Photo by John McIntire
Photo by John McIntire
Photo by John McIntire
GAIA
(GUY - A)
Mother Earth - Greek Goddess - Lovelock Theory
HISTORY The band members are an amalgamation of three bands and have been playing on the live original circuit in the North of England for over ten years. Gaia have played most of the prestigious venues in the North and regularly travel the circuit from Newcastle to Nottingham promoting their Folk Rock Psychedelia. Festivals played so far are Bom fest, Chunky fest, West fest, Big day out fest, Denby Dale fest, Devonshire Green fest, Green fest, Floating Lotus fest, Sunrise fest, Rokfest and are looking for more (get in touch).
RECORDING Gaia have worked on several projects in the last ten years and in 2003/4 started to hear the fruits of their labour of love when they self released Soulwind which was written, recorded, produced, financed and distributed by the band. Soulwind has over 2000 copies circulating in the U.K. and the album has gone as far as Poland and Australia. Gaia have been working on their second album at The Hive studio in their home town of Barnsley and are presently in the final mixing stages. The second album is called Sun into gold it will have 8 tracks at the moment and will be ready for release later this year. The new material is again an evolution of the band as friends and as a team with tracks like Jezebel, Dirty Cider town, Homelands, Shylock and Flicker taking Gaia into the next stage of their dedicated, passionate, and sometimes obscure destiny.
GIGGING Gaia have gigged all over the place, and having mainly stuck around the North doing hundreds of gigs from Newcastle to Nottingham, are now ready to spread their wings. They have recently been on a U.K tour of Rock and Indie venues to promote their second album "Sun into gold" but are more suited playing festivals and this is the route the band would eventually prefer going down. The band have played alongside such greats as Desmond Dekker, Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets), Nik Turner's Space Ritual (Ex Hawkwind) - Kerbgrinder, Vaughn, fronted by Danny Vaughn (formerly of Waysted and Tyketto), Galactikos, Here and Now and Mark Morris (The Bluetones) The lads are well up for playing good causes like the Big Issues gigs, Cancer fundraisers, and are also playing at Floodfest with Saxon this year in Barnsley. If you know anyone, or happen to be involved in a festival or gig and fancy Gaia playing then what are you waiting for? Get in touch.
BARNSLEY ORIGINAL MUSIC COLLECTIVE The band kickstarted the BOM collective which has now become a committee, receives funding and is responsible for the organising of BOM fest an annual outdoor music festival in the town with such names as Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets), Senser, Nik Turner (Ex Hawkwind), Nucleus Roots supporting their efforts.SOULWIND CD REVIEWFrom the Barnsley area of England, Gaia opened Rotherham Rocks Festival 2005 and, after hearing them live, a CD purchase seemed ideal. The band consists of Dave Hancock (acoustic guitar, lead vocals) Iain West (bass, backing vocals) John Rose (electric guitar, backing vocals) and Steve Booth (drums). This quartet are performing a few shows around the country and are well worth a visit, but the CD is a worthwhile listen, and features some fine mellow tunes. The CD clocks in a dash over fifty six minutes, contains eleven tracks, and all relate to the eighties, the miners strike, Thatcher, etc, you get the picture. I must admit, there is a lot of feeling in Dave Hancock's vocals, one of the best emotional voices I've heard in a long time, and it's if every song tells a story and how life was back then. Opening track Southern Comfort has the 'got no job and no fags because I'm broke' sort of situation, but this song has a strong message not only in the lyrics, but in the guitar playing from John Rose. Lots of reverb and a little distortion make this one of the strongest tracks on the album. Third track True Love has a nice dreamy feel to it, again Dave's voice is very emotional and the lyrics are just exact, and it should make a good single too. Influence wise, I can pick out sixties feelings from the Beatles Help period and a splash from The Yardbirds. Add a touch of Neil Young, and Atom Heart Mother/Meddle period Floyd, a little Radiohead, Porcupine Tree and Pineapple Thief. There is a suggestion in the electric guitar of Dave Gilmour in John's playing on most of the tracks too, but I can't help thinking that this should be a big label release. So if EMI are reading this, sign this lot! Highlight for me is track six, Sorry It Turned Out You which has a strong psychedelic approach, which has a nice harmony all round, and with songs like this, they must have a solid future ahead. There is no poor song at all on the album, it just flows through moods and feelings, and with this their first effort, I hope the next one turns out in a similar vein.
Danny Mayo
Hairless Heart Herald
DAVE IN SHEFFIELD
MARCH 2007
Photo by Rina
ROSSI - BOM EXTREME NIGHT
DEC 2006
Photo by John McIntire
WESTY - BOM EXTREME NIGHT
DEC 2006
Photo by John McIntire
GILBY - ARCHES
SEPT 2007
SOME SHOTS FROM THE SUN INTO GOLD ALBUM COVER
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IF YOU WOULD LIKE THE BANDS FIRST ALBUM "SOULWIND" CONTACT US ON MYSPACE AND WE WILL SEND YOU A COPY FREE OF CHARGE BEFORE MAY 2008.