Jet Lag Gemini Wins Over Warped Audience

By: Angelina Berube
Posted In: Entertainment

After their performance on this year’s Vans Warped Tour stop in Massachusetts, Jet Lag Gemini sat down and spoke about touring and recording.

Jet Lag Gemini is a New Jersey based quartet with members hailing from Russia, Romania and the United States. They made a name for themselves by playing local shows. In 2006 Jet Lag Gemini signed to Doghouse Records and since then released an EP, “Business,” and full length CD in 2008 entitled, “Fire the Cannons.”

Unlike most bands, Jet Lag Gemini has not had any member changes.

“Most bands started off in high school,” said Vlad Gheorghiu, the lead guitarist for Jet Lag Gemini. “They start a band and they go through about five other bands until, you know, this point. We actually met in high school and we stayed together for like five and a half years now.”

Jet Lag Gemini cite influence from bands such as The Matches, a band who recently broke up and who Matt Gheorghiu, the bassist in Jet Lag Gemini, avidly praises as musicians. “Something didn’t click with the mass population, but if people would have saw what we saw in that band they would have been one of the biggest bands on the planet,” Matt Gheorghiu said.

Vlad Gheorghiu credits the movie, “Back to the Future,” as the reason he picked up the guitar. Mixing the influences together, whether from other bands or movies, gives Jet Lag Gemini the perfect combination to create their own sound.

“Pretty much anything that’s heavy and anything that is soft because once you get that right in the middle it creates moderacy,” said Dan DiLiberto, the drummer of Jet Lag Gemini.

And that’s where Jet Lag Gemini gets it right. Their music is the perfect blend of guitar rifts and melody which come easily for the band. When set to record their album, “Fire the Cannons,” the band wrote most of their songs on their 31 hour-ride home to New Jersey from Texas.

“One of the songs we play live, “Just Say How,” that’s a song that we wrote in the van,” Matt Gheorghiu said. “That’s probably our second favorite live song to play.”

Another song they enjoy performing is their latest single, “Fit to be Tied,” in which Misha Safonov, lead singer and rhythm guitarist, goes into the pit and fans hold his feet as he sings on top of them.

“We have a huge breakdown and Vlad has two solos and I get to throw my guitar at our tour manager,” Safonov said about performing “Fit to be Tied.”

“And it really is at, not too,” Matt Gheorghiu said.

“One time I almost broke his toe,” Safonov said. “I threw my guitar and it was flipping and the only thing that caught the guitar was his little toe.”

Fans of Jet Lag Gemini also get to vote on which songs they want to hear at their concert. Each day Jet Lag Gemini has been on Warped Tour, the fans have chosen the songs.

“On ‘pick our set list’ the winners are always by 1 percent or one vote,” Matt Gheorghiu said. “It’s never a landslide for one song which is cool because that means different people like our album and it means we don’t have only three good songs on the album.”

Although the band explained Warped Tour is one of the hardest tours to do, they find it rewarding at the same time. This is the third year Jet Lag Gemini traveled in a van during the Warped Tour. “We always say when you’re on Warped Tour you kind of think it sucks, but then you go home even for like four days and you’re like, ‘holy crap, Warped Tour was the best thing ever,'” Vlad Gheorghiu said.

Jet Lag Gemini also explained that the Warped Tour is a summer camp and boot camp mixed into one with long days and friends. “You see all the bands you’re friends with already and it’s like an all day thing,” Safonov said. “It starts at six o’clock in the morning for us and ends the next day at six o’clock in the morning.”

The long days of Warped Tour did not wear the band down. High energy filled their set. The rain could not stop Jet Lag Gemini from giving one of the most memorable performances at the Massachusetts Warped Tour date. From “Run This City,” to “Fit to be Tied,” Jet Lag Gemini captured the attention of everyone passing by.

Jet Lag Gemini has started demoing songs for a new album. They plan to record later this year and release a new CD next spring. Visit myspace.com/jetlaggemini to hear their music.