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Gallows dropped by Warner Bros. Records

Contributed by an Anonymous Source. Posted by bryne on Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 5:00 PM (EST)

Guardian has published an interesting article about Gallows and their brief stint on major label Warner Bros. The band's lone album for the label, 2009's Grey Britain, was generally received positively by critics, but according to the article has only sold 50,000 copies worldwide. The article alludes to the 'Great Rock'n Roll Swindle' perpetrated by infamous Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and suggests that the band are better off for having such a short stay on the label:

"Spiritual forefathers such as Black Flag, Crass and Concrete Sox might have rightly railed against the establishment, but major-record deals were never an option for them. Gallows did the right thing. Knowing they could never be Green Day they took the money, toured the world and recorded an album so brutal no one could ever accuse them of selling out."

Check out the article here.

News (94 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Seriously.

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SATAN_THE_KOREAN_DINOSAUR (January 7, 2010)

Ive learned something today....
there ain't no money in music.

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baldsteve (January 7, 2010)

alright puncanoes...get out here

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drHankMcCoy (January 7, 2010)

i know, right? this one is easy

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Dante3000 (rich) (January 7, 2010)

That 50,000 world wide figure still floors me. I'm just amazed that an album with the push that album had and they hype that surrounded them during their last album, would sell 50,000 world wide. Kids, eh?

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jacknife737 (January 7, 2010)

Yeah, that surprised me these days.

Damn kids, and their downloadin'

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the_other_scott (January 7, 2010)

I think for a band that has absolutely no commercial appeal that it's a pretty decent number. Kids don't buy music anymore. It's that simple.

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Dante3000 (rich) (January 7, 2010)

All I'm gonna say is that ICP has two platinum and two gold albums...Why?

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the_other_scott (January 7, 2010)

when did those albums come out?

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Dante3000 (rich) (January 7, 2010)

HOLY SHIT!!! I just looked the band up, assuming they hadn't done anything in a while. Their last album sold 50,000 in the first week.

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lookingforcorpses (January 7, 2010)

They're monstrous. Despite making terrible music and having awful fans, it's one of the smartest "businesses" out there.

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jacknife737 (January 7, 2010)

Creating "juggalos" was a brilliant marketing strategy.

A violently loyal fanbase who will eat up everything piece of shit they put out, even when nobody else buys records anymore.

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lookingforcorpses (January 7, 2010)

Yup. Those dudes are millionaires, many times over.

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lookingforcorpses (January 7, 2010)

Let's face the facts: despite the money behind the band, they're a hardcore band. You could put a million in marketing behind Cruel Hand, and they're not going to sell any more than that, either.

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wearestillalive (January 7, 2010)

'Alt' kids in the UK like to look like they like hardcore, but actually can't really handle it.

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bill_stickers (January 8, 2010)

I'd go the other way on that one actually.

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nick_s (January 8, 2010)

That's true, the amount of indie kids I know who own that first album but it was listened to once and now gathers dust in the corner.

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bill_stickers (January 8, 2010)

To be honest, I don't like gallows super fans anyway. As I've said before, they tend to be the guys who stretch their ears so they look like dumbo the elephant then get their mum to pay to have them stapled up when they realised there's more to life than being a gallows fan.

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nick_s (January 8, 2010)

I'd agree, it just amused me how many of the NME crowd jumped on the band wagon. The sales of Black Flag tshirts must have gone through the roof.

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Cos (January 7, 2010)

I would like to know what bigger "heavy" bands like Mastadon sell in comparison.

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lookingforcorpses (January 7, 2010)

200-300,000 in the US.

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willowrain (January 7, 2010)

Fuckin' right!

Just wrote a comment in an article for my mag suggesting something along those same lines. I was shocked Warner even released "Grey Britain", even without the controversial album artwork.

Whatever. Whoever picks them up next will be lucky bastards indeed.

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wearestillalive (January 7, 2010)

I like the Guardian for news, but dislike when it writes about hardcore. 'So brutal'? Hmm.

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martinNZ09 (January 7, 2010)

Fuck these guys!!!

twice they have been booked for tours here and twoce they have pulled out for bigger money offers leavinbg the promoter out of pocket.

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lookingforcorpses (January 7, 2010)

Do you actually write this every time this band gets mentioned or do you have it saved and you copy and paste?

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duf (January 7, 2010)

they also had a whole australian tour booked and cancelled, leaving the promoter and ticketholders out of pocket

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dX927 (January 8, 2010)

They took their pockets????

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Cos (January 7, 2010)

Why does this band get so much hate again? Grey Britain was a good album.

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punkbytheounce (January 7, 2010)

On top of all that, they got some spiffy suits, too.

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switcharoo (January 7, 2010)

Grey Britain shreds, can't believe the label released it at all

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iorek (January 7, 2010)

I didn't like Orchestra of Wolves much. Is Grey Britain more of the same?

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Dante3000 (rich) (January 7, 2010)

Pretty different but if you didn't like the first one I wouldn't imagine you'd like the second one. It's not that different.

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lookingforcorpses (January 7, 2010)

I'd agree. I think it's better and it's a departure, but it's still very much the same band.

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punker001 (January 7, 2010)

I dont agree, I hate the first CD but Grey Britain is Amazing. So Angry and awesome lyrics about what a shithole Britain is.

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red_eye_inc (January 7, 2010)

Selling out? Never.
Sucking? Always.

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Piata (January 7, 2010)

I liked this album and these guys amuse me. I'm curious what they'll do next.

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Cos (January 7, 2010)

"Gallows have gone further than any British hardcore band ever has."

You have to love hyperbole in music "journalism".

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lookingforcorpses (January 7, 2010)

Who's gone further? Excluding the UK 82 "hardcore" bands like Exploited or stuff like that, has there EVER been a British hardcore band as popular or well known?

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crotchrot (January 7, 2010)

Xbeatlesx

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2kings (January 7, 2010)

i lol'd

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Misanthropee (January 8, 2010)

Napalm Death.

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Jo_punk_promoter (January 8, 2010)

yeah like napalm death is an hardcore band...

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fox82 (January 8, 2010)

Have you heard 'Scum'?

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lookingforcorpses (January 8, 2010)

I love Napalm Death but don't really put them in there.

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SilentStorms (January 7, 2010)

Just listened to these guys for the first time. They sound like a poor man's Bleeding Kansas.

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lookingforcorpses (January 7, 2010)

Do you mean this band?? http://www.myspace.com/bleedingkansas

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savestheclash (January 8, 2010)

What?

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Indecay (January 7, 2010)

50,000 copies sold but I wonder how many people actually have the album. My guess is at least twice that. But how would I know.

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telegraphrocks (January 7, 2010)

I honestly believe that for every 1 album sold, 8 were "illegally" downloaded.

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Indecay (January 8, 2010)

I suspect you're right. I know 5-6 people who have this album on their ipods. I very much doubt any of them paid for it. In fact I know none of them did.

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lookingforcorpses (January 7, 2010)

Great move for these guys. They got paid a shit load of money to do what they wanted to do, now they're free. If they chose to do another record, they can sign to an indie and make solid cash selling what they can sell.

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ahopeagainsthope (January 7, 2010)

These guys certainly upped the punx on Warner. Sign, grab the money, and run with hardly any commercial return for the major.

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14theroad (January 7, 2010)

I liked that record. I knew this wasn't going to last though,

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88fingerstonytherevenge (January 7, 2010)

This album is okay. Not amazing, but okay.

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mmsixstring (January 7, 2010)

Not like Frank Carter cared anyway, he said in an old interview he wasn't gonna do this music thing for long.

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lookingforcorpses (January 8, 2010)

Dude makes way more tattooing full time.

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timahelm (January 7, 2010)

all the bands which go major and then comeback to small labels are doing a smart thing! Alkaline Trio, Anti-Flag, ALL, Bad Religion, Circle Jerks + Gallows now.

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ZachLeg (January 7, 2010)

Against Me maybe. That depends on if they continue to water their music down though.

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lookingforcorpses (January 8, 2010)

Circle Jerks?

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ZachLeg (January 8, 2010)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oddities,_Abnormalities_and_Curiosi ties

but i doubt they made that much money off this cd

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lookingforcorpses (January 8, 2010)

No, I'm very well aware of that CD. They haven't done one since then, right?? In that case, they don't really fit into his point.

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telegraphrocks (January 7, 2010)

Sellouts.

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AndyPonch (January 7, 2010)

Technically Black Flag was on a major label.

The previous year 1980 saw the US punk rock movement hitting a peak in popularity. With Damaged and their growing reputation as an impressive live band, Black Flag seemed poised on the cusp of a commercial breakthrough. The record was to be distributed by now-defunct Unicorn Records, a subsidiary of MCA. Trouble began when MCA refused to handle Damaged after MCA executive Al Bergamo determined the album was an "Anti-Parent" record.[9] However, according to longtime SST employee Joe Carducci[10] the "Anti-Parent" statement was not the real reason for MCA's refusing to distribute Damaged; Carducci reported that Unicorn Records was so poorly managed and so deeply in debt that MCA stood to lose money by distributing the record, regardless of its content. This was the beginning of a legal dispute that would, for a period a few years late

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crashtester (January 7, 2010)

Kind of reminds me of H20. Do records (record) for Epitaph, go to major for a one record flop and then go do something else. I wonder if Brett wants The gallows back again?

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lookingforcorpses (January 8, 2010)

Brett more or less licensed that first record from the British major, anyway. He liked the band so I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up there for a worldwide deal.

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ZachLeg (January 7, 2010)

I'm almost positive someone predicted this via comment on here

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sailin_on (January 7, 2010)

This is awesome. Gallows did a smart thing and the label suffered. Good for them!

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brett-nola (January 7, 2010)

Whoa there, guys! Let's not go lumping ourselves in with the "legends" of punk rock too fast there. You've got a Warped Tour with Brokencyde and Jeffree Star on your resumes...

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sailin_on (January 7, 2010)

Too fast for it yea. But I have a strangely good feeling about this band. If they're able to change it up while keep their music interesting, Gallows may be recognized as one of the most important hardcore acts of the 2000's. then again, this is opinion.

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Lysdexia (January 7, 2010)

I don't know if you were there, but I'm pretty sure that at every show (from what I heard, I was only at one), they verbally attacked both of those "bands",

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dX927 (January 8, 2010)

They talked shit about bands and said Warped Tour had changed.....even though many of the bands were talking about were on the tour, or at least many similar bands, were on the tour when they first did it in 2007.

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rynnxn (January 8, 2010)

It's about time people start realizing that this band fucking sucks

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Turnstyles (January 8, 2010)

I second this motion. LIve show blows.

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Jo_punk_promoter (January 8, 2010)

how can you honestly say that? there live show dosent blow at all, they are one of the best live band i ever saw. Even my friends who dont really liked them tought the same.

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fox82 (January 8, 2010)

I second this motion too. Predictable punk rock star bullshit.

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lookingforcorpses (January 8, 2010)

Their live show was pretty fucking good.

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roosterboy (January 8, 2010)

Grey Britain sold only 50000? Shame on the hardcore CD buying public

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fox82 (January 8, 2010)

Gallows were yet another overrated band that got on a major label and didn't sell a ton of fucking records. So fucking what? They are not the first and they will not be the last. The British like to think that any band or artist of theirs who get signed to a major label MUST somehow be reinventing the wheel. Maybe if the author of this article sat down and listened to Concrete Sox, Black Flag and Crass, he'd realise what a fucking joke of a band Gallows are.

And calling that crap 'so brutal no one could ever accuse them of selling out' is ridiculous. It was a lame-as-fuck record for idiot scenester's whose idea of 'hardcore' and 'brutal' is largely informed by Slipknot and My Chemical Romance.

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bradc930 (January 8, 2010)

And calling that crap 'so brutal no one could ever accuse them of selling out' is ridiculous. It was a lame-as-fuck record for idiot scenester's whose idea of 'hardcore' and 'brutal' is largely informed by Slipknot and My Chemical Romance.

I beg to differ. I think it's good to have a band that actually plays hardcore on a major label so that people DON'T think that bands like MCR and Slipknot fall into that category.

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fox82 (January 10, 2010)

Only they don't 'actually play hardcore', but rather a scenester approximation of what 'hardcore' is, which is sadly becoming increasingly popular these days. Perhaps the tattoos, pseudo-nihilist attutide and silly haircuts fooled you.

If you like hardcore music, you will probably have figured out that the good stuff is not going to ever get on a major label and more importantly you shouldn't give a fuck about mainstream exposure in the first place.

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lushj (January 8, 2010)

Uh, they sold out by the act of signing to a major label. Saying otherwise is just half-assed justification after the fact.

Of course, McLaren's probably got a lot of experience with that.

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lookingforcorpses (January 8, 2010)

Did they ever say, "we'll never sign to a major? Fuck the majors? We're an indie band?" If not, that's not "selling out."

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sailin_on (January 8, 2010)

Agreed also, the sure fire way to know if the band sold out: They significantly changed their sound to fit the label's desires. And I'm sure the heavier sound Gallows put out on Grey Britain was the exact opposite of what Warner wanted.

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lookingforcorpses (January 9, 2010)

Absolutely. "Selling out" is essentially, compromising one's own ideals or standards. Anyone who says, "signing to a major makes you a sellout" needs to get out of Gilman St and put down their MRR and stop felatiating the ghost of Tim Yo.

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RoyStorey (January 8, 2010)

Concrete Sox was the last name I expected to read in an article like this.

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bobcantdrink (January 10, 2010)

The dude is pretty stoked on Gallows getting dropped, but won't they have to pay back the money? My understanding of major labels is they work like banks and in that they 'lend' the band money to record. Then they funnel a large portion of the money into businesses associated with their label. The artist has to pay back back said loan with royalties from albums sold. If the album doesn't sell enough copies, they end up with a bill from the label at the end of the process. I read this years ago in article, it may have been written by Ben Weasel.