Gladboy

"I think at this stage interviews are still exciting with anything that isn’t based in the UK, so this is a pretty cool thing to happen." Told lead singer and guitarist George Orton me when I thanked him for letting me interview him. Trust me George, I'm probably just as excited as you are (maybe even more). The Norwich based band Gladboy started off as a student band, but became a force to reckoned with very quickly.

What makes you you?

It’s just a big melting pot of all the different music that we’re really interested in. We’re a group of people that come from very different backgrounds and we want to make something that's just kind of a cohesive blend, with lots of energy and trying to have everything constantly on the brink of collapse. And too much coffee.

Do you have any cool plans coming up this year?

We’re gonna be releasing a single which we’ve been recording in Leeds. Hopefully we’ll make our first video, which I’m hoping to direct. We’re kinda hoping to get a single out that reflects the live sounds because we definitely got the live show down, but we’re still trying to get a recording that reflects that. If all goes as planned we're going to release it in march, but sometimes things take too long.

If you could open a show for any artist, who would it be?

There’s gonna be a lot of influence rested on my answer for the rest of the band. I think maybe Yo La Tengo. That would mean a lot to some of the members of the band. And it would be pretty unbelievable just to sit in the greenroom with them and just hang out and listen to some records.

I’d also really want to open for Chris Isaak, I think it would be so funny, and then we could all come on and do Wicked Game together. I’ve been watching so many YouTube video’s of him, he’s just one of the most handsome people I’ve ever seen.

What’s your favorite song to perform?

It kind of rotates, but I think the next single Wedding Band is always so much fun to play. If a gig isn’t too well received or it’s a bit of a weird environment that song just always kind of pushes through and gets all the kids groovin’. It’s just such a fun song to play.

So you’re more comfortable with upbeat songs?

Yeah, me and the drummer switch our instruments for that song. Playing guitar for the whole gig and then playing the drums for the last song means I have a lot of adrenalin and I just hit them really hard. I probably drown out the rest of the band because I’m having so much fun. When we get up to stage it’s like taking a dog out for a walk really.

What’s the coolest thing you’ve done in your career?

I think it might be when we played with Jeffrey Lewis, because he’s a really big influence for me. I love his comics and his music. It wasn’t even necessarily our best show performance wise, but that was the first time I played with someone I properly looked up to. Also we played with Brix Smith, who used to be in The Fall. I was quite nervous about meeting her, being a big Fall fan, but she really liked our music and was really enthusiastic about it. That felt pretty badass.

Who are some other people you look up to?

I think the nice thing about it is that there’s such a variety, there’s a lot of base influences that we just all agree on. Like that Japanese composer, Isao Tomita. He wrote classical music on synth. I also really look up to Lou Reed. We (as a band) also really look up to writers. Our drummer Sonny just started reading a book by Bob Cobbing, which is kind of experimental visual poetry.

At which point do you think you’ve ‘made it’?

I don’t know actually, I don’t really mind working a part time job if it means I get to play shows and tour. For me ‘making it’ is when we can see one of our songs pressed on vinyl. I don’t care if no one buys it of likes it, just being able to see a song of myself in my own record collection would be the dream. I’m such a big record collector. It’s so easy to burn a cd or a tape, but to hold the physical wax of a song you’ve made and to know people could be listening to it when they get back from a night out or when they’re getting ready in the morning, that’s just the dream. Vinyl is like the deluxe package of an album, because it might be one that you stream a lot and then you buy it, paying a little bit extra to get the vinyl of it, that feels really special.

What’s the golden tip for aspiring musicians?

Try to find people as deranged as you are, and definitely don’t run before you can walk. And most importantly, just have fun baby.