Salt Lake City-based punk band “The Last Gatsby” is making a strong comeback.
Beginning their endeavors in 2012, The Last Gatsby consists of band members Jonathan Hoopes (drums), Josh Paul (vocals), Chase Gerber (bass and guitar; backup vocals) and Garrett Samuelson (lead guitar).
In the Beginning
Hoopes explained how the band first came together as a project started by Paul. This gave Hoopes an entrance into the band and later on, Samuelson. Then in 2015, Gerber joined the band and thus “The Last Gatsby” as we know it today was formed.
“Garrett has this really cool ability to write guitar parts that you really wouldn’t think would work for a song,” Hoopes said. “But then they come in and they’re just really brilliant, really beautiful.” These are prominent in their previous albums “The Art of Recovery” (2016) and “Hearts and Machines“(2013). These guitar riffs created by Samuelson tie everything together in each song, allowing the listener into his world.
As the band grew, their sound became prominent in the Salt Lake music scene.
However, after some time, the band found themselves wrapped in separate passions from one another. “For us music was a huge deal. Being in a local band is hard for a lot of reasons … as we progressed in the band it became tense. We started to commit to different lifestyles outside of our normal band stuff.” After the release of “The Art of Recovery,” the members thought about putting a pause on “The Last Gatsby.” Then, in 2018 Paul was diagnosed with brain cancer. “It changed everything, it required us to give it time,” Hoopes said.
“There’s Still Music Inside Me”
“It wasn’t until this year that Josh reached out about an old song, ‘Life Lessons.’” Hoopes said. “He challenged me to release it and once that happened things started really rolling. We decided as a band ‘Hey we should pick this up, do this for us.” The band talked about how it took this song and created a new path for themselves. “We realized what we have as a band and what we could have moving forward is really strong … it’s a really healthy time for us to reflect and realize what things were most important to us. And the band obviously was,” Hoopes said.
Following the release of “Life Lessons,” a music video will be released, which was a turning inspiration to the rebuilding of the band. “In between takes, Garrett started playing this riff … then all of a sudden we’re composing and writing this song together,” said Hoopes. “After we got back, we were all talking, ‘What if we did reignite this?’” They explained that the song was going to be the bookend for “The Last Gatsby” but because of the band’s redefined focus, there’s more to come for their future.
Learning a Lesson or Two
I had the opportunity to listen to the single, yet to be released, and it’s inspiring. The band explained how they took inspiration from “Blink-182” when they were creating it, which you can hear through this song. There is a strong tie between the lyrics and being in touch with your senses, which is so powerful. As the song nears the bridge, there is a break from singing which moves into speaking the lyrics. This plays into the chaos and inner turmoil that characterizes itself as the band’s conscience.
“Let me attest; No let me confess. It’s important you know what beats in your chest,” is a strong lyrical moment that leads the song’s meaning.
“Everything that we do now is focused around these missions and motifs that are represented in our music. We want to bring that to other people too, we want to make a difference,” Hoopes said. He explained that there are more songs in the works and that they are ready to get back in the studio.
“It’s our job to share [our talents] and help people connect through them,” Hoopes said.
“The Last Gatsby” has new merchandise available tied to its new release. They explained to me that for every piece of merchandise sold, a donation is made to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. “We want to bring attention to how many people are going through these challenges in silence,” Hoopes said.
“Life Lessons” is out on all platforms.
