Irish post-punk noise rockers Gilla Band have had to cancel their show at London’s 02 Forum, citing production issues. All tickets for this show will be refunded at the point of purchase. In response to this, the band quickly announced a run of shows at various venues in London.
Due to production issues, @GillaBand have had to cancel their o2 Forum show and have announced a residency of shows around London. First is at @WindmillBrixton next Friday (16th). TICKETS ON SALE TOMORROW 10am!! – https://t.co/XV2Z2tiIax pic.twitter.com/RPLHB6UIWi
— RoughTradeRecs (@RoughTradeRecs) September 8, 2022
The band will play The Windmill Brixton on September 9th, Peckham Audio on October 8th, Moth Club on October 21st and Studio 9294 on November 9th. Tickets for the Windmill show go on sale tomorrow at 10 am; tickets are available here. Tickets for the rest of the shows will be available on Tuesday 13th September at 10 am.
We are changing our band name. We are also playing some shows in Dublin in January. pic.twitter.com/PNhZ19dL2m — Gilla Band (@GillaBand) November 16, 2021
Gilla Band, formerly Girl Band, changed their name last November, apologising to anyone who may have been hurt by the band’s original name. The four Irish men released a statement via Twitter at the time, stating: “We will no longer be performing or releasing records under the name Girl Band. We apologise for choosing a misgendered name in the first place and to anyone who has been hurt or affected by it.”
Continuing: “When we were starting off it was chosen without much thought. From a place of naivety and ignorance. We had no grasp of the weight of it at the time and in the past few years have found it impossible to justify or explain.”
They went on: “Regardless of our intention the effect of the name has been damaging to individuals. To try and negate any unfortunate role we’ve played in propagating a culture of non-inclusivity in music or otherwise. We have decided to change it.”
Finishing with: “Thank you to those who spoke up about it and educated us on this. Either directly or indirectly. Moving forward we will be performing and releasing records under the name Gilla Band. Gilla being a given name taken from old Irish.”
Gilla Band will be releasing their new record, Most Normal on October 7th via Rough Trade Records. Earlier this summer the band released the second single off the album. The track titled “Backwash” was available as a Big Love exclusive 7’, limited to 120 copies and a video animated by Mortis Studios accompanied the release. You can watch the video below.
Speaking to Hot Press singer Dara Kiely revealed the inspiration behind the song: “The initial idea for the whole album was that it would loosely sound like a dream. We didn’t really stick to the brief but it lead us down different sonic avenues. ‘Backwash’ is one of the few tracks where the words represent a dream-like circumstance. The lyrics are from a stream of consciousness rant, weird imagery and all that. The track is about attraction – fancying someone and not knowing what to say exactly. It’s an indirect love song, knowing you like someone but can’t quite articulate it. Thinking that you have already expressed your feelings, but like waking up from a dream you’ve forgotten what you actually have said or felt.”
London residency dates:
16/09/2022 – The Windmill Brixton – London
08/10 – Peckham Audio – London
21/10 – Moth Club – London
09/11 – Studio 9294 – London
