the gestures of care, how can we show up for the people we care about? And what sorts of gestures can we make to show that care? So, it's almost as if that song, the title track, or the album as a whole is one of those gestures. That's what we can offer to others.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Can you tell me about your single “Angel in the Flesh?” What inspired the song and the music video that was released for it?
[NICO]: I will say that this song took me the longest to write the structure for. It was so difficult I think because I'm so used to just writing with no rules. And that song is very structured in format. It's got verse, chorus, verse and in previous stuff, you don't have to return to the chorus, you can just have a whole new part. So, that one was kind of hard to figure out. But, I feel like when I finished it just felt to me so much like this late 90s, early 2000s world and I watched this show as a kid called The Adventures of Pete and Pete. So, ever since we were recording it, I remember showing Emelia a clip for the theme song intro to that show. It's one of the best intros to a show because it's just a band playing in a front yard and the show concept is these two boys that their parents got married and both of their names are Pete and they're the same age and they're both redheads. It's before Drake and Josh, but it's cooler, just them getting into mischief and shit. Yeah, it felt like for this video we were always going to do something like that. Then finally, we met with our director, longtime friend Ashley Kron and she helped us flesh out this concept that was taken from this sort of sitcom world and create a story about it. Each of us were allowed to think of our characters. So, really the video is a lot of us and if you were to hang out with us as a band for a day, I feel like you'd be like, "those characters are just you." We are just kind of these characters. I remember having this mood board with all these different pictures of who our characters would be and it just looked like a picture of our band. I had the daughter from Beetlejuice as the influence of the daughter. And then Wilfred was the dog. I think the dad was like home improvement or something like that. But, it just is very much us. Our director helped a bunch too.
[EMELIA]: I feel like Nico and I just were obsessed with the idea of making a kind of a kooky suburban music video, an early 2000s thing. But, Ash really helped us connect the dots and make a narrative that was just so funny and ridiculous yet doable. We're so proud of that video. It was so much fun to shoot and edit and put together and it was a good time.
[NICO]: I always knew I wanted there to be a fight scene at the end of this video for some reason, a big epic fight scene. But, in my head I was beating up Cole. This was before Cole was going to be the dog, Cole is our bass player. But luckily, Cole got away this time and didn't get beat up by me in this video. But, maybe the next one he gets beat up by me. I love that video so much. I feel like I could watch that video over and over and over again and even though I was there, I still find something new.
[SHAYNA]: It makes me laugh every time I remember it. Soon after we shot that and got it all edited and everything, I was just super busy, like school was ramping up and I was sick. Then I would watch the video and I'd have a good laugh. I'd be like “all is at peace in the world. It's gonna be fine.” But, it was super fun. We all got to really just play caricatures of ourselves and there was a good creative dynamic between us and the director and everyone who's been helping us out with our music videos has been amazing. We've gotten to work with some really wonderful friends of ours. It's good not to take yourselves too seriously too, especially as you're leaning into this business world of music, planning for all these releases. Just being able to have fun with things, that's the most important part. Why would we do this if it wasn't fun? So, it was a good time.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I also love the costumes and fashion elements within the video? Where do you get your inspiration and shop to find your pieces?
[SHAYNA]: I'm a Goodwill gal from like day one. That's how I grew up and I developed a very distinct patience for that. I think I have the eye for that as well, it takes something to mostly get all of your clothes from Goodwill.
[NICO]: It's amazing thrifting in LA. I feel like there's a lot of really good spots. Then there's also really good flea markets out here too. I feel like some of my favorite stuff is just definitely from a random valley thrift store or a flea market.
[EMELIA]: I feel like what's cool too is in our music scene, especially in LA and it's probably a New York thing too, but I feel like there's a big fashion world that's connected to it. So, I feel like a lot of our friends are people who design clothes or like doing stuff. And it's people that will probably be big like five years from now. But, they're just like people who are our friends. So, I feel like there's always this collective energy of LA just showing up with really fresh stuff and great clothing and a lot of friends that just like to make cool new things. Like Shay's roommate did styling stuff for us on our next music video that's going to be released. But, it was just so fun and refreshing. So, I feel like we're just around a lot of people that know fashion, love clothes. So, I feel like that's a huge influence too on our style and stuff. Then for me, I wish I could do more thrifting. I'm not as good at it. But, every once in a while I do love to go to a curated vintage shop. I really love Shops Silver, it's this really great vintage place in Chinatown that a friend owns and if you're down to spend maybe $25 on a nice item of clothing, it's a really great spot. Bearded Beagle is also really great in Eagle Rock. And then Sleeper in Echo Park. Those three are my favorite least vintage, re-buy stores where you can find some cool pieces.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Apart from the singles that you guys released, is there a song from the album that you are excited for people to dive into?
[EMELIA]: There's a song on the album called "Always There," it was almost gonna be a single. But, I think we ended up changing it to something else. But, that's a song that I'm really excited for people to hear. It's really fun, really rock heavy, kind of 80s ballad stuff. We play it live. But, it won't be out until the whole record is out and I think people will really like it. So, that one I'm excited to see how it does and what people think of it.
[SHAYNA]: I'm really excited for all of it. The album is fourteen songs and a lot of them are quite lengthy. So, I'm aware that people's attention spans can be shorter and not everyone is going to make it to the end of the album. But, for those who do, as a whole, the album as an experience is a very distinctively curated journey. I mean, I love all of it. But, I'm excited for the people who make it towards the later half of the album and get into some of the more experimental songs we've made. There's a song called "Pure" that is a roller coaster ride. And a song called "And The Sun Was Still Hot," that we were able to have a friend hop on saxophone for. And they're just so immersive and beautiful and big. We've created a lot of little worlds within this album and I'm really just excited for people to tap into all of those.
[NICO]: I'm just so excited for it to be out entirely and then see what people think of each one. I wish I could watch every person's face as they're listening through the album. Like when you show your favorite movie to your best friend or your partner and you're just like, "and what do you think about this part?" Yeah, I wish we could have a listening party so I could just watch everyone's face.
[SHAYNA]: One thing that's been really cool that I hadn't anticipated about releasing music so far is the engagement on YouTube in particular. It's really sweet being able to share music with important people, but then YouTube commenters get these random people from wherever in the world that somehow came across our music and it's been really interesting to see. Sometimes people will just be really earnestly sharing their thoughts and be really stoked in different ways. Because I feel like with how we talked about how disparate our sound is, and how there's like a little bit of everything, I feel like there's probably something for most people within there. And hopefully people will be able to relate to or enjoy all of it in whatever capacity. But, I think that there's different things that will kind of do it for different people. Yeah, I'm just excited to get to share that with everyone.
[NICO]: It's cool to have people who aren't your friends listen to your music. I mean, that's the goal, right? More than just your friends and your parents listening to it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Who’s been inspiring you all lately?
[NICO]: I just got this for my birthday, Paramore's record, This Is Why. Oh my god, I love this record so much. This sonically has been so inspiring to me. I've been a longtime fan of Paramore so to hear her voice and these Paramore sounds, but in a much more progressive way that's not so rooted in emo rock and not quite poppy there. But, it's like a blend and then it's got a lot of feel to it. It's got a lot of soul, I want to say even like r&b. There's a lot of feel in there. This record is so inspiring.
[EMELIA]: We're gonna open for her one day. That's what's gonna happen. I've been listening to Ovlov. They're like a Philly band. I've just been listening to their record Buds, which came out a few years ago. But, it's something I've been revisiting and I've been really obsessed with like, just really great alternative rock music that's super driving, really fun. That's been a big influence. I definitely want to write more songs like that. I love Palm's new record. Palm is definitely a band that has a huge influence on gal pal, especially "Mirror." I feel like when we were writing, that was a big band we had in mind. And it's nice because when people have written about "Mirror," they've compared us to the sound of Palm. Which is cool because I feel like that was kind of our intention at least behind part of it. But, I've been loving their new record. It's really cool, really fun, just crazy. But, also has kind of a slight pop side, but in a very experimental way, which is I feel like what we kind of tried to do. Yeah, that's a huge one for me right now.
[SHAYNA]: Emelia and I last month went to a Yo La Tengo show together and they still got it like decades after making music. They're still so talented, collectively and as individuals. So that was super, super inspiring and kind of talking after the show, recognizing a lot of similarities in the way that we play. We both switch up instruments within the set and have these longer, more drawn out, jammy parts of songs that kind of get to disperse and then come back together. I got really, really inspired by that and have been for years. The diversity of their sound too, they tap into so many different things. They have some really sweet, beautiful songs. They have some really like weird noisy songs, they get quite experimental and I feel like we kind of have a similar range. So, that's been nice. I've been listening to a lot of different stuff lately, I've been really enjoying Water From Your Eyes and Telescopes as well. I think in terms of just general music inspiration, I joined this woodwind skill share group recently and I've been learning how to play flute in this very improvised low key kind of way and engaging in a completely different kind of music with instruments that I'm very much still learning. In a very freeform and open setting it has been one of the coolest experiences. And that's definitely been influencing, not as much like direct sonic inspiration, but just an approach to thinking about music and relating to music. So, that's been a big thing for me.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What are you guys most excited about for the future?
[EMELIA]: I'm most excited about our growth from here. I feel like even though this album is a really huge thing and it's a lot we can be proud of, I still feel like the three of us have this fire that's lit under our asses. We're still ready and wanting to make new music that we're even more excited about or we're stoked about maybe touring one day in a bigger way and just growing in general. And I think that's a really important thing to hang on to if you want to stay together as a band. You gotta be excited about where you go in the future and how you change. So, I'm most excited about that and seeing where we go. And yeah just the new things that come along. I’m obviously stoked to have this album out and share it with the world. You know, after that it'll be even greater. So, I'm excited for that.
[SHAYNA]: We started recording this album almost exactly two years ago at this point. It's been done for almost the past year. So, we're excited about it, but so ready to have it out there. I'm the kind of person that's like "I just want to jam." I'm ready to make new things that I love. That's one of my favorite parts of being in this project and always has been. Is getting to engage in that generative process with all of us. That hits so many soul points for me and makes me feel so excited. We've made so much growth, like Emelia said, from prior albums to this album. But then have grown so much since we wrote all the songs for this album. So, I can't even fully comprehend where things are gonna go from here. And I feel like that's really exciting. And I'm just, like, stoked to figure it out.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Anything else you guys would like to add?
[EMELIA]: Make sure to listen to the full thing. Sit down in your room, headphones on front to back, finish the whole album. You won't regret it. Your life will be different.
[SHAYNA]: It'll take about an hour. We put so much into making it and so much into curating it in terms of like having it being an experiential listening process. So, I mean, everyone will do as they will do, but we definitely eleven out of ten recommend an hour of your time and just listen through.
[EMELIA]: Anyone that listens, I promise you will be moved by it. That's a fact.
