Guitar Gabby: Shredder and Lawyer
Cris Cohen: I’ve seen a lot of interesting titles for band members before. I’ve never seen “lawyer” listed as one of those titles. Why do you include that with guitarist, lead singer, etc?
Guitar Gabby of The TxLips: That’s part of what I do. I am a music lawyer, and a lot of what I do is consulting. I work with a lot of different clients in the industry to teach them about their rights, intellectual property, contracts, and things of that nature. The whole objective is to teach people in the industry about the industry and the business side of it before they enter it. A lot of artists and musicians get snubbed because there were things that they didn’t quite understand. Or they didn’t realize that they needed to file for copyright for their work.
Cris Cohen: It was just so interesting to see that as part of a band profile. And it’s interesting that you embrace all of that. Because in some ways, the term “lawyer” is one of the least rock and roll terms you can have for a title. And when you think of a lawyer, you don’t think of someone shredding away on the guitar. I think it’s interesting that you’ve embraced those dual sides of your personality. Were you always intent on, “I’m going to be both. I’m going to be the person who really gets into the emotion that is the art of it all, and then also have the business mind.”?
Guitar Gabby: Yeah, I always wanted to go into the industry having the business side under lock. A lot of it came from… my grandfather did some things in the music industry. He was a songwriter, outside of being a police officer. But his contribution in the industry was songwriting. And so from a young age, my dad was very keen on me figuring out ways to protect my artistry. I didn’t know that that would include pursuing anything within the legal industry, but I did always want to get into the business side of it. Because I did realize early on that if I’m going to have any type of longevity, I’m going to have to understand the business and the industry.
