ARTIST SPOTLIGHT ~ GINA VOLPE

Artist Spotlight is a segment that we started to introduce our listeners to some deserving up and coming artists/bands. They have made an impact on us for all of the right reasons, We think they kick ass and we hope you do too! Today we’d like to shine the spotlight on guitarist/songwriter/fine artist Gina Volpe.

Prolific NYC-based guitarist/songwriter/fine artist Gina Volpe, is back with Delete the World, her full-length debut as a solo artist. Delete the World is a brooding, textured, experimental web of songs with echoes of indie pop, alt rock,’80 synth and heavy rock.

Volpe started her storied career in high school when she co-formed the ferocious 90’s punk band Lunachicks with her fellow high school classmates. Over the course of more than a decade, a half-dozen albums and countless world tours, Lunachicks staked their claim in rock ‘n’ roll history replete with a tell all memoir published in 2021 and a new documentary about the band premiering in November 2023.

Volpe made the leap to singer and frontwoman in the mid 00’s when she launched her thundering power trio, Bantam. Teaming up with producer Barb Morrison (Blondie, Franz Ferdinand) Volpe returned to the studio in 2017 to record Different Animal, her debut solo EP. Diverging from the punk world Volpe’s solo work has drawn comparisons to the likes of St. Vincent and The Kills. Finding a way to meld a foundation of heavy rock with electronic, pop, and dance beats Volpe reflects her hometown’s all-in ethos.

“…a diverse collection of tracks layered with chunky riffs, pop, and dance sounds” – She Shreds Magazine.

“Volpe, channels modern angst via detuned metal guitars and rattling 808 beats on her new solo single.” – Rolling Stone

While Volpe is known for inciting headbanging with her frenetic solos, Delete the World proves that she’s a true musical nomad at heart. Her riffs crunch, soar, and reverberate, delivering flashes of Robert Fripp and David Gilmour while her sultry voice and luring melodies blanket the tracks with a magnetic spark. “When I sit down to write a song,” she says,“I purposely leave out any kind of notion of what it ‘should’ sound like and instead let the pieces fall down from the ether and have the song direct me to where it wants to go.”

Delete the World is a disintegration of not just traditional stylistic borders, but also mental ones. Songs like the title track, “The Plan,” and “Escaped From the Lab” reflect on coping mechanisms gone awry and the unintended consequences,
low perception can either cut you loose or keep you confined, and the dubious assumption that humans are in control of anything. “Specks of mold in suits of meat / breakdown / repeat, repeat,” Volpe sings on “Low” while “Until I Arrive” is an homage to creative wanderlust, riding in tailwinds and not really landing anywhere.

The absence of a proverbial map or blueprint might confound some people, but Volpe finds pure freedom constructing in that open space of possibility. And yet on Delete the World, Volpe emerges as a solo artist who’s very assuredly present and ready to go wherever the sounds lead her.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=4XP5NhS0aYE%3Ffeature%3Dshared

We had a fun Q & A session with Gina!

Every superhero or villain has an origin and a band is no different minus the radioactive spiders and secret government experiments. What’s the origin of how you got into music?

Gina Volpe: I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s with two older sisters – one who listened to 70’s classic rock and one who listened to 80’s punk. I would alternate between these two musical eras combing through both of my sisters’ stellar record collections and feeding my growing brain with the overdriven guitar riffs of David Gilmour and Joe Strummer. I was sure that one day I’d be holding a guitar in my hands playing those same riffs.

What are you currently working on?

I just released the second single from my upcoming album Delete The World which comes out February 23, 2024. I will release one more single from the album at the end of January before releasing the whole record. Currently I’m still sloshing around in a sea of indecision trying to decide what song will be the next single and I STILL don’t have a final album cover, ugh. I’ve made so many different versions, (I do my own graphics) I get stuck trying to pick which design to use. I’m also in the process of making videos for some of the tracks. Some filming and some animation.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

I had a crush on the blonde guy in “The Dukes of Hazzard” TV show (laughs). I can’t even remember which one he was, I think it was Beau? What was the other guys name?? I had good taste in music as a kid but obviously not so much in the men department.

If music was over today and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?

Ooh good one…..hmm maybe something like Volpina Della Volpe of the Volpines! (exclamation point mandatory). And obviously I’d have a satin cape and pink sparkly boots. In fact maybe it’s time to make the switch??

What was your favorite cartoon growing up?

Bugs Bunny – I know you said only pick two but c’mon… Bugs Bunny. The foundation of my sense of humor.

We love cereal, especially at night. For some odd reason, it seems to taste better then. Do you have a favorite cereal?

Indeed. Cereal for dinner whenever I can get away with it. I dunno what it is about small floating clusters of food in a bowl of white liquid but it’s just so damn satisfying. In fact I literally just chowed down on a bowl of Cracklin’ Oat Bran – gotta keep regular. It’s hard to pick a favorite but I’m super into Panda Puffs, the little peanut butter flavored balls which are basically a “healthier” version of Cap’t Crunch. Ya know on second thought I’d have to say that Cap’t Crunch prob wins the gold medal for best cereal.

What was the first CD/album that you bought and what was your most recent CD/album purchase?

The first record I ever remember buying for myself was the Talking Heads 7” “Burning Down The House.” Both of my sisters had left at that point- one for college and the oldest had her own place, taking with them their record collections and the turntable so I had to start from the ground up. I don’t even really like the Talking Heads. I redeemed myself by buying an Alice Cooper record shortly after at a thrift Store. Recently, this past Friday, I just pre-saved (does that count) the new IDLES album that’s coming out next year. Love that band.

If you have any tattoos, what was your very first one and does it have any meaning behind it?

I actually don’t have any tattoos. When I was coming up they weren’t as common as they are now- tattooing wasn’t even legal in NY in the early 90’s. Back then I used to think you can’t have a tattoo if you can’t fight, and me being such a wuss, disqualified me from getting a tattoo. Things started to change though and then suddenly it was totally normal to be tattooed so I figured I could finally get one. But as I mentioned everyone was getting tattooed. My stubborn tendencies to buck the norm kicked in and refused to get one. Even though I still want one -or several because I really do think they’re so cool. I still can’t fight though so maybe it’s better that I don’t get one. Thanks for taking this journey with me. Oh wait I just re-read the question which says to answer, If you have any tattoos – ok…duh..nevermind.

Connect with Gina Volpe online:

https://linktr.ee/ginavolpe (has all of the below)

Website: https://www.ginavolpe.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginavolpemusic/

Spotify: