Gab De La Vega goes back to his punk roots with new single “Preaching To The Choir”
Gab De La Vega goes back to his punk roots with the new incendiary single “Preaching To The Choir”, third outtake from the upcoming album “Life Burns,” set for release on March 1, 2024.
“Life Burns” is being released by SBÄM Records worldwide, in collaboration with Sell The Heart Records (United States), Epidemic Records, Motorcity Produzioni, and Overdrive (all in Italy).
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These few months have seen Gab De La Vega unveil two different faces of the new album, with the single “Off My Chest”, a powerful track driven by dynamic drum beats and fierce guitar riffs and “Northern Lights”, a groovy yet intimate song that exposed listeners to more balanced but elaborate sounds.
If these two singles were already giving the impression that “Life Burns” is set to be one of the most multi-faceted albums in 2024, “Preaching To The Choir” adds other elements to this equation, opening another front in the musical variety that composes what is going to be Gab De La Vega’s fourth studio album.
The single reconnects De La Vega’s songwriting with his punk and hardcore roots, giving the impression that some lessons learned can’t ever be forgotten: the spontaneity with which the song reaches the listener shows how deep the italian-born singer-songwriter’s punk roots go.
“The music, the message” has always been an adage of punk since the beginning and this single is no exception. Gab De La Vega delivers a song that can potentially become one of those punk rock anthems to be sung along at the top of your lungs.
Gab De La Vega comments:
“Preaching To The Choir is a punk song. Period. I felt the urge the express myself in a very familiar language, one I learned many years ago and that stuck to me, that shaped me and became a part of me.
It feels great to be able to take my music in any direction I want, explore my songwriting freely and then go back to my roots and feel so much at ease.
Preaching To The Choir is a punk song from the perspective of someone who grew up in the punk and hardcore community, who learned so much from it, but now sees that sometimes things don’t work out as they are supposed to. Things that once were those we criticized in the “outer world” become standard even in our community, which is far for being flawless, but still needs and deserves respect, dedication and honest commitment to keep punk rock the positive force for a change in the world we grew up with. It is here and now, it’s alive, it’s a minor but yet significant threat to a world that suffocates creativity, freedom of expression and the importance of creating bonds, bridges between people. The effectiveness of the punk message is wasted if it’s self-referential. It becomes a re-enactment, the ceremony of a dying religion. The strength of punk was, has been, and hopefully always will be its capacity to create strong bonds within its community and on the other hand project to the heart of society, to shake it, to wake it up and try to make it better.
This song is about this.”
The energy of the song is matched by the video by Ronnie Amighetti, which reconnects this particular song with “Off My Chest”. Gab De La Vega says:
“We shot this video along with the one we shot for “Off My Chest”. We thought that there was a connection, a sort of continuity between the two, not just stylistically, but more in the intents. If “Off My Chest” is a song “about me”, “Preaching To The Choir” is a song “about us”.
The setting was a live production warehouse and the band is simply practicing, because we wanted it to capture the energy that comes from playing this song along with my backing band, The Open Cages.”
As a seasoned performer, Gab De La Vega’s journey has spanned across Europe, including the UK, the US East Coast, Canada, and South America, sharing stages with prominent artists such as Frank Turner, Against Me!, Laura Jane Grace, PUP, Chuck Ragan, Joey Cape and more. In 2022 he appeared with his band at Frank Turner’s Lost Evenings Festival in Berlin, at the British singer-songwriter’s invitation and he recently embarked on the “Road to the Next Chapter Tour” in 2023, bridging the gap between his third record, “Beyond Space And Time,” and the upcoming album.
“Preaching To The Choir” and “Life Burns” were co-produced by Simone Piccinelli and Gab De La Vega at La Buca Recording Club (Montichiari, Italy). The single cover artwork was crafted by Christophe Bonardi, with layout design by Gab De La Vega.
The labels involved have started pre-orders for the physical release of “Life Burns” (to be released March 1), which see the album released on vinyl, CD and tape. Preorders are available here: https://linktr.ee/gabdelavega at SBÄM Records (Worldwide, including their partner stores in UK and Canada – vinyl and CD), Sell The Heart Records (USA – vinyl and CD), Epidemic Records (covering Italy along with Motorcity Produzioni – vinyl and CD) and Overdrive (Italy – tape).
As release day approaches, Gab De La Vega has already announced a release party for “Life Burns”: he’ll be performing with his band The Open Cages at Monamì Live Social Space in Montichiari (Brescia, Italy) on March 9th. A tour with full band as well as solo acoustic performances will follow.