Exposure: Galchen
Glasgow 3-piece, Galchen, are a band whose inventive mix of lush electronica, jagged danceable guitar-rock, and epic, layered soundscapes, not to mention, intricate visual art accompaniment, more than deserves to be turning more than heads in the city's dense populated musical environment. With a few shows already under their belt this year, and an upcoming appearance at Hinterland on the cards for the end of the month, there's every hope that the band will be a prominent force in the city and beyond in the coming years, but in the meantime, here's drummer, Peter Kelly with a few words on everything Galchen.
How Did Galchen start? How did you meet?
Gal (Paul Galagher - Bass) and Chenzo (Guitar) met at school in music class. I met Gal whilst he was recording an old band of mine. Galchen formed during this time when Gal asked me to try and play drums for him and Chenzo. After a few gigs, Iain joined but later left. The name is a mix of Gal and Chenzo. They had decided on this name before I joined so i didn't get a look in.
What do you aim for when writing your music?
Writing is a difficult process. Most of the time, practice is spent drinking coffee and humiliating each other. The rest of the time is quite productive. We throw ideas around until something feels good, then we will start figuring where we can go from there. It's a haphazard method but it works for us. We also try each others ideas at least once. Sometimes an idea for a song structure doesn't make sense until we try it. The writing has matured in the last year or so with Iain leaving to pursue a classical music education - when he left there was a gap in the music which we were eager to fill. It made us focus on more defined parts and also other ways of creating sampled synth style noises. This comes with electronic drum sounds and various effects pedals.
Your music often conjures a really interesting atmosphere. What collectively inspires you as musicians, be it other artists or other inspirations?
It's hard to say what inspires us but we all like similar things - dogs, colours, holidays, nice views, cats, free beer and good music. We also like visual art at the same time as good music which is why we have Gail Simpson. Gail provides live visuals along with our music - usually she works while we practise. I think listening to the songs inspires her creations.
Are you excited to part of a city that many would claim boasts an interesting and vibrant music scene?
Glasgow is a good place to be a musician. Bands are plentiful and the competition of a place like London doesn't exist. All the bands we know are supportive and it's same with us. Things like sharing backline or dressing room isn't a problem and bands here want to see each other do well. I think that's dead nice.