Gerry Gonza – The name that has been appearing all around the dance music and festival circuit recently. If you’ve somehow missed it, then let us introduce you. Meet, Gerardo Arellano, a.k.a Gerry Gonza.
Gerry Gonza is no newbie when it comes to music production and the industry. He started his musical studies at a very young age, headlined his first show at only the age of 18, and spent many years as part of a successful duo, Thee Cool Cats. In 2016, the California bred, Arizona resident took the solo route and hasn’t looked back. Since then, he has blessed his fans with a whirlwind of releases, including “Bad Bitches” on Tchami’s Confession imprint, “React” with Malaa, “Shots to the Dome” with Destructo, and his latest With It EP.
Gerry Gonza is a permanent fixture on the bill of many Relentless Beats’ events, the recent being their out of this world themed, Phoenix Lights Festival. After heating up The Colony stage with his bold, driven house beats, we caught up with Gerry to discuss his Phoenix performances, collaborating with powerhouse producer, Destructo, his latest With It EP, new project Pluma, alien invasions, and more.
RR – Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! How was your set today?
GG – The set was amazing! It was really really good, I had tons of fun. It was a little early and the sun was beaming down on the people, but the energy was still there and everyone kept up.
RR – Now that your set is over, do you get to hang out and check out any of the performances?
GG – Yes, after all of my interviews are wrapped up and everything, I’m gonna be checking out Fisher. I’m also gonna check out Goldfish, really excited for that, Cristoph, Seven Lions, Gucci! It’s a good lineup today.
RR – You’re a staple at this event organizers, Relentless Beats’, shows and festivals, is there one moment or festival in particular that sticks out to you?
GG – Definitely last year’s Phoenix Lights. That was a huge, huge shocker because Hannah Wants unfortunately wasn’t able to make the festival and I ended up taking her spot. It ended up being right after Jax Jones and I’m a huge fan of Jax Jones. To get to follow him up was really exciting. That was really my first taste of playing a Relentless Beats and Phoenix festival.
RR – We caught your set at Crush Arizona where you incorporated a type of live setup. Is this new?
GG – So for the past year, I’ve been working the live setup. I just added a keyboard, so I’m doing a couple of things. It’s not necessarily live, it’s more like hybrid. The whole idea of it is… you know how other DJ’s have a third turntable to add effects and what not, well I’m doing that, except I’m doing it myself, you know like doing the drum fills and vocals.
RR – We remember seeing you on the mic and were pretty surprised. We were like,
“did we miss something?” (laughs)
GG – Yeah, it’s so funny, people always mention like, “I wasn’t sure if it was you singing, then looked up and yeah, yeah it was.”
RR – You teamed up with Destructo on “Shots to the Dome.” Can you tell us how that collaboration came about?
GG – So ever since the Gerry Gonza project started off, Gary (Destructo) has been really supportive, he’s always liked the music. He encouraged me to keep working on my music and said eventually the collab would come. I sent him over some songs and one of those was the idea for “Shots to the Dome.” It wasn’t the full song, but an idea. He was like, “hey man, I’m really liking this, I’ve got some ideas for it.” I shot him over the stems and that was done. He sent me back with just magic. We just had to put it out.
RR – How was touring alongside Destructo on his Let’s Be Friends tour?
GG – That was really really fun. He called me out of the blue one day and asked if I’d like to come. I was like, “yes, yes absolutely!” I had to contain my excitement a little bit. It was a fun tour, I got to meet Habstrakt which was really great, I got a lot of tips on production.
RR – Besides Phoenix that sold out, what other cities did you tour?
GG – Actually, all three shows that I did sold out. I did San Diego and San Francisco shows as well. It was really fun.
RR – You just released a three-track EP titled, With It. Is there a story behind the EP?
GG – Definitely, the With It EP was just me trying to make fun tracks. I’ve said it in a past interview, where my goal was just to get a really solid fan base, like Gonza soldiers, you know. The idea behind With It was just that. Just to have a song that was sort of a way to bring all the homies together. Like I’m with it, all the buddies are raving, we’re having fun, we’re having a good time, just be with it (laughs).
RR – Well, we’re with it! Is there anything that you’re currently working on that you can tell us about or any goals for the year?
GG – I’ve been in the finishing talks for my Australian tour, which is going to happen in August. I’ll be going back to Sydney and a couple of other places. That’s really really exciting. I got my side project Pluma that’s about to release a couple of EP’s, you know for people that like my more house-y stuff. Kinda shifting those underground sorta vibes into that. On the Gerry Gonza stuff, expect for a lot more productions with singers and more live stuff. I’m trying to work more on original songs where I’m singing. I’ve been getting good response on “Cocoa Butter,” which was a nice surprise. Definitely more live stuff.
RR – Is Pluma a new project?
GG – Yeah, it’s just more chill house-y type of stuff. It’s a new project, just barely releasing stuff. I’m just letting that run, Gerry Gonza is still going to be the main focus. You can expect some heavy heavy tunes from Gonza.
RR – Since we’re at Phoenix Lights, we have to ask… There’s an alien invasion, and you have to save the people of Phoenix Lights with one song. What song would you choose to stall the aliens from abducting the ravers?
GG – The song that I would most definitely play to save it all is my favorite, favorite song in the world by Pépé Bradock and it’s called “Deep Deep Burns.” It’s an 11-minute song and 11 seconds, coincidentally. It’s just 11 minutes of heaven. It’s amazing. It was really funny, I just happened to stumble upon it on one of these random YouTube searches, where you’re deep in the worm hole, and it just popped up.
Thanks to Gerry Gonza for taking the time to chat with us (and saving us from that alien abduction). Now get With It and follow his socials below!
Connect with Gerry Gonza:
https://www.facebook.com/gerrygonzamusic
https://twitter.com/gerrygonzamusic
https://soundcloud.com/gerrygonzamusic
https://www.instagram.com/gerrygonzamusic
Photo Credit: Gerry Gonza
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