Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabbi Coenen.
Hi Gabbi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up mainly in Perth, Western Australia, and moved to LA in 2020 after living in New York for 9 years. Music has been my entire life since I was a small child – I started playing piano at age 4, went to a performing arts high school for bass, and then studied jazz voice in university and eventually moved to New York to attend The New School for Jazz at age 21. I loved living in New York, but I found it difficult to break out and move beyond my college’s music scene there, and I knew I’d eventually have to leave if I wanted to take the next step. Luckily, I have family who live in LA so the move itself was pretty smooth (even though it happened right as the pandemic hit and everything shut down!), and I’m grateful I had a few months to settle in and ease into the music scene here. There are a lot of different aspects to my career: I’m a session vocalist and songwriter, I teach singing and piano lessons, I play bass in a few bands, and I sing in a few professional-level choirs. On top of all that I have my own artist project called RVBY MY DEAR, which I like to think of as the distilled essence of all my musical instincts in one place. Music supervision is a newer aspect of my career – it’s been a dream of mine since I was in high school watching The OC and reading interviews with Alex Patsavas, and earlier in 2022 I took the UCLA Extension music supervision certificate. Through that, I was tapped to work on an independent film. Eventually, I’d like to focus more on that side of things, and maybe even dabble in some film scoring one day.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Being a freelancer is definitely not easy, you’re always nervous about where the next gig is going to come from, and things definitely ebb and flow. When it rains it pours, and I have to be wary of not getting overwhelmed and burned out when there’s a lot of things to keep track of across all my various jobs. Also working in a creative field and being an artist who’s the focal point of my own project, you’re naturally going to be more sensitive to critique, because you have to be sensitive in order to create work that’s honest and meaningful. I’ve learned to develop a very thick skin over the years and not let negative comments get to me, but it’s easier said than done sometimes. But I’m very lucky to have been given the opportunities I’ve had so far, and I’m excited for what’s to come down the road.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a vocalist, songwriter, music supervisor, bassist, pianist, and music teacher. I also write and record music as RVBY MY DEAR – my debut album Waiting was released in 2019, and my next EP is coming out on November 18th via Spirit House Records. Aside from that project, I teach private voice and piano lessons, sing in professional church and choral ensembles, topline for other producers, and co-write songs for sync (one of which was placed in a RayBans ad last year). As a music supervisor, I’m currently working on an independent horror feature called The Otherkind, directed by Mary C Russell, and am always on the hunt for new projects to be a part of. The thing I’m most proud of across all aspects of my career is being able to connect people to opportunities – whether that’s helping a singer prepare for an audition, or getting an artist friend’s song placed in a film, or curating a lineup for a show with my band – anything that brings me closer to people through music is the thing I love most. In terms of what sets me apart, people often tell me that they’re impressed that I have such a large network, but to me, it’s really just about making genuine connections with people I vibe with and whose work I admire and passing along opportunities to the people I care about. Music is my entire life, so it makes sense to me that almost all of my best friends are also in the music world.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love how diverse LA is, it often feels like 10 different cities in one. You can go from the beach to a hike to snowboarding all within a few miles of each other. It’s difficult to be bored! The weather is beautiful, it reminds me a lot of home. Everyone I meet here is incredibly talented and hard-working, and I love hearing about and checking out all the projects everyone works on, it keeps me inspired and motivated. Even though LAs got a bad reputation for attracting flaky influencer types, I’ve been able to connect with so many amazing people out here and have made some really tight-knit friendships since I moved. The things I like least are definitely the traffic (those few months in 2020 when there were no cars on the road were pure heaven!) and the lack of care for the unhoused population. I admire everyone who’s working hard to help those in need but more needs to be done from those in positions of power.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rvbymydear.bandcamp.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/rvbymydear
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/rvbymydear
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/rvbymydear
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/RVBYMYDEAR
- SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/rvbymydear
Image Credits
Noel Woodford
Nick Karp
Priscilla Chavez
Scott Ebru Yildiz
Crystal Whiteaker
Olivia DeToma
Melissa Baxter
