Hardcore types Gallows have spoken about their secret show during last weekend’s Leeds festival.
Gallows will play anywhere, anytime. The punk crew have risen to fame on both sides of the Atlantic, recently playing a provocative stint on the American leg of the always controversial Warped Tour.
However alongside this the band love playing tiny shows. Gallows joined ClashMusic at SXSW last year, playing a tiny bar in Texas. Mixing massive headline dates with basement shows, the hardcore band never lose sight of their roots.
Currently working on new material in the UK, Gallows decided that they simply couldn’t miss out on this year’s Leeds festival. Slipping onto the bill under an assumed name, for those who figured it out the set was one of the weekend’s highlights.
Billed as The Rats on the Lock Up Stage, Gallows told the NME that the ruse was the only way they could get on the bill without having to fulfil a “contractual obligation”.
Speaking to the NME guitarist Laurent ‘Lags’ Barnard claimed that he was worried that some fans might not figure out the ruse. “We did the Lock Up Stage a few years ago, twice in a row and then we did the NME/Radio 1 Stage, which was a lot of fun,” he said.
“But for us, there are so many of our friends who play this stage and really that’s why we got to play it without any big contractual obligation to do one thing or another. We were just here to chill out and have fun.”
The show was a typically raucous affair, with fans delighted to see Gallows return to the festival. “Before I got onstage I was a bit worried not many people would come down because I still had kids on Twitter going, ‘Why are you guys not playing Reading and Leeds, all your friends are playing’.”
“But it was actually really good, a lot of kids came out and it was a good atmosphere, there was a circle pit which went outside the tent and back in the other end which was wicked.”
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