GETTING TO KNOW GAM By Sahm Schiller he fresh and unique sound of Neo-Soul band T Gam will no doubt pique the interest of contemporary and classic music listeners alike. Formed at Tufts by Tim Holt, Sam Golub, Nate Hirsch, Ethan Isenman, and Joel Appel-Kraut, Gam blends Funk and R&B, adding a modern twist in the process. We sat down with band members Tim, Sam, and Nate to discuss their history, songwriting process, and recent single “Playground.” This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. How would you describe your songwriting process? Is it collaborative? Sam: The way we started this band was out of us jamming. Well, technically we started because Tim was like, “Do you want to do this Halloween show?” And then I lived with Nate, and Ethan was our neighbor as well, so we ended up doing a show together. I feel like our songs came out of our early jams, just sort of playing and seeing how our ideas flowed. We’d be inspired by playing with each other, and then Nate would go back and have some ideas, like a chord progression, or I would have something and show it to people. It was just very natural. That’s very interesting. Is that how it’s going to work for the next release? Tim: I think our model in the future is likely going to be singles, but released more frequently. We took a lot of time to write and get those tunes down, but the thing that was so easy about going into the studio for that EP is that we’d been playing live a lot. I think at the end of Sam and my sophomore year and into our junior year, we’d had a lot of gigs on campus. We were really a well-oiled machine when it came to playing gigs. We’d come up, and we’d have those tunes that are on Moments and Spirals. Those we had downpat, it was easy. So when we got in the studio, we basically recorded everything live in a few takes and then layered the vocals over it. That was a straightforward process because we already had the forms and everything. The most recent single that we just released, “Playground,” came about more so in the studio
which I think is going to be more of our model in the future. And that’s definitely what’s happened with the most recent single we’re working on called “Muscle Tee.” Sam and I came up with lyrics, melody, and chord progression while we were abroad in Australia. It’s very beach themed. There are a lot of parts that weren’t really there when we started. It’s been more of a production process, building off things in the studio, while we’re laying it down. We work a lot with Alex Friedman – a junior at Tufts, amazing producer. He’s got a studio in his basement. With the Moments and Spirals stuff, we recorded it in a few takes and it sounds like how it’d sound live. But with “Playground,” we’re taking liberties that we don’t have the chance to do outside the studio. Things like layering. We also have a glockenspiel on it and all kinds of funny synths. It’s just really fun to get experimental like that in a way that you can’t do live. Can you talk more about your experiences playing live? Nate: I think all three of us live for playing live. My favorite moments in college have just been having a really fun house party and playing an awesome live show. And there’s definitely a difference with recording stuff to playing live. When you get there
