Next Wave #1074: The Gulps
In Association With Vero True Social
Nearly forty years ago, *Alan McGee*, the man responsible for discovering some of the worlds most well-regarded bands, founded his label *Creation Records*. Accountable for bands such as Primal Scream, Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Oasis, McGee has long been regarded as having some of the most respected ears in the industry.
In 2021, McGee began his new venture, *It’s Creation Baby*. The label sees the signing of London based quintet *The Gulps*. The band all hail from different corners of Europe. They are frontman Javier Sola, guitarist Juan Carlos Ruiz, both of whom descend from a small town in La Roja, Spain. Bassist Simon Mouchard who stems from Nantes, France, Francesco Antonio Buffone, rhythm guitarist from Calabria, Southern Italy, and drummer Raoul Khayat from Beirut, Lebanon.
Sitting down with Clash is Javier and Juan, the day after they finished a headline tour in the UK and ready to premier their music video for recent single ‘King Of The Disco’, exclusively with Clash.
Speaking of the band’s formation, Javier tells us: “Juan and I met in our small town in La Roja, we both met at music college there. I was studying piano and Juan was studying French Horn. We began playing guitar due to our love for bands like the Beatles and Iron Maiden and with that we began dreaming about moving to London to get involved with the UK music scene.”
“Eventually, we made the move over to London. We were washing dishes for £5 an hour for the first year. There were no bandmates, nothing really going on. We decided to go to the ICMP, a music college here in London, and that was where we met the other three members”.
The Gulps were formed of a deep love for music, which sparked interest from Mr. McGee. For Javier and Juan, this was beyond exciting. “We had said when we first decided to move to London that we have to meet Alan McGee,” Javier says. “The universe must have been listening to us! He has been our manager for a year now and the opportunities he has given us are amazing. He just knows what is best, he points us in the right direction”.
Juan sheds light on Alan’s gift for crafting the Gulps sound, explaining that “he put us in this position where we were able to make rock and punk music with aspects of electronica. We have called our sound ‘Punk Disco’”.
Punk Disco really is the perfect way to describe The Gulps sound, specifically recent single ‘King of the Disco’, a vivacious blend of old school rock that carries a new and exciting energy that makes it popular amongst all. - “We were so scared to tour” Javier admits, “we were like, ‘who the fuck is gonna come see us in Glasgow?’. But for that show to sell out and see everyone there singing the lyrics to ‘King Of The Disco’ was amazing, the song has been really well received. We feel like something is happening”.
The writing process of the single came from what Juan describes as “just us taking the piss in the studio”, he shares a story of Alan coming over to their flat in Camden and deciding that the tune was more than just an impromptu experiment and actually a track that would become the second single on his new label.
“Alan came to our house to watch the football, we showed him the song and he was like ‘this is a fucking tune! We need to record this!’ It was never our intention to record it, we thought it was a bit silly in the beginning, but sometimes that’s how things happen,” Juan says.
With such an incredible introduction to music, it begs questions surrounding albums and future work. The boys tell us they had recently been in LA to record with none other than Danny Saber, a record producer with a history of working with the likes of David Bowie, Madonna and The Rolling Stones.
“We did three tracks with Danny, who also mixed ‘King Of The Disco’. The next track is supposed to come out at the end of August. We definitely have the material to create an album,” Javier hints.
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Words:* Isabella Miller*
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