This week’s Local Spins on WYCE guests gave things some punk wallop, plus new tracks from Public Access, Dede & The Dreamers, Miriam Pico, Blue Water Ramblers and much more. (Story, podcast, video)
Doing Their Own Thing: Julio Gomez and Tony Spielmaker of punk band I Believe in Julio. (Photo/David Specht)
THE MUSIC: Punk rock
WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE BAND: 8 p.m. tonight (Friday) at Long Road Distillers in Grand Rapids, with A.B.
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As a punk band, Grand Rapids’ I Believe in Julio revels in the short, fiery, simple and brash songs that distinguish the genre.
Punking Up Studio X: I Believe in Julio performing during Local Spins on WYCE.
But frontman and guitarist Julio Gomez also relishes the subtle nuances of melody and lyrical themes that “you don’t see on the surface” at first blush.
“We’re punk rockers at heart and that’s what we’re doing,” Gomez said of the current “incarnation” of the band that’s been together for three years and is wrapping up work on a new studio recording.
“But there’s a lot to it that I’m trying to get people to see and hear as well. It’s been fun seeing people discover new things about the music.”
The band – Gomez, bassist Dan Fisher and drummer Tony Spielmaker – released a self-titled cassette in 2013 that pumps out five songs in about 8-1/2 minutes. The new project being recorded at Matt Ten Clay’s Amber Lit Audio features “a little slower” vibe with a diversity of tempos and rhythms.
But punk is at the core of the music created by Gomez, once a member of rootsy but edgy Grand Rapids band Nathan Kalish & The Wildfire. Gomez and Spielmaker demonstrated that in dynamic, rapid-fire fashion during this week’s appearance for Local Spins on WYCE.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE with I Believe in Julio
The duo version of I Believe in Julio cranked out two songs in Studio X (“Party at the Record Store” and “Sun Don’t Shine”). Listen to the full radio podcast here, with a video below.
Fans can catch the band live at 8 p.m. Friday (Jan. 29) when they perform at Long Road Distillers, 537 Leonard St. NW in Grand Rapids. The show, staged upstairs in The Rickhouse, also will feature a set by Grand Rapids hip hop artist A.B.
Playing Long Road: I Believe in Julio (Photo/David Specht)
For Gomez, punk is a means to do your own thing, rather than being part of a cohesive music scene in Grand Rapids.
“I actually view the punk scene as kind of disjointed and I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” said Gomez, who was obsessed with oldies music on the radio as a kid and started playing in bands at 13. “We’ve kind of just done our own thing, but we’re in the punk scene. I don’t think there’s anything unified. There’s a lot of different ideas and I think that’s great. I think it’s almost better that way.”
Episode No. 73 of Local Spins on WYCE also featured new tracks by Public Access, Dede & The Dreamers, Miriam Pico, Fable the Poet and Blue Water Ramblers, as well as Jammie Award nominees Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers, The Sailor Kicks, Dave Hardin, The Lippies and Jukejoint Handmedowns.
And thanks to Gomez’s “musician’s pick,” the show also unearthed an unheralded gem from the past: The Little Village’s “Kate Moss,” from the one-time Grand Rapids band’s 2012 “Little Spillage” EP.
VIDEO: I Believe in Julio, “Party at the Record Store” (Local Spins on WYCE)
Video by David Specht
Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC
