a conversation with… the magic gang
Elisha had a chat with drummer Paeris Giles of Brighton’s The Magic Gang about their latest record and their time in lockdown.
I spoke with Paeris Giles of The Magic Gang about the release of their second album, Death of the Party, and living in the current world full of lockdowns and limitations.
It would have been rude for me to not ask how Giles was doing, especially what with releasing an album during the middle of a global pandemic. “I feel relieved, I forgot the amount of stress that surrounds this and what with these situations that you have absolutely no control over, I’m glad it’s out of my hands now. It almost feels like getting GCSE or A Level results!” The band had to push back the release of the album due to the current circumstances which can’t be an easy decision for anyone to make, albeit necessary right now. “I think we needed a bit more time anyway,” he explained, “I feel like had we released the album when it was due to come out it would’ve been quite different, and we needed a bit more time to reconnect with some of our fans as it’s been 2 years since we released any music whatsoever and, as bad as lockdown was/is for everyone around the world, it allowed us to do this.” The record had actually been finished late 2019, but they made sure not to listen to it too much as to not pick it apart, making it feel ‘almost new’ again by the time release date rolled around.
The band as a whole are very present on social media and interaction with fans can make all the difference; I know as a music fan if artists take time to speak with their audience I feel a lot more respect for and gratitude towards them. Paeris agreed, saying “It’s all about making people feel more involved; active engagement makes it slightly more tangible for people as fans. I remember growing up, the media was in a very different place, you didn’t really have that point of connection. It’s also nice for people to know that you don’t take yourself too seriously, you’re not some big character, you’re just the same as everyone else.”
Due to the world being in isolation, release dates weren’t the only things needing to be put on hold; obviously we haven’t been able to go to gigs since March, meaning any and all upcoming shows for all artists have to be rescheduled or in some cases cancelled. There are positives to this though, as it gives musicians time to tick over what they’re doing with their shows and make any amendments if they want to, “It gives us more time to iron out any sort of weird formalities that you probably would forget about. We haven’t done a proper headline tour since around late 2018 and we won’t be now until March next year so that’s quite a long time, it definitely helps us to level everything out as best as we can.”
The album has been described by critics as some form of guide to helping people through their 20’s, and although that not necessarily being their primary goal, it certainly helps with making sure you don’t feel so alone. “It’s more about us consolidating the fact that we’re no longer dealing with these sorts of troubles, even going from ages 20 to 23, those 3 years make a huge difference; you don’t necessarily have that umbrella of security with things like university or, as we found, having your mates around constantly, that’s sort of taken away. It makes you think ‘oh shit, I’m now of an age where people are expecting me to be an adult’, it’s more us coming to terms with that. If people can get something from it then that’s the main thing.”
In recent years we’ve seen vinyl records begin to make a comeback, and even more recently, cassette tapes. The Magic Gang are keen to encourage their fans to buy physical copies of their music, as I think all musicians should. Giles said he prefers the fidelity of it, and that “with cassettes it’s more affordable for people that want to support something, it’s only around a fiver and you’ve still got a tangible product, people seem to like that. You appreciate something as a work of art a bit more than if you’re just scrolling on your phone.” He was quick to follow up what he said by saying “I’m not calling ours a work of art, I’ll have to be careful what I say there,” however I reassured him that it is indeed a work of art and they should speak of it as such, to which he replied “your words, not mine,” but I’ll take that.
Upon first listen, one of the tracks that stuck out to me the most was ‘Take Back the Track’. It’s easy to spot what this song’s about; finding a new piece of music and instantly falling in love with it, wishing you could hear it for the first time all over again. “Jack, Kris and some of our mates went out to this soul night or something like that, and a DJ played this song called ‘Pretty Baby’ by Sister Sledge which is now what we come on stage to, and it’s just this really great song; it’s just really cool man. I can’t even describe it, it sounds like it’s really happy and positive but she’s actually describing something quite bleak.”
Giles also explained what ‘A World Outside My Door’ was inspired by, “It was written about the Extinction Rebellion movement. It’s basically an admission of guilt, at the time we were writing songs for this record and we were concerning ourselves so much over writing these songs and stressing out over this second album, whereas in the grand scheme of the world, massive things are taking place and we’re worrying about something that’s inconsequential. It’s about being self aware I think, that’s what I take from it.”
He rounded off by stating that doing as much as you are able to with things like these are so important, and that even just talking about them helps to raise awareness. We love a band that are self aware and ready to make changes if and when necessary. Death of the Party is available to buy and stream on all major platforms now.