From time to time, one of our contributors will recommend an artist/band they think deserves your attention. No record labels, PR companies, bands or band’s management will ever have made these recommendations. It is simply one music fan putting their taste on the line in the hope of sharing good music. The questions are intended to give just a basic introduction to possibly your new favourite artist/band.
So without further ado, let’s crack on with another introduction, in which Silent Radio’s Adam Smith recommends Gaffa Tape Sandy for your audible delectation.
Gaffa Tape Sandy
● Who are ya?
We are Kim, Catherine & Robin, and we’re Gaffa Tape Sandy!
● Where are you from?
Robin: We are from a small town in Suffolk, called Bury St Edmunds, or alternatively known as BSE Rock City!
● How long have you been doing what you’re doing now?
Kim: We started jamming together and writing songs maybe two and a half years ago, but we’ve only been active with gigging and recording for less than two years roughly.
● Is being a musician your full time job?
Kim: No sadly not, we all have day jobs, but it doesn’t stop us from putting our all into our music thankfully!
Catherine: I definitely introduced a song at Glastonbury as one about hating your job, forgetting that all my work colleagues were watching. That was a bit awkward. I have worked other jobs though so I wasn’t specifying!
● Are there any obvious influences in your music?
Robin: We never set out to sound like anyone in particular. We do all have similiar interests in music, but we were more set on just writing noisey fun songs that people can dance to. However a lot of people do compare us to The Pixies, a band we all quite enjoy.
● Are there any not so obvious influences in your music?
Catherine: I’d say Neutral Milk Hotel are a definite influence in our music, even if it doesn’t come across when you listen to us. I think they’ve influenced how we approach song writing as a whole.
● Any musical Guilty Pleasures? Come on you can share, we’re all friends here!
Kim: Kayne West, whilst some people might not see him as a guilty pleasure I feel guilty about it…
Catherine: Justin Timberlake, no guilt about it.
Robin: Avril Lavine’s debut ‘Let Go’ is a complete banger!
● Apart from yourself of course, what other band/artist would you recommend our readers check out?
Catherine: We’re lucky that in the small town we come from there are so many genuinely good bands to see, some of my favourites include our good friends ‘Suburban Minds’ and ‘Sun Scream’.
Kim: Our friends ‘Tundra’ are also pretty cool. As are ‘SuperGlu’ who we have gigged with a few times now. They played SXSW earlier this year and have been smashing it ever since.
Robin: ‘IDLES’ definitely. We’ve luckily supported them twice now in the same venue. I’ve really been enjoying their new album ‘Brutalism’, it’s a punk masterpiece!
Gaffa Tape Sandy
● Tell us about the defining moment when you thought ‘Fuck, yes I want to be a musician!’
Kim: I started playing guitar when I was 9. I used to watch music channels like Kerrang and Scuzz and rock out in front of my television then go and learn simplified versions of all the tracks I heard!
Robin: I was about ten years old when I heard Give it away by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Chad Smith’s bombastic drumming definitely poisoned my mind.
● Does what go on, on tour, stay on tour?
Catherine: We haven’t toured just yet… But weird stuff happens to us at gigs all the time. When Kim gets nervous before a show it often comes out in weird ways… let’s just leave it at that.
● What’s your most favouritist gig (as a gig goer), like, ever?
Kim: I’ve been to what feels like a whole lot of gigs, and some of them have been fantastic, but most recently my favourite gig was Radiohead at Glastonbury. The atmosphere was electric.
Catherine: Pinegrove at The Portland Arms in Cambridge was amazing. Also, Reef at Norwich Waterfront: whether you like them or not, they put on a damn fine show.
Robin: I’d have to say my favourite show was when I saw Interpol play the Camden Roundhouse in 2015. I sang along all night.
● Who, in your wildest dreams would you like to collaborate with/be produced by?
Catherine: Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel). I’d love to get an insight of where the music in his head comes from.
Robin: Personally I’d love to have Steve Albini as a producer. He’s a genius and he scares the crap out of me. I know it’d be an experience!
● Best place for people to find out what you are up to?
Catherine: We regularly update our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts with upcoming gig dates and other news. Our music can be found on Spotify, iTunes and Bandcamp also.
Everything is on: www.gaffatapesandy.co.uk
● Anything to declare?
Robin: We’ve got a fair few gigs coming up this year, mostly dotted around the East of England. We’re hopefully all off to Uni in Brighton in September, so will be gigging down South a bit more, and with any luck up North if you’ll have us? Haha.
Kim: Soon we are going to be releasing a single, although that requires us recording it first, so we can’t say when just yet. It’s a track that’ve we’ve been playing a lot at gigs lately and we’ve had a brilliant reaction from it. We tried to make it a real earworm… So watch out for that one! Bzzzzz. (The song is called Beehive).
