6 May 2024
Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Manchester/Liverpool band Gdansk81 to find out more…
Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the name?
Steven – Guitar
Martin – Drums
Claire – Guitar & Vox
Clair – Synth, Moog & Vox
Aaron – Bass
Macker – vocals
The lineup has changed a few times over the years.
A good few years ago, me (Steven), Martin and Macker met playing for a local Sunday league team. Clair is Macker’s friend from Liverpool and was in a band with her a while ago. Claire joined the band as a friend of Martin’s and Aaron was a friend of the our old bass player.
The name was one of those ‘place a pin in a map’ thing. We added the ‘81’ after the year of a strike in the shipyards in Gdansk led by Lech Walesa, which we were later corrected on as actually being in 1980.
Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
For me (Steven), Joy Division was my biggest musical influence growing up. I loved the simple, haunting guitar lines. Despite growing up later than the songs were released (born in ’88), they’ve aged gracefully (much more so than myself etc) and I still regularly listen to them.
Artists that are still active who influence me are Fontaines DC, The War on Drugs and Eric Cantona’s solo career.
More general band influences are The Fall, Echo and the Bunnymen, B52s, The Chameleons and Macker’s favourite, The Telescopes.
How would you describe your sound?
Our unique brand of music fuses infectious melodies with sharp guitars and contrasting vocal harmonies. Driving bass lines and dreamy keyboards keep them aggressive yet controlled and thought provoking.
What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
Our release is called ‘Walking beside our dead selves’ which we released on 4th May.
We recorded the EP at Oxygene Studios in Salford, with the excellent Christophe Bride.
Lyrics wise, a lot of the EP is based on old film noir.
What’s your local music scene like?
It’s great, but isn’t every local music scene? Full of bands putting loads of effort in, writing, rehearsing, gigging. Every gig we play have top bands on.
What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
We have some gigs planned and would love to get on some festival lineups this summer. After summer, we’re looking to record again in the Autumn to quickly follow up this release.
Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
We’ve actually been lucky enough to gig with some of our musical heroes, The Chameleons. Gigging with them twice in the last two years.
Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
Not too funny a story but me and Aaron left it very late to join the rest of the band on stage when we played with The Chameleons in Stockton on Tees. Running from the hotel to the venue, the rest of the band were already on stage, in front of our biggest ever crowd, ready to go.
What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
Nothing particular, just hope that people enjoy the new songs.
We all really enjoy what we do, and love it when other people enjoy it too.
You can find out more about Gdansk81 via Apple Music, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify or YouTube.
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