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The Gita
By Ravis Harnell
First, I loved The Gita’s ingenious press campaign. Then, I hated their jam-band reputation. And finally, I went to see them live and decided for myself. Vocalist/guitarist Joran Oppelt, bassist Richard Montalbano, keyboardist David Russell, sax player Joseph Terrana, drummer Tony Dolan, and percussionist Steve Turner are not tie-dyed, or moonies, or a cover band. They’re not really any of the things people, most of whom have never bothered to check out a set, call them. What they are is one of the most entertaining, versatile white-funk acts currently bothering to give a crowd what it wants – a good time. The following conversation took place at Limey’s (formerly the Cockney Rebel) in St. Pete.
Focus: A little bit of background, if you please, gentlemen. How long have you been playing together?
Joran: About two years.
Rich: And I joined about a year ago.
Focus: You’re the newest member?
Rich: Actually, [percussionist] Steve Turner’s the newest member…
Focus: And he’s not here.
Rich: He’s kind of the mystery member.
Tony: It started off like this, Joe and I came from a band called Squirrelly Whirly World. Dave and I had played with Joran for a couple of years previous, in different bands, so when Squirrelly ended, we just called Joran up and said come on over to our house in St. Pete, and we immediately started up The Gita. Two of ‘em dropped out.
Joe: They moved to New York…
Tony: One of ‘em moved to Boston. Dave joined, played keys and bass for a while before we realized we needed him full-time on keys, and pole-smoking, so we found Rich.
Joran: [monstrous belch] He was in this horrible band Kymystry. [laughter]
Tony: Oh, Joran.
Dave: [into recorder] Is this thing on? Check! Check!
Focus: How did the whole spiritually-shrouded, ‘lost music of The Gita’ PR persona get started?
Joran: Sitting around smoking on the back porch, thinking it would be a good idea. This guy Trevor, who was the editor at this magazine where I was an art director – I asked him to type up a press release, and kind of play it up.
Tony: He came up with the idea.
Joran: [to Trevor] You had read something about that hiker…
Trevor: This British guy who got lost up in the mountains, and they found his body forty years later. I actually only came over to bum a cigarette…
Joran: We combined that with the whole Gita thing, from [the Hindu term meaning ‘Sacred Song’].
Dave: It’s like the whole Causey Way thing, “The Gita is not a cult”, that’s sort of what we were shooting for.
Focus: In all seriousness, is there a spiritual bent to it?
Dave: Well, that’s where we took the name from…
Joran: There’s a Catholic and two atheists in the band…
Rich: It’s a push and pull kind of a thing.
Tony: In all seriousness [laughter], there’s a spiritual aspect from each and every member, I think; everybody has their own lot, everybody’s put their own into it.
Joran: Eric Snider wrote that the whole thing was a gimmick, but I think he misquoted me a little bit – it’s not a complete gimmick. I think we all touch on what The Gita means, you know?
Focus: Well, the people that haven’t read your [press and newsletter] stuff, who just come to the shows, might be hard pressed to look beyond the simple ‘fun’ aspect of the band. You’re not really a party band, but it comes off as fairly light-hearted entertainment.
Joran: There are only two songs where we pull out the tribal instruments, and actually trance out, do that real ‘Gita’ thing. Unless we open with that material, we’ll come off as a funk band. If we don’t start out with the Hindu shit, the mismar, you know what I mean? At The State one time, we opened with a belly dancer and the didgeridoo and everything. Mike from Sage was like, ‘You guys sure know how to make an entrance’. It’s only a gimmick to a point.
Tony: As far as we want to take it.
Dave: Whatever sells the most. [laughter]
Focus: You guys are one of those original bands in the scene right now that are kind of eschewing the idea of the showcase format is the only way to go, and taking over restaurants and clubs to play three or four sets a night. You’re kind of reclaiming what’s traditionally been thought of as cover band territory, playing your own music. It’s kind of something that’s a very ‘college town’ way of gaining a fanbase…
Joran: Right.
Focus: What are the advantages and disadvantages to playing those shows as well as showcase gigs?
Dave: There’s no college here [in St. Pete], which kind of puts a damper on the whole ‘college town’ thing. [laughter]
Joran: There’s Drew U. A lot of people ask us how we pull it off. Play our own music for four hours, and get paid to do it. A lot of restaurants, or whatever, are looking for that jazz or blues band, but if there are people getting up from the tables and dancing, then the owner doesn’t care what you’re playing. True, some of our newer songs have catered to that, but I think it’s helped the writing. It’s helped us to write more upbeat stuff, and it gets a crowd, as you can see tonight, from ten years old to, like, sixty. It’s weird, but it’s also an advantage.
Focus: Was it a route you made a conscious decision to go, or did you just kind of fall into it?
Tony: No, we did it.
Joran: There have been some cheesy gigs, where we’ll have to come up with something – ‘what are we gonna do with this much time’.
Dave: I think some of it came out of playing at the coffee shops, too, where we would play all night. At Java Lounge, which used to be East of Java, we’d have to fill up the time there. We’ll do a cover or two. We only do one or two, but we choose interesting songs, like Britney Spears ska-style, or whatever.
Tony: We’ve worked really hard. We’ve worked at least as hard as every other band out there. For two years, we’ve put our noses to the grindstone, really working for a fanbase.
Focus: Well, in a climate where most bands try very hard to push heavy emotional buttons, which often ends up sounding forced, you rely much more heavily on creating a synergy with the crowd – it’s important to you that people have a good time. Is that less important than being mopey or angsty or any of the other things bands try to be, instead of simply expressing themselves?
Joran: We’ve talked about it. I think we stand out because we’re not those things. We’re…
Tony: Nerds.
All: Yeah!
Dave: It’s all about the geek rawk.
Tony: We’re nowhere close to Phish’s standards, but…
Dave: We’re Poindexter Phish.
Focus: That’s another thing. Do you want to be known as a jam band?
Tony: Whatever comes will come, and I for one am good with that. I don’t want to be put in one general area, we’re an all-around band. I think all of us want people to sit back and listen and say, ‘this is a band that can do anything’.
Focus: Do you think you run the risk of falling through the cracks because you spread yourself out so far?
Tony: Yeah, it’s a risk.
Joran: It is, but…
Tony: There’s always a risk. The risk of failing miserably. We just enjoy music.
The Gita and Nakedpoetry.com host the third and final installment of the G-Spot Concert Series this Saturday, July 22, at Ybor City’s Orpheum. The Guyana Hotshots and Gringo Diablo will provide sonics as well.
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