If the Gun performance headlining Friday at Maid Of Stone Festival was magnificent, then it is just part of the run which has seen an exceptional 2024 for the band. A Top 10 album in Hombres, along with some high profile gigs, the run continues with a headline show at the years Firevolt festival, before they head out for more shows. It was high time for a mid-year report with Dante and Jools Gizzi.
With Mr. Big’s Eric Martin leaving hospital to arrive at Maid Of Stone half an hour before their performance on Sunday, so Gun drummer Paul McManus hit the Friday stage the day after keyhole surgery. “He was in the hospital the day before,” Jools told MetalTalk Editor Steve Ritchie.Â
“We had a rehearsal earlier on in the week, and then he said he had to go into hospital the day before the actual gig. But you would never have known. He didn’t slow down.”
“I don’t know about that,” Dante laughs. “I was carrying his bags at the airport. I could see him bending down, and you could see him straining a bit. I’m like, God, what is it?”
McManus explained that he had had keyhole surgery. “So I ended up carrying these bags for him,” Dante says. “But he knocked it out of the park, I think.”
“I think the adrenaline of the gig got him through it all,” Jools says. “But after that he was fine. He just went back to the hotel and went to bed. But did ever so well. It was amazing.”
With a superb 2024 in progress for Gun, I asked if Maid Of Stone was a celebration for the band.
“It used to be the Ramblin’ Man festival,” Jools says. “We loved it the last time we played there. Getting asked to headline the gig on Friday… We had a great audience there. It was just a festival for sheer rock fans who appreciate the bands and the music. We love doing them. We love playing festivals like that. It’s just a great vibe.”
Gun were enjoying themselves so much that the strict curfew meant the stage power was switched off midway through the chorus of Fight For Your Right To Party. “It was that good that we ended up staying on a bit longer,” Dante says. “We got switched off, which was understandable because of the curfew. We got carried away and just loved it and I think the audience did as well. You could say it was definitely a bit of a celebration.”
Being able to crank out Word Up on a Festival stage is a cool tool to have in your box, you feel. The Top 10 single and the Top 5 Swagger album have just turned 30 years old. These broke the band into the wider public consciousness and led to MTV awards and extensive tours.
“It works well at festivals,” Dante says of the Cameo cover, “especially for the fans out there and those that are not that familiar with Gun. It’s always good to play it.”
“But, it’s a song that we can’t be arsed playing anymore, to be honest,” Jools says. “But we’ve got to put it in there because the fans like it. The punters and the fans, they love it. So we just pick ourselves up and play it.”
“It’s great to play at a festival,” Dante says.
You don’t see many jukeboxes in pubs these days. Maybe that is a sign of the times, but Word Up and Swagger were in every pub I went to in North London back in the mid-’90s. “It was amazing,” Jools says. “It was great at the time. We had great success with it, especially all around Europe. It certainly pushed us up to playing bigger venues.”
Even Tommy Lee’s then wife Pamela Anderson undressed to Word Up in the film Barb Wire. “When we won the MTV award, they were in the same hotel as us,” Jools smiles. “She got chatting to me and she’s was loving the Scottish accent.”
“One thing led to another, Steve,” Dante smirks. I laughingly suggest we make that a MetalTalk exclusive.
2024 has seen Gun return to the land of film soundtracks, with songs from Hombres appearing on the new Samuel L. Jackson film Damaged. The link between these stems from the album recording sessions.
“There’s a guy that we know really well, Paul Aniello,” Dante says, “who does a lot of TV work and was getting into film work. I recall him coming into the studio, and he’s listening to a couple of the songs. He’s like, wow, some of these songs sound amazing. I think they would be great to put on this new movie that I’m doing with Samuel L. Jackson. We’re like, what are you serious? Just one thing led to another.
“I think Samuel L Jackson got wind of the songs as well. These would be great to put on, obviously having that Scottish theme. Because it’s set in Scotland, Scottish producer, Scottish actor, Gianni Capaldi… Well Scottish Italian, just like us. So there is the link.”
The Hombres songs Pride and Lucky Guy feature in the movie. “They actually worked really well,” Dante says. “There was actually about six or seven songs originally. But then it went to America, and they were like, oh, it seems like the whole movie consists of all these Gun songs from their new album. Not saying that they’re bad, but it’s just maybe over overbearing. But, what an amazing accolade that is to have a song actually acted out by Samuel Jackson.”
Pride is featured in the film in a car chase scene. The brothers have seen clips from the film but not the whole movie yet. We have to wait until October for the film to be seen on Amazon Prime.
“There were a few other tracks,” Jools says, “like Falling, when there was a murder scene in the movie that he discovers.”
“You don’t want to give too much away,” Dante laughs.
“We have a song called You Are What I Need,” Jools says. “Jackson is in his hotel room. He plays an ex-cop who came over to solve this murder. He’s actually dancing to our track, and he’s getting pissed.”
“The mini bar,” Dante smiles, “We’ve got that footage.”
“It’s a great bit of footage,” Jools says, “but there’s no relevance to the actual movie itself.”
“I think they actually cut the whole scene out,” Dante says.
“So gutted about that,” Jools laughs.
I guess we have to wait for the Directors Cut in a few year’s time, I suggest.
Hombres has been released as an extended Damaged version with live songs and really great extras. “I think it’s something a little bit different for fans to get their hands on,” Jools says.
“There’s a lot of the B-sides as well,” Dante says, “that have come from the Swagger album. I know a lot of people are really interested in listening to them if you’re a fan of the band. I was listening to some of the songs the other day. There were some that we wanted to put on the Swagger album initially. They never quite made it, and they were made into B sides. But there’s a lot of feedback from fans that have been incredible, saying how much they absolutely love the B sides and want to hear more of them. It was a wee bit of faffing trying to get them.
“It was Universal that holds the rights to them. We managed to get there in the end and everything was amicable. It’s good to get them so the fans can hear the old material as well as the live stuff.”
“I just believe if you’ve got B sides bonus tracks, get it out there and lets hear it,” Jools says. “Because every time you talk to the fans, they’re like have you got any bonus tracks? Maybe half worked on? It’s unbelievable. Fans love that.”
Firevolt Rock Festival, in Stockport, finds Gun headlining again. “That will be amazing,” Jools says. “On Sunday, I think we close it. Festivals are good. You get to meet other bands and other musicians.”
“You get to play to a wider audience,” Dante agrees. “An audience that would not normally go to see you. It’s winning that audience over, and you make it more fun. I think going to festivals, you can’t take yourself too seriously. It’s got to be an enjoyable affair with a very much a neutral audience. I really enjoy winning over an audience at the end of a show, for people may be watching you and sitting on the fence. Then, by the end of it, you’ve won them over, and you can see that, that gives you some sense of accomplishment. It’s the best feeling in the world to win them over.
“I had it at the Made Of Stone Festival afterwards. It was these young boys, who would probably be 18/19 years of age, with a couple of girls. ‘Hey, you’re that guy from the band Gun. That was an absolutely amazing set.’ I’m like, wow, that’s amazing. ‘Never heard of you before, but I really liked it’.”
“You meet the other bands,” Jools says, “and have a chat with other musicians. It’s great to go and see some of the bands. I’m really looking forward to Firevolt.”
Gun also play Thunder In The Glens Festival, one of the biggest biker festivals in Europe. “We played it a long time ago and it was great,” Jools says. “We absolutely loved it. What a buzz it was. We were just so excited to play it and to be asked to come back again. Kris Barras is playing it too. It’s great when you go to these places and have a look around and see these incredible motorbikes. It’s a great experience.”
Then it is off to Europe in October. Do the boys still enjoy trekking across Europe? “Yeah,” Dante says, “but it can be tiring though. We’re not 21 anymore.”
“We just did a Spanish tour which consisted of 11 shows in 12 days,” Dante says explaining the rigours of European touring. “It was only one day off and you’ve got to do that a wee bit. Because obviously you’ve got to save money and you’ve got to make it cost worthy in order to do that. But then you’ve got to play quite a full on amount of shows in one trot.”
“But, you know, it’s great,” Jools says.
“But it’s tough,” Dante says. “You’re singing every night. Five shows off, day off and then another five.
“It’s great when we go abroad,” Dante says. “The fans dig your music, they love your songs, and love coming to see you live. It’s a great feeling. The traveling is the tiring thing. But once you’re in the gig…”
“We’re really looking forward to doing these shows with Kris Barras in Germany as well,” Dante says.
“I’ve not been back to Germany for a long time,” Jools says. “I’m excited about that. You know it’s gonna be good.”
Then it’s back to Blighty for Gun in December. With everything that has happened in 2024, I ask if that last show in Barrowland Ballroom will be one big fucking party?
The boys laugh. “Playing the Barrowlands is such an amazing buzz,” Jools says. “It’s amazing. It’s not just people from Glasgow, but people coming up from England, people coming from abroad, from Spain and Portugal and Germany and Sweden.
“It’s special, really special. For some reason, we always knock it out of the park when we’re playing that gig. Because it’s our hometown. Where we are doing this interview is only a stones throw away from the Barrowloads. We’re right in the heart of where the Barrowlands is. It’s just an amazing buzz. You feel like a proper rock star when you play that gig.”
Although their magnificent 2024 is not over yet, there are plans underway for 2025, including a new album. “We’ve just got a new computer arriving today,” Jools says. “We really needed an upgrade, but we thought to hell, we’ll just get a new one.”
My thoughts immediately turn to last years Luke Morley interview which was interrupted for two minutes when his doorbell went. There is no addition to the MetalTalk Christmas blooper reel this time.
“We use Dante’s old bedroom upstairs where we write all the songs,” Jools says. “We write everything in there. This is my mom and dad’s house. In my writing process, if it works here, if we get a vibe going here, then we’ll go to the studio and properly record it. Once we get this computer up and running, I’ve got some half ideas. So we’ll see. But we definitely can’t leave it. What was the last one? Six years?”
“I think it was six years,” Dante says. “But also I think a part of that was the pandemic as well, which didn’t help. Kind of killed the buzz for writing a wee bit. But, this time around, I think, we’ll probably get on with it and get a new album out, hopefully, fingers crossed, next year.”
Favourite Pleasures was released in 2017, so technically it is seven years, but that is me being picky. 
With Firevolt imminent, it is all go and you can feel that the boys are in a good place. “We couldn’t have asked for a better response to the [Hombres] album,” Dante says. “That was our main concern because we spent a lot of time writing it and getting the songs working. To get a Top 10 album in the UK and number one album in Scotland… It was number one on iTunes here and also in Spain. It’s that sort of stuff that makes you think, well, we done something right with it. This new album [Hombres Damaged] people are digging it.”
“I think all the reviews that we had for the record were incredible as well,” Jools says. “Absolutely mind-blowing. You make the record, and you can only hope people like it. You put your heart and soul into it, and if we like it then you think, well, maybe there’s a chance. Because you believe in it.
“So we’ve got to feel like that about the next record. I think it’s given us a bit of confidence going into the next record because it will not be very far away from what we’re sounding on the Hombres album. We’re looking forward to getting back into the studio and writing some good songs. But we’ll make sure we’ll not release it until we’re really happy with it.”
You also can see that the fans mean a lot to the brothers. “Thank you for all your support out there,” Dante says, “and supporting the band. Hopefully, we will see a whole lot of you guys at the Firevolt festival.”
“If you come to Firevolt, we will play our arses off,” Jools promises. “We hope to see many fans at Firevolt. As Dante says, I just really appreciate all your amazing support that you’ve given us, not just on this album but all the other albums that we’ve released.
“It’s been incredible and I think without you guys, we wouldn’t be doing it. So thank you so much.”
Tour tickets are available from here. To order Hombres – Damaged Edition – Visit gunband.lnk.to/hombresdamagedPR.
To find out more about Firevolt, visit their Facebook group.
