Like most people with a computer, we’ve all got one of these MySpace accounts where you can see how popular you are against everyone else in the world. For instance, look at Tom, we don’t even know who he is, but he likes us and is our friend. So that makes us feel special.
Here at hecklerspray, we can’t be arsed with people winging for us to like them. We know what we like and don’t like. So we’ve decided to take a stance against the overwhelming amount of crap bands who constantly spam with their rubbish music and offers of friendship. In an attempt to guide you towards the goodness of unsigned acts and people we think deserve more recognition, here's MySpace Trawl; where we show you that there is some decent stuff in the world of MySpace.
The first band we’ve discovered hail from Glasgow, and we don't just like them because of their name. Gay Against You are a duo who make music that can only be described as breaking the boundaries between electronic music and total chaos. Forget all your rubbish pop dance music that samples Michael Jackson. Gay Against You use something else to create the sounds they make. Gameboys.
Yes, you read that right. Gameboys. Gone are the days when they were used to pass the time or to try and vaguely impress your mates by getting up to level 375 on Tetris. Gay Against You combine the bleeps and synths of classic games under fast and crunchy beats that build and build until they almost jump out the speakers, slap you silly and scare your grandma. Well, unless she’s in to that kind of thing…
By now you're probably thinking that Gay Against You make music that sounds like a big mess of randomly dolloped sounds pieced together that sound shit, we guarantee you it's not. Gay Against You makes us smile because their songs can be happy and bouncy at one point and then explode into a wall of noise and words being screamed at you. Take the track Triple Schipol – it manages to be calm, head-banging, loud, confusing and catchy. All this in under two minutes.
Go on. We dare you to play some Gay Against You at a party. You’ll be the coolest kid there, and probably end up getting more friends on MySpace. Or Something. We managed to get a word in with Joe and Lach who have created the Gay Against You sound.
Where did the name Gay Against You come from?
Joe: We were originally going to call the band Mummy Caesar, after Julius Caesar’s mother but that was deemed to be too confusing at the time. Other names currently being banded about include The Wimpy Pumps, Bogus Khan and perhaps Angus Khan. We have copyright on all of these btw. So don't use them!!!
Lach: We will come up with a name for any for your readers' band though, at a modest price! We came up with the name Gay Against You but didn't really think about it. We like it 'cause it really doesn’t mean anything at all, it’s like how can you be gay against something? But we were really genuinely surprised when people thought we were gay too!!
What kind of genre would you put yourselves in to? It's certainly different to other things out there
Joe: I might answer this one seriously. I’m never convinced with notions of genre in popular music; I think they can be too divisive or limiting. I mean, we could say that Gay Against You is noise but it has melodies too? It's too wimpy to be grind, too weird to be hip hop, too computerised to be punk… I don't see that there's anything wrong with calling what we do 'pop music' and leaving it at that…
Lach: It's just pop punk, we just can't play guitars or sing in tune and we don't know any rude jokes, but Joe’s right; genres are dead, now it's just down to whether a band is interesting or boring, that's all that matters.
Is electronic music dead?
Joe: Certainly not. Although I think I know what you're getting at. I think people are finally starting to get fed up of the 'old guard' of electronic music, from Aphex Twin to drum n' bass even.
Lach: Yeah it’s just that electronic music isn't descriptive enough anymore, so the term is dead, not the practise of using computers and synths to make music.
Joe: I think electronic music (i.e music made with machines) has just become the norm, so it doesn’t necessarily seem like 'the music of the future' anymore and maybe that's a good thing. If I didn't use a computer, I’d be in trouble because all I can play is piano and saxophone and that's not very cool is it?
Lach: We would have to call ourselves Keane!
What’s your favourite sandwich filing?
Joe: Hummus and beetroot, or peanut butter and apple.
Lach: Ketchup
When did you first start making / experimenting with the music you produce?
Joe: Conceptually, Gay Against You came into being in summer 2005 when we moved into our new flat. Our outdoor guerrilla noise band that played improvised music based on a comments box we installed in the audience never really came off though.
Lach: Yeah, we have all these ideas… only about 30% of them ever make it.
Joe: We've made music together since the dawn of time to be honest. White funk was very popular at the dawn of time; people were very unreconstructed and just liked to dance. Things are very different now though…
Lach: The high school Joe and I went to had more bands than students and they all played rap rock, so needless to say we formed a 15 piece funk orchestra (for serious).
Have you ever gone on tour with your music? If so, what's the best thing about touring?
Joe: We keep talking about doing a tour of expensive coffee shops, i think that's the next level for our music, proper acoustic middle aged jumper music. I think we'd fit in their really well…
Lach: Joe and I keep talking about putting together a band of parents and calling it Dad Dad Mum And Dad… we could tour them around the nation's bean scenes
Joe: Actually, we're going on our first proper tour in July, with Cutting Pink With Knives and Esquilax around the UK. It's going to be super awesome so come and see us in or near your town!
Lach: Totally, tour = super wicked aztec citizenship y'urt party!!!
On the Gay Against You site, you can take advantage of their generous nature by downloading four songs to keep your ears happy and – if that wasn't enough – you can also buy some self-made CDs. We did this and we just didn't get a CD – the envelope had been tastefully graffitied too, which we assume made the postman chuckle on his morning round. So we urge you to check out Gay Against You for something that everyone else is to scared to let you know of.
Visit the following sites for more info on Gay Against You and on Joe and Lach's other activities:
[story by Matthew Laidlow]