One of the strongest attributes that any musician can possess, more important than any flashy technical chops, is the ability to play a part that fits a song. The ability to strategically maneuver while remaining respectful of one’s musical surroundings is tremendously important. It can be as simple as displaying modesty in a guitar part, or allowing a bass line to take the spotlight. Where this skill is concerned, Troy Gatrell is arguably one of the most talented musicians in the Richmond scene. And it’s that much more impressive to see him exhibit this mindset within the context of his band, Way Shape Or Form.
This article is taken from the brand new print issue of RVA Magazine. Click here to read the digital version of this issue.
One of the strongest attributes that any musician can possess, more important than any flashy technical chops, is the ability to play a part that fits a song. The ability to strategically maneuver while remaining respectful of one’s musical surroundings is tremendously important. It can be as simple as displaying modesty in a guitar part, or allowing a bass line to take the spotlight. Where this skill is concerned, Troy Gatrell is arguably one of the most talented musicians in the Richmond scene. And it’s that much more impressive to see him exhibit this mindset within the context of his band, Way Shape Or Form.
This article is taken from the brand new print issue of RVA Magazine. Click here to read the digital version of this issue.
Each song is full of driving ambition: assertive percussion and looping guitars are layered within digital landscapes. On the group’s 2012 full-length Person, Place or Thing (their second, following 2009’s Trapezoid Campaign), their sound is at its most realized. The instrumentals contain enough imagination that they don’t feel limited by their lack of lyrical content, while by contrast, songs with vocals rely heavily on Gatrell’s wordplay, and are equally a delight for the listener.
A strong factor to consider when understanding Gatrell’s craft is where it all began. “At a young age, I spent a lot of time listening to only music that lacked any words,” he remarks. “It almost seemed strange to me to have voices contained in songs. It wouldn’t be until much later that I even began to consider the role words play in songwriting.”
There were also early moments where the role of music in video games had a huge impact. “I really attached myself to some of those early console games,” Gatrell says. “I remember taping the music onto cassettes and just listening back to a lot of those pieces. They were really interesting compositions, and what got me was how they were probably overlooked by many, like it was just background fodder. But it seemed like so much more than that.” In many ways, this interest provided further inspiration on Person, Place or Thing. The opening track, “Option House,” is titled as a reference to the world of Mario Party, while the album features an instrumental cover of the Mario 64 composition “Dire, Dire Docks” as a digital bonus track. This ode to the heyday of Nintendo 64 is appropriate; there is a sense of timelessness to what Way Shape Or Form accomplishes. The gadgetry might be modernized, but staples from Gatrell’s childhood are ever present.
Despite Gatrell having performed almost all the instruments on the recording, a band was needed to recreate the material live. The first step for Gatrell to assemble a band was to leave his childhood home of Roanoke and get to Richmond. “I actually made plans to begin attending school in the city so that I could justify moving here and hopefully engaging with the scene,” Gatrell recalls. “Even before I started playing, [Roanoke] bands like The K Word made me want to play music and be in a band. Knowing that members had ventured to [Richmond] made my desire that much more.” Once he arrived in RVA, he found a few like-minded musicians in Will Hooper, Reid LaPierre, and Ethan Johnstone. “It’s really crazy when I think of how fortunate I am to play with this lineup,” Gatrell says. “It all fits into the mindset of what I envisioned the project being, and they also offer the right push for what might have initially felt like a solo project to now feel like a band.”
To start 2014 off right, Gatrell is hard at work on a new EP. This release will not only showcase the evolution of the project and the direction of their sound, but will also hopefully lead to the band hitting the road. “Touring is definitely on the agenda, but I want the EP to be done first,” Gatrell says. “I feel like it’s going to sound like a combination of the first two albums. More lively, and louder.” The plan for a short-form release isn’t merely due to a lack of material. “I wanted to do an EP because I just wanted to release new material faster. Also I feel like an EP gives me more room to explore and get a little more experimental. After the overwhelmingly positive response from the last album, I’ve felt the need to share more. I think the extra energy in these songs reflects the excitement I’ve felt by being a band in Richmond and gaining an audience that I wasn’t expecting.” The EP will still primarily feature Gatrell as the main player, but the addition of some guitar tracks by Hooper is a slow move towards capturing the live version of Way Shape or Form on record.
The new material Gatrell has been working on has been mainly influenced by a non-musical inspiration. “It might come as a shock, but some of my influences of late have been pulled from the world of stand-up comedy,” he explains. If anything, he finds this a bit of a safer influence than other music. “You get super into a band, and you may start inadvertently sounding like them. But you can be inspired to create music by something else that isn’t music,” he says. “For me, lately, it’s been comedy. I love observing people be creative and unique. They’re trying to express themselves in an interesting way, and so am I.” Gatrell has teased that some of the future Way Shape or Form songs may offer a few nods to stand-up bits that have stuck with him for a while now, but most of what he takes from comedy is not audible in the music. “It’s not so much the tone as the approach. I was listening to Pete Holmes’ podcast, You Made It Weird, and one of the resounding concepts was how he debuts new material. He goes out and performs it just to see what happens. It seems like an obvious thing, but perhaps to some musicians that could be a horrifying concept. Disasters could eventually happen, but it also forces you to take that risk of just putting your work out there, and it has made all the difference with how the band operates.”
Photo by Dan Zimmerman
Gatrell hopes the new material they are working on will contribute to his vision of the band as weird pop. “I like songs that have weird nuances to them and end up being really poppy,” he says. “The catchiness that you can’t quite put your finger on, but you know after listening that it’s really taken you for a ride. I think that’s what I always hope to achieve with anything I write, and I think that will continue to be what I strive for.” When asked if this is the main reason he makes music, though, the question brings him up short. “Someone asked me this recently, and I was stumped. Maybe because the answer was too obvious and I was trying to make it sound more interesting,” he says.
However, he makes an attempt to explain his creative musical drive. “I’m obsessed with the intense love feeling from hearing the right combination of sounds,” Gatrell says. “The chill that runs up your spine. It all sounds cliché but I can’t think of how else to describe it. It’s infinitely fascinating to me to be able to put all these moving parts together and end up with a single feeling. I think I like composing, writing all the instruments, because I know exactly what feeling I’m trying to get to, and I know what the role of each instrument is in getting there. There isn’t one part that is on that recording that isn’t important and deliberate. Making music puts me in a state of flow, when it’s good. I forget about time, and exit my consciousness a little. Needs are put on hold. I’m only in the moment. It’s perfect.”
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Way Shape Or Form will perform live on Sunday, May 18 at The Camel with Harrisonburg’s The Dawn Drapes and locals Dirty Paws. Admission is $3, doors open at 7 PM. For more info, click here.
