New album, growing up in Guelph, and future plans
On Thursday, April 24, Alanna Gurr and The Greatest State held their album release show at the eBar in downtown Guelph for their latest album, Late at Night. Being a folk-indie band from Guelph, the group decided it was fitting to kick off their release tour in their hometown.
Gurr began her songwriting career solo, later pairing up with The Greatest State, a minimalist rock group with Micheal De Paola on drums, Matt Monoogian on pedal steel, guitar, and vocals, and Joseph Gallo Jr. on bass. Gurr contributes the lead vocals and also plays guitar.
“I started playing music by myself in London when I was done school, and had kind of a makeshift band,” said Gurr. “People were always coming and going, and then I moved back to Guelph. I wanted to find a group of people that I could play with all the time, and could bring their parts to the songs.”
“It’s lonely when you’re playing by yourself and the songs don’t sound the way that you hear them in your head when you’re writing it,” she added, musing on joining with The Greatest State. “It’s nice to have people that make it theirs too.”
Being from Guelph, the band shared insight as to how growing up in Guelph contributed to their development as musicians.
“I think it’s the ease of being able to meet so many people that are doing different projects all the time,” said De Paola.
“Also, people in Guelph seem to be pretty accepting and excited when new projects happen, because we see the same people so often,” added Gurr.
“I’ve always just kind of been a music kid growing up in high school. Then, obviously, going to Hillside and stuff – that just kind of blows your mind a bit,” said Gallo Jr., better known as J.J. “Especially in those teen years when you start seeing other projects and meeting new people, and you get out of town for a bit for school … and you come back and you find old friends and the next thing you know you’re playing music with [those] old friends.”
The songwriting in Late at Night, reflects themes of love, longing, friendship, and escape. Gurr’s hypnotizing vocals pull the album together – the product of a band that exhibits healthy dynamics and mutual respect for one another.
Alanna Gurr and The Greatest State will be continuing on a mini-tour to promote the release of their album, but the band is already looking forward to future prospects with hope.
“We’re doing a little tour now and the vinyl comes out in August,” said Gurr. “The hope is to do a real tour with that in September or October.”