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This is an interview which appeared on a fanzine (from which the photos appearing here were taken) circulating as a folded flyer at the Gabrielles Wish gig at The Guzzling Goose in Ashton Under Lyne, December 10th 2005.
Rob Corless formed Gabrielles Wish in 1991. He named the band after his daughter. They were signed by New Order manager Rob Gretton in 1994 and have been a permanent fixture of the Manchester underground ever since, bubbling away beneath an ever evolving landscape of guitar led electronica.Who is GW?
Rob Corless (vocals), Bo Walsh (drums), Tim Walsh (lead guitar), Darren Moran (bass), Karen Leatham (keyboard, bass, guitar).
New Order boss Rob Gretton first signed you in 1994.
Yes, Rob signed us after Chris Nagle (New Order sound engineer) hassled him to come and listen to us. He was a good friend and mentor. He liked what we were doing. It was a good family. He gave me the oppoertunity, and GW, to get to the next stepping-stone: first EP, second EP and spiritually. We were all gutted when he died, but you have to pull your socks up. We started doing stuff on our own label and are still doing that today. That's what Rob talked us.
You're now under the wing of Butterfly Music AKA Tim Walsh.
Yes, he's an amazing person. He has the same enthusiasm, the same get up and go that Rob had. He has the same passion and believes in what we are doing.
You've now got a whole new set of tracks for the new album, REFORMER (out in the new year). What kind of an audience are you aiming at?
I want to do a lot of christenings and funerals, retirements and work dos [laughs]. No we don't really think about that. If people want to get on board then great, if not then I don't really give a fuck. We just want to get it out there. It's hard when you are still trying to be part of the system, but we will be touring.
Because you've always been bubbling as part of Manchester's underground, does that make GW more relevant up north?
No, not at all, it reaches beyond England.
To infinity and beyond?
Yes that's the one.
Member
This is one of the few tracks saved from the group's back catalogue of unrecorded tracks. It's about five or six years old and is about...
Sherman
This brand new track is an assault of references, people always telling you that they can get this and that. The chorus chants, 'I've got this and I've got that'...
Optical One
This track is about consumerism, trying to get a bank loan. All the lyrics are taken from a newspaper.
The band on music
Drummer Bo Walsh joined GW in 1999.
I'm really spiritual about music. I believe I'm here to do it. My dad named me after legendary Led Zeppelin John Bonham because he died the same year I was born. I became a drummer without knowing that, so I get a bit Buffhist about it and I believe in reincarnation for that very fact.
UK bands are richer, and musically better than those from the US. The sentiment is stronger, more anti-Establishment. GW fits into that. It's about emotion. It's born out of how we feel. Nothing is contrived, it all happens on the spot and becuase of that is peaceful: people seek solace in music, they find release in it.
Darren Moran has been playing bass sincen he was ten.
Music is everything to me really. I don't know where I would be without listening to music one day and what we do is just honest, it's never written down before we play it. I went to see Bloc Party with Bo and the sound is what we did two or three years ago. A lot of American bands such as The Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs came over here and seem to have influenced everyone over here. Britain has mixed it all together and come up with something better, something very English.
Ex Wonky Alice member, Karen Leatham knew GW for years before joining
I see myself on the periphery to the lads. Anything that is extra to what the lads do. There is a lot of power and dynamic in the music. It's expressive.
