“Show Me The Book:” In Conversation with Gustaf

Back in May, we spoke with members of the Brooklyn-born-and-based band, Gustaf. Upon seeing their set at Kilby Block Party, we were fascinated, first, by their magnetic stage presence, and were furthermore fascinated by their innovative songs. We are thrilled to have sat down over Zoom and chatted with Gustaf about all things process, performance, and porta-potties. 

K-UTE: Can you introduce yourselves and the roles you play in the band?

Vram: I’m Vram, I play the electric guitar. I’ve never played the acoustic guitar on a Gustaf recording, but maybe I will someday. I also sing, sometimes.

Tara: I’m Tara and I'm the percussionist, which includes the rubber chicken and the triangle.  I also sing backup mostly using a pitch-shifted voice.

Tine: I’m Tine and I play bass.

Mel: I’m Mel and I play the acoustic drums in Gustaf.

Lydia: I'm Lydia and I scream and shout and talk. Y'know, using my mouth. That’s what I do.

K-UTE: How did y’all meet? How did it start?

Lydia: Tara and I met in college and we've all been playing music for a while in this town. So, Tara is the oldest relationship that I have out of the four of them.

Vram: I met Mel basically at a pay-to-play venue in New Jersey. We were both playing the same bad show and we became fast friends and musical buds for life. Tara and I met at a failed cartoon meeting and then I met Tine and Lydia through Tara via the failed cartoon meeting inadvertently.

Tara: I met Tine in another band we were in called “Ex Girlfriends.” We were in it with my old downstairs neighbor who was working at a cake shop with another girl and that girl and Tine both had ex-boyfriends that were roommates.

Tine: We called our band “Ex Girlfriends.” But then I got a text from Tara saying, “Oh, do you want to be in this band with Lydia” and I was like, “Sure.” Lydia and I barely knew each other at the time.

Lydia: Tine is a very fun person to meet for the first time because she’s just very warm and inviting and good at making people feel good. I remember Tara talking about making this new band called “Ex-Girlfriends” and I had been to the first show. And then I saw them play again at Baby’s (Alright). I saw Tine and was like, “Tine is not gonna remember who I am.” [Then] she went, “Lydia! Hi!” I was rolling up solo but Tine made me feel really comfortable and I was like “Wow, what a woman.” Look at us now.

But yeah, the band actually started because Tara had a van. Rest in peace to that van. They needed to get down to SXSW [South by Southwest Festival] so that “Ex-Girlfriends” could use it for a tour that we started after the festival. She knew I had time on my hands and asked if I wanted to help drive. I said yes. But I was also like, “Let’s book some shows on the way down.” and she’s like, “ Do you have a band that’s gonna do that?” and I was like, “We’re gonna make a band.” 

We took half of “Ex-Girlfriends” Tara and Vram were dating. Surprise! Now married. Vram decided his band wasn't gonna make it last minute and Tara was like, “I would love it if I could hang out with Vram.” So I was like, “Y’know what, let’s get this guy in the band.” Now they're married. 

K-UTE: We did see on your Instagram you did a little anniversary show. How did that go?

Vram: It was amazing. It was a good old regular show and then we realized: at the end of the day, we’re just elaborate ticket salesmen. We’ll use any opportunity we can to sell tickets saying “wedding” or “baby photos.” The algorithm loves baby photos and wedding anniversaries so we were like, “Come to our wedding anniversary!” but also buy tickets.

Lydia: It was really convenient because I forgot to post about their marriage on the band’s Instagram when they got married, so it was two birds one stone. I should actually mention that they've been married because I forgot to do that. 

Tara: All our girls were our bridesmaids. Best bridesmaids ever. Thank you guys.

K-UTE: Obviously all your songs rock, but there is something so special about your live performances. We were absolutely hooked at Kilby Block Party. We walked over and were like, “Who is that?”

Lydia- your approach is very theatrical. Do you have any background in that?

Lydia: I was a theater kid. Y’know it's funny, off the stage I feel like I am one of the lesser theatrical members of the band. Save it for the stage. That’s where it’s allowed. They turn me on and then they turn me off. 

Yeah, I did theater in high school and then sort of abandoned it a little. And then in college, I was a little bit between the world. I tried a little bit of improv comedy, which was only good because it made me very comfortable with failure and not being cool. So, I'm grateful [for] that. I feel like the end goal of improv is being able to sit on a stage and do nothing and feel like, “Yeah, let’s go.” I enjoy bringing that to the music world that I live in. I’d say that what’s fun about our band is that you can kind of pivot between everyone and you've got something fun to look at. We’re like the Power Rangers, five action figures. We’re a set.

In some bands, it's this person and the others are off in the distance. We really thrive as in-the-round; all of us, y’know?

K-UTE: It’s easy to tell you guys work very well together. One of your live performances caught the attention of Beck, who you have gone on to collaborate with. He seems to be a big source of support for you. Also, Kathleen Hanna has been on her book tour and shouted you out which is so cool. You've [also] toured with Sleater-Kinney.

 What does it mean to have these big names give you nods and sing you praises?

Vram: It’s just awesome. For me, I’ve always wanted to, I don't know if ‘return the favor’ is the right term, but these people have done so much for me as a person and helped me grow musically and stuff like that. It’s just really cool that they even listen to something that we’ve done. Even just spend a couple minutes of their creative lives listening to our music. 

The fact that we get to make a video with Beck and go on tour with these awesome acts is just really amazing. Even the basic benefit of seeing shows for free because you're on tour with people. We got to see Yard Act like 12 times in a row and that's awesome. All this really cool music you get to see all the time and then you become friends. It’s the best. 

K-UTE: How have they inspired the music itself or your creativity even before you met them?

Vram: For me, personally, Beck was always a huge musical influence. In my early 20s particularly. As a teenager, I knew of him, but when I started to try and actually make music I was in a band with my little brother and that was a big source of inspiration to do stuff like that. Making it weird and cool, but still catchy. Toeing that line, I feel like, is always really special when people can do that. 

And getting inspired by our New York friends, too. I feel like our fellow bands here… there's so much good music and so many nice people. It’s impossible not to get influenced by the music neighbors as well just as much as the super popular, famous people. 

Tara: When I was in middle school, I would have three minutes before class. I had my little CD player and Bikini Kill singles CD that I always listened to while walking to class. So that was pretty exciting when I saw that Kathleen Hanna [shouted us out], I was like “ AHA!!”

K-UTE: I know that creating that community is one of the biggest parts of being a musician or being in a band… 

Lydia: Yeah, it's the reason that we’re all in this band is being part of this community and just playing around. It’s what brought us all together and keeps us all expanding our networks.

K-UTE: Do you want to give any shoutouts to your fellow New York bands and friends?

Vram: Dead Tooth

Mel: 95 Bulls

Lydia: BODEGA, Pure Adult, Sloppy Jane…

K-UTE: [Do you have any] dream collabs?

Lydia: I’m easy. I'll take anyone. Anyone is a dream collab. I've got two older siblings and a twin brother but I still found myself playing alone a lot as a child. So any time anyone wants to play with me I'm really stoked on that. So any enthusiastic person who would like to spend time with me creatively. That’s a dream collab.

K-UTE: So many influences are evident in your music from  Blondie, Talking Heads, The Slits … But it still feels very singular and solely Gustaf. How do you incorporate elements of your influences while also creating something unique to you?

Lydia: I think what’s fun is that we all have areas where our tastes overlap. But also, I think everyone has their own special pocket of things that they like. I think it's just figuring out how to bring that all together. It is funny being a band because there’s a lot of influences that are sort of put on us that were never on the list when we started doing something. I think for the music, I was focused on finding sleek, simple formulas that had their own inertia to them. And then everyone brought their own taste and interpretation and we sort of built the sound out from there. 

There was a lot of overlap with the new wave and all of those bands you listed we were inspired by. Which were also inspired by funk, which is a genre all about vamping and having this bouncy groove to it. It makes sense that our interpretation, that finding something that is expressive but also satisfyingly paired down, kind of intersected in that way. 

Vram: I try not to think about what influences me… just try to live in the moment I guess. I don't really try to influentialize what I’m doing. I just play what feels proper and trust that I've practiced my guitar enough that what I do will technically make sense and if it doesn't, that's also great.

It’s definitely cheesy but I'm on the ‘listen to your heart’ side of using my influences. I just trust they're in there and they'll come up when they need to.

Lydia: I feel like Tine is always whipping out fun bass covers during our soundchecks…classic rock… she’s got a very unique mind and hands that have a very fun wandering [style]. I feel like I get to watch Tine walk down an interesting trail whenever she’s playing the bass guitar. 

K-UTE: It’s so fun to hear a little bit about your writing process. But when you are writing, how much of it is formulaic, and how much of it comes from the improvisation? Because I know your performances change from time to time and the songs live different lives as you perform them. 

With the jamming and the performing, what does that do for your creative process?

Lydia: In the early days, I had a couple of simple demos that were all just built up together. Pretty much just that, we start with a little nugget and it just changes. And eventually, some version of it gets captured somewhere and then people show up thinking they're gonna hear that version. And sometimes they don’t get that version.

K-UTE: Are any live performances recorded? Do you ever keep them so you can tweak them?

Lydia: We should. Our first tour, our support tour with IDLES, we brought an engineer with us. I know she’s got board recordings of those shows… Maybe that's the next thing. A live album.

K-UTE: You do have your Audiotree on Spotify which I love listening to. It’s been holding me over with the live recordings. 

Your first release is called “Audio Drag for Ego Slobs.” I saw somewhere that the term ‘audio drag’ came from Laurie Anderson? Which was sort of a vocal alter-ego. Is that where you got the idea to incorporate the distorted voice that you use?

Lydia: Yeah, I think when the band started that was something that was in the ether. I liked Laurie Anderson too, because she wouldn't say she’s a musician she would say, “I'm a multimedia artist.” I feel like she did a lot of interesting world-building with her work and it's just a fun palette thing to have. 

We started knowing that it would be an element. And then Tara sort of just really developed it into its own thing. It’s supposed to be a sort of counteractive energy or voice, so yeah. Before we even had the record out, I was trying to think about, “What are the boundaries of this project?” and that was the genre, the title for it. “Audio Drag for Ego Slobs.” And the vocal stuff… When you break it down, drag is any sort of hyperbolic expression of gender but now it can sort of be whatever. So it is supposed to be this hyperbolic performance for people who are “ego slobs,” which means they do a bad job of translating the outside world within the context of themselves. 

I think I wanted something that was cathartic and spoke to those points where you have an emotional reaction that surpasses your logic. And when you think about an angry principal in a movie, it’s very funny. But, when you're the person who is the angry principal, that's not fun to live through. It's a fun way to disarm and let the chemicals in our body sort of overrun ourselves and a way of trying to detonate the severity of those things and make fun of them. A way to make fun of the less-than-glamorous parts of being human and reacting to things. That was just the beginning ethos and it’s whatever it is now. 

Tara: I like making people smile with the vocal pedal.  I’m actually much more comfortable speaking in the vocal pedal now than I am with my normal voice. Especially when I accidentally start talking and I think the vocal pedal is on. I feel like I’m actually naked.

K-UTE: I remember being in the audience at Kilby Block Party and being like “Who is the one making the vocals?” And we finally noticed it was you. It was a fun discovery. 

Lydia: Laurie Anderson actually developed her audio drag character, who has got some sort of elaborate name… I think she was touring with William S. Burroughs or whatever. She was really fascinated by him and really liked him. I saw her perform live once…  I’m probably poorly recounting this. But, he is sort of a famous misogynist and not a great guy, so this was her way of leaning in and interacting with this guy to kind of meet him. I thought that was cool, finding a sort of middle. 

K-UTE: With your latest release, “The Package Pt. 2”  how has it differed from your first release? Whether that be the creative process or the rollout and touring… how has it changed?

Vram: With this process, I feel like- Lydia, you had ideas before we got together as a band…I guess the second record was a little bit more collaborative, in the sense that we were writing and arranging some of the songs together before the pandemic. I feel like the process was similar. We added some synthesizers on the second record, but other than that I don't feel like it was too drastically different. 

Lydia: I think sonically we wanted to deliver something that felt familiar to people that liked the first record while also slowly expanding the sonic palette. I think that for the first record, there were things we were trying to stick within the initial foundation of something. At least for me personally, the goal was to not disappoint the people who wanted to hear the first one again. But also give us more room to keep changing and evolving what the band is and sounds like.

K-UTE: Your lyrics manage to strike a balance of being both tongue-in-cheek and earnest at the same time. How important is it to you to incorporate both elements?

Lydia: It's important. It’s hard to nail it every time. To actually be sincere. Oh, that’s hard. I can’t do that and buy it. So, the only way for me to actually be like, “I’m trying to say something” is if it’s a little like “I know…I'm trying to say something…oops!” That one ballad we have on the record, working with Aaron on it, I was just like, “I don’t know, this is maybe too much” and they were like “No, no, be tender.” and I was like, “NEVER!”

I also feel like anything that’s too self-serious, it's like: come on. The most powerful things that I resonate most with are the ones that make me laugh. That’s the goal. Can't say I always land there.

K-UTE: Had you ever played Utah before Kilby Block Party? How was the festival for you guys?

Tine: My favorite festival I’ve ever played. I have to admit, I looked around and we were in the van and I was like “Ty Segall’s playing?” I didn't even look at the lineup. I was like damn, this is a legit festival. It was fun. 

This is so random, we were eating food in the catering section and I was like “Lydia, I think that’s Emma Chamberlain.” I was trying to look it up, and I was like, “She must be dating somebody.”

K-UTE: She took a picture with one of our K-UTE Radio pins and we have her up on our Instagram. It was a big moment for us.

How was the festival setting different from some of the other shows you've played as a band?

Mel: It was awesome looking at the mountains while we were playing. I loved playing outside with the prettiest view ever. It was amazing. We played early in the day and I wasn't expecting that many people to be there. We’ve had experiences in the past where we play in the afternoon at a festival and it’s not that busy. It was so cool, the whole thing in general. The place was packed and the lineup was stacked. Everyone was nice, the food was good. Me and Tine had a good time trying to win a porta-potty.

Lydia: Oh my god, do you guys know the honey bucket challenge?

K-UTE: No

Mel: Backstage, there were these Honey Bucket porta potties and there was a sign that said, “Take a selfie with the porta potty and win a Honey Bucket or $1,000.” So, me and Tine took it a step further and made a whole video. We had Courtney Barnett’s guitar tech take the video at one point. 

Lydia: I didn't know it was her, but she was a great sport. But we did not win the $1,000.

Mel: We might still have a chance.

Lydia: Honey Bucket just liked it, they didn't comment on it.

Mel: No, they were dm-ing me! They were like, “We love the picture, thank you.” And I said, “Excuse me, it’s a video.” and then they watched it and said, “I love it, it’s so great!”

Lydia: These Honey Bucket interns need to sharpen up.

Vram: Yeah!

K-UTE: We are running low on time, but we know you guys are coming back to Utah on tour [in November.] Do you have anything else in store for “Gustaf” that we can share with our listeners to look for?

Lydia: Shout out to Honey Bucket!

Vram: Give us $1,000!

All thanks go out to Gustaf for chatting with us!! They just announced that they will be opening for fellow KBP 5 alum LCD Soundsystem at their end-of-year New York City residency. We can't wait to see what else they get up to. If you want to know more about the band, check them out on socials linked  below, and be sure to check them out in concert! Coming to The Urban Lounge, Nov. 8.

We’ll see you there!

Gustaf:

Website

Instagram

YouTube

Spotify