“Brutally heavy but beautiful” is how The Gorgeous’ guitarist and graduate from Concordia’s Poli-Sci program, Dali Shaw, described the music of his most recent musical project. This local five-piece just recently released their first record entitled Great Lakes on Distort Entertainment this past November and since then have been generating buzz in the hardcore scene across the country.
Though the band was surprised that a label with such a big roster (think Alexisonfire, The Bled and Cancer Bats) was interested in signing them, Shaw explains that they jumped onto the opportunity knowing it would enable their record to be distributed pretty much anywhere in the country but that the label is still run pretty do-it-yourself. “Distort is not a huge corporate thing,” says the guitarist.
The band worked with renown producer Julius Butty to produce Great Lakes, an experience which Shaw describes as being somewhat stressful. “You want to make it as good as possible but you have to make compromises and respect deadllines,” he says.
One thing he did learn from making their first record is how to tolerate living in the same place as his four other bandmates for a month without killing anyone. “We stayed at a friend’s house in St. Catherines, so the five of us were always in the same room and after a month it got a little frustrating,” he says. Aside from that, the band says they are extremely proud of what they have been able to produce.
Yet another thing which the band should be proud of is the live show they are reputed of putting on. “Anybody who sees us play live, loves us,” says Shaw. A good show for The Gorgeous is playing their hearts out. “Jordan, our singer, is probably the greatest frontman in hardcore right now,” he says. “He puts his heart out, runs back and forth all the time and sings hard; it’s edclich
