Gang Of Four
Feb 21, 2011
Gang Of Four, one of the most radical and important groups of the last thirty years, are touring in support of their upcoming album, Content, their first new material in over 15 years, released January 25th via Yep Roc Records. Content is every bit as powerful and insightful as their classic work that has influenced many.
The first single, Never Pay For The Farm impacts Alternative on March 15th.
From creating one of music's preeminent debut albums (1979's Entertainment ) to influencing a wide range of punk, post-punk and indie rock bands (R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sonic Youth, Bloc Party, The Rapture, Franz Ferdinand and hundreds more), Gang Of Four have triumphantly defined their place in rock 'n roll and continue to influence a new generation of fans with their high energy, maximum impact sound.
Jon King and Andy Gill, founded the pioneering postpunk band Gang of Four, and explained how they conceived Content.
"The traditional way to construct music was a sort of triangle of importance," Gill explained. "At the top are the lead vocal and the melody. Below that are guitars and pianos, which are important in supporting the top line. And then down at the bottom, you've got the bass and drums. To me, it was of great importance to put these things side by side, rather than in a hierarchical structure," he added. At the same time, King was deep in thought over the roles people play in society, how society determines people's roles and how that determination is inherently political."
The original lineup, which included Hugo Burnham on drums and Dave Allen on bass, yielded "Entertainment" and "Solid Gold" in 1981, which are often cited as two of the most important albums to influence postpunk bands.
While the band's initial members gradually broke apart in the early '80s, King and Gill continued working together sporadically in the 1990s under the Gang Of Four name.
After a successful reunion of the original lineup in 2005 and 2006, the band split again. But King and Gill still kicked around ideas and about three years ago, enlisted drummer Mark Heaney and bassist Thomas McNiece to round out a new lineup.
"We were trying to define the essential bits of Gang Of Four," Gill said. "It's tempting when you have the tools to create sonic landscapes and atmospheres. But it's much better to achieve that result with limited tools and as few effects as possible and yet still create that emotion and atmosphere."
Paring down elements on "Content" led them back to where Gang of Four started: chunka-chunka guitars with a healthy dose of noise and feedback; call-and-response vocals; provocations about sex and relationships, alienation and authority.
King and Gill are fascinated with the way context changes the meaning of their songs. Written in August 2008, "Never Pay For The Farm" appears to be about advancing a set of political policies without considering the consequences.
"A month later, there was the financial meltdown," King said. "Suddenly, we were writing about what's going on."
"The music (not the words) from "Natural's Not In It," an anthem about the commodification of leisure, sex, emotional impulses, was used in a recent commercial for Microsoft's Kinect controller for the Xbox video game console, prompting some purists to cry "sellout!"
"It's added a special layer of meaning to that song," Gill said. "It's extraordinarily narrow minded (to accuse the band of selling out). Surely even the thickest among us can spot how every day is a set of compromises."
Gang Of Four appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman earlier this month.