Vancouver punk band Gob are excited about their new, long awaited CD Apt. 13. They come to Lethbridge to rock Scores with local band the Youngbloods and Open 24/7.
You can’t keep the band down as they were forced to find alternate plans after the Tail Creek Music Festival in Edmonton was cancelled.
“A fan tweeted us and said we could play his back yard if we brought Bad Religion. The next thing we know we got a tweet from Bad Religion saying ‘tune up your guitars Gob,” said guitarist Theo Goutzinakis.
They didn’t end up playing the back yard as they ended up booking a gig with Bad Religion at the Union Hall in Edmonton on June 27.
“Our paths just crossed this time,” he said, adding they are working on booking a tour of the United States, Europe and possibly Japan.
They are excited about their new self produced CD which was picked up by Toronto record label New Damage.
“ They have a lot of heavier bands, metal bands and punk bands, so we fit right in. And they loved it. They only heard five songs before they said they wanted to be involved. So we appreciated that. We didn’t want a record company who just wanted another record on their shelves. We wanted someone who wanted us,” he said.
He said they expanded on their sound a little more as there are acoustic numbers and s three songs with keyboards.
“Tom has played keyboards for a long time. So he’s been chopping up Chopin,” he laughed, adding they haven’t brought any keyboards on tour with them.
“We aren’t playing any of the songs with keyboards live,” he said, noting the new CD isn’t has heavy as their last CD “ Muerto Vivos, which was released in 2007.
“This is more of a rock and roll record. There is a lot of ’70s rock influence like Iggy Pop and David Bowie,” he added, noting the new music also highlights the band’s vocal harmonies.
“Especially on the iTunes deluxe edition. That came out at the same time as the CD. If you order the CD from iTunes you get those extra songs. And they aren’t just throwaway songs. They’re really great songs. They’re worth hearing, but we could only fit 10 songs on the album and vinyl. It’s going back to the (their earlier albums) ‘World According to Gob’ and ‘Foot In Mouth Disease,’ ” he said.
He said there is also a lot of Clash influence in the new music.
“Definitely on ‘ (Get It) Tonight.’ it has that great rhythm that the Clash had when they were ‘Rocking the Casbah,” he said.
He said the live show is a great overview of the band’s career so far.
“ We’re only playing four of the new songs. We have so many videos and singles, like15 of them, which what people want to see. And we’re only on stage for an hour,” he said.
They just finished filming the video for the CD’s second single “Walking Alone.”
Goutzinakis is excited to see it.
“ We filmed it in two segments- one part is the band playing and the other is a Stanley Kubrick Clockwork Orange type section,” he enthused.
The Cd has been a long time coming.
“Tom (Thacker) and I did it all ourselves,” he said.
“The band is on it of course, but we did the hands on work. It took a little longer than we thought, but we were able to do it exactly how we wanted it, he continued.
Audiences have taken to the new music.
We went on a tour in the Fall when we released the album. And we were playing the single ‘Radio Hell’ and people were just standing around, but by the time we got to P.EI. and Halifax, radio started playing it and everyone knew it,” he said.
“ So it was very cool to see it catch on like that,” he said, adding he hopes the next single ‘Walking Alone‘ will catch on similarly.
“ We’re giving people a little from each album. It’s a good selection of the Gob discography,” he said.
He noted the band hasn’t officially begun this tour yet, as they are heading to Western Canada with stops in Edmonton, Fort MacMurray, Kelowna, Nelson and Lethbridge before finishing it July 3.
Gob is excited to return to Lethbridge.
“Make sure you bring a spare pair of underwear because we’re going to rock your bowels so hard you’re going to be moved,” he chuckled.
Tickets for the show cost $20. It will begin at 9 p.m.
