![]() We mollycoddled ourselves a little bit too much. We were great mates with REM – they used to support us all the time – and when we weren’t there they were still on tour! They worked their asses off. The band had mixed feelings about touring although we did some, especially in America. I think there were many missed opportunities, appointing absolutely useless managers and thinking you’ve got all the time in the world when actually opportunities are limited. ![]() That reunion wasn’t a fantastic experience and any other possibilities dwindled very quickly.” I think Dave may have known Chris Cornell or something. I’m not that interested, anyway I don’t think Jon King is interested either.’ They said, ‘Oh we can use that singer from Soundgarden, we don’t need Jon King!’, which made me laugh. I had Hugo Burnham and Dave Allen, two of the original members, calling me up all the time and I remember saying to them: ‘I’m not convinced. “After our reunion a few years ago we sort of thought, ‘OK everybody’s gone Gang Of Four crazy’ and we might do a record. You should keep it that way, that’s my favourite bit.’” You get A&R coming down to the studio and saying, ‘Oh you should change that. Having also been a record producer for many years, I know how involved independent labels get in songs. Our A&R man Chris Briggs would come down to the studio to buy us a few drinks, but nobody said: ‘You should change that bit, it’s not really commercial’. “When we signed to EMI in 1979 there was a lot of talk going: ‘Why have you done that? You should have signed to an independent, now you’ll have a major telling you what to do.’ But it was exactly the other way around. I basically produced the band from the beginning, and the way I go about constructing a song now is very much like the way I would go about it in the late 1970s.” You could argue that Gang of Four is my chosen vehicle for making music, but it’s got more of a ring to it then the Andy Gill Band. “In the same way that Entertainment! was not an Andy Gill record, our new album Happy Now is a Gang Of Four record. Plus, recounts how a grunge icon could have joined his gang… Founder and sole original member Andy Gill considers a life lived on post-punk’s cutting edge. Forty years on from making their debut with Entertainment!, Gang Of Four have returned with new album Happy Now. ![]()
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