News
Getting ready for a good time with Gun
Victoria Rhodes 12/03/2010 08:48:00
GUN will be shooting into Orkney for a whirlwind visit next week, to play a gig in Fusion on Wednesday, March 17.
The cult Glaswegian rockers, who helped shape guitar rock of the 90s,
reformed in 2008. The new-look band features original members Giuliano
(Joolz) Gizzi on guitar and Dante Gizzi on bass, with former Little
Angels frontman, Toby Jepson stepping up to the mic and newest addition
Paul McManus on drums.
Orkney Today caught up with Toby this week, in-between gigs on Gun's mini tour supporting Lynyrd Skynyrd, for a quick chat.
"We had our first gig last night in Birmingham, which was really
great," said Toby. "It's a strange kind of situation doing opening
shows, especially for a band with such a historical significance to
rock fans. We had quite a polite audience, but the moment I asked them
to clap along they did, so they must've liked it!"
Talking about joining Gun, Toby said it was good fortune that he met
Dante and Joolz when he did, and things just clicked into place: "I had
been working on various projects, some successful, some not so
successful, and I was looking for something like this. It was a golden
moment. We found this gave us the impetus to carry on doing something
we enjoy, and it certainly seems to be going down well. You've got to
take the rough with the smooth, but thankfully so far there's not been
much rough."
Toby, who is originally from Scarborough, said he'd never been this far
north in Scotland before: "I'm very much looking forward to it, I've
heard great things. I was speaking to the manager of Biffy Clyro (who
played a gig in Orkney a few years ago) and he said it was fantastic,
that we'd have a great time. I've read a lot of reports how great it is
to play in Orkney - we won't treat it differently from any other show."
He added that, over the years in his Little Angel days, he had the
chance to tour Europe and always tried to do a bit of looking around:
"I think it's only polite to know what the environment you're playing
in has to offer. I think it's a real privilege to do gigs in places
other people perhaps never get to visit."
Gun are putting out a new mini-album on April 5, PopKiller, which
features the first material released since the reformation. The Orkney
audience can look forward to hearing these during the gig, as well as
all the old Gun favourites.
"Popkiller only has five tracks, we play three of the songs off it plus
we are working up the other two as we go," said Toby. "We recognise
that in these first couple of years of our come back it's really
important to tip our hat to the past and play songs that people expect
us to play, like Better Days and Word Up!
"Of course, they are different because I'm singing them, we've changed
the approach to the songs. We try and mix it up, which seems to be
working. For me, as a fan of GUN back in the day, it's an absolute
pleasure to sing these songs. I always thought Joolz and Dante were
talented songwriters. I hope people enjoy it."
He added that they were always keen to meet their fans at gigs: "It
wouldn't make any sense to me to have some sort of divide between us
and our fans - we are fans of music too! It's important to see what
people want to say, get comments back about the music and what they did
and didn't enjoy about the show."
Toby and Gun were heading off to support Lynyrd Skynyrd in Cardiff that
night, followed by London, Manchester and Glasgow. Their own PopKiller
tour starts tonight in Aberdeen, with four other gigs across the UK
before they head north to Orkney.
Samples of the new tracks - Let Your Hair Down, Seraphina, PopKiller,
Ripping Up The Letters and The Only - can be heard on the band's
website: www.gunofficial.co.uk/.
Gun are playing in Fusion on Wednesday, March 17, with support from
Orkney's own rockers The Condition. Tickets cost £15 and the concert is
open to rock fans aged 14 and above.