Gay Against You (stylized as gay against you[1] or GVsY) were an electronic music duo from Glasgow, Scotland, made up of high school friends Joseph Howe (aka Oats Soda)[2] and Lachlann Rattray (aka Mr. Big Softie).[2]
Biography
The band formed in 2005 after Howe and Rattray moved into a shared flat,[3] having previously played together in various other bands.[4] They self-released a mini-album,[5] also named gay against you, in 2005. It became one of the most frequently downloaded records from the last.fm website.[6] The following year their debut full-length album, Muscle Milk, was released by the Adaadatlabel.[7]
The popularity of the band's first record on last.fm led to the group being asked to perform live at the Old Blue Last venue in Shoreditch for a last.fm/Presents event, which was recorded and released as a free downloadable album on the site.[8] Their second full-length album, Righteous Signals, Sour Dudes, was released on CD in 2009 by Adaadat,[1] with a vinyl version released by the Upset the Rhythm! label.[9]
A rumour spread in the Norwegian press that the NME had called gay against you "the new shit",[14] leading to reporters unexpectedly attending their Norwegian shows requesting interviews; no-one knows where this rumour originated.
The band broke up in 2009 following the release of Righteous Signals, Sour Dudes. They issued a further EP posthumously, I Play Gay, consisting of covers of the band's songs by Dananananaykroyd, Dolby Anol, Agaskodo Teliverek and House Mouse.[15]
Both members continued to perform separately and released solo records. Howe used the name Germlin[1] for his solo work and has more recently performed and released skweee-influenced music as Ben Butler and Mousepad,[16] sometimes accompanied by drummer Bastian Hagedorn. Rattray has also performed and released as Yoko, Oh No!,[1][5][17] as well as playing in the band Neighbourhood Gout.[3]
Style
The band gained attention for their flamboyant[3] and chaotic live shows[10] (often played with Howe and Rattray dressed in PE kits[9][18] and on the venue's dancefloor rather than the stage[19][20]), prominent visual style,[3][9] offbeat subject matter (with songs about unicorns,[21]lactose intolerance,[22]Lawrence of Arabia, breakfast cereal,[1]Magic Eye puzzles,[8]Jurassic Park and physicist Niels Bohr[11]) and their diverse and experimental musical style. Their early work was noted as combining accessible pop melodies with unconventional, rapidly changing song structures[2] and disorientating bursts of synthesizer or electric guitar.[1] Later material was described as "slightly more... mature", with lush analogue-sounding synth and even psychedelic influences.[9]
In an interview with Dazed & Confused magazine, the band characterised their own music as "filter pop", and "pop music with all the shit bits taken out: mostly no repetition, no wastage, and no fat".[3]
