Interview: gürl @ Misery Loves Company
“ABBA, but with breakdowns.” Strong claims from gürl, the Bristol-based outfit combining outrageous lyrics, stadium-sized riffs, heavy-hitting drums, and irresistible bass lines, all glued together by tasteful (but never meek) trap.
Founded by vocalist/lyricist Joshua Dalton and guitarist Jonny Turner, and joined by bassist Jay Parker in 2022, we chatted to Jay and Joshua about their sound, finding that sweet spot between pop anthems and dark metal, their latest single “Hexy”, living out their School of Rock movie dreams, and what’s coming up this year - in a conversation akin to speaking to two, ultra caffinated Lorelai Gilmore (which was spectacular btw).
We saw your set, it was great! How was it for you?
(Jay): It was great! A bit of feedback at the beginning. Not my doing but my instrument. But I fixed it, because...
(Joshua): Because you're a professional
(Jay): Because she's plays bass.
(Joshua): We recently had a comment on one of our videos that was, "the girl is gorgeously pretty, but she's plays bass."
(Jay): There's a compliment in there somewhere, so I'll take. But the grammar was just completely off.
(Joshua): Roll with the compliment.
(Jay): She's plays bass, so she fixed it.
(Joshua): But the set was good. I'm glad you liked it. Thank you.
For anyone coming across your music for the first time, how would you describe what you're doing?
(Joshua): It's pop music but it's heavy. Heavy pop, anti-pop. It's fun but not silly. Glam but not 80s.
(Jay): It's alternative music for people that like to listen to Loathe but also like to brunch.
(Joshua): Yes. Sleep Token at a bottomless brunch.
(Jay): Yeah, brunch at three, Creed at four.
(Joshua): Three's not. Creed?
(Jay): I love Creed. He sounds like Cher. You know he does.
(Joshua): We're like Cher with big guitars.
(Jay): When we say "pop music" it's not poppy in the sense of Britney Spears. Everything's a hook.
(Joshua): Everybody should know we’re at a heavy metal festival right now and I've described us as pop. So that's the context.
You mentioned "anti-pop"?
(Jay): Yeah, so everything is hooky and you remember the hooks because they are well written pop songs. But they have a breakdown. There's nothing wrong with pop.
(Joshua): Some people like bottomless brunch.
(Jay): And we're here for those people.
(Joshua): We're here for everyone. It's bubblegum and razor blades.
(Jay): The juxtaposition.
(Joshua): Like ACDC, but heavier. Think about it, "You shook me all night long." That's a pop song! That's a goddamn pop song. And that's... it's like heavy music, but we love ABBA.
(Jay): Oh yeah, that's it. ABBA, but with breakdowns.
(Joshua): There you go. That's the quote. ABBA but with breakdowns. Knowing me knowing you...dundun
That’s the best answer I've ever had. You've recently released the first single off your second EP, "Hexy" What can you tell us about that?
(Jay): Can I take the reins? "Hexy" is my child, my child baby? So I did fashion communication at uni, a lot of production and creative direction stuff. And I thought, I'm never going to use this degree. Turns out if you join a band, you get to do really fun stuff. So Josh is songwriter, content, McGee.
(Joshua): That's my official title.
(Jay): And then Jonny is production and just all around shred hero. And I was like, what do I do apart from just flat bass? So I took on all the video production and the creative direction. We had this song, and I was thought: Blade, 1998, blood rave scene. Perfect for this song because it's a bit sexy.
So I did the styling and the creative direction. We worked with a guy called Sam East, company named Bearing East, and he's done all of our music videos previously. We went to him with the idea and he was onboard. It was filmed at The Fleece. And we got Punka involved, which is like a collective LGBTQ+ community that puts on gigs and events, and they put the ad out to help get a big crowd together. And it was fantastic. It was magical. Very proud of it. It's like a little mini film.
(Joshua): It's leather and metal and blood. And tits. What more do you want from a music video? If you need more, then there's something wrong with you.
And the EP coming out! Do we have a date? Do we even know that's coming officially?
(Jay): No, you don't. We've been told to keep it quite secret.
(Joshua): I don't know the date of it.
(Jay): It's a five track EP, and we will be releasing them sporadically. But also within a timescale.
(Joshua): With intent. There's another song out soon. So keep your ears open. Not peeled, that's your eyes. Keep your ears open. Keep your ear to the pulse of the Zeitgeist everyone.
(Jay): That's a lyric.
(Joshua): Let's do a 'The Scene exclusive'. It's called Parma Violence. That's the name of the EP.
(Jay): We love a pun in gürl.
(Joshua): And we love conspiracy theories. It's the one thing that binds us all.
What have we not asked you that we should have asked you?
(Joshua): Why do we keep kicking out our rhythm section?
(Jay): Why is there a bassist alumni? And why am I where it stops?
(Joshua): That's a great question. Who knows? What else should you have asked us? Why isn't Tom officially our drummer? He needs to get his f***ing priorities sorted out!
(Jay): We love Tom! And he's the dream drummer. We've wanted him for ages; since I joined.
(Joshua): That's a great point. Our second ever music video, when we had a different sort of lineup, Tom was playing drums for just the music video. And Jay was acting in it.
(Jay): Yeah I was in the video but I wasn't the bassist at the time.
(Joshua): Just being sexy. And we were like, well, she's really lovely. She shows up on time and works hard. She plays guitar which is better than 100% of bass players. So that'll do.
(Jay): I'm a guitarist by trade. But I prefer bass you know. It's quite nice. I feel like Spider at the end of School of Rock. In the little sleeves. Insert body ripple. That's what I want it to be. And then you asked me. You've made my dream come true.
(Joshua): He's a judge now! He's a legal judge.
(Jay): What with a wig? Wow.
(Joshua): Well, I don't think they have wigs in America, but they have robes. He wears a robe. Are you American? Why don't you guys wear wigs?
I am American. I’d guess…out of fashion? Throw it over with the tea?
(Joshua): Fair. The real question is why do we? In my opinion, more wigs.
(Jay): I have 12. My mother doesn't recognise me half the time.
(Joshua): I don't even know who you are.
Last question is, if you could listen to any song in the world again for the first time what would it be?
(Jay): "Whenever, Wherever" by Shakira. I can sing it in Spanish. I learned it in Spanish by mistake when I was 14. and I can still do it. I'm not going to do it. Another pint maybe. I did it last weekend at a house party.
(Joshua): Jay does a very good Shakira impression. Mine, probably "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys. I think it's a perfect song. I think it's possibly...it's up there with the greatest songs ever written.
(Jay): I mean, there's so many other songs that I could have said. But that was the first one I said and I have to stick with it.
There's another way we've asked that question. If you were in a coma, what one song could without a doubt wake you up?
(Jay): Mine would be Electric Six, "Danger! High Voltage". Yeah. "Fire in the disco! Fire in the taco bell!"
(Joshua): That's a good answer.
(Jay): If I am in a smoking area on a night out, it doesn't matter what the conversation is, you could be the most interesting person in the world, and I hear that song come on? I be like, "Sssshhhhush now. I will be back in roughly three and a half minutes." And I'll be gone, tou won't see me for dust. That's song sets of fire in my loins that is unmatched.
(Joshua): That's fair.
(Jay): That's all I'm saying. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
