Fresh off the stage in Bournemouth, UK, Lags – guitar extraordinaire for English hardcore band Gallows – joined me to talk about Soundwave, Brett Gurewitz and crowd safety.
Gallows exploded onto the scene in 2007 with debut album Orchestra Of Wolves. It landed the band a rumoured ₤1 million contract with major label Warner Bros and saw frontman Frank Carter top the NME – œCool List’ the same year. Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz went on record saying that Orchestra Of Wolves was the best hardcore album released since Refused’s The Shape Of Punk To Come.
“We’re all Bad Religion fans,” Lags says. “I used to see them when I was younger. If I saw stuff in record stores by Epitaph I’d instantly buy them and check them out. It means a lot more coming from him than someone else.”
Joining the Soundwave Festival tour across Australia in the early part of 2010, Gallows will also be supporting AFI at their Sidewaves. “I’m looking forward to the sun. We’re looking forward to the Soundwave shows as there’s tonnes of good bands. Our friends My Chemical Romance are also on the tour so we can kinda force them to look after us [sadly, Gerard Way and co. pulled out of Soundwave this morning – Ed]. We’re also looking forward to hanging out with Brand New, Rolo Tomassi, Faith No More and Jane’s Addiction. It will be fucking wicked.”
A Gallows show is exactly what a hardcore show should be: energetic, chaotic and totally exhilarating for the crowd. The band has previously stated that “if the crowds don’t fear their own safety, then we’re doing something wrong.” Judging by some of the footage I’ve seen of their shows, it’s no wonder why.
“Today was a good example,” Lags elaborates. “I dived into the crowd with my mic and stand and then Stu, our bassist, dived in on top of me and Frank dived on top of him. I’m pretty sure the people below us were fearing for their lives.”
The band adds a bit of spontaneity to every performance. When Gallows played their first Reading Festival in 2007, they celebrated in fine form, with Frank Carter getting tattooed on stage during their set by New Found Glory’s Chad Gilbert. “We were chatting about it before the show. Our friend Dan was there, who is now a big tattoo artist for LA Ink just hanging out backstage. Frank told him to go get his stuff – œcause he wanted to get tattooed. We got Chad to do it on stage.”
Now onto their second album, Grey Britain, the band had a much bigger budget to work with courtesy of Warner Bros – as well as more time to work on it. “With Grey Britain we just made an album that’s a lot more hard hitting and in your face than Orchestra Of Wolves. For that album, we didn’t have any direction and wrote crazy music that we were into. With Grey Britain we knew what we wanted to do. It’s quite apocalyptic, end of the world-esque. It has a really dark feel to it especially the violin tracks. We’re pretty happy with it.”
Having toured extensively for the past two years, travelling from the UK around Europe, America and Australia, there have been noticeable differences between the countries. However, the mode of transport is still the biggest adjustment. “The major difference obviously between Australia and the UK is that we do a couple of hour drives over here between shows. In the States you do a couple of day drives between shows. And in Australia we flew between places. We haven’t played any club shows in Australia yet though, which sucks.”
Fans will be happy to know that Gallows will be back at some stage for their own headline tour. “Pretty likely,” Lags adds. “I’d love to play some small club shows.”
Gallows play Soundwave Festival around the country, as well two Sidewaves.
Saturday 20 Feb – Soundwave Festival Brisbane
Sunday 21 Feb – Soundwave Festival Sydney
Tuesday 23 Feb – Luna Park Big Top, Sydney [With AFI]
Wednesday 24 Feb – Festival Hall, Melbourne [with Faith No More and AFI]
Friday 26 Feb – Soundwave Festival Melbourne
Saturday 27 Feb – Soundwave Festival Adelaide
Monday 1 March – Soundwave Festival Perth
to listen to their music now on 