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Ganger Throwing about words like krautrock, and post-rock seem to be the raison d'etre of modern rock writing. It certainly has spawned many an interesting conversation amongst fans and musicians alike as some deny their influences, and others offer armchair criticism. The dynamics of music and how it effects the listener are the only thing that matter at the end of the day – the subjective is the only point of view we have in music appreciation and critique. Afterall, it is the power of the song that moves us to even care about how many strings are actually on Natasha Noramly's bass guitar.
The revolving-door employee lounge at Ganger headquarters was constructed in March 1995 in Glasgow, Scotland. Pints of ale and couple of Neu records on the hi-fi is likely all it took to get Stuart and James thinking about a band. Over the last five years, as many line-up changes (at times with two bass players and two drummers) and several releases the band is comprised of: James Young (drums, percussion), Craig B. (guitar, vocals), Natasha Noramly (bass, vocals) and Stuart Henderson (bass, keyboards, mandolin). Having recently released their "Canopy" CDEP on Merge, the band thought it proper to play some dates in the US supporting friends and headliners Mogwai. As soon as their releases have hit the shelves, they have also disappeared into the aether, only to be discussed and hyper-analyzed by the rock 'n' roll cognoscenti. What is evident is the Merge releases "Canopy" and "Hammock Style" should be available at a nearby retailer while short-run pressings on labels like Vesuvius, Planet, Domino, and Wurlitzer Jukebox are more likely going to be found on Ebay than in your own record collection. One of the unique qualities of Ganger's ouevre is their dependence on instrumental song arrangements – not since Durutti Column has such a thing been pulled off so elegantly and commanding of one's attention. According to Stuart, "Although most of our music is instrumental, we're still up for using vocals where appropriate but often keep them within the music, rather as another instrument than a focal point." So it should not surprise you, dear reader, that much of what we get is rather hedonistic, and ultimately conciousness-awakening as our ears are untrained to listen so closely to rock. Firmly tied in with Glaswegian rock (with family tree connections to: Reid, Asp, Fenn, Les Tinglies, Thermoderm, Fukuyama, Aereogramme), Ganger has helped foster a stateside curiosity toward the "scene" as it has matured, gained notoriety AND actually exported great music. While a day in the life of a Ganger member has been described by an anonymous band member as "Get up, go to work, band practice, sleep with exhaustion," there are lighter moments they carefully intimate to those fans willing to open a conversation with them: Natasha shares, "We don't really see a big separation between 'fans' and the band. We have had to ask for places to stay after shows. And have definitely made good friends that way." Additionally, Stuart remarked, "For me it gives a sort of meaning to what you're doing if your music can effect someone on the other side of the world. It's always good to meet someone who has an opinion about the music." Having noticed a distinctly different approach to "Hammock Style," "Canopy" and their first two 12"s. I posed the question, why the immense stylistic evolution? Stuart in his uniqueness stated, "I think the band has evolved a lot since the early recordings. In fact we are still evolving in lots of ways. The tracks off Hammock Style were not finished when we went into the studio and recorded them. It was only after the tour that they began to evolve. Our live sound is therefore quite a bit different to the recordings and the songs sounded more like they should have done. Live: we use two drummers as well, and that is going to feature quite heavily in the next record. Vocals appeared in Hammock Style as well, that never happened before." One
word I kept hearing myself whisper, and certainly type, is Tension. Natasha
and Stuart are aware of- and agree with tension as an ingredient needed
to create Ganger's sound. "Tension, that's a good word. There's a
lot of tension within the band and I can really see it reflected and translated
in the music. The music very often reflects the mood we are in, live as
well. We can't seem to be mechanical about music, there needs to be a
lot of behind it. I can't really imagine Ganger any other way." Commonly held beliefs that bands are tagable, describable with easy catch-phrases and genre boundaries are about to be questioned. As the founders of this combo have pulled from hardcore to electronic noodlings to create the most important records in recent history, it gives us hope in humanity. Postscript: -- Andrew Friendly,February 2000 www.catmobile.co.uk |
Ganger
is sincerely the most enigmatic and sexual recording artist to export
its music from Scotland since Mogwai beat to death that last kid waiting
for Kevin Shields to put out a drum 'n' bass 12". The closest thing
stateside, is the strength of Dianogah, or the calm of Low, or perhaps
what is evoked when mentioning Slint at a party. It's not about motorik
neo-Germanic rhythms that arguably never really existed in Ganger's discography,
nor is it about why Merge releases their majesty instead of some hipper,
like say Kranky.