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Stemming from a previous project called The Revenants, The Gilded Gutter is the musical partnership of Johnny Gibson and Steve Milligan in primary collaboration.
Primarily a studio project, they are influenced by a disparate mix of music from The Pogues, Planxty, The Waterboys, The Mescaleros and Lankum through to a vast range of punk rock like The Clash, Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four and Fugazi.
Their music draws on a mix of traditional Irish instrumentation like mandolin, fiddle, accordion and the uilleann pipes laid under heavier rock’n roll and punk drumbeats with bass, acoustic and electric guitars, creating a sometimes-raucous fusion of folk and punk but one that steers away from the more predictable chants of similar genres.
Hailing originally from Tasmania, Johnny Gibson is a drummer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who has played in several Melbourne bands including alt-country stalwarts Raised by Eagles, rock’n rollers Swedish Magazines and folk-punk larrikins The Currency.
Dublin born Steve Milligan grew up mainly in Melbourne and now lives back in Ireland in rural Limerick. He is a singer, guitarist and songwriter. Milligan scorched his vocal cords screaming in 90’s punk bands One Inch Punch, Mid Youth Crisis and later Coue Method and Black is the Colour.
Other collaborators are Anton Ruddick (guitar), Rowan Blackmore (accordion), Sam Davies (uillean pipes and tin whistle), Melanie Carroll (vocals) with Carmen O’Brien (violin) and Andy Papadopoulos (bass) and Duncan Graham (studio production)
The Gilded Gutter (self-titled) album is OUT NOW via FOUR FOUR/ABC Music.
“This song was informed by the punitive immigration policies of successive Australian governments (that also received the tacit or active approval of many opposition parties) over the past two decades.
The policy and rhetoric have now been adopted and mimicked in other parts of the privileged world – most notoriously in the UK with the ‘Rwanda solution’. As the soundbite at the end of the recording demonstrates, the title comes from the phrase Tony Abbott used to define the problematic issue of refugees seeking asylum.
These attitudes, policies and the “stop the boats” ‘mantra’ where people are referred to as nothing more than “irrita[ting]” ‘vessels’, are ironic when one considers the iconic ‘sails of Utzon’s’ opera house in Sydney harbour. This symbol of maritime immigration is redolent of the Conradian motif of the ‘whited sepulchre’ in Heart of Darkness.
The beautiful white sails in the ‘majestic harbour’ that ‘belie the sepulchral truth’ of Australia – genocide of our indigenous population and an ongoing history of xenophobia and human rights violations where people are locked in hotels for years on end or left to rot in island camps.” – Steve Milligan. Singer/Songwriter
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My nickname is “The Amnplifier”. Why? Because around here my focus is on being a conduit for providing greater outcomes that people come here for. My day to day “work” is living in the moment, and I love helping others concentrate on finding their connection to themselves through their experiences.
Why start a music environment? The truth is I love music, I love writing, and I love life. I work with musicians every day, and I feel certain that I will be until they put me in the ground. I have been managing people in businesses of some sort for over thirty five years so along the way I have developed some “wisdom” from my regular and constant “observations”.
Amnplify your experience. That is what we want you to do here, and if you want to let me know why you do, or don’t, shoot me a message on Facebook.
Hope you enjoy yourself here and find something that hits you somewhere.
