Blake Gamel is best known as a member of alternative rockers Big Jesus, but now he is stepping out on his own with his new solo project BG.FM. He explains how this solo endeavor came to be in his own words:
“When I was 9 I found my big brother Matt’s drumkit in the attic. When I was 9 (1999) he was 17 and he was the coolest most 90’s person you could ever imagine. He had bleach blonde hair and was listening to all the coolest rock and house music of the time. In my early childhood he was my hero and this was very formative to who I became as an adult. That day I found those old dusty drums sparked an obsession with music that has lasted and become the cornerstone of my life. From 9 years old and into my early 20’s I played the drums everyday. I had my first performance at 14 years old, joined my first big city band at 17 and was touring in the U.S. by 18. I spent those late-teen to early 20’s years exploring playing and touring with different genres of DIY music Nationally and world-wide.
I entered the professional professional music world in 2017 when I was scooped up by local Atlanta act and Mascot Label Group’s Big Jesus. At this time the band was experiencing the peak of their career successfully releasing music, touring internationally, and appearing at major festivals in the U.S. I truly cut my teeth in this era learning how to really hone-in a great live band and play for the largest audiences of my career. These years were some of the best of my life and I’m eternally grateful for everyone who showed their support to us, but the project came to an abrupt halt in 2019. At that point I began to create and explore my skill in arrangement and original composition with artists like J. Travis and Pike Co. who released music and performed throughout the year. At that point quite possibly the worst thing to happen to creative people in history occurred, the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic.
It was within the tension and uncomfortable stillness of that period where I experienced a disconnection from the hustle of the music world, and a re-connection with why I fell in love with music in the first place. I remembered the other-worldly ethereal drama of having a cool older brother and how much his music impacted and affected me and transported to me another plane. I wanted to create again, but for real. Not for expectation or acclaim or god forsaken guest lists, but for me. I wanted to make music to uplift me and my sphere. So…. BG.FM was born.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for BG.FM’s brand new single “Shadow In The Night,” which finds the talented artist paying tribute to one of Atlanta’s legendary DIY music venues. Accompanied by a sparse drum machine, washes of synth, and dreamy guitar strumming, the song quickly moves into the realm of dreamy rocker with plenty of pop flourishes to make it truly an earworm. Gamel seems to revel in building layers of sound as he samples electric and acoustic guitar, New Wavey synths, big drum sounds, and simple beats to offer a study in musical contrasts. His cool vocals work well with the music as he tackles the idea of being brave. Watching rock out in the streets of Atlanta, it’s hard not to get excited about what we can expect from Gamel in the future.
Gamel describes the inspiration behind the song and the video:
“This song is about how I have never had one of those amazing mind-massaging ethereal dreams that has me waking up smiling, in fact I typically have the opposite. I usually start in some traumatic location from my childhood, sometimes I’ll fly and then when I’m wayy above in the sky my wings will break and I’ll fall to earth. I carry these nightmares with me all day, sometimes for weeks, and they affect my life. Shadow In The Night is about being brave. Acknowledging that as long as the sun rises, then so can I.
I played my first show when I was 14 in a DIY venue in central Ga, I left home at 18 (2008) to go on tour in DIY spaces in the US. Throughout my 20’s I played around the world in Locally-owned independent venues and it was imperative in the making of the 30-year-old man I am today. From 2019-2021 my home town of Atlanta has lost some of the most important and legendary DIY spaces it has ever known. A growing corporate city looks down its nose and see’s no use for the arts unfortunately. So this is my tribute to those places that made me who I am. WonderRoot, Eyedrum, The Bakery, Mammal Gallery, 585 Wells, FOREVER.”
WATCH:
One Response
Fucking awful