Birmingham newcomers GANS announce the release of their debut album GOOD FOR THE SOUL, on 19 September via Peter Doherty’s Strap Originals label. Produced by Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, Amyl & The Sniffers, The Fall, Working Men’s Club), new single ‘IT’S JUST LIFE’ is out today and streaming everywhere now. It follows ‘I THINK I LIKE YOU’ which landed on the BBC 6 Music playlist.
For GANS, a duo of borderless noise-makers with intensity at the core of what they do, it’s the world around them, and specifically their upbringing, that roots them in their sound. Growing up in working class areas of the Black Country to parents who worked in factories and mills has helped define an approach that seeks to merge uneasy realism with horizon-chasing escapism.
Across their upcoming debut album GOOD FOR THE SOUL, the band tackles subjects of acceptance, self-destruction, and body image. Informed by a shared love of painting, literature, and poetry in particular, GANS is where all of these concepts coalesce, in the hive-mind of songwriters Euan Woodman (drums, vocals) and Thomas Rhodes (bass, vocals). On new single ‘IT’S JUST LIFE’, the pair considers how the race to fulfil ourselves can become futile if we don’t confront the issues within us first.
Drummer and vocalist Euan Woodman expands:
“IT’S JUST LIFE is about that feeling we all have – the eternal chase for the grass being greener on the other side. And it isn’t, no matter what we do it always comes back to the same old sh*t of living in our minds and having to deal with it all, no matter where we end up on the planet. That’s just life isn’t it.”
Continuing about the album, he says:
“GOOD FOR THE SOUL was the ultimate journey for us. You have your entire life to write a debut record and this is ours. 24 years of life distilled through noises and vibrations. We went to the Welsh countryside in December 2024 to write the record. We hired a cottage for 10 days, armed ourselves with enough food, booze, weed and music to listen to that would keep us inspired, and we wrote about 15/16 songs. It was an idyllic place with a little brook flowing in the garden – all very Led Zeppelin.
We then took those songs to Ross Orton who had produced ‘IN TIME’ and ‘I THINK I LIKE YOU’ with us already.
We started recording with him in the first week of January 2025 so it was all super-fast. brand new songs we loved and Ross was great to work with, he inspired us and challenged us. He’s a bit of a nutter – but that’s kinda what we like, we like to be around interesting characters. After 3 weeks in Sheffield we had a record done.”
GANS Live Dates 2025
June
6 – Sonic Bloom Festival, Gloucester, UK
26 – Garage Mu Festival, Paris, FR
July
2 – Metal In The Midlands, Town Hall, Birmingham, UK
3 – Forum, Tunbridge Wells, UK
5 – The Horn, St Albans, UK
9 – Le Pub, Newport, UK
10 – Hallamshire Hotel, Sheffield, UK
11 – EBGBS, Liverpool, UK
16 – The Victoria Inn, Derby, UK
17 – Boileroom, Guildford, UK
19 – Rock Herk Festival, BE
23 – The Cavern, Exeter, UK
24 – Heartbreakers, Southampton, UK
25 – Esquires, Bedford, UK
August
8 – Piece Hall, Halifax, UK %
14 – Route Du Rock Festival, St Malo, FR
September
9 – The Lexington, London, UK
% = Supporting The Libertines
GANS Live Dates 2026
February
13 – Waterfront, Norwich, UK ^
14 – Rock City, Nottingham, UK ^
15 – Digital, Newcastle, UK ^
18 – Stylus, Leeds, UK ^
19 – SWG3, Glasgow, UK ^
20 – New Century Hall, Manchester, UK ^
21 – O2 Institute, Birmingham, UK ^
24 – Electric, Bristol, UK ^
25 – 1865, Southampton, UK ^
27 – The Roundhouse, London, UK ^
^ = Supporting BIG SPECIAL
For more information on GANS please check their facebook and instagram.