Have you ever heard an intro to a song and just knew that it was going to be iconic?
That is what I thought when I heard the intro to “Gammon” by Telgate and then the vocals and harmonies kick in and it confirms that rock and roll is far from dead and that rock and roll with heart, grit, and a powerful message is not dead either.
Telgate is a band of pure fierceness from Cardiff and their latest song “Gammon” was unleashed on April 1st.
Frontman Casper James has this to say about the song,
Gammon is not a song to revolt against the working class people of Britain, it is a song calling for the working class people of Britain to revolt, together.
As I listen to “Gammon” my mind drifts into the 70’s era of rock where Led Zeppelin was wooing and wowing audiences with their sound. That Zeppelin vibe oozes in the intro to “Gammon”. It’s hooky and catchy. The bass and drums of Jacob Jones and Ali Conor are heavy on rock funk, the guitar by Chris Norton is dripping in Hendrix-like fuzz distortion, and Casper is Telgate’s own Robert Plant, confident in swagger, attitude, and vocals. The bonus to the song is the crescendoing keys by Jim Webster midway through the song that absolutely make “Gammon” a 70’s psychedelic rock revival that I am revelling in.
“Gammon” is fiery, emotional, and a goddamn anthem.
Listen to “Gammon” below
I wanted to include the statement about “Gammon” from Casper below as I feel that it’s a message that needs to be amplified as a whole and that’s what we do here at Amplify the Noise. Raising the frequency of music and of those who get in good trouble and Telgate is getting into good trouble just like their Instagram profile reads, they’re a fiery aggro-glam band with a duty to start riots in 6” platforms.
How can I feel proud of a country that’s never felt proud of me? The only pride I feel is pride for my family who marched from the mines, pride for the resilience that my community has to continue to exist, pride towards their efforts to fight, to care for one another and to love while living within the chains of self-interested rulers who shift their sympathies towards profits rather than people.
Gammon is not a song to revolt against the working class people of Britain, it is a song calling for the working class people of Britain to revolt, together.
How much longer will we succumb to being frozen by the 1%? How much longer will we allow private school delinquents to dictate the lives they could never comprehend living? Make decisions on our bodies, make decisions on how we love, make decisions on what we are worth, slaughter our healthcare system in the name of profits and leave the sick to die?
They will turn us against each other, they will fear monger, they will make boogeymen of the most marginalised because they know that if the people had solidarity, the people would be powerful – and that scares them. There are more of us than them.
And they should be afraid because I trust the intellect of the working class people of Britain, who are increasingly coming to the undoubted conclusion that enough is enough. Dress the suits in red, put them to bed.
The flag is already in flames, the confidence in our country burns rapidly. I didn’t destroy the flag, it was destroyed long before I set foot on this earth through the horrors of imperial colonisation, destruction of our earth and the age-long terrorising of the proletariat who are the cogs and gears, the bricks and mortar, to our existence upon it. What does it stand for now? What will you stand for? The power’s in your hands darling, this is Gammon.
