Glasgow’s Gallus are giving post-punk new energy (2024)

When Gallus, the indie-punk outfit hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, take the stage, there’s no doubt — something explosive is around the corner. Since forming in Gallus — the pub from which they got their name — the band, made up of cousins Paul and Eamon Ewins alongside Barry Dolan, Gianluca Bernacchi, and Matt McGoldrick, have built up a DIY endeavor, with little musical education. However, with no delay, the project has taken them across Europe and the U.K., playing increasingly larger venues to avidly engaged audiences — and has inked them a deal with Marshall Records, who released their debut LP last year.

We Don’t Like The People We’ve Become, their first album, offers a pretty accurate description of the Gallus MO, just from the title. The nü-punk group’s sound is a unique one, full of powerful zest, relentless energy, and doused in dry, self-deprecation. All in all, it’s the perfect recipe to create an audible, emotional release. And this concept is driven home with their live sets, which emulate something in between an exorcism and a classic-rock show — full of joyous jumps and high-kicks, feverish activity around the stage and into the audience, all the while purging the heavy, thoughtful lyricism that’s carried them thus far.

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After seeing them in the flesh playing at Brighton’s Paste last month, with little context, we were moved by the group’s synergy, fervor, and commitment — arguably three of the most important ingredients for a stellar band. In the wake of said set, we sat down with Gallus to chat about recording in Marshall’s esteemed studio, their fondness for “a good bit of shouting,” and the follow-up single to their album, which dropped this February, “Wash Your Wounds.”

What’s the Glasgow scene like? Is it competitive, supportive?

PAUL EWINS: Bloodbath. Kill or be killed. Nah, everyone tends to get along with one another. At least we do!

EAMON EWINS: Glasgow is a good size city for music. Small enough for everyone to be fairly connected, big enough to be varied. I can't really speak for what it's like for a lot of bands now, but when we were coming through, it was always a good laugh for us. But we were only really out for a laugh anyway. Some other folks may have got caught up in the rat race. Who knows? Depends on what you want from your local music scene.

How did this band start? And when you met, were there bands you bonded over liking?

PAUL: Eamon and I have been playing together since we were 16 but never really seriously until we were about 21. Barry was an actor originally and offered to sing for us, as Eamon didn’t want to. We got Gian in a couple of years ago, and then when we needed a new bass player, he enlisted his former Vegan Leather bandmate Matt, and it’s been all systems go since!

EAMON: Paul and I really loved bands like blink-182 and Green Day growing up, and still do, but honestly, all our music tastes are quite varied. I think — hope — it makes for a unique sound.

What’s the story behind the band’s name?

BARRY DOLAN: Three of us started drinking at a pub called Gallus in Glasgow. When it came time to decide on band names, Gallus was my main suggestion — seemed quite fitting and nice. Little did I know my suggestion would get absolutely slaughtered. We couldn’t think of a better name thankfully.

What are your backgrounds, musically? How did this sound come about?

DOLAN: My background didn’t actually come from music at all, funnily enough. I studied acting after school and had barely sung a note in my life. Perhaps the reason we were quite rough around the edges at the start was to accommodate my lack of talent. Seems to be the right call now, though.

How has your sound shifted since starting?

DOLAN: Firstly, we got much better at being in a band. We were pretty crap for a few years, which thinking back now, we really needed that to happen. The only way to know how to do something right is to do it wrong a bunch of times. Also, as our shows started to get rowdier, we realized energy is what made our sound stronger and made that our formula for writing the music we do today.

Your lyrics can get pretty real. Why bring topics like the political climate and working-class experience into your songs?

DOLAN: I’d like to think what brings people back to our shows is us being as authentic as we can be, so these struggles and experiences are what we have gone through the last few years. It’s important to us as performers and musicians to believe what we are saying and have it come from a place of honesty. I came from quite a working-class area, and it was all I knew for a lot of my life. I’ve also experienced things in my life that a lot of people have had experiences with, which makes it more important to be transparent.

Your approach to these darker topics still holds onto a lot of humor, especially when you’re onstage. Can you speak to that?

EAMON: We like to say that we inject humor into our performances and lyrics to try to bring some levity and joy to the world, but the reality is probably more that we're all emotionally jaded 20-somethings and cannot for one second do or say anything in earnest! We're all severely irony-poisoned. In all seriousness, though, it just makes things more entertaining for everyone. This band isn't going to change the world, but we can change your day if we can entertain you for a short while.

What’s the dynamic offstage — is there as much banter?

EAMON: To be honest, offstage is much the same as onstage. We want people to get a true sense of us as a group when we play. Plus, when you spend as much time in a van together as we do, you end up creating your own world together. We're constantly doing impressions of interesting/strange people we've met on the road and inventing these wee characters together to keep us all amused.

Your latest release is great. What’s the story behind it?

BARRY DOLAN: Thank you! “Wash Your Wounds” is a phrase that more broadly came to mean being stoic in the face of never-ending crises. No matter what, you must wash your wounds and face them head-on.

Do you have a ritual before getting onstage?

GIANLUCA BERNACCHI: We do this thing with our right hands, we stand round and clasp in on each other and then just start shouting. We haven't figured it out fully yet but i,t’s mega intimate and quite funny. We try and get backstage bystanders involved, too. A good bit of shouting always gets the blood flowing.

What’s your writing process?

BERNACCHI: For the past few months, we’ve been working on ideas for instrumentation, lyric, and melody by ourselves and in pairs. Sending in small Voice Memos into our group chat. Then coming all together in the demo studio to throw everything at the wall, build up the ideas big, and then edit. We’re able to do a good amount of production work internally. It’s great because it allows us more time and freedom to explore our ideas. Most of the things that stick around are really what makes us laugh. We’re getting into sampling mid-2000s soap opera dialogue.

How long have you been signed to Marshall? What’s that experience been like?

PAUL: We signed with them in August 2021, and it’s been a great experience. Everyone we’ve dealt with has been very welcoming, and they’ve given us everything we need. Getting to record in their studio was a whole new experience for us. It’s a great place to record with everything you’d want. Plus, the engineers Adam and Olly are geniuses.

If you were describing Gallus to someone who’s never heard of the band or the music, what would you say?

EAMON: I find myself having to do this quite often, and I honestly never know what to say. Not because I think we're so groundbreaking that words can't sum us up, but it's just a bit mortifying. I don't want to compare us to any of my idols for fear of seeming up big-headed, and besides I think people should make their own minds up. What I think we're like might be different to what Barry, Gian, Paul, or Matt thinks we're like, and what we think we're like could be different to anyone else. I never say that to people, though. I just say "punk-ish" and look uncomfortable.

What’s been your proudest moment as a band?

EAMON: For me, it's just getting to tour. Not any particular moment or gig or anything — it's just being able to say that I'm in a band that has enough demand that people outside our hometown want to see us. Not many people get to do that, and I'll never ever take it for granted or complain about having to make the journey from Calais to Glasgow.

What’s next?

BERNACCHI: Thicker riffs, faster cars, louder melodies, and hotter apparel. A lot more music that we’re incredibly proud of will be dropping in the not-too-distant future.