For many who pursue a career in the music industry, there is an undeniable turning point or sign telling them music was the correct path to follow.
Mississippi native and electro-garage rock aficionado Cole Furlow had no such spark. Now with the success of his project, Dead Gaze, across the world, he is unable to pinpoint a time where music took off for him.
“My father was a band director, so my entire life I have been around music,” Furlow said. “I don’t know of any time in my life where I didn’t have music, which is a thing that is funny to think about. I’ve never really thought about that until now.”
Furlow said as early as age 3 he could frequently be seen emulating rock stars and musical performers with various household items like tennis racquets. He later went on to take piano lessons from a highly regarded piano teacher in Jackson. However, despite the level of instruction he received, it did not appear to have an effect on him.
“I took it for granted because I was kind of a punk kid and I didn’t want to take piano seriously at the time,” Furlow said. “I got to the point where I was just so ADD, and just so not focused and wanting to do other things that I really kind of threw it out the window. So, piano became nothing to me, and I really regret that.”
With piano behind him, he went on to explore the music of legendary rockers such as Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello. This motivated him to learn the guitar, a task which came naturally. He began to fully pursue music, eventually leading him to start projects such as Dead Gaze.
“In 2009 I started making recordings on my laptop that were just kind of blown out and really textured, just because I didn’t have any sort of hear that made me sound nice in any sort of way. I embraced the nastiness of the recordings and made the nastiness sound pretty in any way I wanted,” Furlow said. “From there, I just progressed into sort of a natural belief system that I need to always make something sonically interesting, so no matter what I was using at the time I had to get the best out of it.”
Since that first encounter officially recording and releasing music, Dead Gaze has accumulated three full-length projects, reaching an international audience. Furlow said he has no idea how far the audience extends.
“As a musician who makes it, I really don’t know how far [my audience goes]. I don’t know who is listening to it at all, at any point.” Furlow said. “I’ve met a lot of great friends from foreign places because of [my music]. I’m very grateful that I am able to travel as much as I have with it.”
Dead Gaze will be playing at 9 p.m. tonight at Proud Larry’s. The show follows his latest release entitled “Easy Travels,” an ode to the studio where he made the album.
“I have a lot of gear that I can move kind of easily, so I recorded things at different spots,” Furlow said. “The record and the studio kind of coexist in the same world.”
Tickets are $5, and as far as what you can expect, Furlow assures all attendees he will keep the focus on the music.
“The songs and the way we present them [is what makes the show special],” Furlow said. “I just want people to know these songs … it’s really only about the songs. That’s what it has always been about in every kind of way. I love performing, and I love a crowd that wants me to perform for them, so when it comes time for me to put on the show, it’s a little different than anything else I do because I want to present the songs in a live kind of fun, energetic way.”
