| The front man for Gris Gris worries that mystical talk makes him look "kind of stupid."
"I don’t believe in magic or God or sorcery or any shit like that."
Given that the common warlock became extinct the better part of a century ago, it isn’t surprising to hear someone denounce the supernatural. When that someone is Greg Ashley of San Francisco psych-rock group The Gris Gris, it’s a little more shocking. After all, The Gris Gris brandish a form of psychedelia that borrows equally from Dr. John the Night Tripper’s sludgy, swamp-thick New Orleans voodoo and the 13th Floor Elevators’ driving energy.
Given his influences, along with his record label’s tendency to describe Ashley as a "psychedelic shaman," it’s almost too easy to picture The Gris Gris huddled around a hookah and a Ouija board, trying to channel the spirits of the 1970s underground. Ashley has no qualms about shattering that image.
"We’re all just normal dorky guys who like these old records," he says of the shaman references. "The keyboard player’s favourite band is Metallica. Every time we go on the road, he’s listening to Kill ‘Em All and shit the whole way. A lot of it is just a façade that (Birdman Records) put up, but I’m like, whatever. It doesn’t really matter."
Despite Ashley’s relaxed attitude towards his band’s presentation, there’s no doubt Birdman’s marketing has helped in both promoting and pigeonholing the band. It’s rare to see Ashley mentioned without a reference about his supposed ties to classic psychedelic and garage rock, a move destined to pin The Gris Gris as a nostalgia act. It’s all a bit ironic considering Ashley has never consciously tied himself to a particular era.
"I never wanted to be a retro band or anything like that," he explains. "That was just the music I liked. I liked a bunch of different stuff and always figured you could take this garage and this punk stuff and this psychedelic stuff, and add in some Sonic Youth or Beck in there, and maybe that would sound good."
The sound has caught the ears of music fans across North America, including the members of The Mars Volta, who asked Ashley to bring his band to the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in 2005. The next few months will see The Gris Gris touring extensively to push their 2005 release, For the Season, including a 31-show marathon with the band playing a different location every day in April. Some artists would worry about burning out on such an intense schedule, but Ashley shrugs it off.
"Every time we go on tour, that’s how the booking agent wants it because he gets 15 per cent of everything, and the more we play the more he gets paid," laughs Ashley. "At the same time, I just like to do it that way. You might as well have something to do, and playing every day is fine for me. Most of the time, if you don’t play a night, you just end up sitting around and spending money you don’t really have."
For Ashley, the trick is not to take it all too seriously. Your booking agent can be a slave-driver and your publicist might make you look like a bit of a weirdo, but that’s all part of the territory. As long as they’re the ones worrying about the sorcery and magic, The Gris Gris can stay focused on the music. |
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