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Giddy-Up Charges Out Of The Gate
Photo from Giddy-Up, Helicopter!
Giddy-Up, Helicopter's debut CD, "I Am Secretary," was recorded, mixed and mastered in just two days.
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Published: June 7, 2007
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TAMPA - In about a year and a half, Tampa alternative rock act Giddy-Up, Helicopter! has gone from its first rehearsal to releasing one of the most highly anticipated local CDs of the year.
In keeping with that spirit of acceleration, the album, "I Am Secretary," was recorded, mixed and mastered in two days.
"We're happy to finally have it finished and we're really pleased with all the songs," says J. Conner, the band's singer and lyricist as well as one of its three guitarists.
"In retrospect, if we'd had more time we would have spent more time on mixing and mastering it. We're happy with it but we want to do it a little bit differently next time."
"Secretary" doesn't capture the overwhelming wash of sound that makes Giddy-Up, Helicopter! such an impressive live act. The trade-off is that the recording spotlights the band's songwriting.
Conner lists Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain as influences all the band members share, but says they really didn't have a particular sound in mind when they formed.
Conner and guitarist Nicole Schleif began writing songs together and met bassist Sandi Streppone over the Internet. They met guitarist Nikki Navarro and a now-departed drummer at downtown Tampa bar The Hub.
"We were at the drummer's house and it's like, 'Now we have to write a song,'" Conner recalls. "We just kind of started and played out that night at an open mike. We didn't really have time to think about what it would sound like.
"As it progressed we had influences we wanted to follow and sounds we wanted to get to," Conner says.
Conner rates Leonard Cohen and Jason Molina from Songs: Ohia as two current favorite lyricists.
"I like lyrics that are kind of like stories but not overdone. Not folkish, just telling the base of a story that people can kind of relate to without having meaning shoved down their throats," Conner says.
"I don't like to explain [the lyrics] perfectly," Conner says. "Usually they relate to a couple of things I've gone through, or stories I've heard, but I like to leave them so people can go, 'This reminds me of the summer when I was 16.'"
Giddy-Up, Helicopter! will spend its summer touring, playing as far away as Chicago, Boston and New York.
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