I did a double take when my friend Josh Riccio mentioned he had a band. And that his band released an album. And that his band was playing a gig at The Masquerade.
“Yeah, I have a band,” Josh reaffirmed with a smile and pride in his eyes. Josh talked about playing drums and making music ever since first quarter at SCAD Atlanta. But it came as a surprise to hear him say that they had a band because free time is a treasured but limited asset. I pondered how he had the time to start a band and produce music while also being a student with a demanding SCAD schedule. But it was all facilitated because of SCAD.
Josh met his future bandmate Gio Turra while at SCAD, where they bonded over music. They started the Musicians Club at SCAD at the beginning of fall quarter 2016, and the club holds jam sessions in the Hub every week or so. In the corner by the coffee bar, Josh and Gio encourage friends and fellow students to showcase their musical talents. Some people sing, some play the ukulele, while others break dance and everybody loves the mood.
The band, called The Twotakes, consists of four members: Gio Turra, Josh Riccio, Beau Anderson and Chase Brown. Gio is the lead vocalist and also plays the rhythm guitar, Josh is the drummer, Beau plays the lead guitar, and Chase bangs the base guitar. Josh and Gio are both SCAD students, and they were acquainted with the other half of The Twotakes through friends at SCAD.
They commenced the band midway through fall quarter and were able to produce their first album during the winter break. They gathered their equipment into the Magnolia Room at Spring House to record all their guitar segments. “We recorded some drums in a closet in Spring House,” Gio added. Some of the music was recorded at their apartments or in the studio at the Digital Media Center. “We recorded seven hours straight at the DMC,” Josh said. So only are they pulling all-nighters at the DMC for animation homework, but also for their music. Gio said with relief, “We didn’t pay a single thing for recording and it’s all kind of homegrown.”
Their debut album is titled “Submarine Races”, which sounds like a bow to the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine.” But really “it’s kind of an ironic thing because we thought nobody was going to listen to the album, so it would follow along the lines of it’s not what you expect,” Gio explained. Submarine racing refers to people making out in a car, but the album “Submarine Races” is different from the phrase for its own unique reason. It’s not some dull radio song playing in a Chevy being drowned out by the passengers locking lips, while a cop waltzes up asking, “What are you doing? Watching the submarine races?” It’s a solid work of nine tracks that all have different stylistic directions. The album was released on Valentine’s Day 2017, and is available on iTunes and Spotify.
“We tried to get a good array of slightly different stylings and aspects of what we like to play,” Josh pointed out about their debut. Listening through the album feels like a time machine through music. For example, “Danger Waver” is a funky emulation of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Maybe” is more rock driven, and “Lollipop” is a slow 50’s inspired tune.
One constant is the strong vocals provided by Gio. If you could hear Gio cover “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley while strumming the acoustic guitar, he’d prove his songbird abilities. He can throw his voice and it’ll come right back to him, almost like he’s Captain Boomerang or something. “Undercover” is a great song, which pairs Gio’s barely strained vocals with a smooth base and a pounding drum beat. “Times Like These” was inspired by stress stupors that every student experiences. “I was stressed out of my mind trying to get the distribution out, so that song is literally one microphone and me in the living room at four in the morning,” Gio remarked about the soother song.
Every member does their part to make headway for the band. Beau connected the band with their current manager Steve Taylor. “Steve is pretty much manning the board right now,” said Gio, “Everyone in the band works really hard to get gigs. Chase knows a lot of people he gets a lot of gigs.” It’s a full time job, and two of the members are full time students.
Photo by Gaurav Dora
The band had only been in the game for two weeks when they got their first gig at The Masquerade in Atlanta on February 19th, a Sunday night. They played in Hell along with Maggie Schneider, another sharp musician and SCAD Student. The crowd loved their presence, and The Twotakes have been invited back to play another concert at The Masquerade on March 18th.
Related article: Maggie Schneider: The Girl To Watch Out For
The Twotakes are getting good attention for their homegrown album. “Rick Brumley, who’s one of the best sound techs that like ever happened, he came to our gig. And he liked it, so he’s going to record our next album for us,” Gio said with an excited look to the future. They also attracted the attention of an Atlanta based videographer who filmed their first music video. “The way that she works is very close to how we operate,” Gio explained, “so the color scheme, her idea for shots, and everything kind of gel with us. So, it’ll be very artistic, but indie nonetheless. It’s got that alternative feel to it.” The music video will be available on YouTube and Vimeo.
There is a lot going for The Twotakes, but the most admirable thing is that they are average art students. They have animation projects, due dates and classes to worry about, but they also have a manager to report to, gigs to line up (like one coming up in Athens), radio stations to contact and music to create. SCAD is a great place to be for The Twotakes while they are establishing themselves. There are other student-musicians to network with and even students who can get them cover art and design elements for branding their band. “We don’t sleep, though,” Gio pointed out. Then again, nobody sleeps at SCAD – but they still dream. Check them out over Spring Break; get tickets here!