Gola Ola

Last week we caught up with Dylan from Gola Ola. Heres our interview where we discuss financing, band names & plans for the future! Enjoy!

Piewatch – Our interpretation of the name Gola Ola is “Trainers Hello” which in itself is fairly cool, but being a Welsh name we imagine it means something else? So what does it mean?
We decided to name ourselves Gola Ola because when Rich and Alex met me for the first time I was sitting in a lay-by on the A470, looking at my Gola trainers and constantly greeting them. Ok I’m a bad liar, the translation of Gola Ola is in fact “Last Light”, which has proved a mouthful for presenters in the past when saying our name.

Piewatch – You have done very well in your homeland.  What would you say is your biggest achievement to date?
Hitting No.1 in the welsh charts with our album “Rhwng ‘Oria a Munuda” (Between Hours and Minutes) is considered a big achievement, considering that Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals) and Cerys Matthews (Catatonia) both had albums in the charts. We were also in the nominations for “Artist of the Year” in the RAP Awards 2007, this is the main awards ceremony for Welsh music.

Piewatch – Who are your musical influences? Any unexpected ones?
I am into almost every kind of music you could think of. I think Slipknot have amazing instrumental and composing abilities whilst at the same time I think Leona Lewis has an amazing voice (even though I think she ruined Snow Patrols song ). My main personal influence will always lie in the hands of “Flea” because his bass guitar abilities are limitless, I wouldn’t be where I am now without his existance.

Piewatch – When did you form and when did you first feel you could do well musically?
The band formed in 2004 with another bassist, Jason. In April 2006 I bumped into Alex in a kebab shop early hours in the morning in Bangor, and he explained that Jason had left and that Gola Ola were no more. It was then I was asked to be the new bassist and we worked on our new album. It wasn’t until the success of the album we realized that we were onto a winner, although now we feel like we can raise the bar even higher.

Piewatch – Your music is constantly evolving; how do you feel it has developed since your first tracks on STP?
We are always looking to improve whilst still keeping the same unique sound. We have matured a lot since our last batch of songs and I think that the songs that are on STP are no match to the new ideas that we are working on.

Piewatch – We know you are actively planning your financing strategy;  care to share the details?
We have just completed Phase 1 which is getting the word out to the public that Gola Ola are back and stronger than ever! Phase 2 is very close, this is the distribution of the new song, which is currently being mastered in the studio as we speak by Rich, the guitarist and producer. It’s this stage we will be offering our fans the chance to pre-order our album and the chance to invest and be a part of our success! These are the people who are important to us and have supported us to this day, but they are just as important as new fans that we are always seeking to find.

Piewatch – In your opinion what makes you stand out compared to other bands in the showcase?
Being able to sing in both Welsh and English is always going to put us a few steps in front of the other bands, as we can go and play gigs in Patagonia in Argentina =]. We can also cater to a large audience, especially the younger generation. I think the music industry as a whole is lacking bands in this area, which leaves a generous gap for us to fill. We really like the bands that have been successful in this area, like Busted and McFly, but we feel we can offer something different but still appeal to the same audience.

Piewatch – What is your best rated track on STP? Why do you feel this is?
The most popular track on STP we’ve found is ’12 hours’. From the first second the track displays a powerful riff and you can find people bouncing up and down instantly. Like most of our tracks we try and concentrate on achieving a very catchy melody whilst delivering the powerful instrumentals to back it.

Piewatch - If you achieved financing tommorow what would be the first thing you would buy?
I really want an iPod, an iMac, maybe I’ll buy a…..oh were meant to spend the money on the band? Oh right! We are very happy with the sound we are getting at the moment so we have no reason to not record at our own studio, as this is Rich’s full time job. This leaves a large chunk of money to get good merchandise and a brilliant marketing plan to extend or fanbase and with that, more album sales.

Piewatch – Are you picky (as a band) with your instruments or will you play anything?
“A good workman never blames his tools” is the theory I’ve always gone with, but Rich and Alex are always on top of their game when it comes to their instruments and are both perfectionists in getting the best sound they can get live and in the studio. Personally I’ve never had the funds to get a new bass guitar [insert sympathy here] so I’ve had to improvise with my Tobias Custom 4 string bass

Piewatch – What are Gola Ola’s plans for the future?
World Domination and unlimited supply of cookies! We are jumping each hurdle as it comes along whilst keeping an eye on the possibilities of the future. Our main goal is to produce quality music and its important for us to provide a really good sound in our live shows.

Piewatch - Any last words?
I am very grateful for the support we have received on SliceThePie in the last 2 years, we have been tremendously close to financing before but we have come a long way since then.

Thanks to everyone who have invested and supported us, our goal is to be able to give our fans the chance to buy our album for £5,and everyone who invests in us makes us one step closer to achieving this.  We also have been working on a website to explain to our fans and everyone out there on how they can also benefit from SliceThePie, this will soon be opened on www.golaola.com which is under construction, this website will be announced on the forums when its ready. Diolch yn fawr iawn am popeth.

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