Gleeson began as an idea for a band, and then for almost fifteen years served as a dusty warehouse of sorts for songs written by Ty Chandler. Other musical projects (Saratone, Milton Mapes) and a labor of love (Almost There Records) didn’t keep the tunes-in-storage from occasionally getting some air. Eventually Raul Vela and his son joined in along with James McCullough (bass) and the band was formed shortly thereafter. Check out the bands music on Bandcamp

We got started when I (Ty) met the Rauls (Raul Vela III & Raul Vela IV). We instantly connected musically and as friends. As luck would have it, they were both great players (RV III on guitar and RV IV on drums). I had some material I’d never used in previous bands that had been sitting around and showed it to them and they really liked it. I asked if they’d be interested in doing something with it and they agreed. We asked a friend of RV IV’s, James McCullough, to play bass and started working on songs and playing shows.

Why did you start with “The Very, Very Best of” for the debut? Was it a gimmick?
Ty: Ha ha, yeah that title…well like I said, I had a bunch of songs that were under the “Gleeson” moniker for a while…like 15 years… so it kinda seemed fitting, ha. It was also a tongue in cheek type of deal to call your debut record “the very very best”, which really could have opened us up to some negative press if it sucked! Fortunately, the reviews we did get were positive.

Name your three biggest musical influences.
Ty: To be totally honest, especially with regard to Gleeson II, we were really influenced by a lot of our peers here in Austin (who are credited in the liner notes of the record). Bands like Grand Champeen, Mike Nicolai, Mandible, Prescott Curlywolf, Fivehead, etc. I think everyone that was involved in that circle of bands influenced each other. It was a very cool and unique scene here in Austin from about 1997 to 2007. Some of the best music around was coming out of here, but the abundance of bands in this town made it really hard to be heard or recognized.

And I know it sounds cliche to say The Beatles, but they were also a heavy influence. We really stretched out on this record. We were influenced from a ton of different angles.

Have you been touring to support “Gleeson II”? Any chance you’ll get to NYC?
Ty: Well…no. RV III is a doctor and has a practice in San Antonio… Channing has a newborn… Joel has a newborn… Crow has a newborn…ok, you get the picture. We’re all at that age, with the exception of RV IV, where “life” and family have sorta taken over. It’s hard for us to play shows at all, much less tour. But…we never rule anything out.

What do you find works best for your creative process when bringing a
song together? Does it evolve from jams, riffs, lyrics?
Ty: Ah, jamming… jamming is the dreaded “J” word in this band, ha. We have never been a fan of that process at all. I know it works for a lot of bands, but for us once a song is developed, I’ll get together with RV IV and get the meat of the song down. He’ll get what he wants to do on drums down, and we’ll track the song just he and I with a scratch vocal. We like to build up from that foundation.

Are you working on your next album yet?
Ty: As a matter of fact, yes. We’re meeting this weekend to start talking about it. Gleeson II was a double album and took 3 1/2 years to make, so I’m guessing part of this discussion will be how we’re NOT gonna do that again!

Cool, that was a revealing interview. – I can’t wait to hear the next Gleeson album.