Kevin P. Gilday and the Glasgow Cross - Questions for the Band
The new album Pure Concrete was released today by Kevin P. Gilday and the Glasgow Cross, so can’t think of a better time to find out more about them, as usual I will let the band introduce themselves.
A gentle start, for those that don’t know the band that well. can you tell us a little bit about yourselves.
We are a band comprised of myself, poet Kevin P. Gilday, and multi-instrumentalist composer Ralph Hector. We originally met when I performed a spoken word set at Stereo to support the band Ralph was in at the time. We hit it off and chatted about perhaps putting some of my poetry to music – that became our debut album Experience Essential. From there our musical relationship really blossomed and we decided to write some songs together – this gave me the chance to start combining my spoken word with sung vocals, creating the unique sound you can hear on our new album Pure Concrete. Once we realised we were onto something special we both poured an incredible amount of time and effort into bringing the record together and we couldn’t be more proud of the results.
What is your writing process ? is it music or lyrics first ?
It’s about 50/50. Ralph is great for sharing demos and little snippets of songs. If one of those pieces conjures an image and inspires me then I tend to write a poem or song capturing that atmosphere. Similarly though, sometimes I have a fully written set of lyrics that I then try to describe to Ralph in my own very vague and poetic way. As someone who is used to working with musicians who would just ask for a C, I think he secretly enjoys me asking for something ‘pastoral, but with a hint of violence’.
Which artists/bands do you draw your music inspiration from ?
We had a lot of disparate influences going on with this album. Certainly early on we were sharing a lot of music and talking a lot about the sonic palette we wanted to create. I’m sure Ralph could add another twenty artists but I know that seeing Nils Frahm live really made us think about how to curate a specific atmosphere with a limited range. In the studio Talk Talk emerged as an unlikely influence but one I actually think makes perfect sense now in the context of the album.
What do enjoy most about working with each other ? And least ?
I think I most enjoy the open nature of it. There’s a real sense of us being a team and being on an artistic adventure. I think we’ve both been involved in projects where there is an underlying sense of competition that sort of permeates the work and can be quite destructive – with Ralph it feels like nothing is off the table and my strengths can come to the fore without having to fight for space. What do I least enjoy? Perhaps the fact we’re both chilled out and take our time to do things right – we’re never a band in a hurry. But I’m not sure if that’s really a bad thing…
What are you both doing to cope and get through lockdown ? Any tips for others ?
I’ve been keeping myself busy with work – hosting online editions of my spoken word night Sonnet Youth, recording my podcast, writing poems and plays. In that sense not much has changed for me, but I’m very much missing the payoff to the creativity where it gets shared with an audience. Art feels incomplete if you don’t get to share it, I think. I’ve also been keeping myself sane by going for runs, nice to remind your body and your brain that you’re still here and capable.
This is your second album together, were there any big learns from the first album ?
I think we’ve just learned to trust each other more, really. We’ve learned to lean into the dynamic of a partnership and creating things together from scratch. The first album felt very much like a stand alone project, but Pure Concrete feels like start of a real creative period for us.
Given our current living situation with Covid -19, what are your plans for promoting the album ?
We’ve been forced to think outside the box a bit. We had a great launch tour all booked and ready to go which sadly won’t happen now. Instead we’ve been attempting to share some content about the creation of the record online – we’ve filmed a series of conversations between us, charting the origins and recording of each of the tracks from the album. We hope that’ll give people a bit of an insight into how a record is actually made. We’ve also got a host of digital events lined up for the album launch day on the 29 May – including an Instagram Q&A, a Facebook poetry stream, a Twitter listening party and a Zoom afterparty. Basically we’re bringing the album to every corner of the internet and inviting people to join us.
And finally if you could each choose only one album to listen to for the rest of your life, what would it be ?
I think I’d choose Lesser Matters by The Radio Dept. That’s an album that’s been with me for half my life now and one I still choose to lose myself in on a regular basis.
Thanks Kevin for giving us that great insight into the band, how they work and much more. As Kevin said they had yo think outside the box to launch the party, here is the timetable of launch events taking place today 29 May 2020:
5pm - Kevin will take part in a Q&A session on Instagram
6pm - Kevin will host a chilled out poetry and chat on his artist page on Facebook
8pm - Join Kevin (@kevpgilday) and Ralph (@iffyfolkrecords) on Twitter for a listening party. Tweet along with the hashtag #PureConcrete
9pm - Get the drinks in and celebrate the launch of the album with an exclusive Zoom party. Password by request.
Kevin P. Gilday & The Glasgow Cross can be followed Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify:
https://www.facebook.com/kpgandthegc/
https://instagram.com/kevpgilday?igshid=25lh05411d5n
https://twitter.com/KevinPGilday
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6JzQ7IB5Xg5hxQP63Ng3AH?si=0otaTk8jQYqbYfTN_-KYmg
