Galway alt-rock 'n' roll five piece The GOPNIKS have released their debut album, The Blah Biz Cabaret. We asked front man Ben Cash the BIG questions . . .
Described as 'Tom Waits on speed' by Phil Strongman, author of Metal Box: Stories from John Lydon’s PiL, The GOPNIKS emerged in 2022 from Galway's underground scene.
We need your consent to load this Spotify contentWe use Spotify to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
The GOPNIKS’ sound is grounded in the early rock 'n' roll of Gene Vincent, 1950s Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Link Wray with a beat-based sound of psychobilly, funkadelic and avant-punk.
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
I started The GOPNIKS because I wanted to write. It's a bit of a cliché nowadays, with bands all claiming the literary thing for extra clout, but I actually genuinely wrote from a young age and decided that songs had become the best format to get my ideas through. I found short stories and the whole poetry thing a bit too limiting.
I am allergic to sameness, so I'm always pushing the lads to go about things differently to prevent ever falling into a formula like lots of bands end up lending themselves to when they run out of ideas. That's why a lot of our new stuff sounds totally unlike the early stuff.
I'm big into my fashion, you'd be surprised. I never leave the house without looking fly. You've got to look sharp in this day and age, I was always deep into the whole mod thing from watching Quadrophenia.
How would you describe your music?
A complementary mix of real accessible rock 'n' roll and not so accessible, often very intense music.
Who are your musical inspirations?
The lads have very different music tastes to me, so obviously that impacts their interpretation of the songs. I'd be very much into soundtracks as well as groups, but my main figures would be the King himself, Elvis, Pete Doherty, and I love Peter Murphy's voice from Bauhaus. I'm big into the way James Brown did arrangements and how he ran his band.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
Christy Moore.
What was the first record you ever bought?
Uncertain Smile 12-inch by The The.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Suffocated Love by Tricky.
Favourite lyric of all time?
"Something tells me that you're really gone, You said we could be friends, but that's not what's not what I want, And, anyway, my TV dinner's almost done, It's a lonely Saturday night" - Goodnight Ladies by Lou Reed. Very Cabaret!
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
The Coronation Street theme tune.
Where can people find your music/more information?
We're trying to stock the record in as many shops as possible, so short answer the shop. The album will be released on Spotify and Bandcamp and most of those streaming websites. Where info is concerned, most of our promo is done through our Instagram and we are on the Blowtorch Records website.
Alan Corr
