Gun (band)

Gun
Origin    Glasgow, Scotland
Genre(s)    Hard rock
Years active    1987 - 1997, 2008 to present
Label(s)    A&M Records

Members
Toby Jepson
Giuliano 'Jools' Gizzi
Dante Gizzi
Gordon McNeil
Former members
Mark Rankin
Baby Stafford
Stuart Kerr
Scott Shields
Alex Dickson
Mark Kerr
Irvin Duguid
Cami Morlotti
Alan Thornton

Gun are a rock band from Glasgow, Scotland, most well known for their cover of Word Up!, originally by Cameo.


Biography

Early career

Originally called Blind Allez then for a short time, 'Phobia', GUN were formed in 1987 by brothers Giuliano Gizzi (guitar) and Cami Morlotti (bass), with Mark Rankin (vocals), Alan Thornton (drums) and David Aitken (guitar). Signed in 1989 by A&M Records the band changed the line-up after Alan, Cami and David parted company with them and new recruits Dante Gizzi, Scott Shields and Baby Stafford joined. They released their debut album Taking on the World. Mark Rankin's cousin Sharleen Spiteri, of fellow Scottish band Texas and ex drummer Alan Thornton contributed backing vocals to several songs on the album. The single "Better Days" from the album made the top 40 in the UK. Gun toured the US and supported The Rolling Stones on their European Urban Jungle Tour of 1990.

Mainstream success

Alex Dickson replaced Baby Stafford before the release of their second album Gallus, of which the single "Steal Your Fire" was a minor hit. Spiteri and Thornton again contributed backing vocals to the album.

Both Alex and Scott left before the release of Swagger, Giuliano taking over all guitar duties, and Mark Kerr (brother of Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr) replacing Scott. Swagger was easily their most successful album, propelled by the success of their version of Word Up!, the single of which was a top 10 UK hit, charted well in many other territories and won an MTV award for best cover version.

Decline and split

The band took a break and returned three years later with yet another new drummer, Stuart Kerr (formerly of Texas), a keyboard player, Irvin Duguid, a new name (G.U.N. - the reason given at the time, was to distance the bands name from the Dunblane shooting incident and to show some sensitivety to those involved, as Mark Rankin explained in an interview for the website dotmusic.com) and a new album 0141 632 6326 produced by INXS keyboard player Andrew Farriss, which was characterised by a much lighter, poppier sound than the more rock-driven sound of their earlier works. However, the album managed to simultaneously alienate existing fans of the band and fail to gain a new audience, and sold poorly in comparison to Swagger.

The band split in 1997 and aside from a few one-off reunion gigs in 1998 and 1999, had not been active as a unit before reforming, with Toby Jepson as guest vocalist, for a Rockradio charity gig in January 2008. Two new Gun CDs were released (The Collection and The River Sessions - a double live CD) during their hiatus, and all the previous individual members went on to other projects within the music industry. An official fan site [1] was set up, in agreement with the band, with previous and current members of the band participating in live web chats and contributing to the forums from time to time.

Reformation and future

In January 2008 Joolz and Dante Gizzi played a set of GUN songs, with Toby Jepson of Little Angels guesting on vocals and Alan Thornton on drums at the 'Garage' in Glasgow, Scotland. The gig was organised by Rockradio [2] in aid of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy charity.

GUN recently announced on Rockradio (April 2008) that they are to reform and confirmed that Jepson will join the band on a permanent basis, replacing Mark Rankin as vocalist, who has given his blessing to the reformation and new lineup.[3] Thornton also returned to his original position as drummer until being replaced by Gordon McNeil in October 2008. They played several festival dates before launching their own headline tour. New material has also being recorded, with a release to coincide with the 20th anniversary of their first album, Taking on the world.

In May 2008 GUN played the Rockradio Manchester launch festival. This was followed by an appearance at Rockers, Midland Street, Glasgow, Scotland on the 11th of July 2008 as a warm up for their appearance on the main stage at the 2008 T in the Park music festival, the following day, Saturday 12th July. The band have also been back into the studio to record some new material and will embark on a headlining tour.

Outside projects and work

In 2005, Dante Gizzi resurfaced in the glam rock band El Presidente. Alan Thornton also collaborated on the band's debut album Playing nine of the drum tracks.

Guiliano 'Jools' Gizzi, Alan Thornton and Cami Morlotti have recently (2006) joined up again to reform as Blind Allez along with singer Peter Scallan and guitarist Ian Murray. Gizzi has also been collaborating with Deacon Blue and Texas as well as contributing in the studio to El Presidente.

Scott Shields has contributions to the films Black Hawk Down and Bend It Like Beckham and was also playing and touring with Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros until Strummer's death. Scott and other members of the band put the finishing touches to Strummer's last album.

Alex Dickson has played with Bruce Dickinson, Emma Bunton and Robbie Williams since leaving Gun and is also a member of the rock supergroup Sack Trick.

Mark Rankin is currently working for Mercury Records in London promoting up and coming bands.

Mark Kerr is currently living and working in Paris. He has been collaborating with many acts including Sly Silver Sly, Regency Buck, Scanners, Jackos One, Mellow, Bob's Symphonic Orchestra, Cathy Burton and DJ Daniele Tignino. He has also played drums on occasion for Simple Minds and for Les Rita Mitsouko.

Trivia
    * Mick Jagger personally asked for Gun to tour with The Rolling Stones on the Urban Jungle tour.
    * Gun received an MTV award as best cover for the single Word up.
    * Pamela Anderson stripped to Gun's version of Word Up! in her film Barb Wire.
    * The Gizzi brothers both own a bistro in Glasgow with their brother and sister.
    * On November 24, 2007 Jools Gizzi, his brother Dante and Scott Shields attended the 'Tartan Clef' music charity event to pick up the Scottish rock award from Rockradio on behalf of GUN.

Discography

    * Taking on the World (1989)
    * Gallus (1992)
    * Swagger (1994)
    * 0141 632 6326 (1997)
    * The Collection (2003)
    * The River Sessions (2005)