GANS are two long‑time friends from the Black Country finally making music for themselves rather than anyone else. What began in late 2023 as a need to create, has already grown into something louder, stranger and more emotionally charged than either expected, a collision of post‑punk abrasion, electronic pulse and the lived grit of the Midlands. Across our conversation, they spoke with disarming honesty about friendship, place, vulnerability, and the soul in human-made art, revealing a project that refuses to stand still and thrives on instinct, humour and the thrill of pushing forward.
You formed GANS in the Midlands back in 2023 — how, where and when did the two of you first decide this was the project you had to start?
GANS was birthed in the black country in late 2023 by a shared need to just create music for the sake of ourselves. Me and tom have been friends for such a long time and the pair of us have written together in many older projects but the songs were always for other people. This was for us.
Your sound blends post‑punk, noise‑rock and electronic energy — which key influences helped you shape that mix, and when did it finally “click” for you?
Our sound has always been just an accumulation of everything in our lives. It would be doing a disservice to everything we have both experienced to just pin point it on this band or that band. Sure we love electronic music, heavy music, sexy music, music that makes ya wanna punch a hole in the sun and then cry immediately after. But we also love people, places, our family and our time shared together. The “click” that you mentioned I feel came at the very start when we first started GANS and every sound or progression since then has been because of it.
Do you feel GANS have found their final form, or are you still exploring new musical avenues as you grow?
It’s really interesting to think about. I see our music as an extension of ourselves and what we’re interested in at the present. I don’t think that we as people ever reach a final form and therefore our music won’t either.
If you could collaborate with anyone — dead or alive — who would you pick for just one single, and what kind of track do you think you’d make together?
Haroumi Hosono. I just think his approach to songwriting is unlike anything else me and Tom have ever heard before.
Your debut album ‘Good for the Soul’ landed in 2025 and made a real impact — looking back now, what does that record represent for you both?
I think that record represents the start of something that we can only hope to continue. The first record is like screaming “Shut the Fuck up and listen to me” in a room full of people that go silent and turn. The second record is what you actually say that defines how people view you. I think as a “Shut the fuck up” record it really worked because it came from a place of need. We need to create as artists and to keep making music to fill the hole in all of us. GFTS was always viewed to us as our one chance to make a record and I think that the vulnerability and desperation will always stay with us even though we can look back on it with such fond memories. We love that record and love the people who love it too.
There seems to have been a bit of a shift in the accessibility of the music to a more poppy sound?. So what direction are you going in? Leftfield or Right Said Fred
Why not both? You’ll have to find out!
Are you already thinking about album two? What can you tell us about what you’re working on right now?
We’re really bad at keeping secrets so I can only say that we’re constantly writing and constantly wanting to put out new music.
You’re part of a thriving Midlands scene — what’s it like making music where you live, and how has the local energy shaped GANS?
I think the energy of Birmingham and the Black Country has always been at the core of what we do. We’re working class people from a working class area, filled with foundries, factories, industrial estates and warehouses. It makes sense that when you look at a lot of music that comes from the Midlands it always has a certain edge to it. It was the birthplace of heavy metal. Birmingham's also such a beautifully, multicultural place which we’re really proud of. Before Birmingham City Council killed busking, you would be exposed to all sorts of wonderful music from people just wanting to play from all different backgrounds. Walking through the streets of Birmingham used to be a place to hear new things and now it’s just pop-up vendors from massive businesses trying to shift death in a can. It makes you want to create something new.
What do you make of the current state of music globally — especially with AI‑generated tracks becoming more common — and how do human artists keep leading the way?
We’re a band that preaches peace and love to everybody we come across but personally I wish a very very very bad day on anyone creating AI art or music. It’s the fucking death of art. Even if you can’t afford an instrument there’s plenty of free DAWs out there on the machines you’re using to create this bollocks. If you want to express yourself then do it. Don’t let a machine do it for you and don’t be so fuckin’ lazy. Even if it’s just smacking a pot and pan and wailing on a street corner, do it! who cares if it’s not perfect? Humans aren’t. Humans have a soul with beauty and compassion built into it, that’s far more valuable than the slop created by some wanker with a laptop. Turn the machines off or we’re on a one way ticket to “I have no mouth, and I must scream”. All art and music has value, just not AI.
If you were curating your own dream festival, who would be your three headliners — any era, dead or alive?
LeftField, Right said Fred, Dead or Alive.
And finally, the ‘Come Dine With Me’ question — what would you serve us for starter, main and dessert, and which one of you would cause the most chaos in the kitchen?
Starter: Chips, served straight off the top of my head like at Uncle Moe's Family Feed Bag.
Main: Old school Birthday buffet like what mama used to make. Plenty of beige food like crisps, sausage rolls and ham sandwiches.
Desert: Cheesecake.
Huge thanks to Euan for taking the time to sit down with us and speak so openly about the humour and hard graft behind GANS. It’s clear that what began as two friends making music for themselves has grown into something far louder, braver and more necessary than they ever expected. We’ll be following every move as they continue writing, experimenting and carving out their own space in the Midlands and beyond. Whatever comes next, album two, new sounds, new chaos, we’re certain it’ll be stamped with that unmistakable GANS spirit. Wishing them every success for the future, and as always… see you in the queue.
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