Gag Salon and the obtuse art punk pummels (and charming gestures) of "Backing Track"

 

Photo by Louis-Jean La Grange

The progressive obtuse art punk pummels (and charming gestures) of "Backing Track", by UK's eccentric, absurdist art rock quartet Gag Salon, feels like wonderfully weird present ID rock like an artful exorcism of sorts, the kind of embraceful jagged coloring outside of the lines. Like improvisational punk jazz, like contemporary iterations of dadaism, these guys feel like they are throwing the creative proverbial spaghetti against the wall, not to see what sticks but to utilize everything that doesn't. I am not sure if that makes sense (not the first time for me) but I have always appreciated art that goes sideways or even inside out and I feel that here. The last time I wrote about Gag Salon I had said this:   

"They are wonderfully irregular, an amalgam of artists like Sparks, Devo, Modest Mouse, Television, Bruce Wooley and the Camera Club, post punk, avant pop, art rock experimental artists that don't fit in a tidy box."

AND I had called Joseph Mumford's vocal aesthetic "wonderfully bipolar" and I stand by those initial feelings. Other artful actors I think about in terms from previous iconic eras would be Oingo Boingo, of course Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu. This is the thing though, a lot of those avant garde acts might be pushing envelopes so much that their expressions might not catch favor with most in the audience. Gag Salon is able to bridge any chasm between power pop and absurdity, between abstract and commericality. I guess you can say the writing and arrangements have true pop prowess as connective artistic tissue. 

LIKE on "Backing Track", the mayhem stops on a dime at around 2 minutes and 7 seconds in, revealing a bridge that feels more like the musical hall inspired beautiful consumer pop rock of The Kinks, The Stones, The Beatles (yeah all the The bands). I absolutely love the change, the spin, the total charm of it all, a brilliant diversion, yeah love it so much. 

The amazing Gag Salon is comprised of the aforementioned Joseph Mumford (vocals / guitar), Tom Dimmock (backing vocals / synth / piano), Seb Bowden (bass) and Ayden Spiller (drums / percussion).

"Backing Track" is the first single taken from their upcoming debut album "You Have Been Killed", due for release on August 19th (2025).

-Robb Donker Curtius

GAG SALON · Backing Track

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2C3DYfvpYvOATMSMWL6lat

https://www.instagram.com/gagsalonband/

https://gagsalon.bandcamp.com/

https://linktr.ee/gagsalonband

https://www.facebook.com/gagsalonband


Introducing Gag Salon: the surviving members of a function band gone up in flames, the guinea pigs of experimental surgery and new age psychotherapy. Fundamentally a pop group, Gag Salon invite you to interrogate the undesirable and exorcise your demons via LCD intensity and Beefheartian wonk.

art punk, art rock, avant pop, experimental, Gag Salon, indie rock, irregular cookies, jangle pop, post punk, progressive punk, UK, "Backing Track", Joseph Mumford's wild vocal aesthetic, debut album "You Have Been Killed",