GreyMarket
The Strength of Conviction
Words: James Ferreira
Photo: John Paul Douglas

2007 was a banner year for Tampa’s intense prog-rock duo GreyMarket. Fronted by the electric L. Cave McCoy, and driven by the pounding beats laid down by drummer Mike Gargiulo, the band has taken huge strides toward becoming much more than just another great local act. The past twelve months have seen them grow and evolve immensely as musicians, and that is saying something considering how smitten most of the REAX family was upon first listening to them way back at our second showcase in September of 2006. Their first album, Dauntless, received critical acclaim across the board amongst local media outlets as a hauntingly precise glance into the intricacies of the human psyche. To celebrate the release of their debut, the guys decided to leave town and play an inordinate amount of dates up and down the East Coast highlighted by several shows in New York and Atlanta. “We definitely have been well-received and each venue offered dates to return, which was great. That is a very validating gesture against all the work we put into this,” Mike told me after I inquired as to how foreign markets responded to them.

When I asked the guys what sort of differences they noticed between the places they visited on the road and their home town, I was quite surprised to hear Cave’s response. “Honestly, it has made us appreciate what we have in Tampa way, way more. We have several great venues. We have good bands worth seeing. Every place else is either a wasteland or so overpopulated that there’s no possible way for any band to create its own insular bubble to make something unique in. Here, there’s just enough space so that you can have A!A!! doing one thing and Win Win Winter doing something completely different and GreyMarket doing God-knows-what in the corner.” This is not to say that the scene in Tampa isn’t without holes (as they both will tell you). Nevertheless, it was refreshing to hear a positive response, as I worried that after seeing what other cities had to offer Tampa might lose one of its greatest treasures before ever getting to appreciate it.

With so many dates played over the last few months, I wondered about some of the highlights of their tours. “We got to play in NYC which meant I got to see my family. Additionally, both sides of my family were in the same room together which hasn’t happened since I was about 8 years old. It was also cool to see what the music scene was like in other cities,” Mike said.

“Getting to spoon with Mike in so many different locales. When he wraps his arms around me, I just melt away. My first ever visit to New York was to play a gig in the Village. That was pretty rad,” Cave chimed in.

GreyMarket returned to Tampa from their last string of shows in November, with a raucous homecoming performance at the Orpheum. “It was fantastic. It was basically like a pre-emptive record release party. We’d been playing the new material quite a bit around the state and it’s all being received well. The Orpheum is just like our home though, so everything is pretty much always just right, especially the technical issues regarding sound, mixing, etc..,” Mike explained.

The Orpheum has really become a home base for GreyMarket. It’s traditionally been one of Ybor’s most recognized venues, and even though the past couple years have seen some decline in the quality of shows put on there, and a few more miles on an already rundown building, it’s impossible not to feel somewhat nostalgic when discussing what playing there is like for local bands, and what attendance means for fans of live music in the bay area. “The Orpheum is basically the home of this band. It’s like playing for your extended drunken family,” Cave said.

Their new album is scheduled for release early this year and is tentatively entitled Some Orbits Never Decay. They have been playing a lot of the new stuff out lately, and as I alluded to earlier, it has definitely showcased some major growth. As Mike explains, “The new album is like Dauntless on speed. We clearly felt we needed to be punished so we put together this material that was a real pain in the ass to play. You’ll see a clear difference in textures, more complex arrangements, faster tempos, and just different approaches. It also has some of the heaviest stuff we’ve ever done, as well as what I consider the best song we’ve written.”

I asked the guys what kinds of stuff they had been listening to over the last few months, in order to better grasp what may have gone into shaping the new record. “I tend to pick something up long after the cool kids put it down. I just started rocking The Darkness’ Permission to Land. I really like the Bravery’s new record too, for the most part. They put on a pretty good show at State (Theater in St. Petersburg),” Cave said.

“I’ve been sweating The Shins like whoa, and we saw them in Atlanta last month which was great. I really like the new Silverchair record, Young Modern. I’ve also really gotten into a British band called Kasabian which my brother turned me on to and I ended up liking more than he does,” Mike told me with no regard for how mercilessly I will now berate him for admitting to liking Silverchair. Just kidding, but not really (In fairness, I haven’t even listened to that album, so I have no ground to stand on).

When asked what fans can expect from their new album Cave simply stated, “It’s really fucking good. You won’t believe it.”  So naturally, I inquired as to whether or not they’d given much thought into pursuing a record deal and he told me, “I’d love to get signed to a good indie label. We don’t need somebody to tell us how to do things, just help putting it out there.”

Mike then added, “We really only gave it serious consideration when Atlantic Records came to see one of our shows. Needless to say we are not currently on their roster. There really isn’t anything a label can do for us that we can’t do on our own save for promotion, but that can really also be handled by ourselves, or by companies that specialize in just PR or Promotion.”

With the wheels obviously well in motion, I inquired as to what the next couple months had in store for the dynamic duo. “We plan to continue the local shows but we’re planning to immeidately wrap up the new record, get a record-release happening, and then we’re going on tour again in February,” Mike said.

“Playtime is over,” Cave told me. If this past year is any indication of how these guys “play,” then I can’t wait to see what some serious work is going to do for them.

Greymarketband.com