PART 6 - AUSTRIA SERIES
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| Photo credit: Petra Benovsky |
For their
track “Dancer”, it seems to me that the Viennese band Gin Ga – made up of Alex
Konrad, Klemens Wihlidal, Emanuel
Donner and Matias Meno – took
their inspiration from the new wave of the early 80s. For those who are not
familiar with new wave or are simply too young to remember, new wave was a
style that emerged from punk in the late 70s/early 80s in England, but strived
to be more accessible than its predecessor. It was, essentially, punk-inspired
pop. I had loads of fun fun tracking down the new wave references in “Dancer”
and I’ll show you what I found further down.
International connections
Gin Ga is yet
another example of an Austrian band that has gained more recognition internationally
than locally. What certainly worked to Gin Ga’s advantage was the fact that
they have a Belgian manager who managed to get them not only gigs abroad, but
also airplay in Poland, Spain, France and, of course, in Belgium. Also, for a
while Gin Ga collaborated with James Stelfox, a British bassist they’d met at a
gig in Brussels. These international connections helped them to get out of the confinement
of the Austrian pop scene and also gave them the international endorsement
needed in order to be taken seriously in Austria.
New wave from Austria
So what exactly
are the main ingredients needed to qualify a song as new wave?
Item 1: An
attitude and energy clearly derived from punk. Check.
Item 2: Elements reminiscent of the era,
namely late 70s to mid-80s. Check.
Item 3: Greater attention to songwriting and
melodies than is the case in punk, as well as use of synth sounds. Check!
“Dancer”
starts off with octaves in the bass that just scream 80s. Think New Order’s
“Blue Monday” (1983), Bronski Beat’s “Smalltown Boy” (1984) or Visage’s “Fade
to Grey” (1980). After a short intro frontman Alex Konrad takes centre stage
with the first verse. He clearly belongs to the long line of such punk and
post-punk performers as Joe Strummer (The Clash), Billy Idol or Robert Smith
(The Cure), all of whom are not “good” singers in the classical sense, but whose
vocals are chock-full of drama and raw emotion.
In the third
line of each verse background shouts are employed for emphasis (e.g. “And with
my first breath” in the 1st verse). Yelling vocals were common in punk and were
then often adopted in new wave, e.g. in “Burning down the House” (1983) by
Talking Heads. Another element that characterises the verses is the rhythmic
motif played by a variety of industrial-sounding percussion instruments like
those used by Depeche Mode in “People are People” (1984). This motif also has a
similarly defining function as the one in Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” (1981).
“To the left, to the right!”
The lyrics
could well be just a load of mumbo-jumbo or, alternatively, so profound that my
shallow mind cannot fathom them. Gin Ga chose a clever, stable structure for
the lyrics (starting every verse with “I was a dancer before I was born/before
I could walk/before I could speak/before I was sold”) that allows them to say
almost anything and lets it sound extremely meaningful.
The chorus is
just plain fun: “To the left, to the right / To the left, to the right /
D-d-d-dancer, dancer!” Although the chorus suddenly gets more of a 90s trip-hop
vibe with Massive Attack-style strings, I still found a new wave reference: the
“d-d-d-dancer” reminds me of “M(-m-m-m)y Sharona” (The Knack, 1979)!
Conclusion
In truth,
this song would be predestined to become something of an indie party anthem.
The band even invented a little dance to go with it. How great is that?! A
group of friends in England obviously had great fun making their own reconstruction of the“Dancer” video. What I’d love to see is an entire audience doing the moves.
It would certainly be a way of showing the guys that they’re also appreciated at
home and not just abroad …
Their
website: www.thisisginga.com
Read the
German version of this blog post at http://zartbitter.co.at/kultur/unter-der-lupe-dancer-gin-ga/.
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