Toronto Rockers Centraal’s New Single “Nobody To You” Celebrates The Unpredictable Beauty of Kismet
Kismet is a beautiful word that describes fate, which sometimes has an odd way of bringing people together. People who seem insignificant to each other at first can become a vital part of each other’s lives. The Toronto Ontario-based indie rock band Centraal celebrates kismet in their short but sweet new single, “Nobody To You.”
Opening with catchy riffs from guitarist and lead singer Adam Gomori, the song has a garage rock vibe to it. As Gomori sings the first verse, his voice is backed by percussion from Tim Bacon & driving bass from Rob Frasca that punctuates the lyrics.
“There was a time I was not a part of you
Meandering vines together our branches grew
Drawing our lines, I hope they aren’t parallel
Drawing our lines, where they lead I couldn’t tell”
Building to the first chorus, the instrumentation drops to an anthemic gang vocal by Adam and Rob. This brief but impactful chorus contrasts the rest of the song by driving home its message with no extra clutter. The song promptly starts up again to the melodic hook of the song supplied by guitarist Mike Gavrailoff.
At first glance, you’d assume the song was about a romantic relationship, but the song’s true inspiration might surprise you. The band states, “It came from the realization that band members Adam and Rob had to have interacted with one another at a local store that Rob worked at years before ever knowing one another.” It sparked an exploration into the often-spontaneous nature of human connection.
Taking their name from a train station in Amsterdam, Centraal was formed in 2017 with the belief that music can bring people together and take them to different places. After releasing their first single “Cosmic Cars”, they followed that with the EP The All Roads in 2020 and a second single, “Coletta Bay”.
In 2023, they released their first single “This Place” from their upcoming debut album Nobody To You. “This Place” explores the complex facets of modern urban life with cutting lead guitar, bass, and drumming driving the song.
To support the upcoming album release, the band also began touring across Southern Ontario, at venues that include Painted Lady, Phog Lounge, Corktown Pub and more.
The album’s eponymous second single “Nobody To You” continues the first single’s theme by showing how being in the right place at the right time can lead to something great. The single builds further anticipation for the album’s late October release, which will be celebrated with a party in November at The Painted Lady in Toronto.
Care to introduce yourself?
We are a four-piece indie rock band consisting of Adam Gomori, (vocals/guitars/keys), Mike Gavrailoff (guitars & vocals), Rob Frasca (bass & vocals), and Tim Bacon (drums & percussion).
We have been together in this configuration since 2019 and in that time have released 2 singles, an EP, and now our debut full-length record. We have played numerous shows in Toronto and recently embarked on a mini-tour across Southern Ontario.
Tell us about the process of recording “Nobody To You”?
We wanted Nobody To You to capture the band as we hear it on a weekly basis at the rehearsal space. The seeds for the album were really planted during the pandemic. We were incredibly fortunate to be able to keep rehearsing throughout the latter half of 2020 and beyond during the pandemic thanks to the monthly space we originally had at the now-closed Richmond Rehearsal Factory.
Thematically, the album delves into belonging in a physical sense to surroundings as well as belonging with the people surrounding you. The first single and second track of the record titled “This Place” is a bittersweet love-letter to Toronto. “This place is an addiction, another bad habit I just can’t quit”. The fifth track on the record titled “Adrift” explores the experience of the main subject’s surroundings not aligning with their mindset. The song culminates with the whole band coming together to sing the anthemic and cathartic refrain “make this feel alright”.
The actual recording of the album took place over the course of a couple of weeks with Producer/Engineer John Critchley at Green Door Studios. For this record, all of us really wanted to capture that musical cohesion that can only be achieved by being all together in the same space. Prior to this recording, our process was to record drums in one place and the guitar, bass, & vocal overdubs would be completed in a variety of different locations afterward. The result of this change to our process is a sound that it unified and more mature than our previous releases.
What’s it like being musicians in Toronto?
Being musicians in Toronto can be extremely rewarding and incredibly frustrating. Toronto is one of Canada’s top entertainment cities, so musicians and artists flock to it making forming a band of like-minded people easier, but the cost of living here makes the dream of being a full-time musician mostly unattainable. Toronto is going through growing pains with relentless development and the music community here has been directly affected by it. 10yrs ago, there was a selection of reasonably priced hourly rehearsal spaces available, but now many of those places have been lost to the city’s unquenchable thirst for development.
We have had to move rehearsal spaces because of development times in about as many years. Our first space that we moved into early in 2020 was located at the Richmond Rehearsal Factory, but late in 2020, we got the unfortunate news that the building was being sold. After that, Rehearsal Factory was kind enough to move the lease-holder to Geary where we were fortunate to stay until 2022 through constant rumours of it also being shuttered. We have now found a space located in the port-lands, but the future of any real estate purpose-built for bands and artists to rehearse in is always at risk of being lost to development.
Who was the first and most recent Canadian artist to blow you away?
As a band, our musical tastes align for the most part, but we the band we can unanimously agree is our collective first and most important Can-Con artist of all time is The Tragically Hip. Their influence on generations of Canadian bands and artists simply can’t be understated. They captured the Canadian spirit in a way that I don’t think we fully yet realize.
We love to support our fellow community members and recently we were really impressed with Paul Cafcae. He has a unique sound, a great stage show, and he’s a really great guy to work with. We highly recommend checking him out!
You’ve been making music for a bit of time now, what’s one piece of advice you can offer to those starting out?
When you are forming a band, make sure that you are finding people that you completely get along with. It can be difficult but remember to always listen to the little voice in your head because it is often right. A band is more than just a group of 4 people, the people you form a band with are going to become your closest and best friends. Songwriting involves deep introspection and revealing your truest self, so you want to surround yourself with people that you feel uninhibited to share yourself completely around. You also can’t expect the music to be perfect the moment you start. Sometimes lightning strikes and everything comes to together, but most of the time the song you hear on the record has gone through a gauntlet of revisions.