Gilla Band unveil boundary-pushing single 'Post Ryan', announce US tour

Dublin's Gilla Band are back with another taster of new album Most Normal with boundary-pushing new track 'Post Ryan'.

The animated visual was directed by Michael Speed and follows on from previous, equally riotous singles 'Eight Fivers' and 'Backwash'. Propulsive, impulsive and energetic, Dara Kiely (vocals), Daniel Fox (bass), Adam Faulkner (drums), Alan Duggan (guitar) at their trademark best.

"Receding barbers going bald, but I just sit there and I just nod (I just nod, I just nod)..." Dara Kiely says on the track, which is chock full of his usual surrealist wordplay. "In recovery/hanging up on the floor again/ignore the five second rule...I'm just the same prick."

"I hid behind the surreal, I'm a bit too much/how ya getting on?" he asks the listener. "But I couldn't sink the ship so I shout about crisps."

Beginning with hypnotic levels of static noise (a classic Gilla Band trait), an intense drum beat builds up anticipation for Dara's unmissable vocals.

'Post Ryan' is the album’s electrifying closer, in which the beat has been taken from ‘I Ran’ by Flock of Seagulls, the band quote saying:

"We thought, that's a really great, immediate pop-sounding beat, let's start there and go somewhere else’ – to have that immediacy, and then abstract out from there.”

That pulsing beat swallowed by amps humming like wasps and itchy, uncomfortable clangs of guitar, creating the perfect backdrop for singer Dara Kiely’s deadpan, confessional soliloquy.

“Our friend Ryan turned 30 during lockdown and we were asked by his mates to make a track for his birthday," singer Dara Kiely explains. “We wrote and recorded 'Happy Birthday Ryan' (a hair metal attempt penned by our secret Hard Rock alias, The Whisky Guns). Right after that we came up with the bones of what is now known as Post Ryan. This probably took the longest time out of all the tracks. The words of the track were originally really silly.

"There's was a line about wearing Christmas socks all year round," Dara adds. "Stupid stuff. It didn't really fit the tone. After messing around with the Electro Lobotomy and getting the second half of it figured out, I improvised a melody over it. The lads wanted me to get out of my comfort zone and write something really direct. This was the exact opposite of the approach we had for The Talkies. Felt very naked. I had to leave the room when I showed them my demo of the new vocals.”

As well as announcing four residency London dates recently, the quartet have today confirmed a North American tour. Details and tickets here.

Pre-order Most Normal here, out October 7th. The project is self produced and recorded and mixed by the band’s Daniel Fox at Sonic Studios and their rehearsal place.

The quartet play Dublin's National Stadium on Friday, December 9th. Tickets on sale for Gilla Band's US dates this Friday at 10am local time.

Check out Gilla Band's new video for 'Post Ryan' below.