Interview by Ed Stuart
Who’s answering the questions?
Terminal Gagger
Where is the band from?
London
Who is in the band and what instrument do
they play?
Terminal Gagger:
Vocals
Dagger Gagger:
Guitar & Vocals
Rudy Retch: Bass
& Vocals
Bushy Signal:
Drums & Vocals
How did the band start?
Me and Dagger
started it a few years ago after knowing each other for while and being in
different bands and stuff so we decided to start a band together and initially
there was my cousin Chris (Busy Signal) on drums and I played bass as well as
singing. Then after a bunch of 7”s and our first LP Rip You Apart, Chris left to study medicine. He’s pretty handy with
a knife.
What bands did you have in mind when
starting this band?
Definitely early
GG / Jabbers, Dead Boys, Pagans, Eater…snotty,
straightforward punk rock.
Why the decision to move from a three
piece to a four piece?
That was because
Chris left. So we found a new drummer, Bushy, who had already been in loads of
bands with Dagger, and I gave up the bass to just sing, and we recruited Rudy.
According to the band’s bio, The Gaggers got together through a
staunch hatred of everything new and polished. This motto is definitely evident
in the band’s decision to record in such a raw fashion. Is this hatred a
comment on your local scene or music in general?
We just all like
real punk rock which, to us, needs to have that rawness and urgency otherwise
it loses the ‘punk’ and just becomes ‘rock’. Nothing wrong with that but that’s
not what we’re going for. There needs to be energy and bile.
Judging by how fast Gaggers singles sell
out seems like you have a fan base that supports “out with the new and in with
the old!” motto. One of the YouTube comments on your Hostage video is “the
return of true punk in the UK after 20 years of total embarrassment.” Vibrator Buzz called “The Gaggers . . . the new 100 Club,
[and] the new Roxy.” Does this have
any effect on what the band does or the band operates? I would think the band
would have to be happy with generating such a supportive fan base. Most bands
are lucky to have one single sell out. Does that band have any thoughts on
this?
We are
definitely happy with compliments like that! People like Dirk at Vibrator Buzz
know the score! I’ve always said that there’s nowhere to go in punk except
backwards. We’re nearly 40 years behind the times and proud of it! The whole
London punk scene at the moment has a very genuine late ‘70’s feel – the sound,
the look, everything. The No Front Teeth connection
helps to sell the records fast but I truly believe this is what people have
been waiting for from London punk rock and there are a bunch of us doing it –
The Ten-0-Sevens, The Ricky C. Quartet,
Johnny Throttle, The Unreleasables, Thee Spivs, all the other bands we’re
involved with…
Considering members of Gaggers also play in Teenage Tricks, Disco Lepers, Botox Rats,
Black List Brigade, The Blowouts, The Seminals, The Troubadours, The Hateful,
Needle Automatics, Dagger Dicks, and The London Guns; how do you find time
for Gaggers with the members in all these other bands? Also seems like you guys
are creating a scene in London with all these bands. How is the punk scene in
London?
We are all
workaholics!! We also all have full-time jobs too. Some of those bands are now
defunct like the Disco Lepers, Blacklist
Brigade, The Blowouts, Seminals, Hateful and Dagger Dicks. As I said
earlier, the London punk is great – but very small so a lot of the scene is
made up of bands! I think a lot of foreign punks think that when they come to
London they will see the scene of 1977…unfortunately not, it’s not really that
vibrant a scene. It’s cool, but small.
Explain the connection with No Front Teeth records.
I started No Front Teeth over ten years ago with
my friend Jon and we still both run it to this day. There was a time when there
were loads of people involved but we stripped it right back down to the two of
us. We originally started as a zine but then started to put out records by our
own bands and also to put out music by bands that we loved especially in the
form of compilations. We really wanted to get a lot of those Hostage and
Disaster bands more coverage in Europe.
Do you think music can still be a vital
force in such a disposable age?
Definitely. The
power of music will never die. I actually think music is more powerful now than
ever even with the digital age supposedly killing it. Also, punks are
traditionalists and will keep vinyl alive forever. No Front Teeth is a 7” label and the 7” is perhaps the most
obsolete format of music, apart from the eight track! But it also holds a
really powerful position – people respect the 7” and really chase it.
How is the new record entitled Blame You coming along? Any scheduled release date?
It’s taking a while longer than expected but it’s coming along really well. All the drums are recorded. The bass and rhythm guitars are done and some of the vocals. So we still need to record the lead guitars, finish the vocals and also the backing vocals. Then there’s the mixing…so I think we’re looking at a late Summer release hopefully.
50 years ago people used to buy music and
get their water for free, now people pay for water and get their music for
free. How do you think this affects music in any way?
I’m glad that
people are downloading music for free – it was about time that the music
industry suffered. I know that’s a strange thing to say being in a band and
running a record label but I think that the greed had to stop. As I said, punks
are traditionalists so we’re not really affected by that at all. I see a lot of
Gaggers stuff available for download
on blogs and I take it as a compliment. Someone took the time to upload the
music so that others could download it – that’s fine. Also, so much of our
stuff is now out of print so how else are people supposed to hear it?
Where can people hear the band?
On blogs! Maybe iTunes at some point…or come see us live.
What’s next?
We are on the
soundtrack for a new horror movie called ‘Bath Salt Zombies’ that has just been
released and some other bands are the Murder
Junkies, Antiseen, Dwarves, Meatmen…so we’re in good company! I guess we’ll
start writing record number three. More shows. More 7”s, some splits…all good
shit to get you gagging. Cheers.
