Andy Gill has a relatively simple work ethic that’s guided him for years, ever since his legendary post-punk outfit Gang Of Four burst onto the staid scene with its jagged, jarring Entertainment! debut in 1979. “There are loads of bands that can chuck out the same album, year after year,” he says. “But that model is just not for me.” The group’s quantum leap forward to 1982’s more danceable third album, Songs Of The Free, might have clarified that tenet already. If not, the latest Gang Of Four record surely will—the aptly dubbed What Happens Next, Gill’s first after the departure of longtime vocalist Jon King. Gill will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on the band.
Gill: A few years ago, I went to El Bulli in its closing year, the best restaurant in the world. It was completely amazing. We ate more than 40 tiny, perfect, mind-bending courses. We were taken by a friend of Ferran Adria, the genius behind El Bulli, who also steered us to a tiny restaurant in the nearby town of Roses. We went there for lunch, knocked on the door and a woman in a dressing gown opened the door with a cigarette in her mouth, telling us to come back in five minutes. It didn’t seem promising but we returned to a meal that was almost as incredible as El Bulli in its own way. She and her husband just prepared whatever the fishermen had gotten out of the sea that morning—sea snails, all kinds of shellfish and some fish. It was just so fresh, so fantastic.
Video after the jump.
