"every single time I look your way you just stand and turn away..."
The rustic sonic imagery of "Stand and Turn Away" by Atlanta's Gringo Star pushes buttons and maybe turns dials too. Against the floor stomp and alt country / folk guitar picking, amid the blue collar drawl and faint supporting harmonies there is a beautiful vintage patina that feels like the kind of orchestrated country and western ascensions coming from Merle Haggard on The Johnny Cash Show via a 60's cathode ray television (hence the aforementioned dials). That patina crafted with wanderlustful harmonicas and a slippery nimble acoustic guitar solo feels like riding the rails along open deserted landscapes.
The lyrics paint a picture of hard emotional times, of relationships just about breaking under the weight of life itself but somehow holding on.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://twitter.com/Gringo_Star_Atl
https://open.spotify.com/artist/09CQngaijJk9iSalfKfrIW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKQ-z5NB6lc&feature=youtu.be
https://www.instagram.com/gringostarmusic/
"I paint your picture on my door,
I guess my life’s a bore,
I guess I still want more,
But every single time,
I look your way,
You just stand and turn away."
I guess my life’s a bore,
I guess I still want more,
But every single time,
I look your way,
You just stand and turn away."
The bruised and battered storytelling tugs at me and makes me want to see the back story and follow through on screen. At the core of Gringo Star is the brotherly songwriting duo of Nick and Peter Furgiuele who have been (as press notes relay) [playing together since they were kids, born into a family with strong ties to Georgia music history. “Our grandad started out in radio in the ’40s and ’50s in Columbus, Ga.,” Nick explains. “He was a huge promoter of R&B back when it was still super segregated, and he was playing black music and putting on shows with Little Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers, a lot of Gospel shows. So we grew up hearing all these stories, listening to all this music. Our grandfather was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame posthumously. And my grandma—all her photo albums are like Jackie Wilson shirtless backstage, hanging out.”]
"Stand and Turn Away" is something special. It has self deprecating tensions, mirrors stained with sweat and tears, the stuff of folk country traveling troubadours and their stories contained only on vinyl with dog eared liner notes. This lovely track is from Gringo Star's album "On And On And Gone" out June 2nd (2023) on My Anxious Mouth.
"Stand and Turn Away" is something special. It has self deprecating tensions, mirrors stained with sweat and tears, the stuff of folk country traveling troubadours and their stories contained only on vinyl with dog eared liner notes. This lovely track is from Gringo Star's album "On And On And Gone" out June 2nd (2023) on My Anxious Mouth.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://twitter.com/Gringo_Star_Atl
https://open.spotify.com/artist/09CQngaijJk9iSalfKfrIW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKQ-z5NB6lc&feature=youtu.be
https://www.instagram.com/gringostarmusic/
https://gringostar.bandcamp.com/album/on-and-on-and-gone
Gringo Star have made a name for themselves as one of Atlanta’s most valuable rock & roll exports, carrying the torch for hazy, psychedelic garage rock in a city primarily valued for its contributions to hip-hop. Brothers Nick and Peter Furgiuele are the constant creative force of Gringo Star, and have outlasted wave after wave of buzz bands and indie blog darlings, carving their own career path through constant reinvention and an unparalleled work ethic, amassing a loyal and enthusiastic international fanbase along the way. Their mind-bending take on doo-wop inspired R&B and British Invasion rock & roll has garnered praise from the likes of Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, Paste Magazine, KEXP & more, and landed them on bills alongside everyone from Cat Power and Feist to The Black Angels and Weezer, not to mention tours with Wavves, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, and their Atlanta-based contemporaries Black Lips.
Though the band’s 2008 album, All Y’all serves as the start of Gringo Star’s storied career, the band’s core songwriting duo, the Furgiuele brothers, have been playing together since they were kids, born into a family with strong ties to Georgia music history. “Our grandad started out in radio in the ’40s and ’50s in Columbus, Ga.,” Nick explains. “He was a huge promoter of R&B back when it was still super segregated, and he was playing black music and putting on shows with Little Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers, a lot of Gospel shows. So we grew up hearing all these stories, listening to all this music. Our grandfather was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame posthumously. And my grandma—all her photo albums are like Jackie Wilson shirtless backstage, hanging out.”
Eventually, the brothers formed Gringo Star and began the career that has come to define their last decade. All Y’all and Count Yer Lucky Stars forced the world to pay attention. 2013’s Floating Out To See found the band experimenting with producing their own records and layering more keys and strings into their compositions. 2016’s The Sides and In Between contained some of the finest songwriting of the Furgiuele’s career, and 2018’s Back to the City reinvigorated their sound with a new intensity, equally dark and shimmering. The band’s legendary live energy was captured in 2019’s album Controlled Burn (Live In Atlanta)-(Baby Robot). Despite multiple personnel changes, Nick and Peter have remained steadfast in their partnership, continuing to stand by one another through thick and thin in their artistic endeavors. There’s no telling what comes next for Gringo Star, but there’s no doubt that the Furgiuele brothers will continue to write and record on their own terms. “We’ve had a lot of opportunities over the past ten years. If we had an idea about something we wanted to, we did it,” says Nick. “I can’t think of a single thing I’d change."
Gringo Star have made a name for themselves as one of Atlanta’s most valuable rock & roll exports, carrying the torch for hazy, psychedelic garage rock in a city primarily valued for its contributions to hip-hop. Brothers Nick and Peter Furgiuele are the constant creative force of Gringo Star, and have outlasted wave after wave of buzz bands and indie blog darlings, carving their own career path through constant reinvention and an unparalleled work ethic, amassing a loyal and enthusiastic international fanbase along the way. Their mind-bending take on doo-wop inspired R&B and British Invasion rock & roll has garnered praise from the likes of Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, Paste Magazine, KEXP & more, and landed them on bills alongside everyone from Cat Power and Feist to The Black Angels and Weezer, not to mention tours with Wavves, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, and their Atlanta-based contemporaries Black Lips.
Though the band’s 2008 album, All Y’all serves as the start of Gringo Star’s storied career, the band’s core songwriting duo, the Furgiuele brothers, have been playing together since they were kids, born into a family with strong ties to Georgia music history. “Our grandad started out in radio in the ’40s and ’50s in Columbus, Ga.,” Nick explains. “He was a huge promoter of R&B back when it was still super segregated, and he was playing black music and putting on shows with Little Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers, a lot of Gospel shows. So we grew up hearing all these stories, listening to all this music. Our grandfather was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame posthumously. And my grandma—all her photo albums are like Jackie Wilson shirtless backstage, hanging out.”
Eventually, the brothers formed Gringo Star and began the career that has come to define their last decade. All Y’all and Count Yer Lucky Stars forced the world to pay attention. 2013’s Floating Out To See found the band experimenting with producing their own records and layering more keys and strings into their compositions. 2016’s The Sides and In Between contained some of the finest songwriting of the Furgiuele’s career, and 2018’s Back to the City reinvigorated their sound with a new intensity, equally dark and shimmering. The band’s legendary live energy was captured in 2019’s album Controlled Burn (Live In Atlanta)-(Baby Robot). Despite multiple personnel changes, Nick and Peter have remained steadfast in their partnership, continuing to stand by one another through thick and thin in their artistic endeavors. There’s no telling what comes next for Gringo Star, but there’s no doubt that the Furgiuele brothers will continue to write and record on their own terms. “We’ve had a lot of opportunities over the past ten years. If we had an idea about something we wanted to, we did it,” says Nick. “I can’t think of a single thing I’d change."
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