Joe McCarty - Guitar/Vocals/Harmonica/Maracas/Organ
Rhys Andrews - Lead Guitar/Hand Claps
Cal Gildart - Bass Guitar/Hand Claps/Electric Piano
Max Smethurst - Drums/Backing Vocals/Tambourine
Since our founding from after school practice, Gaolbird have gone from strength to strength playing many gigs in local pubs, clubs, social events and recently the Live Club Tent at Guilfest 2006 - our first major UK Festival.
In October 2004, after never playing a gig and being just 15 years old Gaolbird beat off 14 other groups to win the Newmarket Battle of the Bands in a unanimous decision from the judges, under our former name of Electric Revolution. We had a choice with the prize, £300 or 16 hours in a Norwich recording studio - we picked the latter and although the recording didn’t turn out as we had hoped, it was a fantastic experience for us as a band as well as giving us our first taste of the recording process.
In the following months we played a vast number of gigs in local bars and clubs, practising every Friday night at our drummers house where we began to mature as a band leading to the writing of more in depth original material drawing from our influences and our own unique sound. Our lyrics have no particular meaning other than what it is to be young, free and not knowing where your destiny lies.
We are influenced by many great acts such as the Rolling Stones, Oasis, The Seahorses and The Who and make no secret of this because of our belief that it is not worth crediting an artist as an influence if you are not going to do them justice in your music.
With our music we aim to create a Brit Pop for the new generation because the greatest eras of British Music are the 1960’s and 1990’s and we feel we could bring this to the 2000’s because our sound is reminiscent of these decades with a unique new feel over the top.
The music journal podcast the MP2 Show described Gaolbird’s performance at Guilfest 2006 as “like stumbling across the Rolling Stones at their first concert, it had a retro feel that was modern at the same time†and “there is something about them that has the spirit of Rock ‘n’ Roll†In the development of our own sound we have been compared by various people as what you get when you cross The Rolling Stones with Oasis.
Thanks for reading,Gaolbird
