Our regular run-down of as many of the upcoming Bloodstock bands as we can get to talk to us! The Gallowgate Murders play the EMP stage on the Sunday…
Simple things first – where are you from?
We’re kinda from all over the place. We’ve got an Irish mandolin player who’s lived what seems like everywhere, a guitarist from Poland who’s based in Glasgow, a bassist from Orkney and two born and bred Edinburgh lads. These days we all call Scotland home.
How long have you been together?
Going on 5 years, took a wee while to get a full line up sorted but we got there eventually.
Where does the name of the band come from?
Anna came up with this one. She’d tried to start this band when she lived in London and that was the name she started writing songs under. It comes from the Gallowgate area in Glasgow. A couple of us wanted to call it “Only The Bastards” at first, but we turned that into a song instead.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We like to call it Celtic Punk. We throw traditional Irish and Scottish vibes into punk and rock. There are a few bands that you could classify under a similar banner, but we tend to be on the heavier side of it. Heavier, faster with more to dance to is what we like to go for.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Our live shows are high energy, alcohol-fuelled riots. People come for a party, a good time and a dance. We don’t get mosh pits, we get mosh ceilidhs!
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
It’s our home away from home. For a lot of us it’s a yearly occurrence, so to go down as artists is an absolute dream. It’s always one of the better festivals to go to, with an absolutely banging community, and it’s an honour to be part of it this year.
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Can you put into 10 words or fewer how it felt when you realised you were heading to Bloodstock?
We all woke up one morning with a message telling us we’d gotten the slot. It took a second for us all to process it, as Tom didn’t even tell us he’d applied. That was one hell of an alarm clock!
What sort of setlist can we expect?
Fast and hard. We’re not going to let the audience stop for even a second!
Stage times haven’t been announced yet, so which other band do you most hope you’re not clashing with so you can see them play?
The line up this year is absolute fire! We’ll all be bouncing from stage to stage. Some of our friends from Edinburgh, Disposable, are on the New Blood Stage and Hammer will be joining them on the same stage through Metal to the Masses, so it’ll be great to see their show. With our particular genre it’s safe to say you’ll see us all front & centre for Flogging Molly.
What are you working on at the moment?
We’ve just filmed a new video clip (coming out soon!) and we’re in the process of writing an album now, there’s been a lot of creative juices flowing and some new bangers are in the works.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Where to begin?! We’ve had people crowd surfing in inflatable pirate ships, dinosaurs fighting each other, a regular occurrence of what we call “the wall of Ceilidh”, our guitarist pouring Buckfast down people’s throats, and there was line dancing at our last gig (that was a new one). Taking the cake however was the first time a crowd of people, who we didn’t know, sang our lyrics back to us at a sold-out show. I know that may not be what a lot of folk would classify as wild but for us it absolutely blew our minds.
What drink do you throw back to get yourself fired up before going on stage?
Pints! But also two of us have had a ritual since show one where we have a Jager bomb just before we hit the stage, for luck obviously. Apart from that, a swig of the good old Buckfast tonic wine will get the heart beating and you’ll always see Tom with a Guinness in his hand.
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Header image by Jurgafoto
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