“What a meteoric rise it's been for hardcore exponents Gallows over the last couple of years and to be fair they've put the hard slog in to get to this stage.” R13 reviewer Andy Latham on seeing Gallows at Download last June.
Here’s another band for whom their massive 2007 begins in 2006. Gallows released ‘Orchestra of Wolves’ over a year ago, and as the New Year approached, they along with Enter Shikari were the name on most people’s lips for the act to watch out for if you liked your music loud.
2007 began with an appearance at Klub Kerrang! In January, before heading out on a short UK tour in March. These dates were accompanied by the limited edition EP of their original demos on London's Holy Roar Records, recorded in 2005. The 'Demo 2005' 7” featured three tracks that eventually made it onto the band’s highly successful debut album, plus one previously not available song.
Seven months on from the indie label release of ‘Orchestra Of Wolves’, and following unprecedented interest from every record label you care to mention, Gallows inked a deal to see distribution via Warner Bros Records worldwide and legendary punk label Epitaph Records for North America. Their festival schedule was filling up, plus there were more UK shows for the summer and an appearance on the Warped Tour in the States to look forward too: there was to be no escape!
R13 checked Gallows out at
Download where they “set the standard and showed that UK hardcore is in good hands”, and the
Leeds Festival. At the latter R13’s review stated “it's an excellent performance once again. Frank Carter is visibly moved by the reaction of such a big crowd and if anything over does the sincerity this time. When you think where they've come from in such a short space of time though you can hardly blame the guy. One of the sets of the weekend.” At Reading he was moved so much that he decided to have a tattoo done on stage to mark the occasion.
We also caught them on their summer headline tour, checking the boys out in
Bristol.
‘Orchestra Of Wolves’ got the reissue with bonus material treatment in June,
reviewed here, with the singles ‘In The Belly Of The Shark’, ‘Abandon Ship’ and ‘Staring At The Rude Bois’ supporting their relentless live schedule. Dates in September followed the festivals, although a couple were canceled due to an on stage accident at the Stoke Sugarmill, which the following statement from Frank Carter explains:
"So while I was singing ‘Nervous Breakdown’ I managed to trip over some kid and plant my head firmly into a monitor. I was pretty fucked up and it took me a while to get to my feet. When I eventually did manage to stand up it was quite apparent from the faces in the front row that I wasn't ok. I managed to put a one-inch deep gash in the top of my head and had blood running from my hairline to my chin. I finished the song and then went out to check my head was ok. Our guitar tech and good friend Nidge had a look at it and decided I needed some stitches. I went to A&E in Stoke and had my head glued back together. By the time I had got back to the venue the show was over and I was gutted.”
Support on that tour came from, amongst others, Lethal Bizzle. When we saw him at his own show in Cornwall in November, the NME cool list had just been published, with Bizzle at 5, and Frank Carter topping the thing. So did the rapper think Carter deserved that title?
“Yeah, most definitely man! Frank is the coolest guy man. Our tour manager loves him. He's a cool guy, you can't knock Frank. He is what he is. He's a real down to earth guy. He's as real as it gets. He's an honest person. I think he definitely deserved it man, I think he's done so much crazy stuff this year I couldn't see anyone else topping it. So, well deserved.”
2007 was rounded off by their participation in the
Taste of Chaos Tour, where they joined The Used, Rise Against, The Blackout and Aiden.
Gallows may have had the mainstream music press pushing and shoving each other for a slice of the action all year, but when you see the way they’ve bulldozed their way around the UK in the last couple of years, and the impact it has on crowds wherever they go, it’s no wonder why.
See who else we’ve featured in our band of the day feature
here.