There’s new blood brewing in the hottest parts of Miami, Florida. With four guys hungry for the road playing shows and venues with high velocity arena attitude, and strength of character proven by a major early-career accident that could’ve and would’ve derailed a lesser inclined band. Playing a mixed sound of Sevendust meets Alice in Chains with some Rage thrown in to keep the show going.
From different bands, genres and parts of the country the current lineup of GEARS found each other through band changes and friend suggestions. From the Chili Peppers street-rock funk sound of Urban Rebel, the Korn meets Slipknot industrial vibe of Needlemouth, the thrash meets Linkin Park vocals of Skinmask and all other former bands and music that influenced vocalist Trip Six, drummer Jimmy Wooten, guitarist Ethan Vega and bassist Chris Dorame to become the current parts of GEARS.
Talking to the Miami foursome, pre-show, at their recent Dayton, Ohio tour stop Coveringthescene.com got to see and hear about their inner workings. Welcome to the machine.
The individual members brought experienced stage resumes from diverse bands, as a fairly new group, they wanted a name that fit all the parts and sounded new.
“We wanted a strong name and Gears was one of those things, one word, pretty strong for a machine to work, all the gears have to be in sync with each other,” says Wooten.
They were dealt a major, potentially tour and band ending setback just days into their first headlining tour during a multi-vehicle wreck loosing gear and most of their merch along with injuries. Due to ongoing legalities they recall what they can.
“No specifics, we have some injuries (bruises, black eyes, and a torn labrum) to deal with,” they confirm. “There was, a trailer, a van, a tractor trailer, a semi, and an accident kinda happened. Gear (was) lost, merch covered in oil, thrown about the highway, (it) happened at night on the second or third day of the tour and we still had quite a haul. We didn’t cancel any shows.”
They collected what they could, going on to the next show, taking what was left to the merch booth and soldiered on doing another 22 dates afterward.
“It’s pretty bad ass, we ran a budget box truck and we followed behind the car, it was rough. That means you gotta have two members of the crew driving. It was our first tour we had lined up for months and months, (with) no shows cancelled. We’ve only canceled two shows the entire time we’ve been a band, due to losing a guitar player and finding a replacement,” the guys say with pride.
They took it as a sign and test of character and determination to keep going rather than a sign of questioning their purpose. Their foundation got hit but didn’t fall.
“There were never any thoughts about, this is the end, we can’t move on or maybe this wasn’t meant to be. That’s not an option and never crossed our minds. Being a new band and having previous rapport with buyers and venue owners, you can’t do it and get started on the wrong foot.”
It’s routine for bands to be compared to others but GEARS never had a sound in mind going into the recording process.
“Everything sounds organic in the writing process. It’s not like we set out to be like Sevendust or Korn, it’s a great compliment. (It) wasn’t a specific thing. It was just how it organically came about.”
Comparisons are great and each person could hear something different than someone else.
“We’ve been told we sound like Queensryche and Deftones, which is fucking cool, to just get compared to or be mentioned in the same sentence as those fucking giants, almost like, taken back,” Six admits.
Social media is often poked fun at and blamed for various things within people’s lives whether it’s a serious issue or a joke. The song “Face Down” paints a cynical POV on the power of social media and Facebook, saying in essence ‘think before you post.’
“The posted drama, everybody lives for this social media at their computer screen. There’s no filter, they have a platform, which is a great tool for bands, a great tool for businesses, it’s kind of good to have that power, (but) it just gets abused. Use your head.”
Though they have a sponsorship with the Godless clothing line they have different personal beliefs of what the higher power represents.
“I believe there’s a higher power called God but not the biblical God. There’s a higher power, you put good in, you get good back. The human mind can’t even comprehend what that tangible power is,” Six explains.
The band has played Dayton several times building a solid relationship with the city and promoters.
“This was the third or fourth time in Dayton. They invest in us. They believe in us, we’ve had some great shows.”
Reflecting on the loss of so many musical icons in January, Morrow remembers his introduction to David Bowie.
“All of our idols are dropping like flies. Singers, icons of music, people that have inspired us. Biggest one for me is Bowie, buying that tape at 10 or 11, seeing the Ziggy Stardust video, thinking man I wanna do that. But I couldn’t sing. There’s never gonna be anyone to take their place, the industry’s so different now. There’s only one David Bowie and Glen Frey, even the style of playing. Luckily they leave behind huge collections of music. Not many people can say they span 40-50 years.”
GEARS is currently supporting their Pride Comes Before the Fall EP.
Feature image courtesy of Tom George.
Live images by Mike Ritchie
