I sat down with musician George Gadd on an unusually sunny October lunch time to chat about his ten-year anniversary of performing, his upcoming UK tour and some the highlights of his time in music.
Going back to the start with George’s first ever performance, he told me that he used to have “floppy emo hair” and even put on an American accent which he admits is really cringey to look back on. Apparently, there are videos out there although George assured me that they are very well hidden.
Although George started ten years ago, it wasn’t until about two years ago that his music career started picking up and he started to make a little money from it. He stressed that for anybody wanting to go into music and performing they need to make connections and he praised DHP for helping him to put on shows and get more involved in shows than he ever has done before. He also said that you need to play while you can and while you have time and that one of his regrets is not playing more when he was younger.
I asked him what his biggest problem was to overcome when he’s been performing, and he admitted that the one thing that makes him angry is when people talk during shows, even if it isn’t himself performing. He reminisced about a Brian Fallon acoustic show at Rock City in 2011 where Brian Fallon actually called a group of fans out for talking and they ended up leaving. George himself also has asked fans to ‘be quiet’ in perhaps more colourful language than that, and he said more advice for new musicians is to do the same.
George has played a lot of shows in Nottingham and puts in a lot of time and effort to get out there. He recently played Beeston’s Oxjam twice in the same day, and also played five shows in one day with Buenos Treehouse. He said that he prefers to play with a full band rather than alone but at the moment, his up and coming UK tour is just his “Car and guitar”.
When asked what his favourite memory from his time performing was, George said that it would be at this year’s 2000 Trees Festival where BBC Music Introducing in the West asked him to cover Frightened Rabbit’s “Swim until you can’t see land” He said it was an honour to perform the song but also really nerve wracking because that was the biggest crowd he had played in front of and it was a lot of responsibility.
George also said that Splendour was a highlight, but the sound quality let it down, and that Beat the Streets in Nottingham is always good fun. He also enjoys Hockley Hustle and will be playing his fourth Hockley Hustle in a row on October 28th. He hopes that his future UK tour will create some moments that will go into his highlights.
The UK tour starts on November 17th at The Maze in Nottingham which is a Weezer covers, Stars in Their Eyes evening, with a full band and will go to places including The Anvil in Bournemouth and the Mother’s Ruin in Bristol- both cities George has never been to before and he’s looking forward to exploring. He will also be back in Nottingham on the 24th November at City Arts. Heading further into the future, George said that there’s a possibility of a single coming out next year but he’s not rushing it and there’s no pressure.
George Gadd- photographer Toby Gray
George performs as a support act for a lot of shows and so I asked him who his dream artist would be to support. Straight away he replied Bruce Springsteen but said that he never has support acts so maybe The National instead. A joint Bruce Springsteen and The National would be perfect.
Also, George said that he would love to play alongside the “most talented member of the Bugg dynasty”- Kate Auburn. However, he said that it is unfortunate because she seems to be pulling away from music and focussing on her career instead.
George did spend a lot of the interview recommending bands and artists to go and listen to and people he has worked with that have helped and supported him. To name a few, he said that The Maple State, Dandylions and Bill Kerry III (who he said he aspires to be like when he’s older) are all people to watch out for. He also said he loves playing shows with The Shrives and that Ben Smith and Ben Marwood are fantastic people. He made it very clear that there are 100’s of amazing people who have supported him and that he hopes he hasn’t offended people by not mentioning them.
The fact that so much of the interview was spent talking about how fantastic George thought other people are says a lot about his character. He’s very modest when it comes to talking about himself and considers himself lucky that he gets to work alongside such helpful people, but you can’t ignore the fact that George has worked and continues to work incredibly hard so that he can perform as much as possible.
I would definitely recommend going to see George Gadd at either Hockley Hustle on Sunday 28th October or during his UK tour which takes him to Nottingham on the 18th of November at The Maze as well as to City Arts on the 24th November.
Feature image photographer - Lucy Beth Photography
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