Inspired #374 - Gag Salon
Art-rock quartet Gag Salon have just released their debut EP ‘Get A Load of This Guy’ via Blitzcat Records.
It’s a 5 track whirlwind, pushing and pulling at the very limits of aural decency. Their trademark Beefheartian wonk and icepick guitar pirouettes call to mind Gang of Four, DEVO or Television. Meanwhile Joseph Mumford’s frenzied vocal ruminations paint grimy, distorted vignettes of everyday drudgery.
They took a moment to talk to us about the inspirations behind their music.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
Impossible to say really, I try not to actively think about it, but I think at the moment it would be Steely Dan for their humour and ingenuity and Sonny Sharrock for his ferocity. I also can’t stop listening to The Lemon Twigs. We sound nothing like any of these people to be honest but maybe we will later down the line.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
This is an extremely hard question but I’d have to say overall it’s probably Happiness (1998) by Todd Solondoz. Exactly the kind of tragic and pitch black comedy I love, it’s a borderline horror film really. I think it’s a very powerful thing, getting people to sympathise with extremely grotesque characters. Some of the funniest scenes are simultaneously the most heartbreaking, and isn’t that exactly what life is like? The intertwining of humour and tragedy is very much the sort of thing I want to explore with Gag Salon. I think about Happiness at the very least on a weekly basis, it might not be my favourite film ever but it’s definitely the one that’s seeped its way into everything I make.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
It’s not a city YET, but it’s gotta be the hometown, Reading.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
Your mum.
What were your inspirations when writing your new EP?
The EP was definitely born out of our early phase of being a more straight up post-punk/no-wave band. When the songs were written I was listening to lots of DNA, Talking Heads, James Chance and that sort of art-rock 70s and 80s stuff, but over time I think the songs evolved a bit more to become something that I hope is a bit bigger than that. I’d also say the 12 hour Megabus we had to take to record the thing was a pretty big inspiration.
How would you like to inspire people?
I’d like to do the exact opposite, I’d like to uninspire them, I’d like to have an effect of negative inspiration.
