Johnny and The Giros
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Johnny and The Giros

Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom | SELF

Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom | SELF
Band Alternative EDM

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Martin’s must watch – Johnny and The Giros."

Martin’s must watch – JATG

Rather than doing a “must watch in 2012? I’m going to simply put it as a “must watch” column, simply because, for most of these musicians (not just for the band today) I’m sure they’ll be around a lot longer than 2012.

The band today is Johnny and the Giros or JATG for short. This six piece from Stirling, Scotland are all about their funky, infectious, electro beats and not in a awful, cringeworthy 1990's way. When you go to a JATG gig you can guarantee they’ll have you’re foot tapping from the off. Infact, they’re doing it like no other band right now and definitely deserve some recognition. They don’t try to imitate anyone else and they make each song they do their own, they make each performance memorable and so far with music videos they make those, extremely memorable. Which is why, and they have been for many years one of my favourite unsigned bands.

The band are Mikey O’Donnell (Vocals) , Andy Butler (Synth/Vocals), John Keith (Guitar), Al Mullan (Guitar), Gary Neill (Bass/Vocals) and last by no means least Scott Forsyth (Drums/Vocals).

JATG formed in 2009 and since then toured various venues up and down the country, released their debut single (SY:NC), supported a variety of well known acts including The Sunshine Underground, Fenech Soler and The Dykeenies as well as working with Andy Monaghan of Frightened Rabbit fame on Stirling’s ‘Tolbooth Sessions’ compilation. The band have also headlined and sold out King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow.

2012 started off extremely well for the band as they found out they were nominated for an award at the annual SAMA awards (Scottish alternative Music Awards) as part of the Best Rock/Alternative category. Along with that they announced a new music video along with their long awaited second single.

For the band, yesterday, February 10th 2012 marked a special night for them, infact they launched their second single “The Day That Friction Overcame Fun”. The track, which is available practically everywhere now – including iTunes has also been released with a fantastic video that fans have been waiting for what feels like a lifetime.

Words - Martin Lamont. - imediamonkey


"Johnny and The Giros - ‘The Day That Friction Overcame Fun’"

Johnny and The Giros – The Day That Friction Overcame Fun

With a drum roll and the lyrics “Steal my lightning and give it back to Zeus!”, Johnny And The Giros immediately grab your attention with their new single, ‘The Day That Friction Overcame Fun’ (which I’ll now refer to as TDTFOF as I can’t be arsed typing it all out again). And they keep it (your attention that is; pay attention!) throughout the song, attacking the listener with a cavalcade of noise that doesn’t let up at any point.

For the uninitiated, Johnny And The Giros are a quite superb band from Scotland who play electronic tinged indie music. And they do it rather well. TDTFOF is a great example of their fare, replete with all the elements that make Johnny And The Giros such a thrilling prospect. For a reference point, think about a band that manages to comprise components of Bloc Party, Delphic and Foals yet sounds utterly fresh. If they continue to release music this good, then hopefully they’ll soon be talked about at the same level as those bands.

Anyway, back to TDTFOF and it being a great example of Johnny And The Giros’ fare. A deep, almost funky bass punctuates the song for the duration, whilst a frenzy of drumming keeps what off kilter rhythm there is going. A synth beat also pervades, and throw in a little guitar and some myriad sound effects and you’ve got the ingredients for a great tune. The song builds to a cracking crescendo that erupts into an orgy of synth based fun, ending with the chorus lyrics of “What you didn’t know was that I was waiting from that day friction overcame fun”.

As was I. Well no, not really. But it’s a great song, and my often incoherent ramblings don’t do it justice. Give it a listen (or many) and you’ll see for yourself. You may also have found a new favourite band.



The Day That Friction Overcame Fun is out now and available from all the usual online sites

Stuart Manson
- Aberdeen Student Radio Blog.


"Johnny and The Giros -‘The Day That Friction Overcame Fun’"

Record review: Johnny and The Giros – ‘The Day That Friction Overcame Fun’

Frenetic fast paced electro awaits you on ‘The Day That Friction Overcame Fun’, a bouncy number that echoes New Order with the addition of modern day indie ingredients – spindly, pointed guitar patterns; tight and tempered drumming; and cart wheeling vocals that attack again and again.

So far so good, structurally they’ve put a middle eight before the solo which feels out of place but everything else about this track screams quality.

With a name like Johnny and The Giros, I should expect an enthralling live show that could pull the top of this track and really push further than this glass ceiling track takes you.

It’s a good show all in all, but feels limited once moved into the studio.

Words: Matthew Slater - RAVECHILD


"Music Review - Johnny and The Giros"

Deborah McArthur writes about a new discovery she recently made at Stereo.

Torrential rain didn’t stop fans coming out to see Johnny and the Giros at Stereo. Their merchandise T-shirts were on every 2nd person in the place and it made me feel like I had been missing out on something. I had never seen this band before so didn’t now what to expect; I thought they’d probably just be another Indie guitar band.

The six guys took to the stage, and for the first couple of songs I wasn’t 100% sold on them. I felt their music was disjointed. But like any new music I listen to, it takes a few tracks for me to get a handle on their style and before I knew it my toes were tapping. They’re not your usual guitar band: they have heavy bass lines and electronic synths which are contagious.

I am a dance and trance music lover, so any excuse to jump around to a good piece of electronic music and I’m there. But to have the live band encompassed in this was brilliant. I liked the way they combined many different styles and sounds and I realised their music wasn’t disjointed-it was unpredictable, which is hard in this day in age to create something that sounds fresh. Normally at a gig I know when a bass line is going to kick in or the music is going to build and the crowd is going to go nuts, but with Johnny and the Giros they kept me guessing.

My favourite track of the gig was “For Ourselves”. The chords of the synth at the start then the single vocal coming in made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I also liked “Titan”, the way it changes about is brilliant, and listening to the Bovine Edit online is fab!! As you may have guessed since coming back from the gig I’ve been cyber stalking them; checking them out on MySpace, and adding them on Facebook.

This is definitely a band I want to see go far and next time I’ll make sure I have my dancing shoes on. - Across the Arts


Discography

Ladies and Gentlemen EP 2009
SYNC (Single) 2010
The Day Friction Overcame Fun (Single) 2012

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Bio

Johnny and The Giros are a unique brand of electronic indie incorporating massive vocal hooks and infectious synth lines delicately balanced with reverb coated guitars. The band formed in 2009 and since then have headlined and sold out the prestigious King Tuts, toured various venues up and down the UK, released their debut single (SY:NC), supported established acts such as The Sunshine Underground, Fenech Soler and The Dykeenies as well as working with Andy Monaghan of Frightened Rabbit fame on Stirling's 'Tolbooth Sessions' compilation. JATG release their second single "The Day That Friction Overcame Fun" on 10th Feb 2012.