Back when The Gamits first burst their cherry 10 years ago, they were belting out the sweet punk licks that many pop bands portray today on the screens of MTV. In fact, lead singer Chris Fogal was often taken for the nasally traits of Green Day’s Mr. Billy.
Those days are gone.
Antidote is the not only the next chapter in The Gamits musical history. It’s another volume all together. Still handling the majority of the songwriting, Fogal has grown into his own skin and vocal style, and from track to track, you can see and feel a few scars here and there, along with some deeper lifelines. With a backdrop of ’90s rock—thinking everything from Posies and Red Kross to Loud Lucy, Lemonheads, and the Ft. Apache crew—Gamits emanates a slightly heavier vibe tied into personal thoughts and experiences of the time.
From “How To Escape,” Fogal tells it like it is, “We are living out our lives in suspended animation / Waiting for the next frame to appear / For some reason I took a wrong turn somewhere…now I’m stuck in this location / Counting the days until I get back home.” Even tracks like “Born and Raised Afraid” bring to light the state of our society, where we’re okay with pharmaceutical companies touting their latest drug product and letting the media tells us what’s really up. Then there’s the closing track “Bridges” where Ian Cooke from Uphollow was brought in on cello to add sophistication to the acoustic guitar track.
There’s been a resurgence of musical styles of various decades from the ’60s pop to ’90s “Modern Rock,” making their presence known. This year alone we can see all the greats as The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Skinny Puppy and The Cure rev up their tour buses. Some bands are blatantly ripping off their forefathers/mothers, and then there are those who are carrying on those amazing hooks with innovative tenacity, orchestrating captivating melodies, and penning lyrics that stream in your mind for days.
Plain and simple—The Gamits’ Antidote is the drug of choice for what ails your daily life. They’re playing in our own backyard, kicking out the jams for their CD release party right here at The BlueBird with Against Tomorrow’s Sky, Ember, JF Allstars Saturday, June 5.
