Circa 1998, Detroit

It happens…

But it’s a new car!

So there I am. Heading down Caniff heading towards Joseph Campau. It’s dark, it’s cold. And we’ve been drinking cheap red wine. Carlo Rossi— you know, the kind that comes in the 1/2 gallon jugs all the old Italians drank.  We pull up to this night club and find a spot to park on the side streets. We’re about to get going when I hear my cousin Pino puked inside my new car as he failed to make it out the widow. I probably idon’thave to tell you red wine puke is nasty. My first reaction was as could be expected “dude? wft?” But Gino reminds me the girls are in the back seat and he’s trying to play it cool, you know, for those time when you puke on the way to club..at the beginning of the night. “whatever…let’s just go…” 

Hamtramck/Detroit Motor Lounge

This is late 90’s Hamtramck and Detroit. For outsiders, I can see how this can be some what intimidating. Back then, these neighborhoods kept a vibe to them that’s really hard to explain. The town overall, well, was kind of a fucked up place, to say the least,.. You had young Italian kids puking on the way to night clubs, 1/2 the buildings were empty or burned out, and it was probably the only major city without construction—anywhere. No one was building shit. And, it was also one fo the few places you can do close to whatever you want and get away with it— good or evil, you could do anything you wanted with practically no one to tell you “he asshole, you can’t do that”. 

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Whatever, just don’t shoot nobody…

I knew of a guy who opened a wine bar in the courtyard of his house. He didn’t have permit or license. No one cared. I knew another guy who would throw bonfire parties in the courtyard of his apartment complex while selling weed after hours. 1/2 the bar would just go the bonfire after last call. Neighbors didn’t give a shit. Another guy had this art gallery that covered two different buildings and at 2am would tap a keg and the dj would start spinning old skool funk and soul records.— to this day, I’m still not convinced he wasn’t squatting the entire time. Back then, there was no age requirements to drink in a bar either. 17, 21 ..whatever. didn’t matter. Tip the guys out front to “watch the cars” and everyone left you alone. Drive home naked, whatever man… There was no one to care. 

The wild thing about it, because  most the buildings where empty or abandoned, it cost nothing to rent a space and open up a night club. or bar.  See, these guys would just open shit because they thought i’d be cool to have somewhere to go with their friends. There was no solid business plan. Just cheap rent + drunk hipsters = successful business. That’s it. sell some dirty drugs out the kitchen, let the regulars party in the basement or back room after hours and everyone was happy. Cops didn’t care. Locals didn’t care. have fun, just don’t shoot anyone. And everyone showed up almost every night of the week. There were plenty of these places that were pretty good. But the king was the Motor Lounge. Home of great techno, live music, cheap(ish) drinks, metal works, leather and tattoos. It was great.

Back then, apartment rent was $300 a month in an historic flat. You could make rent in a couple nights and then “be an artist” the rest of the time. Life was easy. One thing about it though, as fun as it was and it was great time to, there was no road to anything. it was a dead end. This lingering thought that something great was going to come fluttered around, but it wasn’t ever going to happen. That’s the thing about the city. it’s like the Lions, you think it’s going to do something great, but it never does. and never will. But the hope is still there — hence the vibe that’s hard to describe: gritty and beautiful,  broken and rising, blah and blah. Sometime, Detroit is like a bad relationship. Yeah it’s fun, can get over the top pretty quick for not a lot of money, and when things are great, their awesome. But it’ll kill you early if you hang around too long.

The Music, New EP Single- One More Time

The song, One More Time, is about this era—late 90’s Detroit. about a lover and the dance you need to break free. Get the fuck out while you can, while you’re still peaked. 

Oh yeah, remember when I said, do whatever you want, just don’t shoot nobody? You see—that’s where the Motor Lounge failed. Some guy got shot and killed outside the bar in a bad drug deal or something. Or maybe he owed his dealer some cash. Either way, the part where we said, just don’t shoot anybody—-well, they didn’t listen and it all went to hell. that was the mark of the end of that era.

The song it self, like most my songs, feature plenty of dirty Fender Jaguar guitars, plenty of synths, and some dirty drums. We use a combination of Rivera amplifiers, Moog and Prophet synthesizers, and if you listen real close, you might hear the Roland 707 drum machine. We write music for film and TV as well, make sure you check it out.

Until Next time,

cheers,

-SG

Ghosts EP and New Music for 2020

Ghosts

Available October 2020

Robin Williams | One More Time | New York, New York

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New Music Announcement: The Ghosts EP

Oh hey there,

I‘m thrilled to announce my new EP, Ghosts, will be released in the next couple weeks. The 3 song EP features tunes I worked on over the past year and half and I think are hitting the mark. It’s been two years since I released North Coast Electric, and I did hope to have new music out much sooner than this, but to be frank, after a horrible performance and some advice from a fellow songwriter, I went back and reworked some material and wrote new music that I’m pretty proud of. I think you’ll like it, after all, you’re here reading this so you have great taste.

Three New Songs

The Ghosts EP feature 3 new songs:

Robin Williams - A love song to the legend and the time I was lucky enough to meet the one and only, Robin Williams

One More Time - A song about the difficulties of moving on or quitting something or someone that’s will bring you down the rest of your life.

New York, New York - A song about a fictional guy who takes a piece of flooded New York real estate (because the ice caps melted) and tries to rebrand and market it as a luxury waterfront community, with European inspired canals and water ways and all. But, it’s just a flooded neighborhood in the end.

These songs are real bangers and have a very cool vintage vibe to them. Also, on this EP we were able to put together a killer group this time around. Takashio Iio on Bass, Rick Beamon on drums, Mike List on Percussion, and myself on vocals, guitar and synths. I’ll go into more details on the songs once they get released.

More New Music

We do plan on heading back into the studio to work on another 3 song EP that I hope to have out before the end of the year. Since 2020 has been, well 2020, let’s get some fresh music out there for you all and try make life a bit brighter.

New to the site - Film music and other projects

There’s a new section on the site that focuses on my instrumental and full synth music. Maybe one day i’ll release a full album of this type of music, but for now, here are some tracks I did just because a prophet 6, with a Moog 37, and a Roland 707 are fun as hell to play with.

till next time

—SG

Berkley Front

Berkley Front

Sergio Gaetani

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So, I really have three songs that stick out on this album, North Coast Electric, that I just love to listen to. Berkley Front is one of them. When I was finishing up music school in Detroit, I remember living in this super cheap house I rented with a couple of friends - it was such a piece of shit. Not to be cliche, but that didn’t matter. We had so much fun. We’d listen to records, (back then vinyl was cheap and an easy way to listen to older music), play guitar at the house, go see shows and I’d just daydream of what I was going to do with my life (even thought I was already 22 year old). Trying to make a living as a guitar player isn’t exactly the easiest or clearest path in life, at least not for me. It’s not like there’s a fast track internship program for mediocre guitar players in Detroit that’ll lead to get great gigs four days a week. Maybe that’s something the auto industry can work on for us. Berkley Front really is me look back on that period of my life and seeing how those daydreams did and didn’t come to fruition.

You’ll hear me say this a lot, while rambling thoughts is easy enough, I’m not a very wordy lyricist. I try to create visuals with the vibes of my songs to paint the story I’m attempting to tell - very much in a soundtrack or film music kinda of way. With this said, I’ve been able to travel a fair amount, and after a couple late night rides up the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) I really wanted to have a tune that would be great to listen to while cruising at night and remind of those great trips. I had a couple vibes in my head while working on Berkley Front. Part is Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean, which come through in the opening drum groove. Then, the strong, laid-back pocket found on those classic Barry White albums from the 70’s, and then tie it in with 60’s surf rock. Berkley Front Obviously isn’t a soul tune, but for my taste, I put this on a playlist with tunes like Smokey Robinson’s Cruisin', William DeVaughn’s be thankful for what you got and M83’s The Wizard. I think we did a good job just grooving on this tune. The shimmery sounds of the Fender Jaguar guitar, the quirky backing vocals and Takashi Iio on the bass (who just crushes it) really brings it all together.  There are a number of other nod’s in the production of this song such as the really low backing vocals ,a la Modest Mouse, the guitar solo is part tribute to the Grateful Dead and part Ventures and Dick Dale; and finally, David Bowies Dancing in the Streets.  As I’m sure you can tell, I’m really happy how this song turned out with it’s laid-back pocket. After the album was completed we filmed the live video, and as the song moved from the studio to the stage we flipped the groove a bit and gave it more of a boogaloo feel. 

There’s a Spotify playlist of cruising tunes to check out below, and the live video performance of Berkley Front featuring two of my favorite people and musicians. Takashi Iio on bass and Rick Beamon on drums kicking that boogaloo feel on this tune.

Thanks for reading and make sure to pick up a copy of the album on vinyl if you can.

Feel free to reach out for bookings or original music for your video projects

Chin-chin

A playlist featuring Ramones, Sergio Gaetani, William DeVaughn, and others

Two Days from Detroit

Two Days from Detroit

Sergio Gaetani

Photo Credit: Sergio Gaetani

I love this song so much. I got the idea for it while traveling in South America. While I wasn't that far from an airport, it dawned on me that with a bit of good placement and effort, I'm not much further than two days travel back to Detroit from anywhere in the world. From there, I wanted to tell the story of the most important things I can think of, love and home. Love, for without I have nothing.

Home is simple. It makes up everything you are. And home isn't just the house you grew up in. It's the kids you played with as a child, your education, church, every lover, every bandmate or musician you ever worked. Until, in the case of this songs story, the character is breaking out on his own and is ready to carry the weight on his own shoulders.

And the idea of someone setting out to improve their life is very real. My Grandfather set out to the U.S in the 50's by himself... and 3 years later when he sent for my grandmother and their kids, moving the entire family to Detroit from Italy. This story happens every day as people travel out from their hometown to explore something new or drive for better.

As I thought more and more about the idea of Two Days, and we as individuals grow through life, all of our environments surrounding us contribute to where we are right now. And that is what this song is about.

Enjoy.