GANS and Cowboy Hunters at The Hairy Dog: A Packed Room and Plenty of Chaos

Another packed night at The Hairy Dog, another reminder of how much appetite Derby has for live music. GANS brought their Evolution tour to the venue with Cowboy Hunters in support, pairing two bands whose willingness to throw themselves into a show made for a particularly entertaining evening. There were questions from the audience, an unexpected toilet-roll intervention and a drummer travelling across the crowd, with plenty of music worth getting excited about along the way.

Having already caught Cowboy Hunters a few times this year, we had some idea of what we were walking into. They were their usual funny selves, opening proceedings with a Q&A and immediately making the room part of the show. Their humour has become a big part of the appeal for us: there is an ease to the way they interact with an audience that makes the gaps between songs entertaining in their own right. Even when you have seen them before, there is still the question of what they might decide to do this time.

Musically, the Scottish duo bring together abrasive punk, electronic sounds and blunt, shoutable vocals, with songs that carry the same mischievous personality as their stage presence. ‘Have A Pint’ and ‘Gemma’ are useful starting points for anyone coming to them fresh, while ‘Shag Slags Not Flags’, included in the Derby set, puts an explicitly political edge into their irreverent approach. The humour gives people an immediate way in, but there is enough aggression behind it to keep the music from becoming background to the jokes.

The relationship between the two bands provided some of the evening’s best moments. At one point, GANS appeared and covered Cowboy Hunters in toilet roll, adding another layer of ridiculousness to a set that was hardly short of it already. Cowboy Hunters finished with a dance-off involving GANS, a fitting end to a performance that had started by inviting questions from the room. Both bands seemed entirely comfortable getting involved in each other’s nonsense, making the support set feel like an essential part of the evening.

We also had the chance to interview both bands, with Cowboy Hunters delivering the most bizarre interview we have done to date. Having seen them a few times this year, we probably should have expected things to go off course. When we asked which band we should check out next, the answer was simply “elastic”. We walked straight into that one. It might not have given us another artist to listen to, but it was entirely in keeping with the personality they brought to the stage.

GANS had played Derby before, appearing at the Victoria Inn last year, but this was our first time seeing them. Their sound moves between post-punk, electronics and a broader experimental approach, with bass and drums at its centre. Tracks such as ‘IN TIME’, ‘IT’S JUST LIFE’ and ‘I THINK I LIKE YOU’, from debut album GOOD FOR THE SOUL, offer a route into a catalogue that combines restless energy with melody and lyrics concerned with the pressures of everyday life.

At The Hairy Dog, that energy was impossible to miss. GANS put everything into the performance, and the crowd responded with mosh pits and crowd surfing. There was plenty happening onstage, but just as much reason to keep an eye on the room as people went overhead. Eventually, drummer Euan Woodman joined them for a crowd surf of his own, taking that connection with the audience a step further. For a first encounter with the band, it was a convincing introduction, and one that left us keen to catch them again.

Their merch deserved a look too. A book featuring drawings by members of the band stood out as something a little different to take home, offering another glimpse into the creativity behind GANS. Their interest in visual art makes sense alongside music that is happy to explore different directions, and it was good to see that side of the band represented on the merch table. Those details give you something else to connect with beyond the songs themselves.

Speaking to GANS after the gig also brought a more serious subject into the evening: Birmingham, the demolition and redevelopment affecting Digbeth, and their concerns about what those changes mean for the area. After watching a room full of people come together for a show like this, the conversation served as a reminder of how important local venues are. These are the spaces where bands build an audience, where people discover something unexpected and where creative communities have somewhere to meet.

Seeing The Hairy Dog so busy was encouraging in itself. GANS and Cowboy Hunters gave that crowd plenty to get involved with, from the opening Q&A to the mosh pits, dance-off and toilet roll. We left with another memorable Cowboy Hunters set behind us, a new appreciation for GANS as a live band, and a particularly questionable recommendation to check out “elastic”.

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