Written by Chloee Blair & Nicole Bianchi
Photographed by Chloee Blair
The dudes of the dream-rock trio, Parada, show up for their 30-minute set in a four-band, Friday night lineup at Spinster Abbott’s mostly unaffected by the chaos, the mountain of black boxed band equipment, the lack of clarity on exactly which band is playing first.
Walker Gifford, lead singer and bass player, is the older, at 29, and more serious of the group, showing up first, followed by lead guitarist Jeb Stevens, barefoot and Bodhi-like, and drummer Ben Skaggs, with a girl awaiting.
More than once, Gifford mentions he’s had to let go of trying to “control” his 22-year-old bandmates - and by “control,” he means simply wanting to plan what they’ll play that evening. He says the guys are more about going with the flow, playing whatever feels right in the moment.
Which makes sense. They have the look and feel of the long-haired hippies of the 60’s and 90’s, that super chill, analog-loving, anti-phone, laid-back vibe.
The band, which has also played gigs at Sarbez and Shanghai Nobby’s, has released a single on Spotify that captures their jam band sound and Gifford’s Nirvana-esque vocals.
Stevens says the guys came up with the $500 needed to rent the space at Eclipse Recording Studio for about three hours to record their song "That's What." A sound engineer came supplied with the studio rental, so the guys could play their song back and tweak it to get just the sound they strove for.
When the guys aren’t playing, they’re working - Gifford in landscaping, while Stevens, who just finished a psychology degree at Flagler, works part-time at 5th Century Music. He recalls that he went into the store all the time, always asking the shop owner if he could use an extra hand, until he finally landed the job.
When asked about the meaning of the band’s name, Stevens says it was inspired, in part, by Edgar Degas, who said “A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people.”
“So Ben actually made the name…[and] I really liked it because it means ‘bus stop’ in Spanish,” Stevens explains. “I thought it was kind of cool and mundane - not needing to be anything, you know?”
The band will be playing next at the Master’s Market on July 11th, followed by another gig on July 31st at Rocking Chair Records. You can also find Gifford playing at the Vintage Cigar Co. on fair weather Saturdays.
Check out clips of Parada’s performances on YouTube and their Instagram for the latest news.
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