Gilla Band

The band was formed in Dublin in July 2011[5] by vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan, bassist Daniel Fox and drummer Adam Faulkner.[6] Duggan, Kiely and Fox had played in the indie rock band Harrows.[7][6][8][5][9] Harrows formed when the members were in secondary school at the age of 16 and was described by Kiely and Fox as "a shit version of the Strokes".[10] They did not sign to a record label whilst active[9] and have uploaded what few songs they had recorded to YouTube and Myspace.[9][11]

In April 2012 they released their debut single "In My Head" on Any Other City Records.[12] They self-financed a music video for the track "Leave Again".[13] Kiely played drums in Harrows and it was not until after Harrows disbanded that he attempted singing.[8]

The band followed the single with the self-produced France 98 EP which was recorded live and released through Any Other City. They then recorded a cover of "Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage?" by techno artist Blawan,[14] which furthered their reputation and expanded their fan base, setting them up for a handful of UK tour dates throughout April 2013.[15]

Girl Band released a number of limited 7" singles throughout 2014 on Any Other City records, and in December 2014 signed to Rough Trade Records.[16] The record deal came about after the founder of the label, Geoff Travis saw them perform numerous times,[6][5] and he wanted to "facilitate what [the band was] doing [at the time] on a bigger scale".[8][16] They were given full creative control and allowed to produce their own records.[6] They released their self-produced debut album Holding Hands With Jamie on Rough Trade in September 2015.[17]

In June 2019, Girl Band released "Shoulderblades", their first single in four years.[18] A second single titled "Going Norway" followed in August 2019.[19] The songs are the singles for the band's second album The Talkies, which was released by Rough Trade on 27 September.[18] The album's repetitive and experimental sound is characterized by its unorthodox use of effects-laden guitars, abstract stream of consciousness lyrics and stylistic borrowings from techno & industrial music.[20][16] Critics have described the album as noise rock[15][21] & post-punk,[6][21] with many praising its dark and unsettling tone.

In November 2021, the band announced they were changing their name from Girl Band to Gilla Band.[22] The band stated that they changed their name because it was a "misgendered name" and that their former name could have been "propagating a culture of non-inclusivity."[23]

Drummer Adam Faulkner has said that "most of the bands we get compared to we don’t really listen to. For ages, for like a whole year, we got compared to Mclusky, and none of us ever listened to it. And then we all did and were just like, Nah, don’t like it."[5] The band's influences include Bad Brains,[21] James Chance and the Contortions,[21] Neu!,[21] and The Chemical Brothers.[21] The band made a conscious effort to avoid sounding like landfill indie and "to not sound like Radiohead, because there were tonnes of bands in Dublin who were just really bad versions of them."[27]

Music videos

Other appearances