releases from gorky
mathemagician was released the same day as jesse valencia's debut nonfiction book keep music evil: the brian jonestown massacre story, in april of 2019 while jesse was in his second semester at the david lynch film school. that same week, gorky embarked on their first-ever tour through arizona and california, doing book events during the day and shows at night. needless to say, it was a busy time.
the band had come a long way since their garage rock beginnings of 2010's high in the low, but instead of abandoning their original sound, with mathemagician the band crafted their magnum opus. the result is as solid a rock and roll gem as potent the strokes' is this it? or the white stripes' white blood cells from two decades earlier.
the band also took time to recover from firing guitarist houston ellsworth, as well as the enormous grief felt amongst them and their small community of fans by the unexpected death of fan skye perez. the paired blow of these events sent the band back to the drawing board as jesse prepared to release keep music evil through jawbone press.
though the group had been through numerous incarnations and line-ups over their nearly-20 year history, jesse had guided the band and their sound through all of it. now, having learned the craft of recording from the bjm's anton newcombe through writing his book, jesse sought to apply what he had learned from bjm to gorky. the result was mathemagician.
continuing the trend of re-recording new material from their eponymous fourth record, new versions of "roll with me" and "sing a song if it makes you happy" were recorded for the album. it also features studio versions of two songs originally debuted on live at phoenix comicon, "am radio" and "cosmonautical."
"action pants" featured a helping hand from the dandy warhols' courtney-taylor taylor, who offered production advice for jesse's vocal arrangements. the music video for the song was jesse's first try at directing, and filmed on a sony pd-150, the same camera his new filmmaking mentor david lynch used to shoot inland empire. the music video subsequently won the award for best music video at 2019's show low film festival.
the cover of the album, like every record with the exception of high in the low, features art by valencia and was inspired by his practice of transcendental meditation, which he was taught as part of his education while at the david lynch film school.
CREDITS
All songs by Gorky
Recorded at benjamin turner's house, show low AZ
and the gorkstation, show low az
2016-2018
Engineered by benjamin turner and jesse valencia
mixed and Mastered by Jon Weil for Fuzzywallz
Gorky:
Jesse Valencia - vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussion
tevin crabdree - bass
Ben Holladay - drums, percussion
Cover art by jesse valencia
"absolute beginner," "am radio," "brave new animal," "action pants" and "boogie machine" written by valencia "roll with me" written by valencia/aldridge; "sing a song if it makes you happy" written by valencia/turner; "cosmonautical" written by valencia/crabdree/holladay
(C) 2020 Gorky Records, Films and Publishing LLC
live at phoenix comicon was recorded right as the band hit a new peak, and just as they were about to experience another fall not felt since gregg left the band two years previous, or since jesse got into his accident nearly a decade earlier.
by summer of 2016, jesse had finished both probation and college, and was on track to publishing his first book, keep music evil: the brian jonestown massacre story. he'd also enjoyed something of an emergent acting career, appearing opposite tom sizemore in the indie crime drama durant's never closes and landing all the members of gorky cameo roles in the underground horror film bride of violence, while also contributing score to both films.
travis mills, who directed durant's and bride, had collaborated with jesse on the music videos for "#datass" and "super drunk," which in a short time garnered tens of thousands of views. after years of struggling, gorky finally was on the map as far as the local arizona scene and press was concerned.
the band were showing the parody video for "super drunk," which featured them dressed as flintstones characters and filmed at a local flintstones-themed kiddie park near the grand canyon, at that year's phoenix comicon 2016 film festival. they were also scheduled to perform that night at last exit live, and arranged to record the performance. the result is the most accurate representation in existence of the band's sound and direction at the time.
during the show, the band would debut two new songs which would carry over to their next album mathemagician, "am radio" and "cosmonautical."
while the album features guitarist houston ellsworth prominently, houston's time in the band would be short-lived as he focused more on his own music and eventually left arizona after several young women came forward accusing him of sexual assault. while it is not known if any charges were filed, houston was subsequently fired from the band and soon after moved to texas, where he now performs and records under the name chief swiftwater.
following these revelations, while he never contributed creatively to the band or their music, all references to houston ellsworth in materials owned by gorky records, films, and publishing were subsequently removed.
shortly after houston was fired, the band went away for awhile to regroup and so jesse could finish work on keep music evil. then, in 2018, while working on mathemagician, jesse was accepted into the david lynch mfa in screenwriting program the same day jawbone press in the uk offered him a contract for the book...
CREDITS
All songs by Gorky
Recorded at last exit live, phoenix AZ
june 4, 2o16
Engineered by brandon stubblefield
Mastered by Jon Weil for Fuzzywallz
Gorky:
Jesse Valencia - vocals, guitars
tevin crabdree - bass
Ben Holladay - drums
HOUSTON ELLSWORTH - guitars, vocals
Cover art by jesse valencia
"braindrainer," "donny," "am radio" and "super drunk" written by valencia; "roll with me" and "she spoke" written by valencia/aldridge; "megalodon" and "cosmonautical" written by valencia/crabdree/holladay
(C) 2020 Gorky Records, Films and Publishing LLC
while high in the low, more electric music for the mind and body, and the deuces were in various stages of development when gorky's lead singer and chief songwriter jesse valencia fell asleep drunk at the wheel and wrecked his car into two people in may of 2008, it would be some time before gorky would release a new record.
this was mostly due to jesse being on probation and needing to pay $45,000 in restitution to his victims. to ensure he paid the monthly requirement of $750 on time, jesse took out student loans and started college at NAU. also, he had begun work on his first book, keep music evil: the brian jonestown massacre story, after being introduced to their music and the film "DIG!" shortly before his accident.
in the aftermath of jail, probation, and jesse having to learn to live with a bum ankle, the band faded for a time from the public view as gregg moved on from the band, jesse finished his term of service in the us army and started college at northern arizona university while he worked to pay off his fines and restitution.
as he worked on the brian jonestown massacre book, jesse learned more about the recording process and decided he wanted to work in a real studio. as his probation neared completion, jesse reformed the band and began working on a new batch of songs.
among these were "#datass," which jesse wrote in 2013 shortly after seeing his idol prince live with his then-band 3rdeyegirl at the marquee in tempe, "super drunk," which was imagined as a hard rock beatles song, "I wish u was my gf," "braindrainer" and "megalodon."
in 2014, turner was focused on other projects, so the band debuted new live guitarist and part-time studio musician houston ellsworth in his place, who joined as gregg was leaving. as such, their big show opening for joel gion and the primary colours at the orpheum in flagstaff that april was without a bass player. soon afterwards they found tevin crabdree, a trained luthier who worked at majestic music in town, to fill in on bass. crabdree's first contribution to the group would be the extended outro of "megalodon!"
the band started their first sessions at uranus recording with jon weil, owned by the gin blossoms' robin wilson, who popped in during sessions sometimes, but then kicked the band out after he sold the building to four peaks brewery next door. sessions were then moved to 513 analog recording studios in tempe.
"she spoke," originally released on high in the low, was re-recorded in memory of the band's fan skye perez, who was killed in a car accident in the early part of 2016, and released on what would have been her 18th birthday. during the same session, "super drunk" was remixed into "dump on trump (feel the bern mix)" in support of bernie sanders during the 2016 primaries. the cover art of the single is by alex voltz. the day that skye passed away, the band played a bernie sanders fundraiser in flagstaff.
"human being," a cover of a song by fellow local arizona band weird radicals, was the first song to be produced and recorded by the full band themselves, at benjamin turner's house back in show low. this would mark turner's eventual return into the band and set the stage for the band's magnum opus, mathemagician.
CREDITS
All songs by Gorky
Recorded at uranus and 513, tempe AZ
and at benjamin turner's house, show low az
2014 - 2018
Engineered by jon weil, benjamin turner and jesse valencia
Mastered by Jon Weil for Fuzzywallz
Gorky:
Jesse Valencia - vocals, guitars, percussion, keyboards
tevin crabdree - bass
Ben Holladay - drums, percussion
additional guitar and vocals by houston ellsworth
Cover art by jesse valencia
"braindrainer," "super drunk," "#datass," "i wish u was my gf" and "dump on trump! (feel the bern mix)" by written by valencia; "she spoke" written by valencia/aldridge; "megalodon" written by valencia/crabdree/holladay; "human being" written by andrew cameron cline
(C) 2020 Gorky Records, Films and Publishing LLC
