Meet Gila Teen | Local Underground Music Duo

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gila Teen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gila, what are you inspired by?
Music for us is a way of processing. So our inspiration comes from life in all its complexity. All the pain, all of the trauma, all of the joy, it all needs to be filtered somehow, and that’s what fuels our songs. Aidan pours all of his experience into the instrumentation, creating soothing and complex harmonies that help him cope with the day to day, while Hunter’s lyricism is fueled by past heartbreaks and troubles.

We don’t try to force anything though. If there is something that’s troubling us, and we try to put it to music, and its just not working, we know to leave it be. We give these feelings time to find their own footing, and come back to them when the time is right. So our inspiration is more about being there to guide our feelings to where they need to be felt, while simultaneously allowing them to guide us to what we need to be shown.

We also like to keep it pretty simple. We don’t write a whole lot of choruses, and most of our songs are around 2 verses and under 3 minutes. We find that by doing that, by keeping these emotions raw and honest and not overly flowery or metaphoric we end up being able to express much deeper feelings, and can have a deeper connection with our audience.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
We’ve been playing together in different music projects for over a decade, getting our start in High School in a group we formed called “The Paper Foxes” to compete in the battle of the bands (we got second place by the way, no big deal or anything). From then we’ve been together through several different groups, trying to tackle several different genres, but we would always play with other people. Inevitably things with the other members of the band would go south, and the bands would break up. but somehow we always found a way to start a new group with each other. Our current line up in Gila Teen is just us two, with Aidan on Bass and operating various drum machines, and Hunter on vocals and guitar.

I think that that history and chemistry is a lot of what sets us apart from other groups in Denver. Playing together for so long we’re able to really lock into a consistent flow, and allow each other to really shine through. Hunter keeps it simple on the guitar, so that the lyrics can shine through when they need to, while Aidan crafts these intense sonic soundscapes that form the foundation of our sound. By keeping everything as simple as we can, while refraining from being mundane, we’re able to really portray some truly raw emotions, and hopefully people can relate to those feelings.

The pandemic was a huge turning point for us. Prior to Covid-19 we we’re really burning the candle at every available end. We would book about 4-5 shows a month, which meant that we we’re gigging almost every weekend. While that was fun, and we got a lot of good experience under our belts because of that, we were tired. We rarely practiced, and we couldn’t ever find time to create new material. So when quarantine hit, it forced us to really take a step back, and reorient ourselves.

We had nothing but time on our hands, so when we started working on the project that would eventually become our latest album “Pain Vacation” we got really experimental. We started trying out new ways to build our percussion, grabbing drum tracks from old toy keyboards. We tried out new instruments we didn’t necessarily know how to play. Lyrically, Hunter dove into some past world experience that they had previously been avoiding, which painted the album with some real earnest and honest emotion. Also, because we weren’t gigging, we couldn’t show audiences what we had been working on. This allowed us to create what we wanted to create, without the fear of what other people would think, or by being influenced by audience reaction. We could just be weird for the sake of being weird, and because of that we found something special. While the album isn’t about the pandemic, it is certainly colored by that collective human experience. We truly wouldn’t have been able to create the album we did without being forced to deal with the quarantine.

So, now, as we approach something close to normal, we have taken these lessons we have learned to heart. We aren’t gigging as often, partially because venues aren’t quite where they used to be post-covid, but also because we know that it is in our best interest artistically to allow ourselves the space to experiment between shows. We know to trust in our voice, because our intended audience will find us, rather then trying to mold ourselves into what other people might want from us. We’d rather be a cult classic or a sleeper hit then be dishonest.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would definitely need to hit several of the local diners in town, some of our favorites being Swifts in the Sante Fe art district, or Danny’s Carnation Restaurant and Davey’s Chuck Wagon in Lakewood. We could hit some of the fun local shops on South Broadway like Sewn, the Wizards Chest and Mutiny Information Cafe to hunt for comics and records, before heading to Wax Tracks to hunt for more records, or catch a movie at The Mayan. If we’re feeling like something sweet, we could head to Maggie and Molly’s sweet life to pick up some ridiculously delicious gluten-free treats, or hit High Point Creamery for the best ice cream in town (believe Hunter, they’ve worked for most of the Ice Cream joints in the state). Hunter manages The Gnarly Toybox so we’re gonna HAVE to go Toy hunting there.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We owe literally everything to our producer and sound engineer David Reyes Quintana. He’s able to use his expertise to capture our sound as raw as it is in our heads. We’ve really been able to find our voice through working with him on our last couple releases, and look forward to growing together in our partnership. He’s also just a stand up person, and a really good friend. David has really strong community based mindset, and just about everything that he does is a net positive for the local Denver Music Scene, and we feel really fortunate to be with him at the forefront of that.

Website: https://gilateen.bandcamp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gilateendenver/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GilaTeenDenver

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luXvMN8Kf9I&ab_channel=sadrday

Other: https://open.spotify.com/album/4pPlqTJpZJ7oxLBiEma3E1?si=2FwkZQZnRkmeJ1YNsdrSRA

Image Credits
Adeline Fiore Shenandoah Place Sadrday