Getting through the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown was a super challenging and unique experience for everyone. Filled with so much uncertainty and fear, we were all wondering what the future was going to hold and when the grass was finally going to look greener on the other side.
Greg Gilmore and the Fever Dreams were in the studio getting ready to record their debut album. As lockdown happened, they slept in a recording studio in Sacramento and fleshed out good material for their record.
This band consists of Greg Gilmore, 33, lead vocalist, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist, Brendon Lund, the bassist, who used to play for Buster Blue, a local Reno band that had quite the notoriety. Then you have Jorge Pulido-Rubio, the lead guitarist and the newest member of the band, Jeff Knight, the drummer, and Adam Landis, who plays the keys.
Today I sit with the namesake Greg Gilmore to talk about the band, his own musical journey, and what he looks to do with this band to make them stand out.
Gilmore grew up in Bishop and moved to Reno when he was 19. While according to him, the most eventful day of the year in Bishop is Mule Day, he did say that it is a very pretty city and did like it there. He got his first guitar when he was 12 and started taking it seriously when he was 16. Gilmore moved here to pursue music with some friends. He no longer plays with them anymore.
Since moving to Reno, Gilmore is now on his fourth band and has worked on a variety of projects over the years. He felt the transition was pretty seamless as the music community here in Reno is very welcoming and easy to move around in. Gilmore is holding the flashlight.
The Beatles were the foundation that Gilmore heard as a kid that pushed his love for music to new heights.
“I would refuse to listen to anything else until I was about 12,” Gilmore said. “My folks would put anything else on and I would have a temper tantrum. But then I started to get into Tom Petty and into more contemporary stuff like the White Stripes. [I’m] a big Jack White fan.”
Music inspires us all in certain ways and has many different purposes in our lives, whether it be making us happy, dancing, or helping us get out of a hard time. Artists always have a deep connection with the art at hand.
“It’s a really expressive, therapeutic type of a thing, at least for me and hopefully the listener as well,” Gilmore said. “If you can do something that makes people feel better about themselves, it’s a good thing. It’s hard to do and especially needed these days.”
Gilmore shares that his music is directly inspired by his life experiences, but doesn’t make it super specific in hopes of it being more relatable to the listener who may be going through some similar tribulations. One’s therapy could be another one’s realization in their own situation.
Over the years Gilmore’s progression as an artist has changed drastically with the wealth of life experiences he has gone through. One of his first bands, The Canes, was heavily influenced by Nirvana, which resulted in a more disjointed, abstract sound. His last group Silver focused more on creating a vibe and worked more on song structure. He now focuses more on song cohesiveness and making music that he would prefer to listen to.
“Usually I bring in a soft skeleton and then we just flush it out until it becomes a full arrangement,” Gilmore said. “We work together on the arrangements for the most part, but usually I’ll have the verse and the chorus, and the brigdes written.”
The band’s debut album will be getting an official release May 7th. They have vinyl, CD, and cassette preorders available on their website right now. A review of their album is being planned for on Our Town Reno prior to the release.
Gilmore has played with all members of the band for five-six years except for Pulido-Rubio, who joined when the band transitioned from Silver to Greg Gilmore and the Fever Dreams. As Silver, they had put out a couple of EPs until the lead guitarist quit and that’s when Pulido-Rubio fit in like a glove with the other members.
Another reason for the name switch was the difficulty of finding the band under the name Silver as there were many bands and artists that used the term in their name. However, there is now only one sole Greg Gilmore on Spotify, and the band has been rolling with the name ever since.
Gilmore shared that coming out of COVID lockdown that everyone became more of homebodies and have a more difficult time going out.
In regard to how this band is different from his past bands, Gilmore shared that the song writing is more of the same as he is still the one doing it. When Pulido-Rubio joined, it opened up a new sound for the band, specifically an alternative indie sound. Which is where the band has shifted most of its sound, but the band likes to touch multiple genres such as rock, folk, pop, dance and country.
The band has only played three shows that were outdoors, but haven’t done any proper venue shows. They do have a release show for their new album at Cyprus on May 7th. They’re excited to get this band some recognition as they build up their new brand and first record.
Gilmore also has been working on his own solo efforts. At the end of last year, he was going through a tough time with a break up and went up to Montana to take care of sister who had been sick for a while. He found it to be a necessary escape from reality.
For the three months he was up in Montana, Gilmore started working on one of his most personal and adventurous package of music to date. He started listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen, specifically, his album “Nebraska,” which was directly recorded on a Tascam PortaStudio with a pair of Shure SM57s.
Gilmore was very inspired by this so he went to the only music pawn shop in the area and got a great deal on a tape recorder and started working on his new solo album that he hopes to release by the end of this year. He only plans on using a guitar, a harmonica, and a couple of microphones for the making of it. Gilmore’s intention was to prove to himself that he could make a solo project and used it as a therapeutic release for the troubles that were coming into his life.
“I love recording, and I love production,” Gilmore said. “My least favorite thing is all the business nonsense. The bookings, the emails, and you know shaking people down for money.”
When I asked him if they had a manager, Gilmore said: “I mostly take care of anything. I’m bit obsessive about that kind of stuff. I do all of our album art. I do all of our art direction for our photos. I do all the booking and the scheduling. Scheduling is the worst thing about bands, getting everyone scheduled together. Everyone’s got personal lives I get it, you know. It’s just tough to juggle all that stuff and it can drive you a little bonkers, but it’s usually worth it.”