At the Changeover Festival, they bring their authentic and raw sound, and we talked with them about music, Birmingham, and what they believe is truly good for the soul.

By Luna and Pavle

ZK: You seem like long-time friends - was GANS created in one of your teenage bedrooms, or are we wrong?

GANS: GANS was really created in two separate places, where we first met whilst playing in two separate bands while we were both 15 in The Victoria in Birmingham and driving through Bridlington Spa in Tom’s Ford Focus.

ZK: Your debut album was released recently! What are some things that are "good for the soul"?

GANS: What do you think could be Good For The Soul? We think it’s a deeply personal thing for each listener. Is it Drugs/Sex/Violence/Coffee/Love/Loneliness/Vanity/Money/Family? 

ZK: In one interview, you said that this album is about different aspects of growing up in Birmingham and all the things that come with that environment. What’s one authentically Black country thing you would single out as influential for your album and your creativity in general?

GANS: Bathams Beer.

ZK: How did you come to collab with Peter Doherty? Did you grab his attention at a gig, or...?

GANS: We wanted to play Justines in Margate, a venue co-owned by Carl Barratt and from then our details got passed on to the Strap Originals team. From there we fell in love and we think Peter and the rest of the Strap originals team fell in love with us too.

ZK: Some say that music is inherently political and, in that sense, inseparable from the context created in - following you on social media, we saw that you made a public stance against the ban of basking on the streets in Birmingham. Do you agree with this opinion on art/music and politics?

GANS: We think that music will always be inherently entangled with politics whether intentionally or not. I think thatthe connection that music has the ability to provide to people is something more powerful than most people would be interested in giving credit to. There’s a reason why art is always the first thing to be restricted when the finger starts being pointed.

ZK: Which bands from your label should the audience pay attention to? Which ones stand out to you?

GANS: Junior Brother makes some really interesting music to listen to both sonically and spiritually. We also would be doing a disservice if we didn’t mention Warmduscher or Von Avella too.

ZK: If we accidentally end up in Birmingham, where should we go for a beer and a gig?

GANS: It’s hard to single out one in particular, any venue that’s affording to stay open in Birmingham should be visited in one long pub crawl that ends at The Night Owl as all evenings do.