Gilla Band announce new album Pugnello

Gilla Band have announced the release of their new album Pugnello for September 25.

Accompanying the announcement, the group released the lead single ‘Placeholder’. The track follows the release of 'Giraffe' in May, the band's first single in over 3 years.

Vocalist Dara Kiely explained the themes the band explored while writing the new track.

“In this track I try to analyse my mental quirks by exploring my comfort distractions," he said. “Representing personal mental health behaviours via outdated pop culture such as the anxious tension set by Davina McCall’s silence when announcing a Big Brother eviction, or the fight or flight that Harold Lloyd surely experienced when holding on to a clock for dear life, and all for our entertainment.

“I mention Power Rangers at the end of this. It was another comfort vice. They were a huge thing for me as a child. I remember I was at some sort of Christian summer camp when I was about 6 and was asked what I want to be when I grow up. I said ‘a Power Ranger’. I was laughed at and was told the shocking truth that they didn’t exist and it is not a profession worth pursuing. I’ve never forgiven them for that.”

The album was recorded from 2022 to 2026 across three Dublin studios, Hellfire, Yellow Door Music Studio and Sonic Studios.

At the end of this month, Gilla Band will join Pulp, Christy Moore and Kneecap on the bill at the All Together Now festival in Waterford.

The band initially formed under the name Girlband in 2011 by vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan, bassist Daniel Fox and drummer Adam Faulkner.

They signed to Rough Trade Records in 2015, ahead of the release of their debut album Holding Hands with Jamie, before changing their name to Gilla Band in 2021.

Pre-orders for the new album are available now.