Interview Podcast with the Gateway District: By Todd Taylor
The Gateway District is an excellent band. Yup, that about sums up my demographic research, my Gallup Poll, my “how many friends do they have?” I like them. They’re getting stronger and stronger. Their second full-length, Perfect’s Gonna Fail was one of the sleepers of 2011 for me. It never strayed far from the record player. It’s got some marathon legs. That’s some quiet Midwestern confidence for you. They avoid slickness and focus on songs with timely deliveries.
They’re from Minneapolis and surrounding environs. Two strong ladies—Maren and Carrie—handle the singing and play guitar and bass, respectively. Brad, a man who put all of his worldly possessions in a boat and sailed down the Mississippi, is their drummer. Their guitarist is one hell of a contemporary author. (Nate Gangelhoff couldn’t make the West Coast shows. Dave Strait’s no tour slouch, by any stretch.)
Gateway District has been lumped into pop punk, but I disagree. This is punk that’s agreeable to listen to without losing any sort of emotional or sonic edge.
We over at Razorcake like the Gateway District so much that they made the cover of our 10 Year Anniversary issue (/store/razorcake-65). Since they were able to make the trip out to Razorcake HQ, we did our best to record the interview. I don’t know about you, but I like it when people you respect are given the opportunity to talk for themselves instead of it being chopped up.
Here you go. An interview with the Gateway District. If you’ve never heard them before, the podcast starts off with one of their songs.
-Todd Taylor