05/05/2010
Fresh off the stage
from their set at Vantastival 2010 and sitting in the sun drenched camping
area, nu-metal traditionalists, I’d fight Gandhi take some time out from the
festivities to talk gigs, musical mathematics and world-wide collaborations.
They played a blistering gig on the main
stage at Vantastival and made quite an impression on the youngsters in the
crowd some of who could be spotted throughout the weekend sporting signed ‘Gandhi’
T-shirts. From a spectators point of
view the set was explosive, but how did it go for the guys?
Vocalist Sean McMahon was impressed, “It
was amazing”. But bassist Ian Hunt continues “We tried a few new tracks that we
hadn’t tried before and they actually turned out to be the better songs. The
energy was there anyway.” Sparking a great rapport with the crowd between songs
they kept everyone laughing and smiling until they blasted out with their next
track. Drummer, Ian explains “That’s not intentional I think they
are laughing
at us, Sean’s just a joker with his pink hair”. “Red! It’s light-red” Sean
protests.
Like many, the guys were quick to comment
on the success of the new festival, (the first of the season on the May Bank
Holiday weekend) and their gratitude for being asked to play. “It’s savage,
Benny and Louise have put in so much work for months and months and it’s
totally paid off. I think Electric Picnic on its first year had about 500
people and I’m sure here has much more,” Sean says.
Hunt reflects “If you back to Jamburger,
I thought that was the pinnacle of festivals in the area. But this is about
three, stretch it to four times the size of it. It looks like a proper festival
and it has the atmosphere.” I’m not sure if he’s thinking or asserting but Harold
pipes up “I think I prefer it to Electric Picnic because everything is so close
together but maybe it’s because we are playing at it”.
With live sets that are boisterous and
pumped full of enthusiasm one might assume that pre-gig nerves are no problem
for the Gandhi boy’s. Not so says Ian “Yea I was nervous about the two new
songs. We had a structure in mind and got through it. The song ‘Vantastival’,
we only finished off the lyrics the other day, it was called ‘Song Two’ up
until a spur of the moment decision to call it ‘Vantastival’. Kevin and Tommy
were stressed about the promotional stuff before the gig.”
Each of the guys have been involved in
the Dundalk music scene for a long time in some form or another so how did they
all get together in this format? They explain “Aiden, Ian Hunt Duffy and Kevin
were in Leeway, who were one of Sean’s favourite local bands at the time. They
broke up and started working with Ian Harold on drums, after that Sean came in
and then there was I’d Fight Gandhi. Aiden then moved to New Zealand and we got
Tommy in on vocals bringing us to our current line up. Tommy had been with The
Grudge, the Tool tribute act and some of us were in Bull’s on Parade.” To sum
up: Leeway + Bull’s+ The Grudge = I’d Fight Gandhi.
The name I’d Fight Gandhi (a quote from
cult classic Fight Club) in conjunction with the aggressive style of music
might attract criticism. However, they are quick to dispel any perceived
volatility . Ian Hunt explains “I just remember thinking after Leeway we need a
real catchy name. I can’t remember if it was Aiden or I but ‘I’d Fight Gandhi’
was a bit outrageous and we thought it would stick in your mind.” Tommy adds
“We’ve had two comments on facebook saying they just joined because the name
was cool.” Sean sums up “But it’s not to be taken seriously, we don’t take
ourselves that seriously.”
The future is bright for I’d Fight Gandhi
with a momentous collaboration with Lord Nelson from U.S. Rap-Metal group Stuck
Mojo on the horizon. The track they are collaborating on will be a global
effort with contributions coming from as far away as South Carolina and New
Zealand. Lord Nelson’s last collaboration
was on rock-group Fozzy’s album “Chasing the Grail” (Fozzy are fronted but WWE
superstar Chris Jericho and feature members of Stuck Mojo.) Sean is humbled by
the prospect he says “He’s one of my favourite rappers and he’s going to be
doing my lyrics so it’s pretty special for me. It’s such an honour to have him
working with us. We gave him free range with lyrics but he was happy to use the
lyrics I’d written.”
Tommy notes “Stuck Mojo have been a big
influence on the band” Kevin adds” they are one of the closest bands to the I’d
Fight Gandhi Sound that’s out there.”
Sean provides a breakdown of how it came about
and how it will work. “It was random chance or luck or whatever. I’ve been a fan of the band since 1997 when I
got a CD of theirs in Metal Hammer magazine. I remember sending them a message
asking them if they were ever coming to Ireland and I guess the singer Lord
Nelson just remembered that. He got in touch with me a couple of months back
when a colleague of his was coming over to Ireland and he wanted to know if I
knew any good places to go out. So when he came down we met up with him and
took him out to see the sights and sounds of Dundalk. He heard one of our songs
and immediately rang up Lord Nelson from Stuck Mojo.”
Sean continues “He played him a bit of
the song and told him he had to work with us, so we sent him the song and he
absolutely loved it. He’s really excited about it. He’s recording the vocals
for it over in South Carolina and sending it over to us and we will put it
together. He’s excited about it, we are excited about it. Hopefully it will end
up on our EP.” This process is something that they are more than familiar with
as founding member Aiden Duffy currently lives in New Zealand. They send him
songs and ideas by email and vice-versa.
The guys are eager to rejoin the
celebrations as they discuss their excitement at seeing Jinx Lennon’s
performance later that night so they graciously say their goodbyes. But before
they go they hinted at a forth-coming EP release this summer which has now been
confirmed. I’d Fight Gandhi will release their new EP ‘We the Damned’
(featuring track ‘Instru-Mental’ their collaboration with Lord Nelson from
Stuck Mojo) on June 18th in the Spirit Store with Third Smoke
supporting marking the start of exciting things to come from the guys.
By Niamh Kirk
No comments:
Post a Comment