Gilla Band
Gilla Band at Paard van Troje in 2023
Gilla Band at Paard van Troje in 2023
Background information
Also known asGirl Band (2011–2021)
OriginDublin, Ireland
Genres
Years active2011–present
Labels
Members
  • Dara Kiely
  • Alan Duggan
  • Daniel Fox
  • Adam Faulkner
Websitegillaband.com

Gilla Band (formerly Girl Band) are an Irish post-punk and noise rock band from Dublin. It was founded in 2011 and comprises vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan, bassist Daniel Fox, and drummer Adam Faulkner.

Their career began with the 2012 single "In My Head", followed by the track "You're a Dog", which led to them developing live followings in both Ireland and the UK, and a recording contract with Rough Trade in 2015. That year The Irish Times described them as "the most fascinating act out of these parts at present...[who make] thrilling, menacing, exciting noise".[3]

To date they have released a series of singles and EPs,[4] the critically acclaimed album Holding Hands with Jamie (2015), after a gap in 2016-7 due to health issues, the techno- and glam-influenced The Talkies (2019), and then Most Normal (2022).

History

Early years

The band was formed in Dublin in July 2011[5] by vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan, bassist Daniel Fox and drummer Adam Faulkner.[6] Duggan, Kiely and Fox had played in the indie rock band Harrows.[7][6][8][5][9] Harrows formed when the members were in secondary school at the age of 16 and was described by Kiely and Fox as "a shit version of the Strokes".[10] They did not sign to a record label whilst active[9] and have uploaded what few songs they had recorded to YouTube and Myspace.[9][11]

In April 2012 they released their debut single "In My Head" on Any Other City Records.[12] They self-financed a music video for the track "Leave Again".[13] Kiely played drums in Harrows and it was not until after Harrows disbanded that he attempted singing.[8]

The band followed the single with the self-produced France 98 EP which was recorded live and released through Any Other City. They then recorded a cover of "Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?" by techno artist Blawan,[14] which furthered their reputation and expanded their fan base, setting them up for a handful of UK tour dates throughout April 2013.[15]

Rough Trade

Girl Band released a number of limited 7" singles throughout 2014 on Any Other City records, and in December 2014 signed to Rough Trade Records.[16] The record deal came about after the founder of the label, Geoff Travis saw them perform numerous times,[6][5] and he wanted to "facilitate what [the band was] doing [at the time] on a bigger scale".[8][16] They were given full creative control and allowed to produce their own records.[6] They released their self-produced debut album Holding Hands With Jamie on Rough Trade in September 2015.[17]

The Talkies

In June 2019, Girl Band released "Shoulderblades", their first single in four years.[18] A second single titled "Going Norway" followed in August 2019.[19] The songs are the singles for the band's second album The Talkies, which was released by Rough Trade on 27 September.[18] The album's repetitive and experimental sound is characterized by its unorthodox use of effects-laden guitars, abstract stream of consciousness lyrics and stylistic borrowings from techno & industrial music.[20][16] Critics have described the album as noise rock[15][21] & post-punk,[6][21] with many praising its dark and unsettling tone.

Name change

In November 2021, the band announced they were changing their name from Girl Band to Gilla Band.[22] The band stated that they changed their name because it was a "misgendered name" and that their former name could have been "propagating a culture of non-inclusivity."[23]

Style

The band's debut album was well received by music critics. Pitchfork said that "Dara Kiely brings heavy vibes and great songs to Girl Band's new album. Should you laugh? Holding Hands With Jamie is as discomfiting as Kiely’s mental state".[24] The Guardian described the band as "full of sound and fury" and stated "This Irish four-piece howls at you from the very start, an unbroken series of thumping, crashing songs strewn with fractured, imagistic lyrics".[25]

Rolling Stone wrote than Kiely's vocal performance "sure sounds convincing. But he doesn't seem too shy about it, either – less like someone cowering embarrassedly in his room than a guy who's turned his fish-belly skin and concave abs into a creepy point of pride. That kind of confrontational, matter-of-fact ugliness is what this Irish post-punk crew does so well, torturing their instruments with dead-eyed precision and diabolical resolve. The dank, relentless music sounds like it was recorded in a meat locker under a fallout shelter". Rolling Stone compared the band to Liars and Nick Cave's Birthday Party.[26]

Influences

Drummer Adam Faulkner has said that "most of the bands we get compared to we don’t really listen to. For ages, for like a whole year, we got compared to Mclusky, and none of us ever listened to it. And then we all did and were just like, Nah, don’t like it."[5] The band's influences include Bad Brains,[21] James Chance and the Contortions,[21] Neu!,[21] and The Chemical Brothers.[21] The band made a conscious effort to avoid sounding like landfill indie and "to not sound like Radiohead, because there were tonnes of bands in Dublin who were just really bad versions of them."[27]

Band members

  • Dara Kiely – vocals
  • Alan Duggan – guitar
  • Daniel Fox – bass guitar
  • Adam Faulkner – drums

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected information
Title Details Peak chart positions
IRE
[28]		 UK
[29]
Holding Hands with Jamie 11—
The Talkies
  • Released: 27 September 2019
  • Label: Rough Trade
  • Formats: CD, LP
 1173
Most Normal
  • Released: 7 October 2022
  • Label: Rough Trade
  • Formats: CD, LP
 30—

EPs

List of extended plays, with selected information
Title EP details
France 98
The Early Years
  • Released: April 21, 2015
  • Label: Rough Trade
  • Formats: 12-inch, digital download, CD

Singles

List of singles, with selected information
Title Year Album
"In My Head"[30] 2012 Non-album singles
"The Cha Cha Cha" 2014
"Lawman"
"De Bom Bom"
"Pears for Lunch" 2015 Holding Hands with Jamie
"Paul"
"In Plastic" 2016
"Shoulderblades"[31] 2019 The Talkies
"Going Norway"[32]
"Salmon of Knowledge"[33]

Music videos

Title Year Director(s)
"In My Head"[34] 2012 —
"Lawman" 2014 Second/Frame[35][36]
"De Bom Bom"
"Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?" 2015 Bob Gallagher[37][38][39][40][41][42]
"Paul"
"Pears for Lunch"
"In Plastic"
"Shoulderblades" 2019
"Going Norway"

Other appearances

Year Song Album Comments
2013 "Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?" Quompilation #3[43] Cover of a 2012 Blawan song. Later released on The Early Years.

References

  1. ↑ "Girl Band's Batshit-Crazy Post-Punk Makes Them One of Today's Best Bands". Observer. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  2. ↑ Sullivan, Caroline (16 January 2014). "Girl Band – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Girl Band: Dublin indie-rockers with revolution in their heads". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  4. ↑ O'Toole, Lucy. "Girl Band Reflect On Their Incredible Comeback With The Talkies". Hotpress. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Band To Watch: Girl Band". Stereogum. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Girl Band: The Talkies". Spectrum Culture. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  7. ↑ Harrows "ADVERTISE", retrieved 26 August 2022
  8. 1 2 3 "Music Interview: Girl Band". Totally Dublin. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 "Harrowsband". YouTube. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  10. ↑ "Why a Group of All Dudes Named Themselves Girl Band - Noisey". Noisey. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  11. ↑ "HARROWS". Myspace. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  12. ↑ "Girl Band Biography & History AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  13. ↑ "Harrows "Leave Again"". YouTube. 15 November 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  14. ↑ "Rough Trade Records". Rough Trade Records. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  15. 1 2 "Girl Band – 'The Talkies' review". NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  16. 1 2 3 "Rough Trade Records". Rough Trade Records. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  17. ↑ Holding Hands With Jamie by Girl Band, retrieved 8 January 2017
  18. 1 2 "Girl Band Announce New Album The Talkies, Share Video for New Song "Shoulderblades": Watch". Pitchfork. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  19. ↑ Records, Rough Trade. "Girl Band - Going Norway 7". Rough Trade Records.
  20. ↑ O'Toole, Lucy. "Girl Band Reflect On Their Incredible Comeback With The Talkies". Hotpress. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Girl Band: The Talkies review". the Guardian. 27 September 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  22. ↑ "Gilla Band on Instagram: "We are changing our band name. We are also playing some shows in Dublin in January. Mailing list sign up link in bio"". Instagram.com. 16 November 2021. Archived from the original on 25 December 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  23. ↑ "Girl Band Ditch "Misgendered Name" to Become Gilla Band". pitchfork.com. 16 November 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  24. ↑ "Girl Band: Holding Hands With Jamie Album Review | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  25. ↑ MacInnes, Paul (17 December 2015). "Girl Band: Holding Hands with Jamie review – thumping, crashing sound and fury from Dublin punks". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  26. ↑ "Girl Band 'Holding Hands With Jamie' Album Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  27. ↑ O'Toole, Lucy. "Interview: Girl Band on humour, inspiration, the 'hotelisation' of Dublin and The Talkies". Hotpress. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  28. ↑ "Discography Girl Band". irish-charts.com. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  29. ↑ "Girl Band | full Official Chart history". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  30. ↑ "In My Head, by Gilla Band". Gilla Band. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  31. ↑ "Girl Band are set to return this summer with their new single, 'Shoulderblades'". Dork. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  32. ↑ "Girl Band announce new single "Going Norway" with exclusive B-side "The Talkies"". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  33. ↑ "Girl Band - "Salmon Of Knowledge"". Stereogum. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  34. ↑ Girl Band - 'In My Head', retrieved 18 January 2022
  35. ↑ "Girl Band – "Lawman" Video (". Stereogum. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  36. ↑ "Watch: Girl Band – De Bom Bom". The Thin Air. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  37. ↑ "Girl Band – "Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?" Video (NSFW)". Stereogum. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  38. ↑ "Girl Band – "Paul" Video". Stereogum. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  39. ↑ "Girl Band Resist Convention in 'Pears For Lunch' Video". Spin. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  40. ↑ "Girl Band "In Plastic" (video)". exclaim.ca. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  41. ↑ Girl Band - "Shoulderblades" (Official Video), retrieved 7 October 2019
  42. ↑ Girl Band - Going Norway (Official Video), retrieved 7 October 2019
  43. ↑ "Quompilation #3, by Quarter Inch Collective". Quarter Inch Collective. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
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