Bis vor kurzem war mir Spanien im Bezug auf Punkrock völlig unbekannt. Auf Umwegen lernte ich die Band G.A.S. DRUMMERS und deren grandioses Album „The true charm of Bourgeoisie“ kennen und ich kann jedem die Band nur ans Herz legen. Die Band spielt schnellen, melodischen Punkrock der einfach mitreisst und begeistert. Letztes Jahr waren sie bei der „Deconstruction Tour“ in Portugal dabei und haben auch schon einige andere Länder (sogar in Nord Amerika waren sie schon) bereist. Demnächst geht es für einige wenige Gigs nach Deutschland und ich kann jedem nur raten, sich die Band anzuschauen. Hier als Vorgeschmack ein Interview mit Sänger und Gitarrist Dani.
For starters, tell us something about the foundation of the G.A.S. DRUMMERS and the following development.
G.A.S. DRUMMERS was born from the ashes of other projects in our hometown, Jerez, in southern Spain in august 1998. We recorded a few songs and managed to support RANDY on their first spanish tour on ’99, and right after that we signed to “Slide Chorus” and recorded „Proud to Be Nothing“… In march 2000 our first album was released. Things went soooo fast for us.
When did you first came in touch with Punkrock an when did you decide to play music in a band?
I guess it was in ’93-’94 when I was 13 or 14 years old. I started my first punkrock band in 1995, we were called SNOOPY’S NIGHTMARES. The other guys also have been playing for that long in other bands, but me and Pako, our bass player have always played together since he decided to play in a band.
Which were the bands you played in before the G.A.S. DRUMMERS?
Me and Pako played in SNOOPY’S NIGHTMARES and THUMPER, Rafa our drummer played in THE POOL before joining G.A.S. DRUMMERS, and Pablo, our guitar player also played in a band named HOMER at his hometown Cádiz before joining us.
What are your musical roots and which bands would you refer to as inspiration?
That’s a hard one. We listen to a lot of music, since rock to 77Punkrock, Hardcore, Metal, Powerpop and Pop things. I guess we like such different bands as BAD RELIGION, DESCENDENTS, FUGAZI, HUSKER DÜ, RAMONES, THE CLASH, MINOR THREAT, PROPAGANDHI, NRA…
What are your favorite bands at the moment?
My most played bands right now are: FUGAZI, AINA, HOT WATER MUSIC, HUSKER DÜ, NRA, STRIKE ANYWHERE.
While touring you have the opportunity to visit a lot of other countries. Where do you see the differecnes regarding the Punkrock scene?
Yeah, we’ve played in a few: Spain, France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Uk, Switzerland, Portugal and Canada, and now we’re visiting a few more we never played there before as Germany, Luxembourg or Czech.
I guess the main difference lies on the crowds and the organization. There are such great countries to tour, some others are not so good. But anyhow for us it is always a pleasure just travelling and meeting new friends along the way.
How „big“ you are in your home country? You have played the „Deconstruction Tour“ which assumes a certain popularity, doesn’t it?
Well, it’s a funny thing but we played at the 2001’s Deconstruction Tour in Lisboa as a foreing band… We are no big at all, because here there’s not a big punk rock scene, i just can tell you that people in the spanish hardcore punk scene may know us. We have been working hard here. We have played all over the country and even in the islands… And here not so many bands have been lucky to tour in North America or Europe.
Your last album was released through „Wild Punk Records “ and the one before via „Slide Chorus Rec.“. What were the reasons for changing labels?
It’s just that we wanted to change airs. It was time to decide who we wanted to put out the new stuff and we just decided we didn’t want to keep on working with “Slide Chorus” and we took “Wild Punk” as a final decision. However, our relationship with “Slide Chorus” is really good, we keep on working together but not as harder as before.
How would you describe the impact of the new record on you as band?
I guess our new album is a common evolution for a band like us. We just added new ideas and musical likes, and I wrote lyrics with more political content which ones I’m really glad. If you have never heard of us, please grab this album, I guess you would love it if your likes go from melodic punkrock to hardcore punk, or even if you just like rock music with no ethiquette.
What comes next for you? You will visit Germany shortly, right?
We’ll keep working hard on our tours and also composing new stuff in a future. We would love to keep doing good records and make people move and think the world who’s surrounding us any way.
Sure, we’ll play in Trier at the Ex-Haus on October 8th with THE APERS, and also in Koblenz at Suppkultur on October 10th with our friends FREE LIVING INSANITY. Be sure you can come along! We would like to see you there!