Who else could pull us out of our humdrum existence but Gentlemen Rogues? They have the right amount of rock, fun and mischievousness. What has the band been doing to stay out of trouble during all of the quarantining? Danny Dunlap of Gentlemen Rogues is here on the blog today to spill all of the tea.

Where have you been staying in 2020?

We (Gentlemen Rogues) all live in Austin, TX. Like most people, we’ve been staying home as much as possible. Most of us have shifted to working from home, so that’s made things easier and safer during these weirdo times we’re all trudging through.

What have you been doing during times of quarantine?

As thankful (and lucky) as I am to be able to work from home, I kinda feel like i’ve been working more than I usually do? During quarantine/a global pandemic that feels like a good problem to have, and I feel a bit guilty even remotely complaining about it. Other than that, just trying to stay optimistic about…life. As a band, we’ve been writing lots of new songs, and are hoping to Record a brand new album in 2021. We have more song ideas brewing than we have time to work on them, which is another good problem to have. That beats having writer’s block any day of the week! I’m really loving the new tunes we are coming up with, and am super excited for people to hear them.

Have you found or re-found any hobbies?

I can’t think of any new hobbies that I’ve picked up? I’ve been listening to podcasts more than I normally do. Is that a hobby? I’m an avid trail runner, and tend to go running 3 or 4 days a week at a park near my house. Other than that, doing my usual obsessive hunting for records and left handed guitars.

What have you been listening to lately?

I think because i’ve been reflecting on happier times, I’ve found myself revisiting lots of music from when I was younger. I’ve been listening to lots of Adam and the Ants, as well as digging out records from some of the early 90’s era Lookout! Records roster like Operation Ivy, Mr. T Experience, Fifteen, and Tilt. That stuff has been fun to revisit. As far as new stuff goes, I’ve been loving the self-titled debut from, Spice. That’s one of Ross Farrar’s (singer from Ceremony) side bands. That might be my favorite record of 2020. The brand new one from The Cribs, Night Network, is also really great. I know lots of the guys in the band are really into the newest IDLES record.

Has your songwriting process changed this year?

At the risk of sounding up my own arse, I think I can write a pretty good song but I’m far from being prolific. This is a bad problem to have. Our songwriting process hasn’t necessarily changed, but we have been writing more (and a bit faster) than we normally do. We have half of a brand new record written, and enough new song ideas to flush out, to easily round out the other half of the album…and then some. Our songwriting process normally goes something like this. A song idea starts forming in my head at a very inopportune time, gets documented in my phone’s Voice Memos, and finally gets translated from voice memo to guitar. I’ll bang around on the guitar and work up the idea enough to where it resembles a decent song, and then i’ll show it to the band. We’ll all bang it around together in a loud room, and whip the song into a decent shape. That process results in a full band rough draft, and then we’ll spend a few weeks adding the bells and whistles.

Is there any message that you would like to convey to fans or soon-to-be fans?

Hmm? I don’t know. I’ve been describing Gentlemen Rogues as, Manchester by way of Minneapolis, so a message to potential, soon-to-be fans might be…if you like bands like The Smiths, the Replacements, or Husker Du/Sugar…maybe check us out? As far as current Gentlemen Rogues fans go…you already know what’s up! Ha! Thanks for liking us! But, for serious…thank you.

What is something positive that has happened to you during 2020?

We’ve all been staying safe and healthy, so far. So that’s positive. We recorded a new single back in February, about 3 weeks before the world shut down. Thinking all of this COVID stuff would blow over in a few weeks, we ended up sitting on the single for what eventually turned into several months. I started sending it out to record labels in hopes that someone would want to release it. To our shock, we had 3 labels interested in releasing it within 48 hours! So with that said, our new single “Do the Resurrection!” will be released by Snappy Little Numbers on Friday, December 4th. We’re really proud of the single and are really pumped for people to hear it. Thanks for reaching out!

Connect with Gentlemen Rogues:

Social media links:

www.facebook.com/gentlemenrogues

www.instagram.com/gentlemenrogues

www.gentlemenrogues.bandcamp.com

Official websites:

www.snappylittlenumbers.com