Musician, songwriter, and producer Gable Price began his musical journey at the age of 6 when his father starting teaching him electric guitar and planted his roots firmly in worship music for the early years of his life. Gifted a Gibson Les Paul on his 13th birthday, he became his father’s Worship Leader Assistant at their family’s church in Cincinnati. Growing up in the Midwest, he moved to Redding, CA in 2017, shortly after graduating from high school, to attend the ministry school at Bethel Church. It was there that he met class mates Adam Elizararraz, and Daniel Vargas, and after raising $1,000, they released their debut EP, The Redding EP, in 2018 under the name Gable Price and Friends. Soon after the EPs release, they invited their friend Cameron Pablo to join the band. One of the biggest artistic discoveries for the 4-piece has been deciding on their sound as a band, which has evolved from praise/worship music, to alt rock, to what they now describe as just making music that feels good and honest to them. Gable also ventured into the professional songwriting world following his graduation from ministry school. His close ties to Bethel Music, and his connection to his now manager Dominic Shahbon, helped him to quickly integrate into the co writing world.
On November 11th, Gable Price and Friends released their latest album The Consequence of Being Alive, which is helping the band to redefine who they are. With a more indie-rock sound and songs that are less spiritual and more personal to Price’s life, The Consequence Of Being Alive is a lesson in forging a new path. Shortly after signing with Capitol CMG, Gable Price and Friends started writing songs for their new album. “We had played the title track live at our shows, and even demoed it,” recalls Price, but the other songs the band wrote specifically for this project. “The consequence of being alive,” says Price, “is that none of us is immune to the human condition; we all live with different joys and pains, but we’re all expressing our emotions about our experience.” The life season that Gable is now in has seen tremendous change. “I always try to write the exact thing I am feeling, and I think being out of ministry school and church work, and being more immersed in a season of processing and change, has yielded very different song themes from when I was 19 at ministry school. I would try to write songs that resembled our early work, and at the end of the session I would just feel exhausted and sad that I wasn’t in the same headspace. Once I wrote the title track “The Consequence of Being Alive”, and felt so overcome with joy and a sense of artistic purpose, I knew that this was where we were going.” The album has some impressive featured artists, as well, including Gable’s friend and mentor Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, Judah Akers (Judah & The Lion), and Caleb Chapman (Colony House). With a lot of love for the new album and direction for the band, Gable has high hopes that this album will leave a mark on it’s listeners and they will come to love it just as much. With plans to play festivals and shows in the coming months, Gable plans to continue shaping the Gable Price and Friends creative story, and pushing to new places! You can connect with Gable Price and Friends via the following links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | Deezer | iTunes/Apple Music | YouTube | Tik Tok
Your musical journey started at the age of 6 when your dad began teaching you electric guitar and your roots were planted in Worship Music for the early part of your life. What can you tell me about your childhood and ensuing musical path?
My parents were always very empowering when it came to my passions. My dad was always willing to teach me a new song, or teach me something new on guitar. He always would say things like “Okay I’ll teach you this song, if you promise to play it slow until you can play it right”, and that still sticks with me today. I watched my dad play songs at church every Sunday growing up on his Gibson Les Paul, and I thought (And still think) he is the coolest person ever. I don’t think music would have intrigued me the way it did, had it not been for my dad. Pursuing music was the natural progression after high school, cause I really didn’t want to go to a university or community college.
You moved to Redding, CA after high school to attend the ministry school at Bethel Church, ultimately meeting Adam and Daniel and recording your debut EP in 2018 with them in Sacramento! Do you feel that the three of you clicked right away and found it easy to make music together? Although you grew up immersed in music, did you ever envision at the time of moving to Redding that your musical path would have turned out the way it did?
Adam, Daniel and I were always individually friends, but not friends together. I had a great friendship with Adam, and I had a great friendship with Daniel, but I don’t think I ever hung out with them together until we went to the studio haha. I kinda parent trapped them into friendship and into a band. It was an interesting process originally, because there were just no rehearsal spaces in Redding when we were getting started, so we’d TALK about the song a lot, but we would make music together until the day rate of the studio was charging us. Haha. In terms of my musical journey in Redding, I genuinely had no idea it would turn out the way it did. I wanted to move home after my first year, and join back playing guitar in the band I was formerly in. Redding isn’t much of an industry for anything, especially live music outside of the church genre. So it really made and still makes no sense that our band did what it did in Redding. It still is a bit shocking.
How did Cameron Pablo come to join the band in 2019?
Cam was always one of our good buddies, and an astonishingly good guitar player. We were getting ready to play our first live show in a back yard on Midway Drive, and we were pretty well aware that Adam recorded far too many guitar parts to be able to play them by himself live. Cam was an easy call, and one I’m so glad we made. There was a bit of gray area regarding his role in the band for awhile after that, because at the time it didn’t make sense to add another “official member”, since we already had an electric guitar player. We would go to a show that he was playing at, and take band photos with him to the side. It’s slightly cruel in retrospect, but then again, we had genuinely no idea what we were doing. As time went on, we began to realize how much Cam contributed to the overall band, outside of just playing the guitar, and we decided to add him as a “Utility member” in 2019. Meaning, Cam was an official part of the band, but his role or instrument was dictated by the present need. The consequence of being good at literally everything. He had a short stint at bass for the majority of 2022, and we’ve finally been able to bring him back to his main love: Guitar.
What can you tell me about your journey as a band, from starting out in 2018 and recording demos in a garage and your 1977 camper van to signing with Capitol CMG? What have you learned about yourselves along the way and how do you feel you have grown as artists over the past few years?
Prior to GP&F, my knowledge of writing and releasing music was next to none. It feels like every song we created, I would learn 2 notebooks worth of what to do and what not to do. I think the biggest discovery for us artistically was figuring out what type of music we wanted to make. We started off basically making a praise and worship EP, and then moved into a CCM alt rock sound, and more and more we’re discovering that we just like making honest music that feels true to ourselves. With “The Consequence of Being Alive” the lyrical content has very much shifted from religious concepts and thought processes, to writing about my wife, about changes in life, and pain and joy in tandem. I think the big growth for us was giving ourselves permission to change.
Upon graduating from ministry school, you began your journey into becoming a professional songwriter. What has that experience been like for you and in what ways did your ties to Bethel Music and the connection to your manager Dominic Shahban help to lead you into the world of co-writing? What do you love and find inspiring about songwriting, especially with others?
I would say Dom has been such a huge factor for me. He has given me lots of feedback in regards to how I position myself as an artist, and connected me to so many beautiful people. Dom, in a way, acted as my original publisher and got me many of the connections that many people assume a label brought on. Great friend, killer manager. Moving into songwriting as a profession has not been an easy thing. I realize that I am a bit more tortured creative that I previously believed. I create best out of friendship and relationship, so I have had to operate slightly differently than my songwriting peers have. I get very drained when it comes to creating just to make something that will sell. I really have to feel connected to it, or I will (and have) spiral. I love writing about life. It’s a broad subject and so much to explore. It has so many contrasts; Joy and Pain, Gain and loss, love and hurt. It’s all so fascinating. The hope of writing a song that finally gives language to something the listener has been trying to explain gives me an immense amount of purpose.
You have said that you initially had only intended to stay in Redding for a year and that no one could have convinced you otherwise. What can you tell me about the town of Redding and deciding that a year would not be long enough upon moving there?
If you’ve ever been to Redding, you know that there really isn’t much to it. A couple decent food spots, a couple coffee shops, and very little nightlife. I was 19 when I moved here, so bars weren’t an option, so once 6PM hit, you were pretty much chilling at home, which for me was a 96 square foot camper van. I was home sick, bored, and just really wanted to be done with any type of schooling. I also was extremely broke and wanted to get a job at the old cafe I was employed at and get enough money to buy guitars again. I think upon moving home after a year, I realized that I had an awesome community in Redding. I figured it would be dumb to sacrifice that for the sake of the $7.50 minumum wage in Ohio. I’m so thankful I moved back. I met my wife the next year, the band released its first EP and began gaining steam, and I grew in unimaginable ways.
You have said that while you love making music and playing shows, it is the feeling of doing something significant that fulfills you. Do you feel that you are intentional with your songwriting and try to write songs with purpose that will impact people?
Yeah 100%. A song that means nothing to me, but is released just for streams or bags sounds exhausting. I think I operate with a slightly self obsessive view that if the song doesn’t move me, it wont move the listener. That could sound slightly narcissistic, but for some reason I just can’t get past that belief.
You guys will be releasing your new album The Consequence of Being Alive on November 11th and the release redefines who the band is. What led you to lean more towards an indie rock sound with this album and write songs that focus more on things that are personal to your life? How would you describe the overarching theme/message of the album?
I think overall, the life season I’m in has held a lot of change. I got married (Yeah baby), I quit my 9-5, and the band has gained tremendous steam. I always try to write the exact thing I am feeling, and I think being out of ministry school and church work, and being more immersed in a season of processing and change, has yielded very different song themes from when I was 19 at ministry school. I would try to write songs that resembled our early work, and at the end of the session I would just feel exhausted and sad that I wasn’t in the same headspace. Once I wrote the title track “The Consequence of Being Alive”, and felt so overcome with joy and a sense of artistic purpose, I knew that this was where we were going. The Overarching message of the album is contrast: Joy Is ecstatic cause we know the contrast of pain. Same with Pain. It hurts cause we know joy. Love and Loss, Fear and safety. All contrasts. Living, loving, losing.
Aside from the title track, which you guys have played live and demoed, you wrote the songs on the album specifically for this project. What can you tell me about the writing of the album and did you have a specific idea in mind and how you wanted the album to flow from the start?
We actually didn’t even have a song order until the album was finished being recorded. I wish we knew, cause we could do the cool stuff Gang of Youths do to make a song flow into the next one, but unfortunately I wrote way too many songs for the record and we didn’t even decide a track list till 2 weeks before the studio sent us the bill.
You have talked about how since you were young, you lived with the fear that everything you were presently enjoying would lose its desired effect and fade away. How did you come to terms with these thoughts and do you feel that songwriting helps you work through the personal themes of the album and of life in general?
I think sometimes I still worry about that. Especially with the band. I love the music we make and I hope we make it forever and that people like it forever haha. Songwriting has helped me process everything in life. I sometimes don’t know what I am feeling until I pick up my guitar and start mumbling provocative sentences haha. I would say the biggest thing that has shifted my obsession with everything fading has been meeting my wife, Edita. When I break it down realistically, everything at this point can fade and it would be a long process and would still be emotional, but in the end I just want a family and a life well lived.
Your friend and mentor Jon Foreman of Switchfoot is a featured artist on the album, as is Judah Akers of Judah and The Lion and Caleb Chapman of Colony House. What was it like working with them on their respective tracks and what do you feel they each add to the album? What can you tell me about having Jon Freeman as a mentor and what do you feel you have learned from him?
I still have a hard time looking at those names next to mine and not freaking out. Those are some of my heroes. Jon has unintentionally mentored me with almost every word we’ve exchanged. I recently called him to ask him questions about headlining a show, and how to keep people from getting bored and going to the bar in the back to pass the time. Each of them are true creatives and believe in their art. I learned from each of them to really be intentional about what I want to communicate with my songs. One liner after one liner doesn’t make a song. There’s a story we tell with every note.
You have a headlining album release tour coming up soon, starting out in Atlanta on November 13th and ending in Nashville on November 17th. What can fans expect and what are you most looking forward to with the tour?
I apologize for my late response to this, because we already hit the road and did this run. It was absolutely mind blowing to hear people sing these songs. Every night was full of energy, full of loud music, and it was genuinely beautiful to be in a room of friends, family, and new fans and scream the songs we had in our back pocket for a year FINALLY. We had never really headlined before, so it was so cool to get to dream up a night with our fans GP&F style lol.
Aside from the album and tour, what’s next for you? What are your goals as a band going forward?
One of my big goals is to continue focusing mental efforts and creativity into this album and find new ways to break it into different spaces. I love this album and a big dream of mine is for this to be the record that people call their favorite of the year. In terms of other dreams and goals, we are really excited to play some festivals and a lot of shows this year. We have not done any of the big mainstream festivals, and we really want to! I am stoked to continue shaping the Gable Price and Friends creative story, and pushing to new places.
