Latest Posts

The New EP From Gored Matadors Is No Bull

Words by Steve Kelk | Images by Steve Kelk/Supplied

‘Ain’t Dead Yet’ Reveals The GMs To Be Very Much Alive And Kicking

Tim Foiler fronts the Gored Matadors at the Happy Yess

It is a much fuller and richer Gored Matadors that greets the ears with their latest EP offering, ‘Ain’t Dead Yet‘. Still serving out low-slung, grungy blues to match Tim Foiler‘s obsidian vocals, there is next-level effort in the instrumentation, arrangement and production that lifts ‘Ain’t Dead Yet‘ up to new levels of sensation and takes the story-telling to where it needs to be.

GMs at the Darwin Railway Club

Ain’t Dead Yet‘ is the Gored Matadors‘ 3rd and final instalment to their long fabled ‘Darwin Trilogy’. From the sleeve notes:

“Now down and out, surveying the ashes and wreckage around them, our narrator takes stock of their life and spins yarns about finding yourself in a bad town on the wrong side of the tracks with no place left to turn. How will they cope? What will they do? Will they survive? Come take a trip to the dark-side and see how hard this town kicks when you’re down.”

Yep, that sounds like Darwin when you’re in a bit of a spin.

Ain’t Dead Yet‘ is the GMs first release as a 5 piece with the additions of Mats ‘MadDog’ Unden on Rhodes/B3 keys and Mel ‘3-awesome bands’ Reid on sax and flute making such a difference to their sound, which is enhanced rather than refined – to use the word ‘refined’ in the context of the Gored Matadors seems antithetical to their ethos, and that is meant as a compliment and not as an insult. The GMs are not there to scratch your back and make you feel good – they are there to abrade it with sandpaper and make you feel.

GMs at the Darwin Railway Club

The introductory harp on ‘Bad Town‘ sets the melancholy scene on this first of four tracks. It sways along, listless, but with an undercurrent driving towards taking the power back and fills out majestically whenever the keys kick in. ‘The Rotten Mile‘ is a bit more traditional GM, celebrating the good in some of the badder things to be found in the city. ‘Over My Head‘ pumps up the angst and anxiety as the protagonist deals with the results of his overindulgence of those badder things, while ‘The Wrong Side of the Track‘ takes us somewhat gently to where this was inevitably all going to end up – at 6:13 it is the longest (and dare we say most elegant) of the offerings here, the flute solo giving it that air of inevitability, but not of resignation – they ain’t dead yet!

We unfortunately couldn’t make it to the live launch of this EP late last month but by all accounts it went off just like every other GM live performance. There is always an energy and expectation with this band on stage – you know exactly what you are going to get, it’s straightforward and solid from start to finish and that is why locals love them.

Ain’t Dead Yet‘ is out now on the usual streaming services – here is the Spotify link:

‘Ain’t Dead Yet’ released November 2, 2021

Recorded by Gored Matadors

Mixed by Jez at Left Of Elephant Sound

Mastered by Kris Keogh

Art Work by Colin Holt

Gored Matadors are:

Alphonse Turk – Drums
Mats “Mad Dog” Unden – Keys
Mel “Three Awesome Bands” Reid
Philip Eaton – Bass
Tim Foiler – Guitar & Vocals



Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*


UA-56583252-1