Gasmac Gilmore On Spring 2017 Tour Now

Article Contributed by SoundToPeople | Published on Sunday, April 30, 2017

Gasmac Gilmore - Gogol Bordello meets Kaizers Orchestra meets System of a down

They traveled the world, they drank from the fountains of madness, they nibbled at the forbidden fruits of wisdom and laved at the shores of freedom. They are vagabonds, united by their wish to crush frontiers, tear down walls and open dams. Not only with their music, but also within our hearts. They will stop at nothing until they achieved this and absolutely refuse to take any prisoners whatsoever. Enter Gasmac Gilmore, sinners galore and the massively rocking heralds of a new age.

“Emir Kusturica's new favorite band”, trade magazine Melodies & Rhythms judged, even the strongly conservative Rock Hard's couldn't help but be enthused by their “Polka on speed”. What we are talking about here is one of these rare sensations proving even after 66 wild years of Rock'n'Roll that originality isn't something that can be bought or studied. Either you got it. Or you don't. Gasmac Gilmore got it. Their reservoir of musical astonishments and aural surprises seems as inexhaustible as Kustirica's visionary visual worlds. Gogol Bordello meets Kaizers Orchestra meets System Of A Down – witty, ludicrous, insane from tip to toe.

Some things can't and shouldn't be explained. They should be sensed. Gasmac Gilmore is one of them. A Viennese band consisting of members who one day felt that pure Death Metal just wasn't enough anymore. A band boldly engrossing all the dichotomies of the unmatched indulgence and morbidity of their home town on four prior albums. Where Orient meets Occident, where the river Danube flushes Western culture into the haven of the Black Sea they chose to settle down, becoming the fearless and somewhat lunatic pioneers in the borderlands of allegedly disparate cultures. “The geographic vicinity to Eastern Europe already left its mark on the local music scene in the 19th century”, drummer Max Berner says. “A massive Balkan hype emerged around a club called Ostklub, not failing to ignite us as a band.” Victor Ezio Gabriel adds: “We love to combine things that don't belong together at first glance. Like a battery-powered tube amp and a crowded Viennese underground carriage during rush hour.” Yes, it really happened! And what's more: “All these tired people getting home from work suddenly grabbed our beer cans, began to dance and even forgot to leave the train.”

It is important to note, however, that Gasmac Gilmore are not your typical vernacular brand of semi-traditional group setting out to proclaim a new Viennese dandy revolution using the momentum of their iconic artist Falco. On their first German album “Begnadet für das Schöne” (“Blessed by Beauty”) Gasmac Gilmore prove to be the band everyone will be talking about in 2017. This is not a forecast. It is a warning. Their music is a sweaty stampede through Alt-Metal, thrashing Rock, tongue-in-cheek Polka Punk, Balkan chuzpe and the fury of Klezmer. To add even more megalomania to their antics, the new album title “Begnadet für das Schöne” is a direct quote from Austria's national anthem! “It is a very strange sentence which of course didn't fail to impress us”, vocalist and guitarist Matthias Wick grins wickedly. “Usually, you are considered 'blessed' for something you're really good at. For being blessed for our sense of beauty? That doesn't sound like hard work, but more like that certain type of hedonism quite common in Austria.” With this in mind, the album cover fits like a glove: On it, Gasmac Gilmore sport swanky gingham pattern pullovers while playing golf at a miniature golf course and cheer at a couple of Wrestlers while having Champagne. “Decadence, hedonism and a certain disconnection from reality are the essential pillars carrying this album”, Elias Berner (guitar) says. “We approach it via our very own irony and make a point not to take ourselves too seriously.”

In the past, a multitude of sources compared their breakneck approach to that of esteemed icons System Of A Down. A bold move indeed. But a move not unjustified. Apart from the uncanny vocal similarities of Matthias to dervish Serj Tankian, it is the throbbing push towards eclecticism and a glaring aversion against blinkers of all sorts that justifies a comparison like this. “We were never about playing authentic Balkan music. Others are way better at that than we are”, Max points out regarding the vast breadth of influences. “Beginning as a Rock band, we just wanted to push the envelope as far as we can.” Metal, Rock, Polka, Punk, Klezmer, Blues, Pop? Gasmac Gilmore dance on the graves of obsolete drawers and smilingly beckon their listeners to join in their enraptured dance macabre. Ultimately, everything they do is blessed by their sense of beauty.

Tour de nations

As of this day, daredevilry has a new hero. It's called Gasmac Gilmore and is leading this enterprise begun in 2002 to unprecedented heights. A cornucopia of musical ardor, Storm and Stress in an universe of Metal, Rock and Balkan folklore. There is no “no” in their language, between two stools is where they sit best. Then again, this troupe never finds time to sit down anyway. After gigs in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Romania, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slowakia and the Netherlands, the conquering of uncharted territory is right on top of their ambitious agenda. It was not for nothing that Germany's rather merciless online magazine laut.de found these explicit words: “The fact that this team is not playing the festival stages throughout Europe is a nuisance that must be rectified immediately.” And it will be. With gusto, Gasmac Gilmore trample down genre limitations like a pack of scallywags stealing fruits off the neighbors' trees. Unconventional like a die hard Heavy Metal fan at a Balkan party, unrestrained like a Gypsy celebration at full moon, bursting with ideas like a think tank full of geniuses and crazy like a witch after too many magic shrooms... Gasmac Gilmore is all that and yet so much more. A shapeshifter with a twinkle in his eyes and melancholy in his heart, daydreamer and nightwalker, lost in reverie and yet rooted firmly in the here and now. Heavenly joy, followed by deadly sorrow, thirsty and hung over, optimistic and critical, enthusiastic and elegiac. Colorful like life, loud like life, wonderful like life, strange like life, unique like life. And by now also officially “blessed by beauty”.

Euro Live Gigs:

30.04. DE - Sonthofen, Barfly

12.05. AT – Wien, B72

27.05.-28.05. DE – Köln, Roleplayconvention

29.06.-30.06. DE – Düsseldorf, Sommerkult

01.07. AT - Weiz, Cross Check Festival

05.07. CZ - Hradec Kralove, Rock for People

08.07. DE – Halle/Köln, Rhein Rock Festival

25.07. DE – München, Free and Easy

04.08.-05.08. DE – Gössnitz, Open Air

26.08. DE - Rudolstadt, Residenzschloß Heidecksburg (Support von IN EXTREMO)

27.08. DE - Hanau, Amphitheater Hanau(Support von IN EXTREMO)