The Geb is a Raleigh, NC based band that creates and performs original indie rock music inspired by great song writers like The Beatles, R.E.M., The Clash, and Wilco (to name a few). They combine guitar and keyboard driven sounds with vocal melodies to craft songs with memorable and catchy hooks.
The Geb have become a popular local favorite and will happily join touring bands on their way through the Raleigh-Durham area or Southeast US.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with The Geb about their latest project, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
We are based in Raleigh, N.C. Most of the band members are from North Carolina and grew up in different regions of the state, with the exception of multi-instrumentalist Joe Caterinicchio who adds some North East flavor to the group. Our musical style falls into the very broad category of Indie-rock with undertones of alt-rock, alt-country, and grunge. That being said, our primary mission is to write catchy tunes. We want listeners to be humming our songs two days later and think…what song is this?
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
The founding members of The Geb have been playing together for over 15 years and have evolved quite a lot from our origin as a three piece ‘jam band’ to the current five-person line-up. We are all working professionals who love music and have studied and played music most of our lives. We are motivated by the sheer love of creating songs and performing them together. It is great fun to work a song from the initial idea to the finished product using the collective brain of the band.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
This is the first album that The Geb has released. Initially, we didn’t set out to create a themed set of tracks; our intent was more that every song stood on it’s own, especially considering the changes in the music market, where the “album” and “single” matter less, and there’s incentive to introduce tracks individually and keep the buzz going. But as we started picking our best work, it became apparent there was this motif, where we were writing about the routines and nuances of our lives – the challenges of and joy of raising kids, aging family members, possessions you acquire, your job – it’s all so profound. Hence the title “Ordinary Lives”. It’s almost meant ironically, since life is both ordinary and anything but, often at the same time.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I like the term over saturated…there is so much music being published these days. It has been very challenging and fun to get on the radar and gain an audience for our music. For our band, having the time to promote our work and getting beyond our local audience were big challenges. We have definitely used technology to help promote our music. We have a pretty good social media presence on Instagram and Facebook and have built a fairly large email list for sharing big news with the fans. Digital music platforms are a big enabler from the standpoint of making the music accessible since you can literally text a link to your song and it’s shared.
What was the last song you listened to?
A song from BADBADNOTGOOD “Time Moves Slow” with Sam Herring – Very interesting downtempo / lo-fi, that brings one back to a youth listening to 70s soul and R&B – this is a great combination of that. It doesn’t sound anything like The Geb, but I have a feeling our next album will feature more interesting beats like that.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Digital now for convenience, but at some point I think we’d like to press to vinyl – for the unique sound, and also to have a tangible artifact.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
We have gravitated to Spotify. It’s a really smooth platform
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Our Facebook page, Instagram site, and website are the primary channels for following along and connecting with us…Our #tag is thegebband for all of these plaftorms. We have several music videos on our YouTube Channel (search The Geb) and all of our recorded music on the major music streaming services.
Website: https://thegebband.com/
Facebook: The Geb Facebook
Instagram: The Geb Instagram
Anything else before we sign off?
Thanks so much to MTM for the chat and for supporting Indie music
