Gertrude are Zoe Gilmour, Dawn Rose, Iona Tanguay and Ayesha Taylor
read about the making of fetch the parrot blanket
I've
never heard of you. I wonder if i'll like you?
Gertrude sound like
"...the Raincoats (quirky melodies and perky vocals), the Cardiacs
(rug-pull chord progressions and tempo changes)
and even sonic Youth (some thrilling detuned guitar volleys),
the all female four piece has whipped up an addictive art-rock concoction...."
Musician 2004
We try to write music that inspires us, that critiques the world in
which we have to live, and, to play gigs that excite. Gertrude wants
to infect you with this inspiration too. We have found that we don't
easily fit into niches but are nonetheless firmly rooted within the
post punk landscape. Strange how being an all female band still raises
eyebrows - even in these modern times. Yet for sure, Gertrude was created
to stick two fingers up at the narcissitic macho rock posturing that
popular culture romances with, and just as importantly, to write sophisitcated
agitated music. (On second thoughts, no wonder we are raising eyebrows.)
Our lyrics can be political by tackling issues directly or indirectly
- this might be one reason why our music seems to attract misfits and
oddballs (what ever your gender maybe) who, just like us, have more
than a few bones to pick with this fucked up world. Everyone is welcome
to listen - and if you don't like what you hear, then why not grab the
DIY energy and go and form your own band?
So why do you work as a collective?
The fact that Gertrude works collectively is something which each band member holds dear. It gives us the space to try out different ideas, explore different directions. The individualistic way in which most bands present the 'cult of the personality' to the world, is something we reject. We will not seperate a brilliant drum patten from a good lyric. Nor, just as importantly, can we seperate the emotional support a band mate can bring in difficult times from the music we make. We rely on and trust in each other a great deal. All this is intrinsically intertwined and connected to our performances and recordings. It is why we feel it is important that our releases are seen to be by Gertrude as a collective and not down to individual members and this is why that any money we may make will be divided equally among us.
It not always so straight forward though. Our sound has developed to include cello, clarinet, melodica and different singing voices. We are not always in agreement, sometimes compromising with so many people might have the effect of 'watering things down.' Other times, new, surprising ideas emerge. Importantly to us, working collectively means we try and have a willingness to listen to each other first and try out lots of different ideas. Hopefully, the best ones usually win through and not just because of the person with the biggest gob!
How do you write the songs?
A lot of our songs have been written around pre thought out guitar structures. Often these are songs/ideas which Iona and/or Ayesha have already worked out outside group rehersels. Sometimes vocal melody lines have also been thought out at this stage, or alternatively someone will write the vocal lines during rehersels. Zoe may take home a tape of a practice to listen to and work on ideas from there. Each member is then left to work out her own individual parts to go with the song in hand, but we all offer direction, and the original song shape might alter, as can the original guitar parts. Often, the most exciting, additional parts, whole middle and end sections for example, can stem and spark from an interesting bass riff or drum patten.We have also started to make use of computer programes for audio recording such as cubase and demo ideas more. This is a new way for us to work and is very exciting. We also hope to have more time to just jam together and work on all group members ideas.
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