{"product_id":"gilla-band-the-early-years-12-ep-10th-anniversary-edition","title":"Gilla Band - The Early Years 12\" EP (10th Anniversary Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eAlbum of the Week! Gilla Band – \u003cem\u003eThe Early Years EP (Staff Review)\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eIt might not be a brand-new release from Ireland’s premier noise-rock outfit, but the 10th anniversary reissue of their 2015 compilation \u003cem\u003eThe Early Years EP\u003c\/em\u003e is certainly worth celebrating. Long out of print, this reissue gives fans who missed it the first time a chance to finally own a vital piece of the band’s genesis. Compiled from a run of singles released before their critically acclaimed debut \u003cem\u003eHolding Hands with Jamie\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Early Years EP\u003c\/em\u003e captures some of the rawest, most explosive material in the catalogue of a band well known for raw, explosive material.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eLet’s briefly cast our minds back to 2015, when \u003cem\u003eHolding Hands with Jamie\u003c\/em\u003e first arrived via the esteemed British indie label Rough Trade. To say its release sent shockwaves through the Irish indie scene might be a stretch, but it definitely ushered a cultural shift, and, in hindsight, can be seen as a major catalyst for the wave of Irish bands that have followed: Fontaines D.C., Just Mustard, M(h)aol, The Murder Capital, to name a few. It’s also not too far-fetched to suggest that Gilla Band’s prominence and the critical success of their early work encouraged label scouts to invest more widely in Irish music, traditional or otherwise.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eThe Early Years EP\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e charts where it all began, we here at Tower Records can still recall members of the group dropping in copies of some of these early tracks by hand. \u003cem\u003eThe Early Years\u003c\/em\u003e is a concise presentation of Gilla Band as the singular force they still are. Despite their influence, they’ve never been imitated and they remain wholly, fiercely unique.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eThe EP kicks off with \u003cem\u003eLawman\u003c\/em\u003e, a 2014 track driven by a rugged, krautrock-inspired beat (it bares more than a passing resemblance to Faust’s early industrial experiments), buzzing guitars, and crashing cymbals. Swimming somewhere through this abrasive brew is vocalist Dara Kiely, whose conversational, often-yelped delivery is full of jokes, puns, surreal humour and flashes of terror. His lyrics, once deciphered, lend the chaos a human, oddly resonant edge.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eDe Bom Bom\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003e, seemingly about erectile dysfunction, rides a stuttering, punishing rhythm that owes as much to industrial techno as it does to post-punk. Kiely’s glorious poetic missives include the Joycean: “Anyway, what else to say \/ The burger girl lettuce astray” before closing the song with repeated shouts of “pathetic phallus.” Then there’s \u003cem\u003eI Love You\u003c\/em\u003e, clocking in at under two minutes, and probably the catchiest thing here, which in Gilla Band’s world is almost a criticism. Still, its spoken\/melodic delivery and tight groove recall early 2000s dance-punk, like early Liars, and it sticks with you.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif;\"\u003eThe highlight, though, is the near 8-minute cover of Blawan’s industrial techno track \u003cem\u003eWhy They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage? \u003c\/em\u003eIt follows the same trajectory as the original but swaps synths for layers of guitar damage and pounding rhythm. By the six-minute mark, as Kiely’s deranged, full-throttle vocals rip through, the track fully erupts into magnificent mayhem. \u003cem\u003eThe Early Years\u003c\/em\u003e is worth it for the inclusion of \u003cem\u003eWhy They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage? \u003c\/em\u003ealone\u003cem\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e It’s one of the defining moments in the band’s formative years, a bold, unpredictable, and totally committed statement.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-ansi-language: EN-IE; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;\"\u003eWhile other Irish bands may now be making bigger commercial waves, Gilla Band were never built for the mainstream. Nor, I suspect, would they ever want to be. That’s precisely what makes them one of the most influential, and important, Irsh bands of the past decade.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ROUGH TRADE RECORDS","offers":[{"title":"12\" EP","offer_id":53207033020743,"sku":"TRI-63234","price":18.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0931\/9779\/5655\/files\/3ff080f7f7972805356ba97dfda8798f.jpg?v=1769377545","url":"https:\/\/towerrecords.ie\/products\/gilla-band-the-early-years-12-ep-10th-anniversary-edition","provider":"Tower Records Dublin Ireland","version":"1.0","type":"link"}