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Gay Against You
Gay Against You take everything good in life - bleepy arpeggiated music, smudges of neon paint, fanzines, screeching, keytars, 1970s satiny football shorts, Cartman impressions, songs about unicorns, Adaadat records, cartoon violence and extremely young-looking bespectacled geekboys - and mix them together to create what is generally known as a lip-smacking cocktail of electronic awesomeness. G.A.Y, take it away!
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| these images have been stolen from all around the web, so if you spot your work here and you've got a problem, email me and we'll sort it out. |
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What's your favourite thing that's been written about you, and why?
Lach: We got a review in some french blog that when translated into English said: "Gay Against You, duet of Glasgow a weak bit, follower of 8 saturated bit, learn with blender your magic dictation." Thats probably my favourite. We used to get really funny live reviews where the reviewer would spend the whole article saying how awfull the music was and that it was just noise, then would finish the article by saying something like, "but everyone seemed to enjoy it so i must be wrong". We got described as "A council estate butthole surfers" by Terrorizor.
Joe: I like that we are tagged on last.Fm as "shit": My dad said Lach's guitar playing in our previous band was 'ambitious'... I think people get very mixed ideas about us becuase our shows are so different to our records. Somone said we were 'unpredictable’, which is pretty great.
Lach: Maybe we should be tagged as 'ambitious shit'.
Are your live shows a reaction against the staidness of most live electronic music?
Lach: We like dressing up and showing off and stuff because we actually get quite nervous before our shows and thats just how it manifests itself, maybe we are worried people will hate the music and so are trying to distract them so they wont notice. There have been a couple of occasions when the crowd have been pretty scary. We played the Old Blue Last in London and within two seconds of the show starting I had two pints of beer tipped on me and Joe had his teeth knocked out. We also tore down their chandlier by accident.
Joe: We've been pretty beaten up between us, got a good kicking from drunken Poles in Shoreditch once. I think the live thing is about freedom to do what you want - I cant wear shoes when i do shows anymore!!! It’s a sort of bravery thing. We love the audience telling us they felt like part of the show. I know if I wasn't scared I coudn't play at all.
You also produce graphics as Wooley Mammoth - what are your main graphic design influences / inspirations? Who are your favourite designers and illustrators working today?
Joe: Wooley Mammoth is me and my friend Duncon. Check out Devon Varmenga (aka Hair Party) who did our album cover, Brent Wadden in Germany, Seripop in canada, Marcul Oakley from Britain (the guy who does Yeast Hoist zine - I think he is in that band lavender diamond now.)
Lach: I was browsing around and found this artist called "Hisham" he does really ace felt tip drawings. Also Kate Moross and Shoboshobo are constantly awesome. I recently bought a sewing machine and have started making costumes and clothes and stuff and have been inspired by Gareth Pugh, Carrie Cassette Playa - also these guys in china called Perk who make weird clothes and life size dolls - are all my heros at the moment.
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Glasgow always sounds really fun, like a big mixture of heroin addicts and beautiful indie kids. Is it?
Lach: Glasgow can be really fun but in general it tends to be really morose and sombre. We are not very well received in Glasgow but we kind of like that because it means we don’t get lumped in with all the post Franz Ferdinand Glasgow bands.
Joe: Glasgow is very grim right now. I think our bedrooms and the fact we share a flat is one hundred times more important than Glasgow. Glasgow’s music scene is pretty unfriendly sometimes and not really the giant twee picnic you see in the press. I know it’s corny, but the internet has been a much much more important community for us in a lot of ways - making contacts, collaboration, swapping information.
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