British post-punks Sad Lovers & Giants are celebrating 40 years of gloominess and are popping by Athens on July 22nd, to deliver their dark and melancholic sounds as part of the 1st Death Disco Open Air Festival, line up.
Singer Garçe Allard answers our questions and prepares us properly for their upcoming show.
Read below.
RockOvedose: Hello and welcome to Rock Overdose! It’s a pleasure to feature you on our pages.
Just last year you visited Athens for a show celebrating the 40th anniversary of “Epic Garden Music”. “Feeding The Flame” turns 40 this year. Is there any chance that your upcoming gig will be centered around “Feeding The Flame” this time around?
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS: We will be playing all of Feeding The Flame as part of our performance plus many other SLAG ‘greatest hits’.
RockOvedose: Take us back to the recording of “Feeding The Flame”. What are your most vivid memories from those sessions? Were there any hints that this could eventually become a classic record?
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS: We were very tired at the time, we all had day jobs but in the year since Epic Garden Music had come out (our first album) we had played gigs constantly up and down the UK and in Holland, as well as rehearsing and writing songs for the new album. We used the same studio and engineer as we did for EGM so it was a bit like coming home for a rest. However many of the sessions went on through the night so there wasn’t much sleep!
It was difficult to tell how good the album would be at the time, but we put everything into those songs and even though there were tensions, we were at the top of our game as songwriters.
RockOvedose: You did a video for “Cowboys”, which was the B side of the “Man Of Straw” single, kind of an odd choice. I always liked these type of performance videos with the band playing in some strange part of the city. I’m assuming it wasn’t easy to make a video back then, if you weren’t signed on a major label. How did this come about?
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS: We were playing in France which is where the video was shot and a request to shoot a video came from a television company in France. We said ‘why not?’ and turned up at the station headquarters. They took us to what looked like a WW2 bomb site and set up the audio and cameras and then said, “Ok now play!” which we did, as they filmed it. There wasn’t a plan.
RockOvedose: You have visited Athens several times, but this time around you’ll be playing the Death Disco Athens Open Air Festival. How do you approach these type of gigs, where you’re not headlining?
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS : We’ve done quite a few festivals over the years, one of the most memorable was Wave Gotik Treffen in 2019, and what we like about them is that many of the audience haven’t specifically come to see us so it’s a chance to win over some new fans.
RockOvedose: Speaking of festivals, what would be your ideal lineup for a festival with Sad Lovers & Giants as the headliners?
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS : There are some great new bands around who are influenced by 80’s music and we’ve played with some of them such as Lebanon Hanover and a US band called Softkill, we’ve also seen Drab Majesty perform in the UK, so a line up with these bands would be great. Of the old bands we’d love to play with The Chameleons because we’ve seen them live many times but haven’t played with them yet.
RockOvedose: Last time you were here you played “Sex Without Gravity” for the first time ever! Should we expect any similar surprise for your upcoming concert?
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS : If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise!
RockOvedose: What are some of your favorite songs that you prefer to play live and why?
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS : We have played the old songs for many years so we always like playing new material live because it’s refreshing. We also get to find out how good new songs are when we stress test them in front of an audience and that’s exciting. The new material always improves when we take it on the road.
RockOvedose: Your last album “Mission Creep” was released in 2018. Are there any plans for a follow up album?
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS : We have written sufficient songs for the next album and about half have been recorded and are at one stage of development or another, we plan to release them as soon as they are ready but we don’t work to deadlines.
RockOvedose: Thank you very much for your time. Any last words for our readers?
SAD LOVERS AND GIANTS : We always enjoy coming to Athens and we hope this festival is successful and happens again and again. Have a wonderful time.
For RockOvedose.gr,
Dimitris Soursos
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