Pop-Culturalist.com

Indie pop-rock band Giraffe reaches new heights with not one, but two releases in 2021. The trio, which features Gayle Davidson, Drew Sherrod, and Dr. Capital, has taken the music industry by storm with their signature sound. Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Gayle and Drew about the group, their songs “Kill Them” and “Sweet Maladies,” and the year ahead.

PC: How did you both discover your passion for music?
Gayle: As a kid, I was obsessed with certain artists. I used to love singing. My dad was actually in a band in the UK in the ’60s. He toured in London with Dusty Springfield and Herman’s Hermits. There were always guitars around the house. He gave it up though. He retired and did something else for a long time. Even though we had guitars around the house, for some reason I didn’t want to play guitar.

I started writing from a young age and was totally into pop. I was into Wham!, George Michael, and Sade. I sang for a long time and acted as well. I went to drama school. That’s what I wanted to do for a long time, but I was always too tall. I was too tall for parts. I’m 6’1. I would go audition and would always be taller than the lead guy. I was like, “I want to do something where I can be my own person.” I started a girl band with three six-foot-tall girls. That was fun.

Then I did a solo thing. That’s when I met Drew and Giraffe came to life. I had gone through this horrible divorce and so had he. His divorce wasn’t horrible, but we both had a lot of thoughts about divorce. I started writing in a totally different way: more pop rock and alt rock. Then Drew and I finessed the songs and finished them. Our first album was called Trajectory. One of the songs was used on the show Switched At Birth. That was great because we made the money back from the EP. We did the second one during a dark time in LA. We’ve got a cover that’ll come out next.

Drew: I didn’t have much of a choice. I come from a long line of musicians—my mom, her sister, and her cousin. They had all been radio singers way back when. My dad was a drummer and singer-songwriter. My brother was a musician. He became a significant publisher in Nashville. My uncle, Buddy, is the most recorded drummer in history. He played with Elvis, Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton…pretty much everybody. I could have tried to get out of music, but it kept pulling me back in like The Godfather.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Drew: Probably my older brother and my uncle. My uncle was an influence on both my brother and me. He was seven years older, and I emulated pretty much everything he did. But when he left home and became a professional, I was still trying to be a touring musician. I went on the punk rock circuit, learning as many instruments as I could, just so I could eat. Because of that circuit, there’s basically an infinite number of bands. The more sets you played, the more money you had for dinner.

Gayle: I would definitely say the pop stars I enjoyed when I was growing up. I would go crazy for all those good songs. George Michael comes to mind; I love him. He’s such an amazing songwriter—and Prince as well. Prince is a huge influence. He was incredible. I was also really obsessed with Sade, which I know is completely different, but I love the songs, the sound, the production, everything.

PC: You recently released “Kill Them.” What was the inspiration behind that song?
Gayle: “Kill Them” is a funny story. Drew and I actually lived together. We had a studio in LA. He was producing a song for this girl. She was really young and talented but a little strange. She came over and stayed for a few days. When she left, she left her songbook. It had my name in the back, and it said, “Gayle, kill with kindness.” It was so weird. [laughs] I was like, “Okay.” Then it had something else about Drew. So I started playing around with that as a chorus. That led me to think about the way that I live my life.

I always try to take the high road with people. If someone’s being mean, I just assume that something’s wrong and we need to figure out what’s happening. I really do live by that. I remember when I was in acting school, there was a guy who was a bit of a bully. I remember he was always mean, but I befriended him and we became really good friends.

PC: Tell us about your upcoming release “Sweet Maladies.”
Gayle: When I wrote that song, I was in a lot of pain. I had gone through a divorce, but even four years later I was still having a lot of awful negative energy coming from that. It’s really about mental health. We’re all going through that now. It’s about finding someone that can be with you, carry you when you’re down, and accept you.

Drew: When we met, Gayle was going through a really, really ugly divorce. I was going through this perfect, friendly, loving divorce. We met in the middle because we were both struggling. We were like, “Why is this a thing?” It’s about how things can be dark when you’re going through a tough time. You need somebody that understands you and how important mental health is. It’s dark and beautiful.

PC: You all are working on a new body of work. How will this differentiate itself from your debut EP?
Drew: That’s a cool question. The thing that people know me for is that I’m a music supervisor in film, television, and advertising. I’ve probably contributed to over 2,500 movies, shows, and ads. I only know that because I did my resume recently, but one of the most important things I tell the artists that I work with is that there are two golden rules. One is familiarity and one is contrast. Contrast means you write the song perpendicular to the point you’re making so that when people listen to it they have an emotional reaction, but they cross-section that with what it’s about. It pops into three dimensions. That’s an important thing, but you also need that familiarity. Right now, we’re in a time where everyone’s afraid to be different. During these times, artists are doing a lot of greatest hits and covers.

It’s a safe way to go. We’ve been doing that all along. One of the ways we pay our bills is by putting a familiar song or two into a project when we can. We have a big collection of cover songs that we’ve done over the years. We thought we would wrap it up into a package and put a bow on it. It comes from our musical inspirations. There’s a bit of a breadcrumb trail of projects that I’ve worked on.

PC: If you had to pick one song that best encompasses who you all are as artists, which would it be and why?
Gayle: Right now, I would say “Kill Them.” But there was a song that I did on the last EP called “I’m Not Sorry.” I love that song. It has a really strong chorus and I love playing it live. I love the hooks. I’ve written a lot of songs that I’ve released under different names, but Giraffe is the grown-up me. The song basically says, “I made the right decision and I’m not sorry.”

Drew: It was a tug of war. There are two songs on the EP and neither of them are singles. One is about a trans person understanding who they really are and how important it is to be sincere and how hard that path is. It really lives in my torso right now. The other one we wrote while my little cousin was going through some drama and having a hard time with her husband, who is an alcoholic. The meaning behind that song is great. The chorus is great. In the song, Gayle let’s out this big barbaric, “Uh.” When I’m listening to the whole EP, I’m fast forwarding to that moment. It’s so cool.

To keep up with Giraffe, follow them on Instagram. Pre-save “Sweet Maladies” today.