[ATTENDED: February 22, 2023] Gilla Band
When Irish quartet Gilla Band first became a band back in 2011 or so, they were called Girl Band. I first heard about them in 2015, when the single “Why They Hide the Bodies Under My Garage” came out. It was noisy and abrasive and painful and wonderful.
I lost track of them for a bit (WIkipedia says they had a hiatus for health issues). Then in 2021 they announced they were changing the name of the band because it was a “misgendered name” and that their former name could have been “propagating a culture of non-inclusivity.” Which is pretty cool. They changed it to Gilla Band (keeping the G and the Band).
The quartet has remained the same since the beginning: vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan, bassist Daniel Fox and drummer Adam Faulkner. This is probably a good thing because I don’t see how anyone could reproduce what these guys do.
They opened with a bunch of older songs. First up was “Lawman” which has scraping guitars and a mechanical sliding bass. as Dara sing/speaks (in a manner not unlike Mark E. Smith) as the song slams forward. The end of the song features some high pitched noises that I don’t now how guitarist Alan Duggan even thought to make. That song pushed six minutes and they followed it with the 90 second blast of noise called “Heckle the Frames.” I loved the guitar that was just a high pitched note sliding up the neck. (Is it about making fun of Glen Hansard’s band?)
“Pears for Lunch” was largely quiet (relatively) until about half way in when the guitars turned into a wall of noise. “Fucking Butter” was amazing because bassist Daniel Fox was playing these really nigh notes that didn’t sound like a bass at all. The guitar was just a buzzsaw of scraping playing along with the drums. Somehow the guitar made a increasingly higher and higher sound that seemed to keep going up and up long after he reached the highest point of his strings.
Introducing “Post Ryan,” he said, “This song is named after a native Philadelphian … from Scranton.” [um…] “our beautiful friend Ryan Lee.” This is their newest song and it is less abrasive and strangely catchy (despite being a little woozy feeling).
“Laggard” opens with a looping sliding spaceship sound which Duggan looped and added to until it became even more otherworldly. After the introductory part, the song turned into a wall of noise and then just as abruptly, it ceases with a gentle tapping of the drums from Adam Faulkner. The crowd started clapping along as Dara started crooning. I had no idea what was going on–it was so unlike anything else they’d done. And then it was over.
They started playing more of their newer songs (which are mostly shorter). The biggest surprise after all of this came when “The Weirds” opened with a zither. True, it was processed and sounded crazy but it rang out on an interesting way–and Duggan really abused the poor thing. After some droning introduction, the fast drumbeat of classic punk came in . But Dara sang to the droning guitar rather than the drums. I loved the contrast.
When the song kicked in, the inevitable mosh pit (that I assumed would come right at the beginning) finally started and within 30 seconds I was on the other side of the room.
After a feedback segue they started one of the more amusing newer songs “Bin Liner Fashion” It started out relatively quietly Dara singing over a drumbeat but it slowly built into a wall of noise with percussive drums and guitars. But as with a lot of their newer songs, it stopped just as you thought it was going to launch into the second half. Everything is abrupt with them.
And then “Almost Soon” started and it actually sounded like a fairly normal song–pretty guitar chords. But a minute or so in the chaos returned. and Dara sang into a second microphone–one that was just full of noise and distortion.
The crowd knew every song–often just by the weird feedback sounds that they made before anything like a melody kicked in. Like in “The Last Riddler” a short song about Dara’s visit to a therapist. Its funny (if you can understand (and absolutely mental).
“Going Norway” is a quieter song (again, relatively). Although the noises do come in, this one is more notable for Dara’s singing with some really interesting highs and lows and whoos. “Backwash” has a simple pulsing bassline and the Duggan sitting on his knees playing chords but mostly just manipulating the pedals–punctuating the song with some of the most unbelievably walls of noise this far. And, perhaps more unbelievable was that the audience was singing along and could be heard over the din.
My favorite song of the night was “Eight Fivers” in which he talks about spending all his money on “shit clothes.” and then list the places he bought his shit clothes from. This to a thumping beat. and an amazing wall of noise–Duggan never sits still for a second.
Dara told us “I’m not crying this sit sweat. Its okay to cry, but I’m not cyring.” He had the setlist written on his hand. I tried to get a clear picture but couldn’t. Then he checked his hand and said they had two more songs. First was the stomping “Shoulderblades,” which had lyrics but also contained this part:
Ah, oh, ah, oh, ah, oh, ah, ohAh, oh, ah, oh, ah, oh, ah, ohBleurgh, ah, ah, ohBleurgh, ah, ah, ohBleurgh, ah, ah, ohBleurgh, ah, ah
Before the last song he said it was his first time drinking Liquid Death and its quite shocking–he’s not just pounding cans.
And then the swirling noises of the final song lifted us off into to pulsing bass of “Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?” the song that introduced me to them. It was intense and wonderful, running about eight minutes. The song–with one repeated lyric–just builds and builds and the rockets off and then builds some more. The crowd was insane. The song was a perfect ender and I love the way the band just sort of collapsed on itself as the song came to a close. It’s hard to believe they can reproduce those sounds so perfectly live.
Wow, what a great show. The set was fairly short but it was fully exhausting and I couldn’t have wanted any more.
Someone has even posted a video of the show on YouTube
- Lawman € (0:00)
- Heckle the Frames £ (6:29)
- Pears for Lunch ∞ (8:25)
- Fucking Butter ∞ (11:55)
- Post Ryan ⊕ (19:56)
- Laggard ¥ (24:25)
- The Weirds ⊕ (30:32)
- Bin Liner Fashion ⊕ (37:53)
- Almost Soon ⊕ (40:50)
- The Last Riddler ∞ (44:23)
- Going Norway ¥ (46:13)
- Backwash ⊕ (51:06)
- Eight Fivers ⊕ (56:27)
- Shoulderblades ¥ (58:34)
- Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage? € (1:05:20)
⊕ Most Normal (2022)
£ Live at Vicar Street (2019)
¥ The Talkies (2019)
∞ Holding Hands with Jamie (2015)
€ The Early Years (2015)
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