Now More Punk By Being Less Punk

Gallows’ new album Desolation Sounds is the second release since Wade MacNeil joined the band, replacing Frank Carter as the lead vocalist. It was obviously a big shake-up for the band, and MacNeil is totally aware he’s never going to win back some previous fans, but it’s more important to stand up for what you create. “You need to write music you can stand behind because people are going to rip it to shreds. If you don’t 100% back what you’re doing and it’s not 100% what you want to hear, that stuff’s gonna get to you. Honestly, some days it’s a real drag, other days it’s… whatever. I'd much rather be putting out music that people are arguing about. It's making them feel something, and if people are repulsed by it, at least we've accomplished that.

“By and large, I think the reward is the shows. People who love what you do don't often take the time to reach out and let you know; they let you know by coming to shows and singing along and being a part of that. What you're doing connects with them. From day one, the first show I played with the boys, it was great – there wasn't any weird adjustment period, kids came out and stage-dived on the first show and sang along and embraced me with open arms. That's the real deal.”

"It would be less ‘Fuck you’ to put out a song that’s really fucking aggro."

The band released their lead single Bonfire Season’s video in January, a rockier-sounding track to a somewhat polarised audience, but MacNeil’s far from worried – in fact, that response was kind of the point. “We didn’t give ourselves a lot of leeway [with the new album] – we knew what we wanted to do, and we sat down and did it, and we were really happy with how it came out. We just wanted to write the songs and just hammer it.

"This time around, we weren’t concerned about making any specific type of record. The four of us have pretty eclectic tastes, and I’m glad that a lot of that worked its way into the songs. A lot of the lighter stuff still has this weight that’s kind of oppressive, end of the world kind of stuff, even though it’s not just blasts. I think Lags [Laurent Barnard, guitar/backing vocals], who’s the principle songwriter of the band, he was very, I don’t know, as soon as we finished the record, he was like, ‘This is the one.’ And I think it’s very much in his personality that, it’s a great song, we all love the song, but it’s almost more confrontational for the band to put a song out that’s not blistering hardcore. It would be less ‘Fuck you’ to put out a song that’s really fucking aggro, instead make a moody, gothic, mid-tempo death-rock stuff. In a strange way, that’s way more punk. By not putting out the punk songs, that’s more punk. It really pissed a lot of people off, so mission accomplished.”