GÜ - Till Death Do Us Part ! (Hard-Core - Interview with Roy)
- Please introduce yourself and let me know how it all began with the band ?
Xavi on the drums - From Barcelona and playing in punk bands since he was 14.
Leo the vocalist - From Italy, got into punk at 15 and found her scene. Been living all over Europe ever since.
Me - Roy - on guitars - From Israel, been playing in punk bands since 14 as well.
We’re all slightly over 40, just to give a sense of time here.
I am doing the typing, but Leo and Xavi gave their input and I’ll be presenting our shared view.
We all moved to the Netherlands about a decade ago. Leo and Xavi met each other first, and found a similar interest and taste, so decided to start a band. I hadn’t played in a band since I moved to the Netherlands, so I started getting the itch and began to look around. At around the same time, they ditched their last guitar player, so the timing worked out. I found them on the tinder equivalent of musicians - Facebook. Sometimes miracles do happen !
- Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
We’re all contributing to the band’s body of work - GÜ is really the brainchild of all of us. Xavi grew up with European hardcore and crust, Leo with Italian hardcore, and I listened to American hardcore & Metalcore. All related, but still diverse. Which makes for an interesting but coherent mix ! We’re not beating the same formulas over and over, yet the songs are still straightforward and hard hitting. There’s no song that you’ll skip because it sounds like another song - that’s the outcome of our diverse backgrounds and collaborative songwriting.
- Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences ? How important are the lyrics for you ? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics ?
Leo is the main lyrics writer - which explains why most of the songs are in Italian. She draws from her life experiences having lived all over Europe as a squatter and been out of step with society most of her life, like many of us who are drawn into punk. She reflects and criticizes the automatic way society is accepted as something inevitable or even fundamentally good. While in reality it’s a game of superficiality that elevates totalistic ideologies like religion, capitalism and other systems of “all or nothing”. All of these totalities inevitably clash and lead to war and division. We’re seeing it from the outside with little ability to influence it, besides writing songs about it. At the same time the songs tend to be very personal in nature, with the idea of expressing our points of view, rather than being yet another totalistic voice that tries to override other views. There’s enough division already !
- About your latest release ?
Our latest release was a … Journey ! It took us a year of continuous work to make it happen and almost every possible thing went wrong. It started at a show we played. The sound guy who’s also a recording engineer (MOK Studio) dug us and offered to record us at his studio. At that time we had just enough material for a record, but we were still learning it. We recorded our first demo ourselves and we spent a lot of time getting it exactly how we liked it. But now with limited studio time and barely knowing the songs, the experience was quite more stressful.
If that wasn’t enough, our Bass player at the time was facing some personal issues and couldn’t record the Bass well enough for an album. After we thought we recorded everything, we listened to the initial mixes and realized we had to record the Bass from scratch. Xavi and I split the Bass duties and we were back to the limited studio time + barely knowing what we’re doing mode.
In the end we miraculously managed to get it done, but there were moments we thought that the project was a lost cause. In line with our DIY approach, we also did some of the mixing and mastering ourselves, designed the album cover and inlets, arranged the pressing and printing, and all the other shit you have to do to get a record out the door. Most of these things we did for the first time, so everything was trial and error. But just like our music is a collaboration, so was this album - everybody pitched in with their talents and abilities, and despite all the challenges I feel we have an album to be proud of ! You can get a physical copy/download a high quality version on bandcamp, or stream it on your favorite streaming platform. We also have a website with all the relevant links.
- Future plans ?
Despite the painful journey of the last album, we’re already talking about the next one - we’re close to enough material for a new album, so why not start the journey all over again ? We have a song about Masochism, Strap Society, maybe it’s about us ? We obviously love the pain and want more. For now we’re spending time in the studio to refine our music making and push for the last few songs needed for the new album. We’re also looking for a bass player so we’re meeting people & auditioning, but taking our time to find a good match for our little family.
- Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
I am a huge admirer of bands that stick around for the long haul, playing for decades, especially if they’re not insanely famous. It would be amazing if 20 years from now we’re still kicking around making noise on stage. Life is messy and a good alignment between bandmates is rare and fragile - if we could keep a good thing going for a good while, that’s all I want.
- Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ?
Our worst concert : We usually play a 30 minute set, and at this one show we realized we have 45 minutes to fill. Last minute we padded our playlist with some new songs. That threw us completely off and we had to stop and restart songs twice. You’d think it was the new songs, but actually it was the different song ordering that messed with us. Honestly the show was still fun and energetic but having to stop twice was humbling, that never happened to us before and hopefully never again !
The best concert - for me it was the release concert for the Tony Slug experience - Tony is a deceased Dutch hardcore musician. But at the event we were the only hardcore band. The other bands were really great, but it was a privilege to be the ones to represent hardcore, a big part of Tony’s musical journey. It felt more than “just” another show.
- Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name ?
The scene in the Netherlands is a mixed bag - there are a bunch of venues and squats that have regular punk and hardcore evenings, and there’s often a full house and a great atmosphere. On the other hand, there aren’t a lot of what we would consider, “angry punks”. People here are generally light hearted, and many local musicians prefer to make more uplifting or humorous music. That’s fine for sure, but we’re like the angry immigrants who have something to yell about, so we’re a bit different. Good thing that in music that’s a positive thing. Shout out to our friends Shit Critter, Indignation, and to our local living legends Vitamin X, who we haven’t had a chance to play a show with yet (hint hint).
- Last word is yours...
This is our first interview (Hey ! Seriously ? Damn ! I feel super happy !! Ed. )and it was fun to put to words what’s in our minds that we never really expressed clearly before, thank you for the opportunity and for supporting emerging artists (You're welcome, it's my passion you know ! Ed.). GÜ is DIY, straightforward and honest. That’s not obvious as it sounds, as music is increasingly about selling a product or an image. We’ve been around the block enough to not feel the need to prove ourselves and desperately seek validation, we’re playing what we like and that’s all there is to it.
More Interviews
