Band Interview: Gypsum
By Samantha Romero ‘16
From bra throwing during stage performances to bi-weekly taco truck trips, the Los Angeles based band Gypsum are a lively bunch that will make you laugh along with their antics. The dream prop and Krautrock reminiscent band is comprised of guitarists Anna Arboles and Sapphire Jewel, drummist Jessy Reed, and bassist Rosie Tucker.
The four piece girl band recently performed at Ground Zero and Fem Fest 2015. Their most memorable and flattering experience was getting bras thrown at onto the stage during their performance.
“These people will take their bras off their boobs and throw them and we can’t help but laugh is the problem,” said Arboles. “But we always give the bras back so don’t worry about losing your one special, you can trust us.”
Although the home spun band has yet to release an album, their filmed live session of the song ‘Follow Me’ has reached 1,500 views on YouTube.
“We just put it up and started getting really excited,” said guitarist Jewel, “ Like oh my god it has 100 views and then 400 views and it just kept going and we thought, this is fun.”
The USC students met through mutual friends and shared classes. However, the band emerged from a weekly jam session with a rotating cast of players that evolved into something more.
“We just had really great chemistry,” said Reed. “We would jam on something and think it was five minutes and be done and it would be like 15 minutes and so we stuck together.”
Several jam sessions later they decided to call themselves Gypsum after a group trip to the Natural History Museum’s First Friday concert event.
Bass player Rosie Tucker said they had been running around the geology exhibit looking through hundreds of names of both rocks and crystals until they came across the crystal forming mineral gypsum. After much contemplation the band decided to stick with the name.
The band aspires to continue to make complex music that creates an engaging experience for the listener.
“Ultimately what we are going for is a feeling,” said Tucker. “Like an immersive musical experience that feels like water.”
