Whilst Dublin 4 piece Gilla Band’s cataclysmic sound avoids consignment to any singular genre, it’s thrusting noise-rock guitars, heavy techno drum beats and wailing vocals paired with frontman Dara Kiely’s witty, mundane and often surrealist lyrics create ‘as perfect an expression of rock’n’roll’s essential auto-destructive impulse as this writers ever heard.’ (The Guardian). Trailblazers for modern Irish alternative music and known for their ferocious live shows which have been described as chaotic, electrifying and ‘genuinely dangerous, like one last rave before the apocalypse’, Gilla Band are not just a band, but a force.
In 2015 they signed to Rough Trade Records and let loose their debut album Holding Hands With Jamie to rampant critical acclaim, and topping this was to be no easy feat, but following a 4 year hiatus, they returned in September with their second studio album, The Talkies, heralded as ‘one of the biggest comebacks of the year ‘ (Mary Anne Hobbs, 6Music). The Press landscape hailed it as ‘more abstract and more focused than their debut’ with outstanding reviews from the likes of Crack Magazine (9/10), The Irish Times (5*), Pitchfork 8.0, The Guardian (4/5),Record Collector(5/5) and was crowned number 1 in “The Greatest Irish Albums of all time” by The Irish Times in a top 50 list.
The band has returned with their 3rd studio “Most Normal” which is out October 7th. Eight Fivers and Backwash were both dubbed number 1 best singles of the week by The Guardian, while Pitchfork described Post Ryan as “one of their most unnervingly even-keeled examples to date”.
