GANG OF FOUR play El Rey on March 24, Belly Up on March 25 and Burgerama March 28
Currently in the midst of a month long tour of the U.S., Gang of Four will make three appearances in Southern California. Beginning with the El Rey Theatre on March 24, Belly Up Tavern on March 25, then wrapping up at Burgerama 4 on March 28.
“I always like playing in California. It’s one of my favorite parts in the States,” founding guitarist and songwriter Andy Gill said.
“Right from the early days of the band people seemed to really get it in southern California and San Francisco, in particular.”
Both long time fans as well as new fans come out to see their live shows. A lot of that has to do with newer bands name-checking them.
“In the last ten years bands like Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, and Futureheads have been name checking us,” Gill mentioned.
“Then more recently I was very flattered when St. Vincent, otherwise known as Annie Clarke, named me as her favorite guitarist. It’s nice that people noticed your work and gave you the props for it.”
Forming in the late 70s, Gang of Four released their debut single, “Damaged Goods” backed with “(Love Like) Anthrax” and “Armalite Rifle” in 1978.
The songs, “At Home He’s a Tourist”, which was their debut single with EMI, was banned by the BBC as well as “I Love a Man in a Uniform”.
Gang of Four’s rhythmic grooves, unique guitar sounds and provocative lyrics continue on their recently released album, “What Happens Next”. It also features collaborations with Alison Mosshart from The Kills, Robbie Furze from The Big Pink, among others.
“People say that it sounds like Gang of Four but at the same time it sounds different,” Gill said.
“Obviously the big change is Jon King, the old singer. He wanted to go on and do other things.
“The first thing I thought was it’s not going to be a retro record. I’m not going to try to make it sound like an earlier phase of Gang of Four but I’m just going to do what seems appropriate to me at this time.
“I’m not going to be tied to rules of what some old conception of what Gang of Four should sound like. I think it’s more important that the real essence of Gang of Four, which has to do with being progressive and forward moving and inventing new languages for the time we live in.
“That’s more fundamentally Gang of Four than sounding like some record from 1979.”
Rounding out Gang of Four at present are Thomas McNiece on bass, Jonny Finnegan on drums and new vocalist John Sterry otherwise known as “Gaoler”.
“ He’s doing a brilliant job and people have been very complimentary about him. He’s been fitting in really great,” Gill commended.
“I mean he’s been playing with us for over two years now. We’ve been to China, Japan, Italy, Germany, all over Britain, and France, so he’s done a lot of gigs. I think people have been pretty impressed with him.”
Their live set includes about four of the new songs, which have been going over nicely even though there have been a few kinks to work out for the live performance.
“I’ve been trying to use a different method to get the guitar sound so there’s been some teething problems with that,” Gill admitted.
“I’ve been running the guitar through a lap top and it gets tricky to fine tune it.”
While it’s been a work in progress to get the right sound on a couple of songs, it should all be resolved by the time they reach the west coast.
“Well, hopefully it will be worked out,” Gill laughed.
“There are a couple of songs where me and the guitar tech are shouting at each other trying to get things fixed. But broadly speaking we’re getting a good sound and the audience has been fantastic.”