Interview: The Gun Shys

Stylistically you share at least some influences with The Killers and The Bravery. It’s been revealed that both of those bands have "ska"letons in the closet. If people go digging deep enough into The Gun Shys past (former bands) is there anything that you’re afraid they might find?

No (laughs), before the gun shys the three of us had a band called killers & kings. It was a rootsy rock band into early stones, t-rex , lots of blues. It was a Six piece piano two guitars and all of that,it was great fun. The first thing we ever played as the three of us back in 97' was a cover of jimi hendrix "hey joe".

How many label deals do you currently have on the table and how many have you already turned down? PLEASE don’t tell me that you haven’t been approached by any labels yet.

not paying to close attention to all that, weve got some wonderful people working with us and they handel that end of it.


You must have a superfan (or superfans)? Would you care to publicly acknowledge that person (those people) and tell us what that person has done to earn the title of "superfan"?

have we got superfans ? that fantastic, if they exist id like to send a massive hug and kiss there way.

What was the strategy behind releasing an EP rather than a full length? Are you using it as bait to lure in the big fish? Did you just want to have something available to sell at shows? Do you not have enough songs or money to record a full length?

strategy is something the suits worry about, we were much more concerned with recording some songs and making them available for people to hear. With the exception of sales over the internet we’ve given most of our EPs away free of charge. As a way to sort of turn people onto what were doing. Songs and money had little to do with the fact that we havent recorded a full lenght yet. Its more to do with giving people a snap shot of the band you know an introduction before we do a proper full length.


And, of course, the follow up is when can we expect a full length? Will you include songs from the EP on the full length or will you give fans 10 or 12 new songs?

Expect a full length early '06. Its quite possible the record will include a few tunes from the EP seeing as how we’ve only pressed something like 2000 of those so to most folks everything will be a first time listen. The EP is really just a demo recorded in our mates garage. The record will have at the most three songs from the EP and the rest will be new tunes.

I don’t know the inner workings of the record industry, but I always assumed that the labels pick the song to release as a single because they’ve done market research. Which song from the EP do YOU think has the potential to be the big hit? (Yes, I’ve got my own opinion – "Easy on the Eyes").

I don’t know much about it either mate. Words like market research and big hits mean fuck all to me . Let the kids, let the people decide what there favorite tunes are. In my mind they all have a life of there own. Id rather get on with writing new songs then sitting around wondering which ones gonna be the smash single.

Has the British press caught wind of The Gun Shys yet? It seems as if they are often the trendsetters when it comes to promoting/publicizing new bands and that even U.S. bands can get off to a good running start with a press kit full of clips from NME.

To my knowledge we are still flying a bit under their radar. I speak to lots of kids from the UK, a lot of wonderful people who are really enthusiastic about music and really positive which is fantastic. Actually come to think of it a few writers from the NME have contacted us, they can be extraordinary hype men over there, with headlines that read: the re-birth of the stones or the second coming of the beatles and all that, but I think on a whole they have fine taste in the UK. A lot of the bands we hold most dear are from the UK.

As I send you these questions from the middle of Ohio, I think to myself, "This is a band that must have a HUGE buzz in L.A. They must play in front of 300 people every time they hit the stage. They must walk around the streets of L.A. and have to stop every few feet to sign autographs." What is the reality? Are people paying attention to you or is L.A. a dog-eat-dog world where you really have to struggle to get people to show up to a Tuesday night show?

The kids in LA are hip to what’s going on. I know a lot of em' go out almost every night. Its always such a pleasure to show up at the gig have a look around and there’s loads of kids hanging around. All your friends there waiting for you y'know, such a blessing. Every gig is a bit different really, depending on the place. So no not much of a struggle it’s a pleasure really.

Speaking of Ohio, it seems as if just everybody has some sort of Ohio connection (at least if you watch the local news that’s what they have you believe; they can connect ANY world event with Ohio – "One of the 14 people killed in the suicide bombing in Iraq has a third cousin from Columbus. We sent one of our reporters out to the cousin’s house to get a reaction.") Do you have any Ohio connections? Stories? Relatives that live here?

Neil Young did a great tune called "Ohio" and I love that tune. But yeah we know some good people from there.


What L.A. bands do you consider to be "buzzworthy"?

A lot of the bands we play with are good friends who are well deserving of attention. Off the top of my head: The After-hours, and The Vacation, Giant Drag. The new BRMC record is absolutely brilliant and im really rooting for those guys.

There is a solo artist that goes by the name Gun Shy who apparently lives in California and plays out on occasion. Have you discovered that that has led to any confusion? I read a live Gun Shy review somewhere (I think at skratch.com) and it mentioned this guy playing a solo show and I was sure that it was a special acoustic show by THE Gun Shys though the description of the music didn’t seem to match the music I heard on the EP.

Yeah that was brought to my attention a while back ( great name man ). Hasn’t cause much confusion that im aware of. We wish em' all the best and if people get turned on to either of us by mistake then all the better.

I’m old enough to remember the days when people learned about new bands through fanzines and by taking a chance at buying a 7" by a band they had never heard of. Now, technology is a huge factor in the music world. What are your feelings about how technology (MP3s, downloading, My space, etc) help and hurt a band?

The internet has been a massive helping hand. We really encourage people to get ahold of our music however they can. You know preview a few tunes online that’s brilliant, I do it all the time. And the internet is great for that. On the other hand as far as a record goes, to me if you dig a band its just in poor taste to not go buy the album, cause the act of buying a record is an experience man, one I’ve always loved. You buy the album you take it home listen to it read the liner notes and really soak it up which is the beauty of it. It’s like you listen to it the way it was intended to be listened to. And its nice to show your support.

You’ve got a lot of "friends" on My space (including myself). Have you found any real value out of having that many "friends"? Have you sold a lot of EPs to "friends"? Have you seen a dramatic increase in how many people come out to a show based on your bulletin board announcements on My space?

It certainly doesn’t hurt, we accept anyone that wants to be our friend. It’s a fine way of keeping in touch with people who are into your music or have questions and that sort of thing. As far as selling records and getting people out to shows its there if you want it, the communication you know like, hey we posted a new song or hey babies were playing on wed. night or whatever it is.