The*GA*GA*S
Hard Rock Café
Dec 2005

The Hard Rock Café, a place where ageing 70’s rock dads take their children to indulge on American Cuisine whilst treating the kids to dusty tales from their rock ‘n’ roll youth, with the lavish walls around them plastered and splattered with pop relics providing a warming sense of nostalgia.
Tonight is no exception the only difference of course being that beneath the lush red carpeted floor in the fiery underbelly of the rock café, leather laden rockers the *GA*GA*s are warming up for a one off acoustic gig.
Before they set to the stage however I have the rare pleasure of asking them a few questions. Being the first to do so in quite some time, the reason for this of course being because the guys are brewing something wicked for the mass consummation of the un-expecting, virgin eared publicans.

So, how did the dates with Velvet Revolver earlier this year go?
It was a good experience, having the opportunity to play to such massive crowds and the crowds being as responsive as they where was just amazing.

What where the Velvet Revolver boys like in person then? Well we didn’t actually get to meet them, we got the odd ‘hi,’ which was enough for us you know? We just feel that we’re the only band in the U.K. that represent the closest sort of sound to them at the moment, so we where just happy to play.

How did it compare to playing with some of the other rock monsters you’ve played with? i.e. Skid Row, White Snake etc. Well we were actually on tour with those bands for a lot longer then we where with Velvet Revolver, so by the end we’d established pretty good friendships and we still keep in touch, which is cool.

So what have the *GA*GA*s been up to recently?
Well at the moment we’re writing material for the new album with the odd show like this one here and there to keep us going.

So how’s it coming along?
Well yeah at the moment its just at the writing stage we haven’t started recording it just yet.
 

Will the album be a continuation of the first? Or are you looking towards a new direction? Different sound?  It’s gonna be more cohesive, I mean we’ve been together that little bit longer for this record so as a whole we’re gonna be more developed and have a more mature sound and for this record we’re all gonna be contributing to the song writing so there’s a lot more ideas going into the pot, which on the whole is gonna make the album quite a bit more interesting.

Any ideas yet as to when it’ll be hitting the shelves? Hopefully by spring/summer time 2006, we’re looking to start recording it in January, we’re going to record it in a residential studio so that we can just get up at anytime in the night and record something, we can get our ideas across easier and spend more time in the studio then we did on the last record.

Well I’m sure that’s enough to get the fans on the edge of their seat already.
Haha, yeah it’s gonna be a cracking album.

I heard that as well as rubbing elbows with the likes of Velvet Revolver, Skid Row and White Snake your also friends with the Wildhearts too? Well yeah we met Ginger at a festival and happened to mention to him that we needed a new bassist and he hooked us up with Toshi. Toshi had played with him in the Wildhearts as well as in Anti Product.

So Ginger united you with your future bassist?
Haha yeah, we played a gig with anti product at J.Bs in Dublin and got the chance to see him in action there. It’s quite weird because the rest the *GA*GA*s met there too.

So it’s like your spiritual home?  Haha yeah something like that although more of a stop point on the conveyer belt of life, haha.

So tonight you’ll be treating us to an acoustic set?
Yeah

Will you be showcasing any new songs?
Yeah we’re gonna play two new songs tonight, to treat the fans that have had to deal with our absence for quite a while.

So is this a foresight into your new sound?
Haha, er not so much they’re still gonna be acoustic versions of the actual songs.

Excellent, so your not giving away too much. Haha no not too much

Ok well have a good gig and we’ll be waiting in anticipation for your new album.

Running over my allocated time slot the band where then whisked away by their manager to be fed and polished for tonight’s show.
A few hours later I return to the rock café for the gig, I’m only an hour early and the venue is already packed to the rafters with teen goth girls with the *GA*GA*s plastered across their T-shirts sipping on J20. The band have clearly established themselves within the inner suburban communities and tonight will prove a real treat as the band are destined for and deserve a very successful future. Also with tonight’s event being filmed for a future DVD inclusion fans will have the rare chance of being seen watching one of the most promising bands early on in this very intimate and special live venue.

www.thegagas.com

www.myspace.com/thegagas