Gabriel & Dresden Talks About "The Only Road" Album

​Last time we saw Gabriel & Dresden was at Djakarta Warehouse Project 2015. That time, Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden dropped their classic tracks and remixes. It was memorable night for us. On 2 February 2018, they came back to Jakarta for The Only Road Tour at X2 Club. In our short interview, we talked a bit about the process of making “The Only Road” album.

​Josh was in Amsterdam and Dave was in Austin, Texas back in 2016 during ADE week. “We knew we need to do something, but we don’t know yet,” said Josh.
 
That time, Josh called Dave and told Dave that he just got back from somebody’s place and listen to a bunch of music. “It reminded me of why people like our music,” said Josh.
 
The experience, phone call to Dave, and ADE energy, Josh suggested to Kickstarter campaign. Both Josh and Dave have been discussing several options, in the end they decided to do a campaign at Kickstarter. “Well, he (Josh) made the decision that we’re gonna do it,” said Dave.
 
Josh and Dave always making music and consider it as an experiment with many different kinds of music. From the sessions, they were thinking to make an album. “The problem is these days record companies don’t give people enough money, so they can take 4 months off and not work,” said Josh.
 
With Kickstarter, it gave them time to really focus on music production without being disturb with tours. They launched the project on 21 November 2016 and achieved the target less than 4 days since the announcement.
 
With more than 700 backers pledged to their project, Josh and Dave didn’t know that one of them are working in Anjunabeats as A&R staff. “After we finished the album, they (Anjunabeats) asked the album to be sent,” said Josh.
 
In Kickstarter, there are several options for backers to choose. One of them was access to area called Advisory Board. “We posted musical samples of the songs and you can comment on that. I think that person chose that,” said Dave.
 
The other was creating an Instagram account where they put daily snippets of track they were working on. “From Instagram and Advisory Board, he already got a good idea on the project,” Dave added.
 
They haven’t sign with anyone and thought to put it out themselves. They also would give the albums to all backers involved in their Kickstarter. However, there was deciding factor that made the duo decided to release the album with Anjunabeats. “We didn’t have enough time to mix it properly to our liking and one of the thing they said was they will help us find somebody to mix it,” said Josh.
 
They also grateful with the support the label gave to the album. “It’s a great process!” Josh added.

Among the tracks in the album, “Waiting For Winter” was the hardest track to make. “It’s also the most popular song,” said Dave.
 
To find the perfect sound for the song, they created 50 versions. “That was the first song we work on. It’s slowly took shape in course of months,” he added.
 
What’s unique from this track are the song starts lush and big, then end like a Techno track. “Getting those two things to feel like they work, that was the hardest part,” said Josh.
 
They’ve been performing in Jakarta many times before. They always love the food and the people. “Everybody is nice and the food is amazing,” Dave exclaimed.
 
For performance at X2 Club, they will adapt to the crowd. “If the crowd came to see Gabriel & Dresden, we will play more the album tracks. We will also play the classics, new stuffs, and bootlegs,” said Dave. He also told us that earlier in the hotel, they just finished a boot leg and they will play it the first time at X2 Club.
 
That night, Gabriel & Dresden really all out. They played both new and classic tracks, the crowd gave loud cheers. The crowd also sang together. The energy from the crowd made the duo extended their set for an hour. 

Thank you X2 Club Jakarta for brought Gabriel & Dresden. Thank you Gabriel & Dresden for memorable night.