Life

GAUCI Suck: “I Have No Survival Skills Whatsoever”

gauci band interview

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Eora trio GAUCI are a good indication of just how willing bands are to completely eschew genre boundaries nowadays.

One moment, they’re a dancefloor-filling club-ready act. The next they’re a raucous rock band not out of place playing heaving shows at venues where the carpet has seen more live music than anyone currently alive. Don’t believe me? Go listen to their two most recent singles, ‘Irritating’ and ‘BRAT’, and compare the pair. Need more convincing? They claim they make “music for sexy introverts” in their bios on streaming platforms etc., so if the shoe fits…

To mark the release of ‘BRAT’, Junkee caught up with siblings Antonia and David Gauci, as well as honorary sibling Felix Lush — together, the trio make up GAUCI — to chat about side projects turning into main projects, toenail extraction videos, binge watching Alone and much more. David also has a habit of checking emails in bed, something I can unfortunately relate to (don’t do it, it sucks — no inbox should be opened within 30 minutes of waking up).  

Junkee: A mistake that turned into an opportunity? 

Antonia: This band (laughs). GAUCI was the Italo side project we started while playing in David’s indie band together, and I certainly never imagined that it’d be what it is today when we were first starting out. 

Cringe quote you used to live by?

Antonia: “You only live once”, “you miss 100% of the opportunities you don’t take”, “good things come to those who wait”… They’re all so cringe but also still kind of relevant? Situation depending!

Worst advice you got and blindly followed?

Felix: To get a banner for our live show.

The worst failure you’re up for sharing, and what you learned from it? 

Antonia: Long story short, I learnt the hard way that you should always have some kind of paper trail when it comes to your time and money. I’ve done a lot more work for a lot less pay and it really sucked!!! 

Anything you used to be wrong about?

Felix: Everything… nothing.

Embarrassing internet habit?

David: Toenail extraction/ear canal TikTok. There’s just so many tips and tricks to learn from it, and yes, at first glance some of it can be a bit striking, but I like to think I’m quite desensitised to it now. I really wanted to get an ear cleaning camera for a bit but I had to talk myself out of it.

Ideal morning routine versus actual morning routine?

David:

Expectation: Lie around in bed, cuddle my chihuahua, get up at like 9.30am and make a nice breakfast, and then go for a walk to get coffee.

Reality: 5.30am alarm, 15-minute doom scroll and then I’m off to blow leaves around and cut grass all day.

Antonia: 

Expectation: Up at 6:15am, breakfast, training/yoga, get to the studio, shoot the shit with the coffee club then get to work!

Reality: 6:15am alarm, snooze till 7:30-8am, roll out of bed, eat some gluten-free Weetbix, figure out if I’ll bring or buy my lunch, try to remember where I parked my car and then get stuck in some morning traffic.

Something very off-brand for you?

Antonia: I’m very much an indoors/city/electricity/luxuries/comforts kind of person but I love to binge watch Alone with my neighbours and scream advice at the contestants even though I have no survival skills whatsoever and would have to tap out straight away.

Bad health decision? 

David: Checking my emails in bed!!! 

What do you waste money on?

Antonia: Clothes, Milkrun, matcha lattes, all of the snacks — I loooove snacks, and my gym membership cause I haven’t been to a class in weeks.

Worst procrastination habit? 

David: Doom scrolling (or one could argue that I’m educating myself) on curly hair maintenance/methods/porosity/products/tips and tricks.

GAUCI’s new single BRAT is out now. 


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Illustration credit: Matt Lauricella, @pigeonboyart