Rock needs reinvention. It only moves forward when a band pushes it to do so. Enter: GEARS. Finding a sweet spot between metal, R&B, hip-hop, and alternative, the Miami, FL group—Jimmy Wooten [drums] and Tripp Sixx [vocals]—zigs and zags past all expectations and burns down one convention after another in the process. Racking up hundreds of thousands of streams and views, collaborating with everyone from members of Living Colour to Sevendust. These guys have been on an amazing roll over the last year dating back to July 2022 with the release of “Don’t Want To Say Goodbye” which you probably heard on SiriusXM’s Octane. Since then, they have released five more singles all of which had its own unique sound while keeping their GEARS vibe in-tact. The latest of the five is their brand new single “Thanks For The Misery” and it’s another banger. It seems as if the band has hit their groove and things are firing on all cylinders. We sat down with drummer Jimmy Wooten recently for one of our marathon interview/two guys catching up sessions. Our convo touched on so many things including their single release cycle, touring, Nickelback, of course wrasslin’ and even the Powerpuff Girls!
You, me and Trip talked a year ago when “Don’t Want To Say Goodbye” was released. In fact, we talked on the day just minutes after it hit Octane for the first time.
Jimmy Wooten/GEARS: That’s right; I do remember that.
Since then, you guys have been on a hot streak releasing five singles: “Good Enough,” “Lost Again,” “Fix What’s Broken,” “All or Nothing” and now the new single “Thanks For The Misery.” I know what I’ve seen as I watch things on my side, but what have you guys seen on your end pertaining to how the band’s grown with this release schedule.
Exponentially.
How so?
I’m going to give you the milestones that I know we have hit very recently because I don’t have all the numbers right in front of me. Our YouTube channel just recently hit over half a million views. We don’t put money into that, where other bands do the paid marketing and paid advertising. Yes, it’s a good tool but for me I’m much more interested in the organic numbers. I want to know where my fan base really is. It doesn’t do me any good to spend thousands of dollars to get views from Bangladesh. Our YouTube is over half a million just in the singles since “Lost Again.” “All or Nothing” didn’t do much for us. It might not have resonated because it’s too far out of the box. I love being an independent band because we don’t have to do anything that we don’t want to do. So when we wanted to do an industrial type song it’s because we wanted to. It doesn’t seem like that one responded as well as the others but it did have a good response. Since Pandora has shifted to more of a consumer base they’ve been one of our biggest supporters in the last three singles. We’ve gotten over 120,000 streams and for a band like us (DIY, independent based) that’s great. What’s crazy is “Fix What’s Broken” is now our most streamed song out of our entire catalog and that’s at 130,000 streams.
Dude, I was going to mention that one. That song has some legs!
Dude, when Trip and I are in the studio we’re thinking which one of these will be singles. Which one of these will have legs to use your term? “Don’t Want To Say Goodbye” was the first and that one did better collectively then the songs that were picked to be singles like “Wasteland.” “Don’t Want To Say Goodbye” is the one that got on Octane and got into different places. It’s interesting because sometimes you have people that are looking at songs for different reasons, mark ability and stuff, but sometimes you have a gut instinct and that’s what I’m talking about. “Fix What’s Broken” is still going strong and “All or Nothing” took a little while to get going and now it’s picking up steam. That’s the other side of the coin for an accelerated release schedule. You have a song like “Don’t Want To Say Goodbye” or “Fix What’s Broken” and you want to ride it out a little bit but you can’t because here comes the new single that we have to focus on. You constantly have to be creating you, constantly have to be releasing new things. The guy from Spotify straight up said a few years ago that it’s just not going to be enough for a band to record every three or four years. Okay, from what I am understanding is you need the bands to create more inventory for your product and you’re not going to be helping people who aren’t constantly creating inventory for your product. I get it it’s a business model.
So when will you be taking the music out on the road to the people?
I think the only thing holding us back is the touring aspect. We really haven’t done much post Covid, a couple of fly dates and festival dates here and there. The juice has to be worth the squeeze. We’re not spring chickens anymore (laughs). We have bills, mortgages, families and responsibilities. We can’t just go live in the van on $150 and some pizza. Our markets that are good for us will pay us very well, but the problem now is people don’t want to go to shows anymore on a Tuesday night. The venues don’t want to have shows on Tuesday nights. I can’t put the band out on the road for three days of the week with four days off and make that successfully financially.
You see it on social media all the time when a band announces tour dates. They want everyone to tour on Fridays and Saturdays, but not during the week. They act as if it’s possible for all bands to tour that way.
Then you look at the Taylor Swift or KISS and it doesn’t matter what night of the week they play. With KISS there is a sense of urgency there where people think one of these farewell tours will actually be their last so they want to go to that. When we were coming up my buddies and I were at the clubs every night of the week, whether they had a band playing or not, because it was your scene. Now, with all this stuff that we have to entertain us at home people don’t all go out like that. I don’t see the relationships between the musicians. You know, every time you go to a certain market you know you’re going to see this certain person who plays in this certain local band who dates the bartender at the club. You just don’t see that stuff as much, for better or for worse; I’m not sure what the best answer is. I’m not going to trash how anyone chooses to live their life but I do think it’s taking the toll in every market on clubs not having that scene. Dude, that’s how I cut my teeth. I’ll be honest, some of my first bands were not that great but we got gigs because we were friends with the owner and we hung out there and drank with him all night. I really feel like that personal touch is missing.
Everybody seems to be on their phones even at a show or at dinner. People are taking selfies at shows or taking shitty videos to post and not living in the moment. We have clubs here that are doing pretty well with weeknight shows, but what does it say when a big dog in the industry like Judas Priest can’t fill an amphitheater because it’s on a week night? If they can’t do it, what does that say for the little d
I can’t remember who said it but they said they hadn’t seen anything like social media that could bring people closer while pushing them apart so simultaneously. I thought that was such a mind-blowing thing because it’s right. I can send a message on messenger over to one of my friends over in the UK and we can talk all day long but there are people that live two blocks for me that I haven’t seen in two years It’s such a unique paradox that we’re living in right now.
I get what you’re saying about touring having to be worth it, but I know you guys are itching to get out there and play.
There are always irons in the fire and we’re looking at the logistics in the finances. We have to look into everything as well as time frames too. Every person in our band is a business owner, some of them have several businesses. In one way, I don’t mind the accelerated release schedule that we do because it gives us a reason to talk to people like you. If we’re not putting out singles like this then what’s there to talk about other than just bullshit and catching up as friends? This digital release schedule makes it fairly easy to get our music out. The negative about that is that anyone can do it and it’s a very saturated market. I can’t imagine being a guy like you having to fish through everything. You must get a thousand songs sent to you a month and you may not even get to listen to all of them. I know as a person you want to but there’s just not enough time in the day. All the publicist and interview requests and all that stuff that you guys get, it’s very tough but it’s also cool in a way that’s why I say a paradox.
Spotify sent me something and I wish I had the exact number because I know I’m going to mess it up. It was a link to ne singles added to Spotify for that week and it was something like 103,000 new songs were added. Now, Facebook is doing the same thing in my notifications. It will say something like Godsmack, Taylor Swift and 106 other artists released new videos this week. It will give me a link to click so I can see all of them.
Holy shit!
It’s cool, but just like you said, I don’t have time.
It’s just so oversaturated and I don’t feel like our industry is cultivating acts to take up the mantle so to speak. Not just the KISSes, but the Godsmacks, the Shinedowns, the Sevendusts and more aren’t going to be around forever. So what happens to the rock and metal industry all together?
He may not have said it the best way, but I understood what Gene Simmons meant when he said rock is dead. He asked where’s the next AC/DC or Iron Maiden or Metallica at?
Hell, where are even your next Sevendusts? Talk about a band that deserves more credit. They’ve been out there doing it for over 20 years and they’re so respected.
I saw them on the second or third Rock on the Range, which is now Sonic Temple and they opened the main stage at 11:00 in the morning. They blew me and everyone else the fuck away and now I can’t get enough of them. What a talented band and look at the side projects/bands that each of those guys has also been in. Collectively, they’re a juggernaut worth of talent and talk about a live show. Who wants to follow them after they’ve killed it up there?
I’ve never heard of them having a bad show, ever. It’s funny you say that because Lou Brutus, I love that guy, had a post on social media about Sevendust. It said if you want to judge a band’s respect in the industry or something like that, look sidestage at a Sevendust show. Everybody from the opening band to the headliner is watching them. I forgot who it was it was, some huge artist, and they were talking about they were playing a festival and there was this band called Sevendust and they said they would not want to go on after those guys. You have these huge bands recognizing their talent and they should be doing stadiums and bigger shit. People’s musical tastes are different and I get that part of it but I just don’t understand it.
The mystery of Sevendust continues to baffle me as well. So many flavors of the week have come and gone, but yet they still stand here mightier than ever. As for you guys touring, I hope your insights will help some people understand why we haven’t seen you out there just yet.
I didn’t pick up the drums at eight years old just to sit and look at the Spotify numbers. I love doing interviews but I didn’t start playing drums to do that and I know Trip didn’t start singing and performing just to do music videos. We want to play live, but we just have to have it make sense. We could go out on tour and it could literally be the last tour because we could end up so financially in the hole. We’ve done tours and come home up 50 grand and we’ve done tours and come home down 10 grand. When people talk to me about my band they give me such a great sense of accomplishment because the perception of the band is so much bigger. It’s weird to me because if all these people love my band, we need to get them out to a show in their market. Then it’s like ‘oh the last time you guys came through it was on Wednesday.’ I understand we all have responsibilities; it’s not like the old days when I was 21 and would be out drinking all night and then go do whatever we had to do the next day. The biggest thing I want to stress out of this is that if you want your favorite artist to be able to tour, you have to go out and support them. I see so many artists on social media blasting their fans when they don’t show up and it’s so cringe to me when I see that.
Yeah, there are plenty of bands that play Tuesday nights that pack clubs, venues, amphitheaters and arenas.
Exactly.
So you guys have been doing this accelerated single schedule for over a year now. How many more singles do you have ready to go?
We’ve got quite a few but some of them are fully recorded with no video and some are recorded with a video. We don’t do EPs anymore or LPs or record cycles. We’re just looking at a continuous life of releasing music. We don’t have a timeline for the foreseeable future with the exception of the holidays when people have a lot of shit to do. Other than slowing down then, you can pretty much bank on having a new single and probably a video from Gears every eight, ten or 12 weeks tops for the foreseeable future. We’re working with people that we’ve worked with for a long time so we go in the studio now and it’s a labor of love when we go in there with Dawson and Jimmy.
Is there anything that we haven’t touched on? I did want to mention that the new website looks great.
We just had the new site done and we have a bunch of merch designs that we haven’t put out yet because I wanted to get the site done first and then we want to look at what our best option is as far as bringing merch to people. The big thing is Shopify because you can incorporate that with your Spotify. We have a bunch of designs for the last few singles that we really want to put out. We wanted to do a couple of designs for each single and, without revealing anything; we have something that’s been really labor-intensive that’s coming up. I don’t want to spoil anything, but that’s been taking up a lot of our time. You know, developing that concept and making it work which the band is really excited about. I feel like we have hit our stride as a band as far as what the real sound is and I know that’s crazy because we’ve been a band for eight years. I feel like some of these bands just throw things at a wall to see what sticks. One cool thing about being independent is that you don’t have to answer to anybody. If we want to make a polka song, we’ll make a fucking polka song. This came to me recently and I’ve been trying to tag it everywhere. I’m going to make it viral; I’ve been calling our sound caliente-core because of the Spanish roots of the band. I feel like that’s where we’re going now to incorporation of the Latin feel and vibe with modern hard rock or metal core. We evolved into this group of songs with a Nine Inch Nails fused kind of song. We have another song that’s coming out but I don’t want to say much about cause I really want to see the reaction of that one. It’s really going to be in the vein of Gears but it’s something that we’ve never ever tried before. So we’re really excited about that one. I feel like it’s taken us all this time to find out what songs really work for us musically and what resonate with the audience.
Sometimes it just works that way, I mean look at a band like Shinedown. Look how long they stayed at the level they were and within these last couple of years they have really hit a stride with what they’re doing. They’ve found their groove musically and they’ve elevated their game to headlining big arenas.
I knew those guys early on and there was always that core sound. I don’t know if it was his vocals or what. He is a once in a generational kind of vocalist but you always knew there was something special about that band. How can you not like that band? Everybody always talks trash on Nickelback and I don’t understand how can’t like that band? They’re some of the best musicians in the world. If you’re a heavy music fan and you don’t like Dark HorseI don’t know what to tell you. I get the “How You Remind Me” and “Photograph” which I say are very accessible songs for the mainstream. There are so many great songs and live, their production is amazing. For nothing else, you have to appreciate their production and how they put all that together.
They’re coming through here in a couple of months and this topic came up a show the other night. I think the whole hating on Nickelback thing just became a popular trend like a damn Tick-Tock challenge. People hated on them without having a legitimate reason
The radio hits or one thing but when you experience them live and hear the other songs of theirs, yes sir you are correct dude. Plus, that drummer of theirs! I am also always very partial to drummers. I will judge a band on its drummer alone. The lead singer may not be able to carry a note in a bucket but if that drummer is awesome.
Come on, somebody’s out there buying those records!
They don’t have to put out a single every six weeks! Yeah, their mama’s aren’t the only ones that bought all those damn records!
I have one question that was submitted that I need to make sure and ask. Which Powerpuff Girl do you most identify with?
What’s a Powerpuff Girl (laughs)? I don’t know; let me look this one up. How many Powerpuff Girls are there? My trusty Google says they were created by Hannah Barbera. Hell yeah man, I was a big Saturday morning guy. Oh look, E.G. Daily is one. She was in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure; she was Dotty and she was also in The Rugrats.
The voice of Tommy Pickles.
That’s right, I think she’s awesome! Which Powerpuff Girl was she? She is Buttercup. I’m down with Buttercup.
Final answer?
(Laughs) Yeah, final answer. She was green, she’s badass dude.
That was actually from your Publicist Allyson.
(Laughs) Why does that not surprise me?
Well, it’s time to wrap this one up and you know what that mean? Three For The Road.
Yeah man, wrasslin’!
I tried to steer clear from that because you and I will be on the phone for another hour if that topic comes up.
*EDITOR’S NOTE: At this point, Jimmy and I fell down the wrasslin’ rabbit hole and talked about nothing but wrasslin’ for the next 30 minutes.
What’s the most unusual and/or interesting thing that you have autographed?
I think this is the funniest thing and it actually gave us an idea. We were hanging out and anybody that knows me knows I’m a Big Jack Daniels guy. A guy was out in the smoking area where you can watch all the bands and stuff. He asked if he could have the empty Jack bottle that we had just finished off. He said he wanted me to sign it and I got the rest of the band to as well. I know this is boring but we go through about a bottle of Jack a night. When we finish the bottle, the next day it’ll be at the merch table signed by the band.
Do you have any pet peeves or phobias?
I really don’t like it when people repeat themselves. If I hear it and acknowledge it, then don’t tell me again. Another huge pet peeve of mine is micromanagement of any sort. If someone hires me to do a job and then they’re constantly telling me that I need to do this and that. I don’t mean this in a bad way but I’ve been doing X, Y and Z for a pretty long time and I have a certain workflow and system that I use that’s been pretty successful. It brought me to you to help you out so if you want me to do it, then I need to do it my way. You can tell me exactly what you want me to do and I will do it that way without any of my systems in place. You obviously came to me because what you were doing wasn’t working so why not let me do it my way?
If you could play any character in a movie or TV show, who would it be and why?
Tony Soprano, his character is so complex. You saw the inner struggles that he had but he always had a good support system. I strive to be like someone who’s nice and accessible but I don’t want to be someone who is taken advantage of. I want them to say ‘Jimmy is a nice guy, he’ll take care of you but you don’t want to fuck with him.’ That’s kind of the way I look at Tony Soprano and I think that’s a good way to be. You demand respect but you also give respect.
As always dude, this has been a blast! The mic is yours if you’d like to close with anything?
We want to keep pushing “Thanks For The Misery.” It’s doing really well and it got added to a few Pandora editorial things for the first week. That was pretty big and gives us an immense leg up getting it out to as many people as possible. I want to thank everyone on the team that helps us. Of course I want to thank my partners in crime Trip, Josh, Dawson, Jimmy and all those guys. You’re checking out the beginning of calientecore.
Calientecore! I’m going to hashtag that everywhere!
Yes! Eventually my idea is to have a GEARS logo on the front the hashtag on the back. You’ll definitely get one so that when you’re in the photo pit everybody will see it and Google what it means.(Laughs) That will help our SEO metrics!
I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price
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