Despite being relative newcomers to the neo-psych and dream pop scenes, Brooklyn’s GIFT have clearly already made a major impact abroad in the UK and Europe. After releasing their sophomore album Illuminator at the tail end of the summer via Captured Tracks, the quintet embarked on a brief set of dates spanning the East Coast and Midwest US. Yet it was the UK/European leg of the tour where the band felt most like celebrities, sharing the stage for the first half of these shows with fellow Brooklynites and all-caps-noun band BODEGA for a few of their biggest shows to date. From there they hit France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, a few of their favorite spots to tour.
With these dates wrapping up last month, band members TJ Freda, Jessica Gurewitz, Kallan Campbell, Justin Hrabovsky, and Gabe Camarano took us behind the curtain of their journey with a tour diary documenting the affair in words and pictures. Gigs were crushed, friendships were built, and something called “jazz ball” was evidently invented—see it all unfold below.
TJ Freda: Last photo in Brooklyn, right before we left for our flight to London.
Jessica Gurewitz: Hello, yes is this car for TJ? Yeah, it’s just the five of us. Plus these 14 large and heavy rectangles.
Kallan Campbell: Ahh, vacation begins.
TJ: The first three weeks of our tour was in the UK where we played some of our biggest shows to date. We were touring with BODEGA, fellow New Yorkers.
Jessica: My friend Carson gave me this vest before the show. She brought a few things for me to wear because she rocks and thought it would be nice to have something that I hadn’t been wearing for two weeks straight. I love the vest, it changed my life. I have a new personality because of it. Stuff can be awesome sometimes.
Kallan: I couldn’t stop smiling at all the smiling faces!
Gabe: These folks crowd-surfed me four times that evening, and I remain grateful. Stuff really can be awesome sometimes.
Jessica: I think Sophia Feuer took this one! My hero.
Kallan: Someone from a previous UK show brought me a pack of Jammy Dodgers (a popular cookie in the UK) and handed it to me from the front row yelling my name. I’ve never been so happy to have cookies, let alone Jammy Dodgers!
Gabe Camarano: Lazers! Hit the showers, Gurewitz!
TJ: Somewhere in Nottingham. We found a ball on the ground that we kept for the entire tour.
Jessica: Leaf.
Kallan: The inception of jazz ball: a ball that would bring us much joy in the trip, and brought us a new philosophy of life too. My shoes are gone…
Justin Hrabovsky: This picture is obviously after we played a round of jazz ball.
Gabe: Nottingham has one of the best free-range jazz ball courses in the UK, hands down.
TJ: Post-show in Glasgow, we were on our way to DJ the iconic Nice N Sleazy for an afterparty.
Jessica: I’m going to be so honest right now: Who is that in the backseat?
TJ: We had to make time to stop at Stonehenge. ’Tis a magic place.
Justin: Where the banshees live—and they do live well.
Kallan: Putting TJ on my shoulders at the ’Henge? Would do again.
Gabe: This rocks.
TJ: In London at EartH Hall, our last show in the UK before we went to Europe.
Justin: Cheers to the homie holding up the setlist.
TJ: On the ferry crossing the English Channel to Amsterdam.
Jessica: Loading out for four weeks straight with a great attitude! And look at Justin’s hair—you know they just don’t make hair like that anymore.
Kallan: Stackmasters.
Justin: This took place during one of those four weeks. I got lucky with a good hair day here—thanks Jessica.
Gabe: Justin would use his eyes as tractor beams to get the gear in the van sometimes. He’s so cute when he does that.
Kallan: Da boyz.
Justin: Gabe wore this Star Trek jacket when we went to Omaha Beach and a woman thanked him for his service.
Gabe: Puzzle-piecing it with Tino.
TJ: Supersonic in Paris is one of our favorite places to play.
Jessica: Shout out to legends Celia and Pierre-Louis.
Kallan: Can we take a picture, please? We’re in our favorite Paris club, after all!
Justin: J’adore Supersonic!
Gabe: All I know is that those aren’t drums behind us.
Jessica: Lorient, France! This was outside the venue Hydrophone—we played a festival called Les Indisciplinées that ended up being one of my favorite shows!
Justin: We all met up here after eating surf ’n’ turf. Scott [GIFT’s tour manager] took a trip to see the city center. Coming back, his bus never showed up, so he had to sprint essentially a 5k to make it to the venue in time. Our homie’s legs were sore for days!
TJ: We had a bed in our van.
Kallan: I love this bed.
Justin: More sprinter vans should have a lofted bed inside.
Gabe: Me paying Kallan for being so cute.
TJ: We did a fair amount of aftershow DJ sets after we played.
Jessica: My Fair DJ…
Kallan: I drank my first rose tequila this night I think…
Justin: Clearly I was in the middle of working the floor.
Gabe: Waiting to play Oasis.
Jessica: I took this one in Amsterdam at Paradiso for London Calling!
Kallan: By far the best time I’ve had in Amsterdam. London Calling was a blast! Met some of my favorite people of tour at this festival—and drank too many Heinekens.
Justin: Y’all look cute here.
Gabe: The construct of time did not exist within that building.
TJ: Utrecht, Netherlands is always one of our favorite cities to play. We love the people and the city. We somehow went to the exact same bars and kebab spot as the first time we went to Utrecht.
Jessica: I love this damn town.
Kallan: I love to take photos of all the aftershow crews! Solid crew here.
Justin: We somehow always end up with a large crew in Utrecht! Pictured here with friends visiting from The Hague and Amsterdam for the night.
Gabe: We’re lucky not only to play music abroad, but to meet the coolest people along the way.
Jessica: Such a good crew
Kallan: Oui.
Justin: A very silly van ride in Utrecht with Charlie, Luna, and Fréderique.
TJ: Scott, our good friend from NYC, was our tour manager on this tour, and made everything happen.
Jessica: Two weeks after meeting Scott for the first time, he helped me get my passport! Three years later I’m still using it and finally he gets to see the fruits of his labor. Best tour manager award.
TJ: Our trusty steed, the ManVan.
Jessica: Some guy got bit by a van and that’s how he turned into the ManVan.
Kallan: Home!
Justin: This was taken to remember where we were parked. Just had to get the film developed first.
Gabe: Not sure how we found parking.
TJ: I love playing music overseas—the UK and Europe have been very supportive of us since our first single came out. Much love!
Justin: Jessica and Kallan celebrating at our last show in Saint-Lô, France!
Jessica: After the last show of tour! Kallan really wanted to pick me up.
Kallan: I was not celebrating the last show! I was sad it was ending! I was, however, happy about hanging with the artists whose studio I wandered into.
