Gabe Flores -Grave Flowers Bongo Band Interview

Born in Inland Empire/San Bernardino County before relocating to Pomona to high school, Flores grew up on The Ramones and the New York Dolls in his formative years before expanded his musical horizons into the more folk/psychedelic realm with groups such as Marc Bolan’s Tyrannosaurus Rex and an early Lemmy Kilmister project called Sam Gopal. Flores eventually met his bandmates and in 2018 the first FGBB LP “Flower Pot” was released. With another record“Strength of Spring”, under their belt, the band had the opportunity to work with legends such as John Dwyer and Ty Segall. This summer the band will be paying a three weekend residency at Gold Diggers In LA!

Are you originally from LA? What was your childhood like? When did you first begin to fall in love with music? Were these things that were relevant around your household growing up? Do you have any siblings?I

I’m originally from the IE (Inland Empire / San Bernardino County) and moved to Pomona during high school. I got into music pretty young starting with The Ramones, New York Dolls and Eek-A-Mouse hahah! My folks have pretty good taste for the most part, so I was pretty lucky to be exposed to a lot of different types of music at home compared to what my peers were listening to. I have a younger sister. She’s cool, loves musicals and Queen. 

What would you and your friends do for fun growing up? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years? When and where did you see your first concert and when did you realize you wanted to spend your life pursuing music?

My friends and I were skate rats and local trouble makers for sure. The burbs were very boring! Early lifestyle / musical influences were the skate videos of the early to mid 2000s. All the Baker, Toy Machine and Zero videos were legendary. Saw my first concert at the Fonda Theater. I think it was Turbonegro when I was like, 9 or so? I really into music around 13 years old and started wanting to play guitar all day.

Did you participate in any groups, or projects prior to GFBB? How did you initially meet your bandmates and what were your first impressions of everyone? What was the overall chemistry like between you guys when you first started out and when did the band play its very first gig?

I’ve been in a bunch of bands over the years and met all the guys in Bongo in really cool ways. That would be a long story. All the lads are literally the best people. Always thought so since day 1 of meeting everyone. Boring answers, I know hahah! We played our first gig as this lineup in late 2021!

Tell me about writing and recording the group's breakthrough album “Flower Pot” in 2018. Would you mind giving a brief background to songs such as “Venus and The Main Mans”, “Star Gazer #22”, “Wink” and “Birds”? When and where did recording begin and what was the overall vision for the album?

I started writing the Flower Pot album in late 2017. I had no idea it was going to become a real band. I just started doing it to just fuck around and make something! I honestly don’t know what those songs you mentioned are really about. Maybe loving and missing my friends, or loving and missing myself!? hahah! Recording began mid 2018 at Station House Studio! Shout out to Uly! The album style was inspired by Tyrannosaurus Rex and Sam Gopal, my favorite far out weirdo psych stuff!

2021 saw the band’s anticipated follow up “Strength of Spring”. How did you guys want to approach this record that differs from the previous work? How did the deal with the folks over at Castle Face come about? What was your experience working with Ty Segall on this record?

I wanted to rock harder with S.O.S.. Talking "Man Who Sold The World" album by Bowie and Love's "Four Sail". A friend of mine suggested I send it to Dwyer, so I did and he dug it! eternally grateful, thanks John and Matt! I love working with Ty, really fun to bounce ideas around with him. We dig a lot of the same stuff, so referencing sounds we are going for is relatable and I think that helps a ton. It was fun, but hard work! We really milked every minute to its full capacity in there because we had 3 days to complete it. I’m hoping to share a bunch of new material. We have a full album in the can. Maybe it’ll come out in June!

Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?

Ror the readers I want tp say, thanks for getting to this point of the interview! Love you and hope to see y’all at the Gold Diggers gigs!

Best,

Gabe.