Dave Derby, of the band Gramercy Arms recently took out the time to chat with us about their song “Fucked Up and Beautiful”. The track featured on their album “Deleted Scenes” was recently released on the 3rd of March, 2023. A raw and emotive mastercraft of indie rock “Fucked Up and Beautiful” delves into the complexities of love, youth, and everything in between. Guided by the artistic golden era of 70s and 80s New York, “Deleted Scenes” features standout performances and showcases the band’s talent in full. In this interview, Dave Derby talks about his inspirations, the band’s creative process and the journey that brought all this wonderful music into the world!
Thanks for taking the time out to chat with me. Let's start at the beginning. Can you introduce yourself and tell us how you first ended up playing music?
I’m Dave Derby of Gramercy Arms. I first started playing guitar when I was about the age of 13-14 and started writing songs as soon as I learned a few chords. I formed a band in high school that became my first band the Dambuilders.
With Gramercy Arms being a collective with revolving membership, which collaborations would you consider to be the highlights of your career and who do you most wish to collaborate with in future?
There have been so many great collaborations in Gramercy Arms. Collaborating with Lloyd Cole and Joan Wasser on “Beautiful Disguise” for our second record, Seasons of Love, stands out because it was so fun. On this record the collaborations were different because a lot of them happened over lockdown. Doug Gillard’s parts on “It’s Hard Not to Love You,” Mike Errico adding guitars on pretty much everything, and Mark Lizotte’s transformation of the song “Passing Through” from a very simple song to a lush musical adventure were great. Also recording “Hope I’m Not Too Late” with Kevin March, Sean Eden, Claudia Chopek and Renee Lo Bue.
I’m looking forward to making Gramercy Arms even more collaborative and thinking about ways to include different singers and styles of music in the future.
Your latest song is 'Fucked Up and Beautiful'. Can you tell us about the backstory behind this single and who was involved in recording this track and creating the video you've shared for this track?
This is an old song that I’ve been working on for years. I had different iterations of it that were recorded but never released. It was inspired by my some of my experiences in university. It’s not about one person in particular. It’s more a pastiche of people I knew.
What would you say is your favorite and least favorite thing about being a musician? Are you also involved with other musical projects apart from Gramercy Arms?
My favorite thing about being a musician is writing music and creating new parts or lyrics to transform existing songs. My least favorite part is the feeling that I’m not doing enough social media promotion … though even that can be fun if approached in the right way. Self-promotion doesn’t come easy, or naturally, for me.
Please tell us about your recently released 'Deleted Scenes' album and how has it been received since you released it?
I’m very proud of this record. In my opinion it’s the best one I’ve made with Gramercy Arms. I’m proud of how the vision of the band has evolved. It was a wonderful collaboration at every step of the way. I think it’s been very well received by press, radio and people whose opinions I respect.
Can you tell us about your relationship with Magic Door Record Label, Magic Door Studio and producer Ray Ketchem? What was the recording process like?
Working with Ray was a wonderful collaboration. He and I have known each other for a long time, and we worked together on the “Seasons of Love” record. Initially the idea was that we were going to co-produce the record, but he brought so much to the record that I felt he should have 100% of the production credit. He came up with a clear, well-articulated philosophy of how we were going to make the record—sort of like a design-brief—and that vision was realized through a lot of dedicated and very focused work. Making this record was the best experience I’ve ever had working with a producer. Everything he did was brilliant.
How do you nurture your own creativity? What makes you happy apart from making music?
I try to always stay inspired. I see writing music as a process that can take years. I have a lot of songs that I’m thinking about at any given moment that are in various stages of completion. In some cases, I like to put songs “on ice” for a few years and bring them out of storage when I’m ready to revisit them. I try to listen to a lot of music, watch movies, read books, read poetry. I like to keep journals and record interesting bits of dialogue. New York City is a great city to overhear strange conversations of passers-by that sometimes inspire me to write lyrics.
You performed a series of live shows ahead of and following the launch of your album. Given how many folks are involved in Gramercy Arms, how do you go about organizing your shows, determining your repertoire, etc.
We have a very simple—but sometimes maddening—organizing principle for shows. If someone offers a show and I can do it, I put it out to the larger band to see who is available. Whoever is available that’s the band. So, the lineup and the instrumentation is always different! It’s not uncommon for the number of people to overwhelm the physical capacity of stages we play on, but we make it work.
The music landscape has changed so much in the past decade - it would be hard to fathom for artists living, say, 20 years ago. Do you see any rising opportunities or obstacles for new or seasoned musicians starting to appear on the horizon?
Well, this will sound like a cliché but AI is going to have a lot of impact. I think music is an art form that has been continually re-invented and re-imagined by technology and while the technology doesn’t always translate into something better, especially if it’s used straight out of the box and without any creativity, I think it’s almost always created opportunity for cooler stuff when it’s been used thoughtfully. I’ve been using AI to help inspire me to consider different chord changes and harmonic structures. It’s been super inspiring. I’m curious to see where it goes.
What does the next year or so hold for Gramercy Arms and Dave Derby apart from your plans with this group?
We will be playing more shows, releasing a few more singles and then working on the next record. I recorded a lot of songs, some of which are finished and some not quite finished with the original intention of releasing a double album! So, I’m looking forward to finishing the other album and working on other projects. An old band of mine I was in while I was in university is releasing an album at some point next year. I’m also working on creating new music in the vein of my old band, the Dambuilders, that will be released as something at some point in the future. I’ve been playing in a band called The King Canutes that will have a record out soon on Magic Door. Other than that, I am looking forward to some traveling.
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