Prior to their gig at Nice N Sleazy next week, we caught up with John from london indie outfit, Gengahr! Read below as we talk writing songs, where they get their inspiration and that one time John played a gig in Fife.
Gengahr have been quiet for a while, do you have anything in the works by any chance?
John: We’ve been busy writing, we have lots of new songs we are playing on this tour and so far they’ve been going down really well. It feels like we’ve played Europe a lot more than the UK this year, maybe subconsciously making the most of still being in the EU. Regardless of being pro leave or remain it’s going to make touring Europe a pain in the arse and way more expensive.
It could be said Gengahr have an unusual sound, where does the band draw inspiration from?
John: We are a little all over the place influence wise. Lots of indie new and old, lots of hip hop, electronica, 90s Rock and more leftfield stuff. I’m a sucker for anything nouvelle, I bought a noise album on floppy disk…. Haven’t listened to that to often. That probably makes me a hipster but oh well. I’ll always have a soft spot for punk and metal although that doesn’t come through in our band at all. Everyone else in the band really likes tame impala and unknown mortal orchestra but I prefer my modern psychedelia to be more like thee oh sees or ty segal.
What is your typical songwriting process?
John: We write together in a rehearsal room, don’t normally use a computer at all. Someone will come up with an idea and then we just work out different parts from that. Felix always goes away and writes the lyrics and melody and then we change our parts to suit. Guess that’s super boring so I’m going to lie and say we all meet up, take acid until we see the face of God and then notate that to score. Amazingly the face of God has lyrics and everything.
What do you guys have in store for the next 6 months?
John: Going to finish up this tour, back into the studio and we are going to finish our second album. Come to the gig and tell us which of the songs you think should and shouldn’t be on the album. If we agree with you we’ll give you a credit in the album.
Quickfire round! What was the first gig you ever went to?
John: I think blur.
What is your most embarrassing moment on stage?
John: So many, does any moment I’m on stage count? I had food poisoning when we opened for the Maccabees so had to have a bucket side of stage. I think I managed to style that out though
If you could have written any song ever what would it be?
John: Happy birthday, I read a piece saying it’s the most lucrative song ever written. I wouldn’t want to have written anything I already actually love, I think that would immediately make me hate that song.
What’s the weirdest venue you’ve ever played in?
John: Not with Gengahr but I played a pub in Fife with my old punk band. Everyone there was lovely but it was a proper local and they really didn’t want to hear us. I’ve never felt so out of place on stage before but everyone bought us loads of drinks afterwards so turned out really nicely.
What festival would you love to headline?
John: Glastonbury would be the obvious one, would get loads of street cred for that/ make the parents happy. But I’m going to say t in the park, it was the first festival I ever went to many years ago and that was proper, proper fun.
Thank you! Catch Gengahr play Nice N Sleazy in Glasgow next Tuesday (6th December), tickets are available here: http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/gengahr-glasgow-06-12-2016/event/3600512C91852873
Club Decode 2016
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