I figured that Gang of Four would come back eventually but its always been up in the air. Theyve played a few live shows in the UK but their first US date in many years is going to be on Sunday May 1 at the Coachella Valley Music Festival.
Check out the official website for Gang of Four
Daniel Robert Epstein: How did the reunion of Gang of Four come about?
Dave Allen: The reunion came about because over the years there has been a great deal of general demand for us to get back together. I think whats happened is that there have been so many bands, especially out of Britain, that sound a lot like us. We ended up thinking that we should do something about it.
DRE: What were some of the bands?
DA: Like Franz Ferdinand and The Futureheads. They are all just coming out of Britain just one after another. In everything we read people are saying they sound somewhat like Gang of Four but not necessarily.
DRE: Do you like the bands they are comparing to Gang of Four?
DA: I do! I think a lot of them are pretty good. I havent had the chance to listen to every single one but I did see Franz Ferdinand in concert here in Portland and I thought they were pretty damn good. Not as good as us though [laughs].
DRE: Have you toured much as Gang of Four?
DA: We spent January in rehearsals then at the end of January we did six gigs in the UK just to see what the reaction would be. That went extremely well.
DRE: How was the rehearsal?
DA: It was interesting. It was the first time we were all back together in a room for a long time so it was a little different. We set our own standards so if it didnt sound 1000 percent we werent going to do it. As it turned out everything was fine and everyone was back into the drill pretty quickly.
DRE: How are you all getting along?
DA: We are getting along pretty well. Were older, wiser and some of us have families so we have more in our lives than just the band.
DRE: Besides Shriekback what else have you done since Gang of Four?
DA: Shriekback went well into the early 90s and since then Ive done mainly studio work. I have another band here in Portland called Squall which is more of an avant garde jazzy hip-hop thing. Ive never stopped playing so it was easy for me to get right back into Gang of Four.
DRE: How was it playing with the guys onstage again?
DA: Surprisingly it felt no different. I think there is a blueprint which gets imprinted into your body when it comes to our music. We created it in a natural and organic way in the first place so it was easy to get our chops back. It was just all there once we were back in the studio.
DRE: Were you guys involved with the reissue of Entertainment!?
DA: Well no. Our back catalog in the United States remains with Warner Bros so they have the right to do certain things every now and again. One dilemma was that Entertainment! wasnt available in the US so you could only buy imports via Amazon. Thankfully once the Gang of Four reunion rumors kicked in and then we started the tour in January Warner Bros realized they had this hot property.
DRE: Has it been remastered?
DA: It hasnt so its the original recording. Weve agreed to allow them to add extra tracks and some different versions of things. I also think there is a couple of live things as well.
DRE: So this is a good thing?
DA: Yeah were not objecting at all because we want it out in the marketplace. A classic album ought to be able to be purchased without paying extra.
DRE: Any new material coming?
DA: Since we are free and clear of any labels we are putting out an album that we did completely ourselves. We went in and rerecorded some of older material. So far we redid about 2/3 of Entertainment! and about a third of Solid Gold. Then we took the backing tracks of the new material to bands like Massive Attack, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Dandy Warhols and Franz Ferdinand for them to do their own versions of our songs which will all come out on a double CD from our own label.
DRE: Whats the name of the label?
DA: We dont know yet so you will have to wait and see. We waited to get that done and I like the idea of opening that door to own our label so we could do anything we want.
DRE: What do you feel Coachella will do for you?
DA: We will get to play to many people, no doubt from all over the country if not the world, and the press will be focused on it. Rather like on the UK tour we will get a chance to win a whole new generation of fans. The potential is huge but for us its just going to be another show, though bigger, that we will play as well as we did before.
DRE: Have you guys started to hang out again?
DA: Thats geographically impossible. I live in Portland Oregon, two of the guys are in London and another is in Boston.
DRE: How long have you been in Portland?
DA: About four years. I was in LA for 12 years before that in the internet music business. I came up to Portland as part of a contract to help a company, out with MP3 players and I ended up staying.
DRE: How is your company, Pamplemoose, going?
DA: Good, we do web development for creative companies, music events and concerts in Portland and we work closely with unsigned independent musicians to help them get a leg up in the music world.
DRE: Have you put out any records?
DA: We just started to. The first one came out in February and next we are doing Pete Krebs new album. Then we are going to do a retrospective of Petes music. We are working with those kinds of artists, the ones who are left of center but have a following.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out the official website for Gang of Four
Daniel Robert Epstein: How did the reunion of Gang of Four come about?
Dave Allen: The reunion came about because over the years there has been a great deal of general demand for us to get back together. I think whats happened is that there have been so many bands, especially out of Britain, that sound a lot like us. We ended up thinking that we should do something about it.
DRE: What were some of the bands?
DA: Like Franz Ferdinand and The Futureheads. They are all just coming out of Britain just one after another. In everything we read people are saying they sound somewhat like Gang of Four but not necessarily.
DRE: Do you like the bands they are comparing to Gang of Four?
DA: I do! I think a lot of them are pretty good. I havent had the chance to listen to every single one but I did see Franz Ferdinand in concert here in Portland and I thought they were pretty damn good. Not as good as us though [laughs].
DRE: Have you toured much as Gang of Four?
DA: We spent January in rehearsals then at the end of January we did six gigs in the UK just to see what the reaction would be. That went extremely well.
DRE: How was the rehearsal?
DA: It was interesting. It was the first time we were all back together in a room for a long time so it was a little different. We set our own standards so if it didnt sound 1000 percent we werent going to do it. As it turned out everything was fine and everyone was back into the drill pretty quickly.
DRE: How are you all getting along?
DA: We are getting along pretty well. Were older, wiser and some of us have families so we have more in our lives than just the band.
DRE: Besides Shriekback what else have you done since Gang of Four?
DA: Shriekback went well into the early 90s and since then Ive done mainly studio work. I have another band here in Portland called Squall which is more of an avant garde jazzy hip-hop thing. Ive never stopped playing so it was easy for me to get right back into Gang of Four.
DRE: How was it playing with the guys onstage again?
DA: Surprisingly it felt no different. I think there is a blueprint which gets imprinted into your body when it comes to our music. We created it in a natural and organic way in the first place so it was easy to get our chops back. It was just all there once we were back in the studio.
DRE: Were you guys involved with the reissue of Entertainment!?
DA: Well no. Our back catalog in the United States remains with Warner Bros so they have the right to do certain things every now and again. One dilemma was that Entertainment! wasnt available in the US so you could only buy imports via Amazon. Thankfully once the Gang of Four reunion rumors kicked in and then we started the tour in January Warner Bros realized they had this hot property.
DRE: Has it been remastered?
DA: It hasnt so its the original recording. Weve agreed to allow them to add extra tracks and some different versions of things. I also think there is a couple of live things as well.
DRE: So this is a good thing?
DA: Yeah were not objecting at all because we want it out in the marketplace. A classic album ought to be able to be purchased without paying extra.
DRE: Any new material coming?
DA: Since we are free and clear of any labels we are putting out an album that we did completely ourselves. We went in and rerecorded some of older material. So far we redid about 2/3 of Entertainment! and about a third of Solid Gold. Then we took the backing tracks of the new material to bands like Massive Attack, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Dandy Warhols and Franz Ferdinand for them to do their own versions of our songs which will all come out on a double CD from our own label.
DRE: Whats the name of the label?
DA: We dont know yet so you will have to wait and see. We waited to get that done and I like the idea of opening that door to own our label so we could do anything we want.
DRE: What do you feel Coachella will do for you?
DA: We will get to play to many people, no doubt from all over the country if not the world, and the press will be focused on it. Rather like on the UK tour we will get a chance to win a whole new generation of fans. The potential is huge but for us its just going to be another show, though bigger, that we will play as well as we did before.
DRE: Have you guys started to hang out again?
DA: Thats geographically impossible. I live in Portland Oregon, two of the guys are in London and another is in Boston.
DRE: How long have you been in Portland?
DA: About four years. I was in LA for 12 years before that in the internet music business. I came up to Portland as part of a contract to help a company, out with MP3 players and I ended up staying.
DRE: How is your company, Pamplemoose, going?
DA: Good, we do web development for creative companies, music events and concerts in Portland and we work closely with unsigned independent musicians to help them get a leg up in the music world.
DRE: Have you put out any records?
DA: We just started to. The first one came out in February and next we are doing Pete Krebs new album. Then we are going to do a retrospective of Petes music. We are working with those kinds of artists, the ones who are left of center but have a following.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
treachery:
they are playing seattle the 6th of may and i am really excited!
drnecessitor:
I just got back from seeing them two nights in a row at the Fillmore in San Francisco. In-fucking-credible. See them.