GANS + HEAVY – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 2.9.25
Our team is always on the scout for exciting new acts, and we certainly discovered a number of top quality acts during this year’s Great Escape new music festival back in May. One of these outstanding new discoveries were friends Thomas Rhodes and Euan Woodman who collectively are electro-punk/rock West Midlands duo GANS, who we were fortunate to catch a couple of times (See at the foot of this review).
The lads, who stylize the band’s name and all of their tunes in capitals, opened up their recording account with the release of the track ‘What You Mean’ back in December 2023. A month later ‘Harry’s Tune’ saw the light of day and in March last year ‘Talk Too Much’ was released and was swiftly followed a month later by their ‘Business’ earworm. At the height of last summer they dropped yet another tune, this being ‘Dirty Cowboy’ and their first physical release appeared back in February with the arrival of their 5-track self-titled cassette. Three months prior to this, the duo absconded from Birmingham and headed west to a remote cottage in Wales where they wrote material for their debut album. They then headed to Sheffield to record the material with Ross Orton. The fruits of their labour will hit the record shops on 19th September, as the 11-tunes contained on ‘Good For The Soul’ will truly signify the arrival of the band to the world. Pre-order your copy HERE.
In support of this debut long-player GANS announced an 8-date UK tour calling in at Brighton, Leeds, Bristol, Nottingham, Birmingham, London, Manchester and Wrexham. Tonight is their opening night and we (and they) are at the ever-popular Green Door Store which has been put on by JOY. promoters. This is a far cry from our 15th May encounter (below) as there were only around 20 folk in attendance at that bash, whereas tonight that have sold out the venue and it’s clear that in such a short space of time that the word-of-mouth recommendations from those in the know are seriously being made a note of. This will obviously immediately increase from 17 days time when the record comes out. Thus we get the feeling that tonight’s gig is going to be a bit special! Special, it is indeed, as both Euan and Thomas are stoked to be playing the first date for the first ever headline tour and it’s a sold out affair. It’s not just Brighton either, as a number of the forthcoming concerts have also sold out.
So what’s all the fuss about? Well OK, imagine wrapping SNAYX, AK/DK and Soft Play all into one and you’ll have the sound and the energy!
This evening we are served 11 tracks across a 48 minute set from 9:01pm to 9:49pm. Eight of these will appear on the forthcoming platter, so we have a very good idea of how good the record is going to be. Hopefully their live energy will get transferred as well. Just in case we failed to get the title of the record, its title is emblazoned a handful of times on a banner at the rear of the stage. The minimalistic drumkit is positioned sideways to us on stage left (our right) and the keys and electronic gubbings are across the stage on the other side. The room is already hot and sweaty and rearing to go…
Euan and Thomas take to the stage and are clearly moved at the reception they receive from us punters. “Good evening Brighton, you crazy motherf*ckers”. We are informed that this recently became their jobs and that they very much appreciate it, in reference to the full-house. For almost all of the tracks Thomas flits between bass guitar and the electronics, and even adds a guitar in the mix for at least one tune. Although Euan is the drummer, there is absolutely no hint of second fiddle here, just like the aforementioned Soft Play. The vocals are shared between the guys, which certainly keeps our attention. They naturally kick off with a medley of the first two tunes from the LP, these being ‘A Fool’ and ‘In Time’, the basslines are as meaty as f*ck and the constant drumming beats are pure joy. The electronics and keys play their part as well and add that different dimension to their sound. ‘It’s Just Life’ (from the album) follows and this veers more to their electronic sound and AK/DK springs to mind. We are then rewarded with two cuts from the self-titled cassette release, these being ‘Talk Too Much’ and ‘Dirty Cowboy’.
After a short while Euan vacates his drumstool and ventures into the crowd and cries of “Hallelujah” are a constant theme here. We are indeed being preached to. A handful of tunes from the LP are delivered next and there is mosh-pit action for many of these. We are at the front and certain individuals near us are clearly casting one eye on the band and the other on the revellers, partly to absorb the fun and also just to check that they don’t get sent flying. It’s not an evil pit though, it’s just the younger folk having fun!
Before we know it, they are on their final number and we are rewarded with an encore as well. “Brighton you crazy motherf*ckers” was stated at the end after their ‘Business’ earworm that was it. To say that Thomas, Euan and the punters were elated, would be something of an understatement! GANS….you read it here first!
GANS:
Thomas Rhodes – vocals, bass, keys, electronics, guitar
Euan Woodman – drums, vocals
GANS setlist:
‘A Fool’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Good For The Soul’ album)
‘In Time’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Good For The Soul’ album)
‘It’s Just Life’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Good For The Soul’ album)
‘Talk Too Much’ (a 2024 single & from 2025 ‘GANS’ cassette EP)
‘Dirty Cowboy’ (a 2024 single & from 2025 ‘GANS’ cassette EP)
‘Nightwalking’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Good For The Soul’ album)
‘I Think I Like You’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Good For The Soul’ album)
‘The Kings Head’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Good For The Soul’ album)
‘This Product Dub’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Good For The Soul’ album)
‘Oh George’ (from forthcoming 2025 ‘Good For The Soul’ album)
(encore)
‘Business’ (a 2024 single & from 2025 ‘GANS’ cassette EP)
Support on the tour comes from Hungry who are Jacob Peck, Kit Thomas, Stan Rankin and Jas Malig, who have gravitated to Manchester from further south. This is their first UK tour and they released their debut EP ‘Are You The Best Yet?’, last week, having previously dropped a half dozen singles since 2022.
Tonight we are served 8 rockin’ numbers with, as far as I can tell, a trio of yet to be released tunes. They commenced with two of these ‘The Love Song’ and ‘Cambridge Is On Fire’, before launching into the first of a trio of cuts from ‘Are You The Best Yet?’ EP, this being ‘The Hound’. They’re an energetic bunch who are very much singing off the same song sheet. Jacob certainly wants to spread the message about what every tune is about as after each number he recaps each song in performance order from the top each time. Thus far we had the first tune was “About love”, the second song was about “Where we are from”, then the third one was “About dogs”. The final unreleased song was up next and its title is ‘My Best Dress’ and after the tune we were informed by Jacob that it was “About dresses!”. It’s a quirky, unique approach, but one in which cleverly got the punters on board as they were grasping what was coming and joined in shouting out what the tracks were about.
‘The Jig’ was next, and guess what…it was “About dancing!”. Now up until this point, for yours truly they have been an interesting watch, but the ante was upped with the arrival of ‘Eat Me’ from the EP as this had a Stooges vibe going down. Their penultimate offering, the EP title track, also benefitted from even more Stooges loveliness and Jacob even came into the crowd handing out beer mats to the punters…as you do! They clocked off with their 2024 ‘Sick Of It’ single, which commenced with Jacob shouting “I’ve got a confession to make” and then drummer Stan shouts “1-2-3-4” in true Dee Dee Ramone fashion and they were away with easily their most punky number. Jacob came and had one more last wander in amongst the crowd, which added to the excitement. I’m sure the quartet appreciated everyone getting down early in order to watch their set, which was a truly solid affair. I’m sure Hungry and hungry for more success and based on this evening, I’m sure their wishes will come true.
Hungry:
Jacob Peck – vocals, guitar
Kit Thomas – guitar
Stan Rankin – drums
Jas Malig – bass
Hungry setlist:
‘The Love Song’ (unreleased)
‘Cambridge Is On Fire’ (unreleased)
‘The Hound’ (from 2025 ‘Are You The Best Yet?’ EP)
‘My Best Dress’ (unreleased)
‘The Jig’ (a 2023 single)
‘Eat Me’ (from 2025 ‘Are You The Best Yet?’ EP)
‘Are You The Best Yet?’ (from 2025 ‘Are You The Best Yet?’ EP)
‘Sick Of It’ (a 2024 single)
Further reading for GANS fans:
If you missed our two previous encounters with GANS, you can read them below:
GANS at TGE Beach Soundwaves, The Great Escape 14.5.25
Birmingham noisy garage-punk duo Euan Woodman and Thomas Rhodes, known as GANS, played at TGE Beach Soundwaves. The venue was a small covered marquee. During the soundcheck, you instantly knew this performance was going to be a loud one. Euan was on drums and vocals, with Thomas on bass and vocals. Six of the eight tracks played were released material. The first, 2023’s ‘WHAT YOU MEAN’, featured Euan on lead vocals. It starts off with some striking bass playing, Euan then lets out a shriek, the drums kick in, and we are off and running. Next, we get a trio of 2024 releases. For ‘TALK TO MUCH’, Euan comes down to the front of the stage and over the barrier separating the crowd from the photography pit to join the audience. He returns to his drum kit for the third song of the set, ‘IN TIME’. Thomas takes over on vocals for this one. Next, we get the excellent ‘DIRTY COWBOY’. This one gets the crowd jumping. The unreleased ‘IT’S JUST A LIFE’ is next, then it’s the latest single and set highlight ‘I THINK I LIKE YOU’. This one I like a lot. Surprisingly, there is no mosh pit action going on. We are then asked by Thomas if we know how to spell, as it’s time for another 2024 release ‘BUSINESS’. This song closes with a bit of Tag Teams’ ‘Whoomp! There It Is’. The final song of an entertaining set is another unreleased one ‘THE KINGS HEAD’, which has the crowd singing along to the line “We all find ourselves in the pub”.
(Ian Holman)
GANS at Unbarred Brewery, Brighton 15.5.25
I hadn’t planned to see GANS at Unbarred Brewery, but I was already at the venue and had a natural gap in proceedings and decided to stay for their set – and I’m glad I did as this was a fabulous performance. Black Country duo Euan Woodman (drums) and Tom Rhodes (guitar, electronics) performed a jaw-dropping set of explosive hard-hitting raw punk energy melded with a touch of humour, their dual vocals and acoustic power making it hard to believe it was just two people. We even had a crowd walkabout from Euan and some audience participation for their track ‘BUSINESS’. This isn’t my usual type of music, but these lads are fantastic live performers with an engaging style and Euan’s frantic and powerful drumming is sublime – highly recommended.
(Martin J. Fuller)
