Few artists have inspired me more than contemporary musician Gable Price. Last summer, I discovered his EP, If I'm Being Honest, and I had it on repeat for weeks. I love worship music, but alternative rock has a special place in my heart--it feels healing to me. That's why as soon as I heard his release, "50 MG," I was hooked.
Shortly after discovering that EP, I hit a low point. I was dealing with some personal struggles, and a huge college prep test was looming in my face. I was tired, stressed out, and maybe a little depressed. So many things were changing in my life, and I just needed a reminder that things would be okay.
When Gable Price and Friends released their single, "Brother Jack," it was exactly what I needed to hear. The song wasn't the answer to all of my problems, but it was practical. It was something I could hang on to. It had a chorus I could repeat even in the face of the darkness: "Keep your head straight, hopes up, heart right."
I listened to "Brother Jack" while in the car heading to my college prep test. As I walked into the test room, I repeated the mantra in my mind. I listened to the song so many times that the words eventually became ingrained in my head. In the days that followed, it became my motto. And it'll continue to be my refrain as I head to college this fall and the unknown future beyond. Head straight, hopes up, heart right.
Recently, my coworker Selena Schulz and I had an amazing discussion with Gable Price. We talked about his band's latest album, The Consequence of Being Alive, and their beloved track, "Brother Jack." We had such a great conversation, and it felt like a full-circle moment talking to the writer who penned the words that have become a mantra in my life.
Selena: Thank you for joining me and tag-teaming these questions. Your friendship means the world to me. And Gable: You rock. Thank you for writing these songs and giving a voice to those battling anxiety and depression.
To the rest of you, enjoy this conversation. Keep your head straight, your hopes up, and your heart right.
Could you tell me about Gable Price and Friends? Why did you decide to start this band?
I was always in bands but never in my own band. When I was 13, my brother and I started a cover band, and I was the singer. He was the brainchild, and I just sang the songs. When I moved to Redding, California, I only had that experience. I tried out for the chapel worship team in college and received an astounding "no" for guitar and vocals. My goal was to be a professional musician, but before the first day of school even started, it was clear that I wouldn't be making any extracurricular music. I kept wondering, "Am I wasting my time?"
Throughout school, I spent much time not being "that" guy: not being the worship pastor's son like I was growing up. But I decided I needed a creative outlet, so I started writing music. Gable Price and Friends is now a four-piece band, but initially, it was just me writing music. Then my buddy Adam, our guitar player, came alongside me and said, "Let's do something with these songs."
We had four songs ready and recorded our debut, The Redding EP. Our goal was to record the EP and be done. We just wanted something. But then the project did well, so we decided to keep it going. We started adding more band members, playing more shows, and releasing more music.
You recently released your second full-length album, The Consequence of Being Alive. What's the inspiration behind that project?
A big thing I pride myself in about our music is that I write every song from where I'm at. So when we started thinking about the new album, the concept came up: "You live and love and lose, and that's the consequence of being alive." I started writing about this contrast in my life.
When I moved away, my mom said, "How great is it that we miss each other?" I played on that idea and the concept that pain is great because we know what having joy feels like. And we only know how great joy is because we've felt the contrasting pain. The idea fascinated me, and I thought, "I could write an album front-to-back about these different contrasts." The album is filled with contrasts like, "I find it easy to love you but not so easy to trust you." And, "I'm a living legend in my hometown," but I don't know where else.
The whole album was inspired by the beauty and complexities of living, loving, and losing: the ups and downs. A mountain looks high because you're at the bottom of it. The album was about embracing that and putting words around it.
My favorite track on the new album is "Brother Jack." Could you tell us the story behind that song?
"Brother Jack" is probably my favorite song on the record, as well, because it hits home for me.
I have a younger brother named Jack, and he's always been one of my closest friends. When I moved to California, I was 19, and he was 16. Those were his formative years, so I had a lot of underlying guilt about missing out on them. But also, I had an increased amount of responsibility inside of me. I realized I needed to be there for him with advice, as my older brother gave me.
During my second year of college, I spent my summer break at home, and Jack was going into his senior year of high school. Before returning to Redding, I left him a note with advice. It wasn't very poetic but more like, "Make your bed in the morning. Keep your sight." Then I ended with, "Keep your head straight, your hopes up, and your heart right."
When we started working on the new album, I remembered that note I wrote for Jack. I thought, "If I can get 'head straight, hopes up, heart right' into a song, and it becomes a life motto for people, that would be a song worth singing."
You collaborated with popular alternative group Switchfoot on "How It Sets You Free" and "Lucky #17." What was that experience like for you?
There are stories of people who got to meet their heroes, and it was terrible. This was different. This was the best "meeting your heroes" experience I could ever have imagined.
Initially, I went on a solo trip to Switchfoot's studio in San Diego, and a few months later, the band came with me. When I got there, we just talked. Switchfoot members Jon and Tim Foreman are dads; you can tell by how they care about you. In the past month, they have reached out, asking how I'm doing. They could've easily done those songs with me, produced them, and never talked to me again. But they're intentional with people. They're amazing.
Your music has evolved since The Redding EP. Those original four songs felt more like a worship project compared to the alt-rock vibe of The Consequence of Being Alive. What has this journey of finding your sound been like?
After I wrote The Redding EP, I went on a summer tour playing guitar for the indie rock band Mike Mains and The Branches. During that time, I realized how fun and energetic concerts can be and how hard it is to make music for a living.
Following that tour, I did a Gable Price and Friends show opening for a band in Sacramento. And I was bored the entire concert. I thought, "Those songs I played all summer were much more fun. You could move around." Our fastest song during that show in Sacramento was "Dead Man," and even then, you can't sprint around the stage.
I realized life is too short, and music is too difficult to make anything aside from the exact songs you want to make. So the next day, I wrote our song "Awestruck Revival." The following week, I wrote "Heretic" and continued to write fast, fun songs. Songs that I knew would translate well in a live show. A beautiful thing about our band is the live aspect of it and the energy in the room. If all our songs were the same as our first EP, we'd be better off doing worship conferences, but that was never my dream for Gable Price and Friends.
After Fractioned Heart, I wrote If I'm Being Honest. I wanted to push our sonic elements. I wanted a pedal-to-the-metal song, so we made "50 MG." People always talk about the authenticity of Fractioned Heart. But I wanted to take it a step further and do something very vulnerable--I wanted to write about the fact that I'm in ministry school and on antidepressants. With every step we took, I felt freedom writing about something prevalent in my life. I started to read messages from people who weren't necessarily relating to "Dead Man" or "Touch Your Robe," but they heard "50 MG" and said that they felt seen by it and had a reintroduction to God.
That authenticity continued with The Consequence of Being Alive. I wrote from exactly where I was at. I had just quit my job, signed a record deal, and married. So many massive changes were happening in my life, so that's what I wanted to write about.
From a musical standpoint, Fractioned Heart and The Consequence of Being Alive are similar. But from a writing standpoint, the latter does feel a lot more like a life album than a worship album. That's not to say we'll never do a worship album again. But some people can relate to The Consequence of Being Alive more than Fractioned Heart, and vice versa. And that's okay. It feels really special to grow with a particular group of people, but I also know that if I ever felt like writing an album like Fractioned Heart again, I could.
People ask, "Are you a Christian or secular band?" You tell me. What is a Christian band? When a Christian at a coffee shop hands you a cup of coffee, is it a Christian cup of coffee? Or is it a Christian cup of coffee if there's Scripture all over the walls? If you can't define a coffee shop, why do we try to define music?
This April, you're heading out on The Consequence of Being Alive Tour in the Midwest. What will those nights be like?
I'm from the wild, wild Midwest, so it feels like my first homage to home. We had a couple of album release parties in the South and Midwest for The Consequence of Being Alive, but this is our first formal headlining tour.
I have a lot of things to say regarding this album that you can't always put into a three-and-a-half-minute song. We have about an hour and a half each night to play new, old, and acoustic songs and tell stories. We'll hit 10 cities on the initial run, but we'll try to hit every region in the U.S. within 2023 for the other half of The Consequence of Being Alive Tour. We have some memorable nights planned.
You guys always bring so much energy to your concerts. What artists inspire your live production?
Jon Foreman from Switchfoot is a phenomenal performer. I saw him in concert for the first time when I was seven years old, and recently we performed together in Redding. Jon and Tim have become voices that I seek out when figuring out tours and band dynamics.
I loved the alt-rock group Twenty-One Pilots' live performance during their Vessel phase. The Colony House boys are phenomenal performers as well. But lately, I've watched pop star Harry Styles' live recorded concert on Apple Music, Harry's House. He's electric.
Finally, how can we pray for you?
My wife and I are in a season of transition right now, figuring out what's happening next outside of Redding. And Gable Price and Friends is rapidly growing, which comes with some hard decisions. So pray for wisdom that is beyond understanding--that would be helpful.
Grace Chaves has been a fan of all things Christian music since 2016. She is NRT's news editor, and one of NRT's youngest writers. Homeschooled, Grace is an author, loves Jesus, concerts, and road trips. Selena Schulz is NRT’s youngest staff contributor. She loves God, music, reading, and writing.
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