INTERVIEW: Gamblers

Mar 4

Go all in & bet on Gamblers, the trio raising the stakes in indie pop. Mike McManus (lead vocalist), Jimmy Usher (guitar), and Johnny Hoblin (drums) just released their new single, “Pulverizer,” and it’s a game changer. This disco-dusted groove tempts you with its addictive melody and urges you to celebrate the human experience in all its messy beauty.

Doubling as the title track for the group’s upcoming album dropping on March 29, “Pulverizer” previews the record’s high-stakes journey of resilience, exploring the darker corners of life with unflinching honesty. But fear not, fellow gamblers, this won’t be a night of mourning your losses. Pulverizer is proof that you win some, you learn some, and you always keep playing. It’s packed with introspection, captivating hooks, and a life-affirming spirit that will keep you reaching for the next card, no matter what it holds.

Ready to take a peek? Have a seat with Noisescape as we uncover Gamblers’ hand, revealing the inspiration behind their latest single, the upcoming album, & more.

Let's start with an introduction. Could you introduce Gamblers to those unfamiliar with the band?

Mike: Yeah, so we're Gamblers. We're from Long Island/New York City. We've been around – wow – we formed the band 10 years ago in 2014. But we really came together as a group in the last 5 years in terms of putting out music and taking everything seriously, or however you want to say it. Our first album, called Small World, came out in 2020. Then we put out a remix project, which was 5 songs from Small World we remixed. Small World is more in the indie rock lane, and the remix project had some hip-hop, dance, and electronic elements, which surprisingly did pretty well for us. Since then, that kind of led to a lot of different opportunities. Now we're putting out the follow-up to our first record and the remix EP, our new album, Pulverizer.

I’d love to hear more about the upcoming album! How would you describe the musical direction this record takes?

Jimmy: Yeah, we have it comin’ out March 29th, and we're stoked. We've been working on it for a while. Mike mentioned Small World as their first full-length indie rock flavor, and the next EP took it to different places, maybe dancier and more electronic. The new album Pulverizer, I think, has a bit of a balance of those and even explores new territory, just mixing up all of our influences in a stew and finding shit we like. And I like the record. It's good. I recommend it.

Where did the title Pulverizer come from? Does it tie into an overarching theme the record explores?

Mike: So, what ended up happening a lot with this record as it was coming together – was that things were coming to the surface and coming to fruition that would strangely tie back to certain things I was writing about almost ahead of time. So it's pretty symbolic, and here's where the mood might change a little.
In terms of the title Pulverizer, I've been through a lot of really traumatic things in a very short period, and it kind of is symbolic in that sense with the title. I was in a really bad car wreck, which I obviously survived, but four other people did not survive. I lost my grandfather and my mother in a short period, and they were my two favorite people in the whole world. I also had a relationship end that was seven years old and involved a child. So my entire life just got pulverized, I guess you could call it. It was the most traumatic bit you could imagine – one after another. We have a song called “Running from my Grave” on there, which deals with death and trying to make the most of your time here. And then I experienced significant grief, and we have a song called “Headed for a Cliff,” which I actually wrote while I was still in my relationship. But it was pretty clear that it would come to an end or that it felt like it might come to an end, and then it did. And then we have a song, “Pulverizer,” which was actually written before most of those things had taken place but then, with time, had kind of grown to symbolize a lot of it.

Thank you for sharing, Mike. My condolences to you, and I admire your ability to process these challenging times through songwriting. You mentioned your latest single, “Pulverizer,” and its evolution. Can you share more about the creative process behind that song in particular?

Mike: Yeah, thank you. I'll give you more of the history to answer that question. We had an original version of this band that Johnny and I started, and we did a lot of things incorrectly, which is my fault. I said we wouldn’t release music until we found our team and a record label. But it's like, no, you have to put music out, develop an interest, develop a listenership. You gain leverage that way and create a fan base of people who care – then people want to work with you. But I had it backward, so I guess you could say people grew tired of that, and the original group ended up splitting up. We’d written the first album with that group, but by the time the album came out, I was kind of left on my own. Even Johnny was briefly out of the band for a while. So the band Gamblers in name was really just me for a hot minute. Then, I started working with our friends, The Brothers Nylon, and demoing what would be the new Gamblers record with them, and I got to know them through that process. Then I thought about Jimmy because we tried to get Jimmy into the band a couple of years earlier when we were looking for another guitar player – but he was going through some stuff at the time. If he wants to talk about that, it's up to him, but anyway – he was busy.

Jimmy: It's okay, I'll talk about it. I forgot how to play guitar for a while, and it was really weird, but it's all good. I remembered.

Mike: That's not what it was. But anyway, I wanted to reach out to Jimmy again and see if he has any time or interest this time. Luckily, he was down. So Jimmy came on board, and then me and Jimmy started writing this new record and working with these guys out on Long Island. That was the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020.

Jimmy: I think timing-wise, this song was written right at the COVID break. We might've started the music kind of putting the music together for this one right at the break of, like, “Hey, everyone, stay at home for two weeks,” whatever it was. And I think we then came back and reconvened and had more of a driving narrative for this song, and the weird little break everybody was going through together kind of compelled us to finish that tune.

Mike: Definitely. It was in March when we first wrote that song – right as the world was shutting down with COVID. It's not the most heavy-sounding song in the world. It's kind of fun if you listen to the lyrics; it's really kind of catchy. I have a distinct memory of being in a supermarket really late at night and not like a fancy Whole Foods or something, one of those run-of-the-mill suburban supermarkets that looks like it hasn't been updated since 1985. And then you hear “Eternal Flame” from the Bengals or something, and I'm just like, man, I really want to have a song that will be played in supermarkets.

Jimmy: Songs played at supermarkets during the apocalypse – that is a hot playlist.

So you said your inspiration was late-night grocery store apocalyptic vibes, but the “Pulverizer” music video and its WWE scenario are quite the contrast. What inspired the video’s concept?

Mike: Johnny – go for it.

Johnny: Alright. Yeah, so I dunno. I had this weird idea about a wrestler – an old man wrestler who was also a tow truck driver – getting pulverized and smashing cars. I probably texted Mike and Jimmy four times and never got a response from them. And we're sitting in Mike's office one night, and I was like, “This is the last time I'm going to bring it up. I haven't gotten anything from you both about this idea.” And they're both like, “That's great. Let's do it.” I'm not even the big wrestling guy. They like wrestling more than I do. I just thought it was a cool visual thing. So yeah, we found some wrestlers, ditched the old guy in the tow truck, and we got a, I don't know – super femme fatale almost – to destroy dudes in the end, and it ended up being great.

That’s so sick. I loved the video, and I’m curious, where did you find the wrestlers?

Mike: There's a school on Long Island, and it's also a venue called New York Wrestling Connection, and they're tied into a former wrestling company called ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling), which no longer exists but is very, very influential and infamous. They were around in the nineties, so a lot of those people are now doing this company. But, yeah, our director, James Morano, had a relationship with one of the owners through another project. One thing you learn about dealing with professional wrestlers and professional wrestling promoters is they are just as hard to nail down, if not harder, than musicians. And, I think it might've been a week from the shoot, and we're like, “Alright, we have to do something. So what's the backup plan?” Then they finally got back to us and said they would love to do it. So the school that we shot at provided the wrestlers as well, but the star of the video is a wrestler named Amity LaVey, and I think for sure she's going to be a star someday. Definitely look out for LaVey.

Very cool! I also love your Vlog Heaven series on YouTube – it genuinely shows off the band’s personality. What inspired the creation of that series?

Mike: Well, thank you very much for taking the time to check those out. We’ve got more coming. But yeah, I guess it's content – the word everyone jams down your throat. I think the world we're living in and the expectation of bands now is that you can't just make music. You have to be a multimedia company. So if that's the world that we have to live in, we just want to try to have fun with it. So, for me, the best thing to do is to have a videographer who knows what they're doing and just to have them capture a bunch of stuff and edit later. Because this way, the pressure is off. You don't feel like you have to perform for the camera; you're just capturing the natural environment. What you see in those videos is exactly what you would see if you were just a fly on the wall at practice or something, which is the idea – just to show more of a side of us that's not so produced.

Jimmy: That's where I would jump in and say that, specifically, this content series can be anything, so you can be artistic with it, make choices with it, and tell stories with it. So this little run was about sneak peeks of the new record through all that. It's seeding: here's the new band, here's the new lineup, here's the new songs, and we're prepping because when this album drops, we're hitting the road. And so it's just bringing people in. It's dissolving the frame between things as interactive media always does and trying to find a way to stay inspired about it. You know what I mean?

Absolutely. Your authenticity and passion for music shine through, for sure. I also noticed that in your Tones of Tunes series on Instagram. It’s cool to watch you break down different production techniques and feel intimate like you’re letting others participate in the creative process with you all.

Jimmy: Thank you. It’s really just who we are. This is all we care about. It’s like showing – here I sit around and obsess about making cool tunes and rockin’ with the boys.

And now, for a fun question: If your music could be the soundtrack to a movie, what kind would it be? Besides a film about wrestlers, Johnny.

Mike: Clearly a question for Jimmy if I’ve ever heard one.

Jimmy: Yeah, I would want it to be a hangout movie, but one of those that are really fun, and you're just with some dudes or a whole gang of characters, and they're having adventures. And maybe it's all in one night, but there's a lot of crazy stuff that happens. But sometimes, it's more spread out, and you see a character breaking down over time. Like, leaving Las Vegas or something like that…but that one's kind of depressing, and this is a happy one.

Johnny: Like leaving Atlantic City or something.

Jimmy: Leaving Atlantic City – yeah, yeah. You go there, have a great time, tell your friends you love them, and that's kind of it. But it has a good soundtrack and is set in the late eighties. It’ll be confusing when the ska influence starts creeping in from the album in the late eighties. It was like, I don't know, maybe just niche by then, but not that widespread. So it would be a groundbreaking soundtrack, I think.

What can listeners expect next from Gamblers after the album’s release? Any exciting plans or goals for 2024?

Mike: We're going to have a couple of New York shows around the album release, and then we'll be on the road in April and May at different parts. Then we're pitched out for some festival slots, so hopefully, we’ll hear about those soon. We’ve got some more music videos coming out for this rollout. And hopefully, we can just take over and get solidified as one of the top bands and just crush it.