A conversation with Joe Gilford of Let's Get It

Within only a few short months, Dayton, Ohio, genre-busters LET’S GET IT have gone from a featured unsigned band in our AP&R section to a member of the Fearless Records family. Blending everything from hip-hop to cinematic soundscapes, the band showcase their pop prowess on their new EP, Digital Spaces, which dropped earlier this week. Frontman JOE GILFORD found a minute to speak with our own LAILA HANSON about what it’s like to be signed and how exactly Jack Skellington influenced their sound.

You incorporate a lot of different sorts of genres of music on Digital Spaces, from R&B to the sort of music you’d hear in a Tim Burton movie. Was that your intention from the start?
Yes, it was totally intentional. In fact, the references you made were right on the money. As for the whole Tim Burton feel–he person who does his scores is a guy named Danny Elfman, and at the time we were writing that particular song, he was a huge influence. I think we downloaded the soundtrack to The Nightmare Before Christmas. We listen to all types of music; our influences are anywhere from New Edition and Boyz II Men to Underoath and stuff like that. The fact that people can pick up on those influences is awesome for us, because it means that we did something right, for sure.

What led you to that kind of music in the first place?
Nothing that we do is really contrived or anything; it's all really organic and really natural. That just seemed to be stuff that we grew up on. You have some of us who like the Killers and stuff of that nature, and then some of us listen to a lot heavier stuff. It's all really natural stuff and it's engrained into our musical DNA.

What’s the story behind the name Digital Spaces and the song titles?
We like to think that the sound that we create is somewhat forward thinking. I like to think that we're doing something up with the times. The whole concept of Digital Spaces is along that whole realm, and the way we live our lives nowadays, with the popularity of social networking sites and things of that nature. It's a common theme that we connect with society through music; whether it's through computers or iPhones or what have you, and we wanted to reach all that relation there with Digital Spaces. Plus, I think the words paint a cool picture as well.

How did you end up with Joey Sturgis as producer considering that he works with a lot of heavier bands? Joey has been a long time friend of the band, and he's worked with really awesome bands. He worked with the Devil Wears Prada on all their releases, which are all amazing. He has a lot of versatility. A lot of people he's worked with in the past have a heavier side to them, but he’s just a really good producer, and you want to have someone like that in any genre. And we felt like we were going to help each other out: We can show his versatility through a more pop sound with us. He's an awesome dude and an amazing producer.

Were you excited to team up with Fearless Records?
Gosh, we could go on for days. When we met with the owner Bob Becker, I told him that in seventh grade, I was on the Fearless Records street team. It seems like every one of my favorite bands were on that label along the way: Sugarcult, At The Drive-In, Aquabats. It goes on and on. And nowadays, we listen to the Maine and Mayday Parade. I think it goes full circle and it's definitely an honor to be associated with people that we've always held in high regard. We wake up and we get to say that, and it puts a smile on our faces for sure.

One of the songs on the EP is called “Ciroc and Roll.” That's a vodka, isn't it?
It is a vodka. We follow Diddy on Twitter, and he promotes that to no end. So if you ever choose a drink to have at your next party, he's been pushing that vodka and pink lemonade. I'm looking forward to that. We just have fun with song titles. We have some that we really want to try on a serious scale in the future. But on this [EP], we wanted to have fun, so we're keeping our titles fun. But we have to keep it relevant. We can draw a connection, even if it's really faint, and even if some people think it's a stretch.

The crowd chanting on that track are an effect, right?
Nah, it's definitely an effect. If you listen to the EP from start to finish, there's a bit of a story to it. Obviously, you have the songs themselves, but we have our own little back-story to it. And it really picks up in that song as far as the audience goes. It's not literally live, that's just part of the story we have built into the EP that we think brings it more to life. We want to let people take what they want from it. alt