Hazel Gaze Interview
Dive into the evocative soundscapes of Hazel Gaze, the indie rock band known for their poignant lyricism and captivating melodies. Hailing from NYC, Hazel Gaze just returned with their third single of the year, "Until I See You Again" on Wednesday, June 5th, 2024. This powerful track is an exploration of grief and resilience, showcasing the band's remarkable ability to convey deep emotional narratives through their music.
We caught up with Hazel Gaze for an exclusive glimpse into their world to learn more about their beginnings, creative process and upcoming plans.
- Who's behind Hazel Gaze and how did the band come together?
We’re so fortunate to have such a great group of people. Not only is everybody truly talented, but everybody’s a wonderful person and we all get along fantastically well, which is so rare. The band is: Hanz (lead vocals), Russ Soper (Guitars / backing vocals), Konrad Payne (Bass), Mary Jo Verruto (Keys / backing vocals), Spiros Arnakis (Drums), Molly Klein (backing vocals / percussion) and Nicole Riolo (backing vocals / percussion).
The band came together through various personal connections: Russ’ wife knew Hanz for years and introduced them thinking they’d have a common musical bond. As the project grew, Russ knew Konrad and Mary Jo from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, where Russ formerly served as Chairman, while Konrad is a board member and Mary Jo is a piano / voice teacher. Molly and Spiros were found through NYC “musicians wanted” ads on social media and Nicole is a lifelong friend of Molly’s, so it’s somewhat of a six degrees of separation situation!
- What inspired the creation of your latest single "Until I See You Again" and what emotions did you aim to evoke with this song?
The song’s inspiration is about the tragic loss of someone very dear, who is far too young. I’d think many people can relate to this situation, resulting in a range of emotions you never truly get past, but need to learn to live with eventually.
- Can you walk us through your songwriting process? How do you typically approach crafting a new song?
I’m always noodling. I try to play guitar most nights and piano a few times per week, which helps generate ideas - it could be a piano melody, a chord progression on guitar, or a guitar riff, etc. I also tend to have music on my mind all the time - I’m continually thinking of lyrical ideas or humming a melody, which drives my daughter nuts! The key for me is to record the ideas when they arise, because I rarely remember them later, so it’s key to grab my phone and record it in the moment. I’m always whispering lyrics, humming melodies or recording little guitar or piano pieces into my phone - I get lots of odd looks when doing this in public! I find the songwriting process of taking a snippet of an idea and fleshing it out to a fully instrumented song with a lyrical story very, very satisfying. It’s something I stumbled upon late in life and it’s become quite a passion. I then expand those ideas later into full songs and record a full demo for the band to review. They then take those ideas and personalize them, adding their flavor and making the song their own.
- Could you describe the collaborative dynamic within Hazel Gaze? How do each member's contributions shape the final sound of your songs?
One of the many things I feel so fortunate about with this band is everybody has very diverse musical backgrounds and influences. Hanz loves old-school blues and has major touring experience, Mary Jo is a voice and piano instructor who loves musical theater and Tori Amos, Konrad is a disciple of 80s New Wave, Spiros is a big fan of the Police, Nicole loves a wide spectrum of music from Sara Vaughan to ZZ Ward and Sara Bareilles, while Molly is into Amy Winehouse and The Black Keys - we’re all over the place! Each person puts their influences and character into every song - shaping it and resulting in something better and more unique than any of us would have come up with on our own. As a writer, I’m already looking forward to collaborating and writing more material for our next album with such a diverse and talented group.
- What do you hope listeners take away from "Until I See You Again" and your upcoming album?
I’d hope the music can take the listener on a journey, whether the lyrics evoke a memory, or maybe they find something catchy to sing along with, the key for me is people relate to it in their own way.
- Hazel Gaze has been described as blending influences from 90s rock and 70s icons. How do these influences shape your sound and are there any specific artists or bands that have had a significant impact on your music?
I always come back to bluesy rock with a bit of a soulful vibe. I love the marriage of overdriven guitars w/ piano and soulful vocals as well as the interplay of bluesy male and female vocals. I grew up listening to iconic rock n roll bands, such as Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and The Allman Brothers. I absolutely love the songwriting sensibility and combination of distorted guitars with big vocal harmonies of Boston, particularly their first album, which I think is one of the most complete albums of all-time. I was also a huge Triumph fan (Rik Emmett is one of the most underrated singer / songwriter / guitarists IMO) and later, The Black Crowes, who are one of my all-time favorites. I’m sure they’ve all influenced my playing and writing to a large extent.
- With live performances on the horizon, what can audiences expect from a Hazel Gaze show?
It’s been quite a while since we’ve played live, so we’re all very excited to get out there again, particularly given we have a new album to share, we’re very much looking forward to it. Ultimately, we’re a rock band, so we’ll always do our best to give people a high energy / fun time, but also love to include some quieter, introspective moments for a bit of ebb and flow to the evening. We’re so fortunate to have so many strong vocalists in the band, we’ll try to feature lots of vocal harmonies, which we feel is a distinguishing characteristic of the band.