Gawn Takes Unusually Usual Path To Its Tunes

In some ways it’s the typical basement band story and in other ways, it’s so not. 

The story starts in 2018 when every day after work Zach Koenig, Johns Swanson and James Francis would meet up at a tiny practice space in Brooklyn, NY lugging in every piece of gear they had. Night in and night out, they’d work on stretching out the legs on the songs they’d concocted together.

With so much writing and recording and a good feeling about what was going on, Koenig slapped the name Gawn on the project and away they went. The band started booking gigs but in typical band fashion, not everyone was always available for the shows. That left Koenig with two options; pass on the show or sub in different musicians.

Different musicians it was. So many and so often in fact that it became a fun mystery as to who would be playing and what the set lists would be.

It wasn’t long before Koenig and his rotating cast of players were clipping miles up and down the East Coast DIY circuit playing nearly every house in New York and New Jersey. The outfit gathered some buzz and eventually landed opening slots for Hater and Ringo Deathstarr.

Flash forward to today, not even two years since they first lugged their gear into that tiny practice space, Gawn is readying the release their first album. While the full nine song platter Thee Essence Ov Everything hits streets on August 14^th, a teaser tune is out in the form of “No Light” is out now. Eclectic, synthy, pop rock, at first listen “No Light” sounds a bit like the Violent Femmes all grown up with perhaps a little early Pixies thrown in for good measure.

Since there have been God knows how many one-night incarnations of the band, it’s important to note that when you hear Thee Essence Ov Everything, the musicians you’ll hear are EP McRae (Drums) Kyu Lee (guitar) Anders Nils (Bass) and Duke Taylor (guitar). Who knows what the heck will happen with the Covid-19 / Coronavirus situation, but as of now the band is planning on a U.S. tour in September.