From Joe Talbot bellowing ‘LOVE’ at the top of his lungs to critical darlings such as Yard Act and Fontaines DC, the past few years have witnessed a renaissance of big bolshy guitar bands. And in Scotland, it’s easy to see Gallus (a boisterous rock outfit who worship at the feet of Rivers Cuomo, Billie Joe Armstrong and Frank Black) as the future poster boys of that revival. These Glasgow lads have become synonymous with chaotic live shows overseen by their frontman-cum-ringmaster Barry Dolan, a frantic showman with the energy and chutzpah to crowd surf an empty room.

With new members Gianluca Bernacchi and Matthew McGoldrick recently added to the Gallus roster, band co-founder and guitarist Eamon Ewins is aware more than ever that diehard fans don’t visit their gigs for a mellow experience. ‘The very least you need to do is give a good live show,’ Ewins insists. ‘If some new guy came on stage with us and performed like a cadaver, they wouldn’t last very long.’ Particularly with the scrappy presence of Dolan, it’s tempting to think that the brat-punk noise created by this five-piece emerged fully formed, yet Gallus were slow to build their talents. ‘We were shite for a few years,’ confesses Ewins, who cuts an unassuming presence when we catch up on Zoom. ‘I mean, absolutely terrible. Because we’d never really been in a band before, we didn’t know what a dynamic was or what we were supposed to sound like. But since around 2019, we’ve got better at it and slowly became whatever we are just now.’

The culmination of that progress arrived in the form of 2023’s We Don’t Like The People We’ve Become, a breakneck collection of tunes that have all the hallmarks of being machine-tooled in a live setting, harnessing the loud-quiet-loud dynamics of OG Pixies and the homegrown pop punk of Paws or early Idlewild to capture the thrill of a small sweaty venue.

‘It’s been a pretty good year since the album came out,’ admits Ewins. ‘But I’m the sort of person who just thinks “OK, what’s next?” as soon as a big project is finished. For the past year, we’ve been extremely prolific. We released our new single “Wash Your Wounds” a few months ago and we’d love to have a new EP out by the end of this year.’

While not unreflective, there’s a palpable desire for their music to be felt more than thought about, to be embraced in a full-throated, head-banging enthusiasm. These are songs that make gestures towards politics, relationships and the social issues that keep you awake at night, but sonically they’re an unpretentious projection of joy to escape workaday gloom.

‘I want to give people an energy they can feed off when they come to our shows. I really hate music that has a high idea of itself. Musicians are terrible for believing they’re prophets, but we can’t change the world like that. We can change someone’s mood and that might improve their day. That’s what we want a gig to be: an hour of people letting loose.’

Gallus play TRNSMT’s River Stage, Glasgow Green, Saturday 13 July; main picture: Elliot Hetherton.