Ey up George! Set the scene for us – where are we chatting to you?
I’d like to say it’s glamorous but I am just at home in sunny Stapleford on the sofa with King of the Hill on in the background. I just had my favourite go-to snack, Quorn garlic & herb bites and an iced latte.
We’ve got to start with the album! Long time coming but it’s a beauty, congrats. What can you tell us about the writing process? How far back do some of these songs date?
A very long time coming! Some of these songs date back to 2015. “Sycamore” is perhaps the oldest and was featured on 2016’s ‘Better Shape’ EP. It would be a massive cop out if it was the same song though so it has been given a new lease of life. We reworked it perhaps a year after the band came together and I think this is the perfect example of the creative energy the lads bring to the table.
There are some newbies too. I was grateful to go away on a little writing retreat with my guitarist Ciaran to the North Norfolk coast in 2023 and we came away with about 6/7 new songs. ‘Optimist’ and ‘Invisible’ came out of those sessions and there’s a couple of others i’ve been playing solo recently too.
And the recording process too? Where did you record it and who with?
I’ve worked a lot with Phil Booth from JT Soar over the years. I’ve known Phil for over a decade now and at the start of each year, he will pack up all the kit from JT into a van and convert a Grade II listed mill in Erbistock, North Wales into a studio. I feel as a person, he really brings out the best performance in you too and will often make suggestions that take songs to the next level.
Wales was really peaceful and I enjoyed the aspect of us living and breathing that body of work for the week. At the end of the week when we had finished the bulk of the instrumentation, Phil said something poignant that really stuck with me about how it felt like the perfect summation to a decade of friendship.
If you’re a band reading this then I highly recommend doing it. It was the perfect way to record and I’d definitely do it again.
You’ve got a 15-date tour planned at the end of the year. Anywhere you’re excited to revisit or visit for the first time? Any extra pressure around a hometown show or do you approach them all the same?
Chester, York, and the South West always feel like homecoming shows to me, and I’ve been lucky to make friends all over the UK. Birmingham is my old university city, but strangely, the band has never headlined there before – so I’m especially excited for that one.
While much of this tour revisits familiar ground, Brighton will be a first for me. I don’t know too many people down that way, so I’m looking forward to seeing who comes out and heading to the beach.
Nottingham – we haven’t headlined The Bodega since 2019, and it felt like the right time to return. We’ve sold it out twice before, and I’ve had some incredible gigs there over the years alongside Gaz Brookfield, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly., and The Xcerts. It’s also one of my go-to drinking spots when I’m in town, so much so that I’m pretty sure my blood is about 25% Bodega Lager.
Rightly so! Plug time… how can people grab the album and support the release?
The best place to pick-up the record is through my Bandcamp site (although it is also available in all good record stores so feel free to grab one from Rough Trade too).
Finally, the album is ‘Too Many Ghosts…’ and ghosts have been a visual theme of yours for a while. Who’s your favourite famous ghost and why?
Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense (spoiler alert!).
George Gadd + The Aftermath play The Bodega on Saturday 11th October 2025. Tickets are on sale now.
Their debut album ‘Too Many Ghosts…’ is out now. Pick up a copy here.
