London calling: The Gulps are here to take over 2024.
From their notorious live shows to their modern-classic anthems, this is a band who’ve romanticised the classic London rock and roll style - and have pulled it off with a fresh twist. Their passionate outlook and abundance of charm have earned them nods from the best in the business, so I think the rest of us better catch up.
“I came from Spain all the way to London because I was really in love with UK music,” smiles frontman Javier. Forming The Gulps at ICMP music college, he comments, “I went there just to meet musicians to be able to make a band. That’s where I met Francesco and the other two guys who were in the band before. We just changed lineup recently - we have a new bass player and a new drummer, they’re really good! We’ve got Sophie on bass, she’s really talented, and then on drums we’ve got Freddie, a guy from Norway - he’s a fucking monster. So yeah, we’re just getting everything tight and in place. Nothing’s gonna stop us.”
On the early days, he comments, “We started playing small shows. We did our first show at the Alleycat in Soho on Denmark street, which is now closed. We built up a fanbase basically having house parties and inviting everyone to come before the shows and after the shows, we were making sangria and giving it to everyone - it was a fun time.”
Since then, the band have boomed - growing and evolving under the wing of manager Alan McGee (yes, that one). “Lots of opportunities came after signing with him,” explains Javier. “He’s such a legend, he knows everyone and yeah I mean it’s cool - he’s Creation Records! It’s fun to have him on board - all the time really cool stories of the good old days. We need to bring that back.”
“Since working with him we’ve been able to play with big bands, we’ve been on tour with them and been able to play big spaces. I think it’s quite difficult for new bands to get there, and even though we’re at that stage now, it’s really difficult for us to make it to the next step and be able to establish the band. It’s about believing in what you do and pushing and pushing and then the magic happens.”
While more and more bands across the UK struggle to get on their feet, a tour is something that can make or break their career. Javier comments, “Touring is great - we just do it with no budget. Once we went on tour with Ash and we slept on a golf course with our van. We woke up at eight in the morning with all these posh people looking at us who wanted to play golf thinking what the fuck are these people doing here? So yeah, we do it with really low budget because we don’t have the money to pay for hotels or anything like that. Some nights we don’t have money so we sleep at the petrol station, get some sandwiches, yeah you know. We love what we do, so we just go there and have some fun, play some shows and then get on the road. What can you do - it is what it is. It’s better that than staying home.”
From tour to the studio, Northern Irish rockers Ash have been big supporters of The Gulps, with their latest single ‘Surrender’ produced by Tim Wheeler himself. “They took us out twice on tour and we’re really good friends with them,” explains Javier. "Tim comes over for dinner once every two months or so, and he always brings his guitar and we jam and he helps us with songwriting - he’s such a genius. At some point we were like let’s go into the studio and make the single, and yeah it was really good! He’s got so many cool ideas with guitars - he’s got lots of pedals that work on the song and yeah, I hope we can go back into the studio with him and work on songs again. It was such a good experience. He’s such a lovely guy, it’s amazing to work with him.”
On the bands creative process, Javier comments, “Early in the morning when I wake up at 7 o’clock is my highest level of creativity. When something cool comes I’ll share it with the band and we’ll put it together and perhaps we’ll up it to the next level - or sometimes Francesco makes a riff and he shows it to me and something cool comes up or whatever. We don’t really have established rules.”
With inspirations deep rooted in classic rock, Javier declares, “I love the Rolling Stones. I just love their music. I love their style. I just think they are so sexy and yeah - they created a philosophy, you know? And I really love that.” Now elevating their own style, he continues, “We’re trying to give a bit of funk and disco to it now. We’re trying to make it a bit dance-y, but without losing the high energy rock and roll. We’re just trying things until we get really confident with that kind of sound that we want to approach.”
Now working on their debut album, Javier fills us in on the details. "We’re planning to record our debut album with Youth, the bass player of Killing Joke. Youth has a big studio in Grenada in the mountains, so we’re gonna go there for a couple of week and get the tracks done. We’ve also got Mike Chapman involved, who worked with Blondie and Tina Turner on their hits in the 70s/80s. We want that disco dancing mixed with punk and rock and roll - like he did with Blondie, so that’s the kind of stuff that we’re looking for.”
With a new year and a new lineup, The Gulps are off to a fresh start - and with big things to come in 2024, you can be sure to hear a lot more from them soon.