Sounds From The Junkshop #112 - The Ga*Ga's

 

"But every time I coulda died, I thought of being by your side..." - The Ga*Ga's - Crash And Burn

They were an odd one, the Ga*Ga's. As I mentioned in the Darkness' SFTJ entry a few weeks back, once Justin and co had become Top 3 artists, exactly what you'd expect to happen happened. In that it seemed that there was a massive rush by every single major label to sign "their" version of the Darkness. Add to that Motley Crue's The Dirt becoming as infamous as it did and there was also a sudden new rush of bands who'd been drawn in by Permission To Land and then heard Girls Girls Girls and Dr Feelgood* for the first time and thought "Hey, WE could do that!" Predictably, some of these bands were truly dreadful (anyone remember the Answer or Red Star Rebels or Jack Viper or Nothin' To Lose or Lionsex or...actually I should probably stop there or else we'll be here all day) but in amongst the chod there were a few bands who, even if only briefly, did look like contenders.

* sadly the album and not the seminal '70s pub-punk band - actually THAT would probably have been something worth seeing, a whole movement of psychotic looking r'n'b rockers dressed as East End geezers. Anyway I digress...

London natives the Ga*Ga's were one such band. They were one of a brace of bands* signed up to Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood's Sanctuary records clearly with the aim of following the Hawkins brothers into the Top 10. However, to their credit, they were clearly coming at the whole thing from a more post-grunge angle with the thudding minor key riffs clearly showing a love of groups like Stone Temple Pilots.

* The other one was Hurricane Party who put out one decent EP before changing their name to Roadstar after Hurricane Katrina hit the States and putting out two unremarkable albums then changing their name AGAIN to Heaven's Basement who never went anywhere either. Lesson number one in making sure your band doesn't bomb - find a name and stick with it!

Now to be honest here, the whole Stone Temple Pilots sound should have scared me off as I could never stand them (I mean, not to speak ill of the dead and all that but I very much regarded them as being on the wrong side of the grunge-punk/corporate grunge line when it came to that genre) but somehow the Ga*Ga's one album, Tonight The Midway Shines, managed to wangle its way into my listening for a bit. I think it was their third single Crash And Burn that did it, a surprisingly gentle ode to hopes and dreams dashed against reality that should really have made a bigger splash than it did. Elsewhere, the sleazy likes of Sex, Replica and Swallow Me saw the band acclaimed in some quarters as a British version of Swedish scuzz-glammers Shotgun Messiah and, y'know, there's worse things to be than that. I think the presence of former Antiproduct (and occasional Wildhearts stand-in) bassist Toshi in the ranks might just have steered me towards them a bit as well.

The trouble is that just a year or so after Tonight The Midway Shines was released, the Ga*Ga's' label Sanctuary went to the wall and a new record deal wasn't forthcoming which saw them break up soon afterwards. Singer Tommy would end up posting a very angry rant about what he perceived as the group's unfair treatment on the band website upon their demise which I remember talking about with a band who'd supported them - allegedly there had been a fair bit of rolling of eyes in said band's camp at this statement as supposedly the Ga*Ga's had had some serious money bankrolling the operation which had allowed them to go on tour supporting Velvet Revolver and stay in top of the range hotels when touring themselves instead of slumming it in Travelodges or on peoples' floors like most bands have to. Anyway, that's by the by.

Three of the Ga*Ga's would go on to form Slaves To Gravity, a much more grunge-inspired outfit, who were Kerrang! darlings for about five minutes but I'm afraid just never did it for me musically. The main thing I remember them for is that I reviewed one of their singles for Pure Rawk and was somewhat less than kind about it. Then a few months later, I ended up going out drinking in London with a friend of mine who, unbeknownst to me, was mates with the band and got us both in backstage at a gig of theirs in Kentish Town. Her opening words to the band when we met them backstage were "Oh, this is my mate Andy, he reviewed your record and slagged it off!" I was very lucky in that they saw the funny side to that so fair play to them! I did actually see them a second time before their demise doing an acoustic gig at the Worlds End in Camden where I remember them actually being pretty good - maybe that was a direction they should've explored more but I guess we'll never know. Actually, thinking a bit more closely, I remember them supporting Danko Jones at Highbury Garage as well shortly after that but...well, I mean let's be honest, Danko Jones crowds are strictly there to see Danko and predictably the poor guys sank like a stone. Soon after that, they would be no more.

Toshi is really the only one of the Ga*Ga's who I've really heard anything much of since STG split - he would go on to be a regular in both Ginger Wildheart's solo band (for the excellent Albion album) and with the G-man's underrated power-pop side project Hey! Hello! before joining Lupus Dei with former Towers of London guitarist Rev who I remember hearing a promising demo by and seeing live a couple of times but I'm not sure if they ever officially released anything. Currently he can be found playing bass with the Professionals whose current line-up also features fellow extended Wildhearts family tree members Tom "Yo-Yo's" Spencer and Chris "Eureka Machines" Catalyst. I think I remember hearing that STG guitarist Mark (who was always a good bloke on the occasions I met him) had moved to the south coast but I can't say for sure? Wikipedia has singer Tommy filling in as a touring guitarist for Feeder a few years ago. No idea about any of the others. The Ga*Ga's did do a one-off reunion gig around 2015 or so though which sadly I missed due to other commitments, a pity as it would've been good to catch them one last time.

Like I say, the Ga*Ga's were an odd one. Theoretically, the whole trust fund band thing should probably have put me right off them but they deserve a lot of credit for taking a sound I wasn't usually that enamoured with and reeling me in with it. Tonight The Midway Shines isn't quite an all killer no filler album but there's plenty of good songs on there to make it worth a curiosity spin if you find a copy somewhere.