GO PANDA Go began life as a duo in County Donegal before relocating to Galway where they became a quartet, and then come the New Year, they expanded to a quintet.
Like the band’s line up, the GPG sound has evolved from the sprightly, left field, indie-pop of their EL Troubador EP to the more post-rock influenced style of their latest songs on Bandcamp.
What remains constant is that from the word go - no pun intended - GPG have been one of the hardest working bands in Galway and their strong touring schedule and willingness to develop their music has seen many tip them for a very bright future.
Go Panda Go - Paul Willis (lead vocals/guitar ), Sean Bushell (guitar/vocals ), Brian Ruane (bass/vocals ), Yoseph Sheridan (percussion ), and Elaine Mai (synth, samples, vocals ) - play Strange Brew in the Róisín Dubh tonight at 9pm.
The band began life when Sean Bushell and Paul Willis had finished college and found themselves back in their native Donegal town.
“We started jamming, writing songs, and talking for a while about forming a band,” Sean tells me as I sit with him and Elaine for the interview on Monday afternoon, “and we said let’s get out of here and give it a go. I had been in college in Dublin as had Paul so the plan was either Belfast or Galway and we chose Galway.”
Where did the band’s unusual moniker come from? “Myself and Paul are into films,” says Sean, “and it comes from a Chinese film made in the 1970s called Go Panda God, which was banned under Mao. It’s mental, it’s deranged.”
Galway is a Mecca for Irish artists, the town’s creative spirit and vibe attracts those who wish to pursue creative endeavours. Yet as many ruefully note, the city also has a reputation as ‘the graveyard of ambition’ - a place where you can be a big fish in a small pond and where it’s easy to become far too conformable.
However Go Panda Go have no intention of letting this happen and they find Galway stimulating rather than inducing any kind of complacency.
“Galway was where Paul and I met Brian and Yoseph and later Elaine joined,” says Sean. “We’ve been very lucky to have moved here, the local music scene is great, there are a lot of talented people around, and we have been at it for two years now and we are starting to find our proper sound.”
Music and vibrant artistic company came together happily in the band’s debut EP, El Troubador, which was released last November on Dublin indie label Bluestack Records. Its four tracks displayed a band with diverse influences - post-rock, quirky indie pop, Afro-beat - all held together by Yoseph Sheridan’s drumming.
Nialler9 praised the EP’s “taut indie-rock rhythms, boisterous harmonies and reflective melodies...we’re convinced that there is plenty more to look forward to in the coming 12 months”.
The album cover was also something of a ‘who’s who’ of the Galway indie scene, as it featured DJ Byron Yeats, poet Laurie Leech, musicians Daithí Ó Dronaí and Jamie Ralph, and others, as well as the band, holding up drawings inspired by the words ‘Go Panda Go’. On the CD itself was a picture of Mark Kennedy of the Galway Famine Memorial project.
“We like to do things with lots of friends,” says Sean. “We have a great group of creative friends and we all help out each other. We’ve also just shot a video with Leon Butler [graphic designer and former lead singer of Disconnect 4] and loads of our friends will be involved in that. It should be ready in the next two weeks and we hope to have it up online.”
Shortly after the release of the EP, a good friend of the band’s, local singer-songwriter Elaine Mai was drafted into the ranks. She had contributed vocals to three of the EPs four songs and impressed the band to the extent that they wanted her on-board full time.
What did she see as the advantages of joining?
“I use a loop pedal a lot in my solo songs and shows and it’s very easy to mess up so you have to stay switched on and pay careful attention,” Elaine says. “In Go Panda Go there are four other people and that allows me to relax more. I can also try out more instruments so I’m not limited in any way.”
Elaine is an enormously talented singer-songwriter and she has no intention of ceasing her solo endeavours because she is a member of Go Panda Go. “Doing both means I am busy all the time but in a great way,” she says.
The band recently uploaded two new tracks onto its Bandcamp page - ‘Whiplash’ and the exciting instrumental ‘We Believe In Music’- both showing a harder, heavier edge than previously. They are also working on some new material which is likely to be more percussively based.
“We have a variety of influences,” says Sean. “We go with what feels right. We never cancel out any possibilities. If it feels good to us, hopefully others will like it too.”
Next for Go Panda Go is their show at the Róisín tonight and it follows a hardworking schedule of touring which has taken them from Waterford to Belfast to London in recent months. Indeed their gigs have drawn high praise with the BBC’s Across The Line noting their “bright guitars, polyrhythmic drumming and unique multi-layered vocals”.
Go Panda Go will also play the Castlepalooza Festival in Offaly from July 29 to 31. They will be working towards a single to release at the end of the summer, and a second EP or debut album for early next year. Elaine will be recording more material for release as an EP or album as well.
“It’s important that we start more writing and get back into the studio,” says Sean. “Castlepalooza will also be great. We’ll be playing with Lost Chord, Daithí Ó Dronaí, Elaine will be doing a solo performance, it’s a great Galway contingent.”
Admission is free. Gugai will be DJing afterwards. See www.gopandagomusic.com To listen to the band’s music go to http://gopandago.bandcamp.com/. To hear Elaine Mai’s solo work go to http://elainemai.bandcamp.com/
