To coincide with both the publication of our lengthy, uncut interview with the band and our review of their new album ‘Grey Britain’, here Gallows bassist Stu Gili-Ross guides Clash through five essential bands that helped shape the way he hears music today.
The band is on tour throughout May, in support of their superb second record – click HERE to check ticket availability.
Read our full interview HERE.
Read our review of ‘Grey Britain’ HERE.
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Rage Against the Machine
‘Rage Against the Machine’
This record had a huge impact on me as a youngster getting into music. I think it really shaped me in terms of my passion for angry and intelligent music. I was trying to teach myself how to play guitar at the time it came out, so I spent a lot of time alone in my room with this record. Every song on it is perfect.
Nirvana
‘Nevermind’
This is another record that is going to get a mention simply for the fact that it is the record that made me want to pick up a guitar and listen to heavier music. It’s a timeless classic and for nearly everyone around their mid to late 20s it was this record that probably got them into punk rock.
Sick Of It All
‘Scratch the Surface’
I remember a school friend playing me a tape of this in a maths lesson at school on his Walkman. This record had everything I wanted in a record as an angry young kid at school, and is pretty much the standard I measure hardcore records by. This was the first NYHC band I really got into and set me up to learn about bands like Judge, Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today.
Downset
‘Do We Speak a Dead Language?’
In a similar way to Rage Against The Machine, Downset not only had great songs and cool riffs but the lyrical content on this record (and their first album) made a big impact on me as I hadn’t heard many vocalists openly and bluntly discussing social issues and offering other ways of thinking when compared to all the grunge bands that were around just singing about heartbreak and drugs.
Napalm Death
‘Fear, Emptiness, Despair’
Napalm Death were a band that blew me away when I first heard them. I had never heard anything so extreme and it was actually challenging for me, at 15 years old, to work out what the songs were doing and what the drummer was playing. I had been listening to bands like Sepultura, Biohazard and Pantera for years before Napalm Death, but it was Napalm Death that set me on the path to check out bands like Botch, Coalesce and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
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Gallows’ ‘Grey Britain’ album is released on Monday, May 4; find them on MySpace HERE.
