Bad news, fans of things that are fun: Giggle Party is bailing on Dallas-Fort Worth for the greener pastures of San Francisco. Right after this weekend, in fact.
Turns out bassist Jason Reichl is headed that way for real-life, not-at-all-music-related career reasons--and GP keyboardist Kat Michie (aka Mrs. Jason Reichl) is moving with him, for fairly obvious reasons. So, too, is the rest of the band.
So, sadly, Giggle Party is headed for the Bay Area. But, thankfully, at least it isn't breaking up its good-time band.
Nor is it going to leave without a party. Tonight, at Reichl's Exposition Park home/DIY venue, The Handsome Kitten (824 Exposition Ave., Suite No. 8), the band, along with here Holy Spain, Young & Brave and Backflap, will host a going away party where it will also give its final performance as a Dallas-based product.
Earlier this week, we caught up with Reichl to find out the reasons behind the move and what the band hopes will come out of it.
So, Giggle Party is relocating to San Francisco? What gives? Are you going on hiatus?
We are not taking a hiatus as a band. We are still going to be writing and recording together over the summer. We will also be working on getting our first full-length out and to a label. Late summer, Giggle Party will be playing shows in San Francisco as a band, and will tour back to Dallas this year and definitely be around for SXSW.
Is there a particular opportunity for the band that presented itself?
Are there particular people (or organizations) who have presented the
band with an opportunity you'd like to tell us about?
I think our move was prompted by the idea that we want to tour more
often and wanted to get ourselves in front of the labels that may be
interested in us. We also love the concept of working as a band in a
saturated city. Dallas is great--and that might be the reason why we are
moving. San Francisco will be shitty, and harder to gain traction as a
band. I think we love that kind of challenge.
In Dallas, most of you had fulltime jobs. How will Giggle Party
get by in SF, one of the most expensive places to live in America?
We still have full-time jobs. I have always worked out of San
Francisco and New York. So, Dallas was just a stop on my way to moving
to a coast. Luckily, the other members of the band wanted to keep Giggle
Party going and are willing to relocate. But to be fair, if I was
moving to Ohio I don't think the band would have continued.
You have pretty deep roots in Dallas and Deep Ellum. What do you
think will be the most difficult thing about pulling up the stakes and
moving out west?
That's easy. The bands and the support network. Moving from the
Austin music scene to Dallas scene was a culture shock. I will miss
being around talented, thoughtful people who happen to play in amazing
bands.
Who, in the GP circle in Dallas, has been the loudest objector to
this move?
I will say, John from Parade of Flesh, Cory Graves, and Jaime Falcon
from Day Bow Bow. They've been super supportive. Jaime has also been
coming to our last shows and filming them. But honestly, we've tried to
minimize the feeling of "this is it." We are not done, nor is this the
end of our relationship with Dallas. We will be in SF, representing
Dallas. We want to still be part of the DFW scene.
Where does this put the band, time-line wise, for the new CD you've
been working on? Will you start over from scratch with new
people/opportunities, or...?
Our album is in the mixing stage now and is a more cleaned-up record
than our last EP. We will actually be selling DIY samples from the
album tonight. The EP is titled Get Your Finger Wet, which is mantra
about living life with some zeal and not getting down on yourself about
the things you're not.
It seems like things have suddenly started to move very fast for
the band. Is that the case? If so, what are the emotions and stress
levels like for everyone right now?
I don't know what fast is! We are a goal-driven band. Our first two
goals were to play with Matt & Kim and Man Man, which we
accomplished. Our second goal was to have a successful tour to see if
our brand of music and show could sell outside the safe walls of the DFW community, and it did. Our next goal is to finish the album and start
licensing our music for commercial use. We had some success with this
goal last year by selling our song "Big Bang" to Pepsi, which has led to
a licensing company picking us up. We are also trying to reinvent our
live show to keep the audience engaged. We all feel like with the
combination of our live show and the material on the new album that
decent things may happen in 2010-2011.
What will happen to The
Handsome Kitten?
I am thinking about turning the name into a small DIY label. I used
to run a somewhat successful label in Austin and miss helping friends
that I like. I would love to put out some splits or mixes with DFW
bands.
Are you planning a way to somehow top your already blowout style
of live show at this farewell performance?
If the audience feeds us, we will feed them!