{"id":26424,"date":"2015-04-18T16:29:29","date_gmt":"2015-04-18T06:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=26424"},"modified":"2015-04-18T16:31:00","modified_gmt":"2015-04-18T06:31:00","slug":"laurent-lags-barnard-of-gallows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2015\/04\/laurent-lags-barnard-of-gallows\/","title":{"rendered":"Laurent ‘Lags’ Barnard of Gallows"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201cI felt like this album is a chance for us to really experiment and push ideas and try new things\u2026 I feel like Gallows has always been a very aggressive band and for this record it would be nice to turn that aggressive behaviour and explore the darker depths as opposed to just being angry in black and white you know what I mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

From release: Hailed as \u2018The best British punk band since The Clash\u2019, Gallows hammered an adrenaline spike into the body of the British music industry with the release of 2006\u2019s Orchestra Of Wolves and 2009\u2019s savage, unflinching state-of-the-nation address Grey Britain. The departure of original vocalist Frank Carter shortly after, offered the band an opportunity to re-assess the chaos that had been wreaked. Re-affirming their commitment to the punk rock cause, the band re-emerged in 2012 with a new vocalist, former Alexisonfire man Wade MacNeil, a new self-titled album, a new label (their own Venn Records) and a new-found sense of self-determination and purpose. Desolation Sounds represents the thrilling next stage of this re-birth.<\/p>\n

After a day hanging out at the National Gallery Lags of Gallows gave us a call to chat about the band\u2019s new album \u2018Desolation Sounds\u2019 and how it all came together, as well as looking back to the beginning\u2026<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve released your fourth album, called \u2018Desolation Sounds\u2019 can you give us a bit of insight as to what the title represents to you?<\/strong>
\nThe title actually comes from a body of water in Canada which Wade saw that\u2019s called Desolation Sound and I think he basically saw that and he attributed it to and could equate to a name Desolation Sounds, so that\u2019s where the name comes from but at the same time I think when it comes to the album itself it reflects the mood of the record. It\u2019s very varied and there\u2019s a lot of ideas and a very varied sounding album, but over everything it\u2019s very dark record, a very moody record, a very atmospheric record and I feel that I don\u2019t think we meant for it to sound like the title suggests in any way because we went in there with a completely blank slate and worked up from scratch but when I mentioned doing another record with Wade, before we even hit the studio I remember him saying to me that Desolation Sounds would be a great name for a record and as soon as said that I agreed basically.<\/p>\n

So, the self-titled album in 2012 was Wade\u2019s first recorded with the band, how was it putting \u2018Desolation Sounds\u2019 together after now having worked with him for some time?<\/strong>
\nIt was pretty easy, I think when we did the self-titled record we learnt how to work with each other really quickly and obviously Wade\u2019s a really accomplished musician having come from Alexisonfire and stuff, so he brought in a really strong and positive work ethic when it came to writing and he\u2019s someone who really works hard and it\u2019s a good motivator as well, so I think that just made things a lot easier. Then especially when it came to this record, the last time we did an album as a four piece was \u2018Orchestra of Wolves\u2019 and going back to this one as a four piece things just move quicker, when less people work on something, the easier it is and never afraid of too many cooks, but its true basically *laughs*. So it was just a really fun and easy process and I really enjoyed making \u2018Desolation Sounds\u2019.<\/p>\n

The album is a monster, did you have an idea of how you wanted it to come together or did you let this one evolve into what it became?<\/strong>
\nI demoed a bunch of ideas and sent them out to the boys on email, those ideas were so varied but I kinda wanted to show the guys how extreme the album could go in all directions basically. I felt like this album is a chance for us to really experiment and push ideas and try new things\u2026 I feel like Gallows has always been a very aggressive band and for this record it would be nice to turn that aggressive behaviour and explore the darker depths as opposed to just being angry in black and white you know what I mean? I always feel that Gallows has been that black and white band where it\u2019s either really angry or really firm, whereas now it\u2019s a multi-dimensional thing, I hate when bands say it\u2019s a chore and things like that but I think changes like that just happen naturally and I see a lot of bands do it now, I think it\u2019s great that bands can feel comfortable making new music and try new things and have the confidence to do it. I feel like that when all a band does is release the same style of music over and over and over again in my mind they must be getting bored and that\u2019s not what I want to do and it\u2019s not what the rest of the guys in Gallows want to do, they want to try new things and explore new avenues and I feel really good about \u2018Desolation Sounds\u2019.<\/p>\n

So was it a case of it just felt right at the time?<\/strong>
\nYeah, obviously we didn\u2019t really plan to do another record and I can\u2019t just hit the guys up and say I want to make new music what do you guys reckon, and luckily for me they were like \u2018yeah, we\u2019re down\u2019 and so I think everything just came together really easily and it shows in the music, I mean the music is very much like you can hear real songs and a real coherency, like every vocal I do is very different and when you listen to the whole album it\u2019s the same kind of atmosphere throughout.<\/p>\n

I wanted to ask about \u2018Chains\u2019 specifically, as this stands out for me on the album, is there a story about this one you can share with us on how it came together?<\/strong>
\n\u2018Chains\u2019 kind of came together with the opening riff and I just liked how kind of slow it was, it sounded to me like some kind of impending doom thing and I didn\u2019t want the song to break into something fast and heavy, I just wanted it to power through from beginning to end. So \u2018Chains\u2019 is the very first song that came together for the record and it just so happened I was in the studio recording my girlfriend who is in another band called Dios Mio who are really good, she was in the studio too and we asked her to come sing on the track and it just gave it that whole another level of haunting beauty and it kind of adds another string to Gallows\u2019 bow because we\u2019ve never done anything like that before and it kind of gave us that while push to make that album as different as we could in a way. We do \u2018Chains\u2019 and we realise fuck we can we do this stuff and it sounds wicked, so why should we just stop there and that kind of gave us the push that we needed to make the rest of \u2018Desolation Sounds\u2019.<\/p>\n

You worked with Steve Sears as producer again, what is it he brings to the band that works for you?<\/strong>
\nThe thing about a lot of producers I find is often they try and impose their kind of views of what a band should sound like and Steve\u2019s been a very close friend of mine for many, many years and he\u2019s someone I can trust with the music, he puts his ideas in but he\u2019s not going to like force ideas onto us, he\u2019s gonna take what we do and make the best out of it, which is what I think a producer should do. He\u2019s just someone we can trust with our sound and someone who believes in the band, working with any producer it\u2019s not a case of someone coming in to do a patch up job or something like that, it\u2019s someone who\u2019s already a fan of the band and understands where the band\u2019s coming from and knows where the band wants to go. So it was just a really easy and laid back experience.<\/p>\n

2015 is ten years now since Gallows began, looking back to 2005, what for you has been the most notable change in the way that you create music?<\/strong>
\nI feel like when we did the first album it was very much a reactionary record, we didn\u2019t know much about making albums or anything like that, so it kind of came together quickly and I think that\u2019s what people loved about it, it was a very raw and passionate album. I think whereas now, now we think about the music and the song structures and what works and what doesn\u2019t as opposed to just firing out riffs and putting them on to tape, it\u2019s a very much more creative process and it\u2019s a lot more satisfying where before it was all about recording that anger, capturing that energy and excitement whereas now it\u2019s about recreating an atmosphere and making something that\u2019s haunting but has a lot of meaning and a lot of depth and Gallows is more multi-dimensional and less black and white now.<\/p>\n

Over the last few years we also saw the emergence of your own record label in VENN, has having this allowed Gallows to have the freedom that you truly want to make your own music?<\/strong>
\nI think like a lot of record labels there\u2019s always an expectation, like an underlying everything where a label is a business and they have to make money so they want a band to almost represent a certain sound or to be something that is clearly marketable and I feel like being in control of our own label it just means we can be free to do exactly what we want to do and make music the way we want to do it. Obviously as a result from that we have the chance to work with other bands and release their music, so I think like the label has benefited us in so many ways that we\u2019re really glad we decided to do it.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been to Australia a few times now, are there any plans on when we can expect you back?<\/strong>
\nI know that everyone\u2019s really busy this summer with work and other bands and other projects but I think it\u2019s just the case of finding that gap in everyone\u2019s schedule when we can get together and play some more gigs so I can\u2019t say for sure at the moment.<\/p>\n

Lastly, let\u2019s predict the future, so finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2015, Gallows will\u2026<\/strong>
\nOh God\u2026 that\u2019s a tough one\u2026 *pauses* oh man you\u2019ve really stumped me there\u2026 *pauses* I know, by the end of 2015 Gallows will not die\u2026<\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong>\u00a0Watford, Hertfordshire<\/p>\n

Band members:\u00a0<\/strong>Wade MacNeil \u2013 vocals, Laurent Barnard \u2013 guitars\/keys\/vocals, Stu Gili-Ross \u2013 bass, Lee Barratt \u2013 drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.gallows.co.uk<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong>\u00a0Desolation Sounds (out now \u2013 Venn Records \/ Double Cross Australia)<\/p>\n

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