The Dublin quartet’s new record is out Friday September 25th on Rough Trade Records, with intimate UK shows and a huge US/UK/EU tour to follow
Gilla Band have announced their new album, Pugnello, out Friday September 25th on Rough Trade Records. Alongside the announcement comes a video for new track the industrially-sized noise discombobulation of ‘Placeholder’, which follows recent song ‘Giraffe’.
Pugnello was recorded between 2022 and 2026 across three Dublin studios: Hellfire, Yellow Door Music Studio and Sonic Studios. The band produced the album themselves, with Daniel Fox handling recording and mixing duties. It’ll be released as a deluxe gatefold LP with a glued-in lyric booklet on pearl-coloured vinyl, an indie-colour LP, and standard LP and CD.
In the four years since 2022’s Most Normal, the members have kept busy elsewhere. Dara Kiely took up painting, Adam Faulkner played drums for Lankum on tour, Daniel Fox became an in-demand producer for acts like Sprints, Lambrini Girls and Mandy, Indiana, and Alan Duggan Borges launched his solo project The Null Club, with collaborators including Mandy, Indiana’s Valentine Caulfield, the Horrors’ Faris Badwan, Miss Grit and Brooklyn MC Elucid.
On ‘Placeholder’, Kiely says he’s exploring his own comfort distractions and childhood nostalgia as an escape from adult life, referencing Davina McCall’s Big Brother eviction pauses, Harold Lloyd’s clock-dangling stunt, and a formative Power Rangers memory from Christian summer camp.
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“In this track I try to analyse my mental quirks by exploring my comfort distractions. Reverting back to childhood nostalgia – as an escape. The memories seeping into my day-to-day adult life. Representing personal mental health behaviours via outdated pop culture such as the anxious tension set by Davina McCall’s silence when announcing a Big Brother eviction, or the fight or flight that Harold Lloyd surely experienced when holding on to a clock for dear life, and all for our entertainment.
I mention Power Rangers at the end of this. It was another comfort vice. They were a huge thing for me as a child. I remember I was at some sort of Christian summer camp when I was about 6 and was asked what I want to be when I grow up. I said “a Power Ranger”. I was laughed at and was told the shocking truth that they didn’t exist and it is not a profession worth pursuing. I’ve never forgiven them for that. “I’m injecting a lethal dose of nothing. I’m blaring a dangerous amount of Coldplay” …. True story.
Gilla Band – Pugnello tracklist:
- The Angelus
- Placeholder
- Alogia
- Three Hands Clapping
- Jacobsons
- The Megazord
- Computer Sadness
- Giraffe
- Crisp Pop
- The Gallop
Gilla Band play All Together Now Festival in Waterford from Thursday July 30th to Sunday August 2nd, before two intimate UK shows: The White Hotel in Manchester on Wednesday October 7th (ahead of its closure) and an in-the-round show at London’s ICA on Thursday October 8th.
A full US tour follows through October and November, then a European and UK run in January and February 2027 taking in Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Bristol, London, Manchester and Glasgow.
Gilla Band 2026/2027 tour dates
All Together Now Festival, Waterford – Thursday July 30th to Sunday August 2nd
UK intimate shows:
- Wednesday October 7th – The White Hotel, Manchester
- Thursday October 8th – ICA (in the round), London
- Pre-order of the album accesses presale for these shows.
US tour:
- Wednesday October 14th – Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA (with PISS)
- Thursday October 15th – Elsewhere – The Hall, Brooklyn, NY (with PISS)
- Saturday October 17th – Brighton Music Hall, Allston, MA (with PISS)
- Monday October 19th – Fairmount Theatre, Montreal, QC (with PISS)
- Tuesday October 20th – Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON (with Mulch)
- Wednesday October 21st – Third Man Records – Cass Corridor, Detroit, MI (with PISS)
- Friday October 23rd – The Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL (with PISS)
- Saturday October 24th – Turf Club, Saint Paul, MN (with PISS)
- Tuesday October 27th – Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO (with PISS)
- Wednesday October 28th – Kilby Court, Salt Lake City, UT (with PISS)
- Friday October 30th – Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR (with PISS)
- Saturday October 31st – The Pearl on Granville, Vancouver, BC (with PISS)
- Sunday November 1st – Neumos, Seattle, WA (with PISS)
- Tuesday November 3rd – The Independent, San Francisco, CA (with Annie-Claude Deschenes)
- Wednesday November 4th – Lodge Room Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA (with Annie-Claude Deschenes)
- Saturday November 7th – Valley Bar, Phoenix, AZ (with Tournament)
- Sunday November 8th – Meow Wolf, Santa Fe, NM (with Annie-Claude Deschenes)
- Tuesday November 10th – 29th Street Ballroom, Austin, TX (with Annie-Claude Deschenes)
- Wednesday November 11th – Rubber Gloves Showroom, Denton, TX (with Annie-Claude Deschenes)
- Friday November 13th – The Blue Room at Third Man Records, Nashville, TN (with Annie-Claude Deschenes)
- Saturday November 14th – Cat’s Cradle (Back Room), Carrboro, NC (with Annie-Claude Deschenes)
- Sunday November 15th – The Atlantis, Washington, DC (with Annie-Claude Deschenes)
UK/EU tour, January/February 2027:
- Wednesday January 20th – Trabendo, Paris, France
- Thursday January 21st – Le Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
- Friday January 22nd – Le Grand Mix, Tourcoing, France
- Saturday January 23rd – Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Monday January 25th – Ekko, Utrecht, Netherlands
- Tuesday January 26th – Betty, Hamburg, Germany
- Wednesday January 27th – Loppen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Friday January 29th – SO36, Berlin, Germany
- Saturday January 30th – Hydrozagadka, Warsaw, Poland
- Sunday January 31st – Subzero, Prague, Czech Republic
- Tuesday February 2nd – Dürer Kert, Budapest, Hungary
- Wednesday February 3rd – Flucc Wanne, Vienna, Austria
- Friday February 5th – Bogen F, Zurich, Switzerland
- Saturday February 6th – Arci Bellezza, Milan, Italy
- Wednesday February 10th – Trinity, Bristol, UK
- Thursday February 11th – Heaven, London, UK
- Friday February 12th – Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK
- Saturday February 13th – Grand Classic, Glasgow, UK
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
