The Making of The Magic Gang (2013 - 2018)

The Magic Gang, an indie four-piece band, were formed in Brighton in 2013. It is comprised of: Jack Kaye, Paeris Giles, Kristian Smith and Angus Taylor (Gus Tiramani). All four lads hail from Bournemouth but surprisingly, aside from Kris and Paeris, who are childhood friends, they didn’t know each other. Jack and Kris then met while attending Brockenhurst College and eventually, during their time at BIMM, they all met. Although no band was formed right away, they moved into a house share with a number of other talented individuals. Each resident trying to find their footing in the world of music. It was here that Kaye, Smith and Giles wrote and composed ‘Bruises’, Taylor was pulled in to play bass for the recording. ‘Bruises’ was then uploaded online and to their surprise, the song gained more attention than the other projects they had been working on (Source / Source). So finally, after a myriad of happy accidents, the The Magic Gang had come to be.

Echochamp, was the band’s home / recording studio / DIY record label and performance venue. It served as the creative hub for its residents and produced The Magic Gang, Sulky Boy, Abattoir Blues and Manuka Honeys. It was a collective of likeminded individuals who shared similar aspirations. In a set up somewhat reminiscent of Studio Electrophonique mixed with the house parties of Skins. It was here The Magic Gang found their sound. Their epic house parties would usually start when one of the artists that lived in Echochamp put on a ‘concert’ in their bedroom and it snowballed from there. These performances were creating a stir in Brighton through word of mouth, with people desperate to get into these house concerts. Pictures from the time show packed rooms, crowd surfing, lipstick marks all over faces and generally just a bloody good time. The music video for ‘She Won’t Ghost’ still evokes the jealousy 17 year old me felt when the video was released 9 years ago.

The Magic Gang Debut (2018)

The Magic Gang did everything their own way and on their own timeline. They were by all means, a slow burn band. They signed with Warner Records in 2016 and yet fans waited 3 years for their debut album. Looking back on the debut, Gus recounts that it was more of a “greatest hits until that point” album (Source), which is a true statement given they had been singing some of these songs for 5 years at this point. The Magic Gang took a much slower approach to infiltrating the music industry, whether by choice or forced upon them, it worked out for the best. Echochamp gave them all they needed during those early years and afforded them the opportunity to work on their craftsmanship, songwriting skills and musical abilities with very low stakes and no pressure from the men in suits (aka music label execs). This changed towards the end of 2015, with Gus commenting “We’re gonna want to do more and we won’t be able to do it without the backing of a label” (Source). They worked hard for everything they got, holding down jobs while tinkering away with their ‘musical side project’ and getting parents to give them lifts to and from gigs. The Magic Gang did not rush off to London at the first smell of success, a rarity even now, Jack commented “London bands lose their sense of hometown glory” (Source) and for a group very proud of their Bournemouth/Brighton roots, it is understandable why they stayed put for as long as they did.

At this point The Magic Gang were best described as a live performance band, but they were picking up attention online too. What made The Magic Gang so interesting to listeners was that they had no defined genre, their sound was a delicious fusion of all the music that had gone before. They were by all accounts the perfect band for people who loved older music (Me!!!). The Magic Gang’s sound stood out for a number of reasons, most notably, it was a lot happier than a majority of the indie music at the time. Each of their songs was dripping with inspiration from their favourite artists but not in a tacky, imitation way - they truly made everything their own. The stunning harmonies and romantic, doo-wop-esque lyricism of The Beach Boys and rock sensibilities, reminiscent of Weezer, The Clash and The Beatles, merged together to create a unique punchy indie-pop sound.

Sunshine in the form of songs, The Magic Gang’s music was fun. It wasn’t loaded with political sentiments or serious world matters. They offered their listeners, online and in person, escapism from their tedious everyday and a chance to switch off from the world. The online attention continued and The Magic Gang were beginning to be noticed by publications such as DORK, DIY magazine, NME and many more. It was felt amongst many fans that the band had limitless potential and were sure to become a huge success. There were even rumours of labels desperately trying to sign them (Source) but according to The Magic Gang in a 2018 interview, they found themselves ‘too alternative’ to get signed with major labels and ‘too pop’ to sign with indie labels (Source).

In 2015, The Magic Gang were one of eighty-four new artists that were picked by Converse Rubber Tracks to travel to one of twelve iconic studios in the world (Source). They chose to go to Jamaica and work at Tuff Gong Studio. It was here they worked with legendary producers Sly and Robbie and were afforded the opportunity to continue to work on improving their skills and defining their sound.

Having done the rounds on the UK tour and festival circuit, The Magic Gang had got themselves a dedicated fanbase. Active on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram during a time of extremely toxic online music ‘fandoms’, TMG’s fans created a positive and fun space online with little drama. Though some fans still had… interesting para-social relationships with the band, most were very lowkey and very kind. However, this ‘lowkey’ atmosphere was long gone during gigs, with fans getting lost in the music for the entire duration of the show. The atmosphere The Magic Gang created during their gigs was incredible. Any passion fans didn’t have online suddenly appeared by the truckload during concerts. Twitter would often be flooded after gigs with tweets of praise and comments of how everyone left grinning ear to ear.

They began to officially release singles in 2015, this started with ‘No Fun / Alright’ and ‘Jasmine’, their live shows still taking priority. Their first EP ‘The Magic Gang EP’ came out in January 2016 and was met with positive feedback. ‘All This Way’ was released as a single in August 2016. ‘The Second EP From’ came the following month. The next single, ‘How Can I Compete’, was released in February 2017 and then ‘EP Three’ followed in March and was the first release under Felix White’s YALA! Records (Source). ‘Your Love’ and ‘Alright’ were also released as singles in 2017 and served as the foundation for ‘The Magic Gang’ album release in March 2018.

They released ‘The Magic Gang’ in March 2018 and made comments to the press that they were hoping to break into the top 40. They surprised themselves, however, when they walked straight into the number 12 spot (Source). They were nominated for Best New Artist in NME’s Music Awards 2018. However, what became apparent from the interviews from this time was the amount of questions revolving around how ‘now isn’t a good time for guitar music’, ‘indie isn’t as popular’ etc. In hindsight this seems bizarre, as the indie/alt scene of the 2010s produced some of the most amazing songs and artists but hey, I guess Joni Mitchell was right - you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone!

While promoting the album each band member came across well in interviews. They had great banter, didn’t take themselves seriously and not one of them appeared to be a diva. They seemed to be a very strong and unified group, with genuine friendships with one another and a true respect for one another as musicians also. It is easy to understand why they had become so loved by fans and those in the industry alike. They continued to tour, bringing with them their feel-good music, which was a welcomed change to the more cynical indie music of the time (Source).

Death of the Party (2019-2021)

In 2019 The Magic Gang headed to Atlanta to work with producer Ben H. Allen on their second album (Source).

“What we did with the first record was more about simply getting the songs down and trying to get as close to the live setup as possible, but with this our style was consciously fluctuating a bit” - Paeris Giles (Source)

The band commented that they felt they had mastered their ability to write pop songs and that their focus for this album was to write more advanced lyrical content, which is the natural progression for any band (Rubber Soul anyone?). Kaye states he believes the songs from the second album are “more autobiographical”, “almost like diary entries” (Source / Source) and a lot less vaguely romantic than their first album. In interviews they stated that they really had to think about “What purpose are we serving with the songs and as a band” (Source). They had become ‘more aware of lyrics’ while listening to records in their daily life too and this spurred on their desire to focus on creating lyrics that truly meant something to them. Previously, ‘the lyrics had been a bit of an afterthought’ Kris mused. Now, they wanted to challenge themselves and do something completely new, ‘we’ve put out a lot of flipping music, so it needs to be different’ (Source).

The crux of second album ‘Death of the Party’ was a 2018 house party that Smith and Kaye, unbeknownst to each other, both wrote a song about. They each had a vastly different night, Kaye’s ‘Make a Sound’ paints the image of him having a mellow night, dancing with his friends and enjoying the tunes. Whereas Smith is having (excuse my French) a shitter of a night, in the title track ‘Death of the Party’ (Source).

In 2020, they released two singles ‘Think’ and ‘What Have You Got to Lose’ and took to the road, opening for Blossoms during their UK tour. They had done a handful of shows and after their hometown gig in Bournemouth, lockdown was imposed in the UK. Overnight everything changed and the band had to make the difficult decision to postpone the release of their second album.

During lockdown, The Magic Gang became very active online and their fans adored this. Gus had the idea to write love songs for fans who were separated from their loved ones during lockdown, which proved to be a great way to connect with fans in the absence of live shows. The Magic Gang write love songs for you was a complete smash. They released some (amazing) covers on Soundcloud. ‘Club Tropicana’ by Wham!, ‘Say So’ by Doja Cat and my personal favourite, ‘Wichita Lineman’ by Glen Campbell. One fan took it upon themself to make a Twitter account to playfully bully the band into recording a cover of the Arthur theme song. And they won!

‘Death of the Party’ was released in August 2020 and peaked at 16 in the album charts. It showcased how tight they were as a band and how well they are able to come together with different genres and directions of songwriting to form a cohesive, neat album. ‘Death of the Party’ is an elite mixture of indie, disco and northern soul vibes with more ‘honest and brave’ (Source) songwriting. Which all culminated together to make the perfect album to listen to while navigating your 20s and 30s.

Not only had there been changes to their sound, but it becomes apparent through interviews that they had also physically and mentally matured. They had changed as individuals (and I don’t just mean Jack’s Slim Shady hair!). Gus commented “we had time to work on ourselves as individuals” and they each “realised we are more than just this band” (Source).

They are more polished, giving more thoughtful and eloquent answers to questions and seem generally more serious (Though that may have been down to that wee global pandemic that was occurring). They are most certainly still passionate but they’re no longer the happy-go-lucky chaps from Brighton. They had grown up. ‘Death of the Party’ is essentially the comedown from ‘The Magic Gang’, it is a definitive change from the student house party energy of their debut. We see the band emerge as four individuals in this album, who have clearly continued to work on their craft and have further developed their skills and abilities.

‘Somebody Like You’ was the last single The Magic Gang released in 2020. It was written by Kris for Paeris as lockdown had been the longest the pair had been apart since they were eight-years-old (Awww!). This track is also the first song they self-produced together (Source) and it is a triumphant return to their Echochamp DIY days. It is beloved by fans for this reason.

The Magic Gang’s Vanishing Act

2021/22 was spent catching up on tours and festivals. Doing what they do best and putting on amazing shows, giving their fans their everything night after night. As things in the world were returning to normal, rumbles were beginning to be heard in TMG fanbase about album three. The band had posted an Instagram in 2022 saying that their upcoming performance would be their last for a little while. Some fans began to speculate a break-up, claiming festival performances felt ‘off’, some assumed they were simply working on the third album. Then solo content started appearing, Angus Taylor rebranded on Instagram and started releasing music as Gus Tiramani (Absolute belters btw - check them out here), Kris has been MIA, Paeris became hostage to the bitcoin chairman (If you know, you know) and then, to top it all off, Jack stopped wearing his glasses. Madness, absolute madness.

When Spotify Wrapped 2023 came around, fans happily took to social media to share that an announcement was coming soon, as revealed by Jack in the Wrapped thank you message. It seemed that the third album was coming. But boy, oh boy… how wrong we were. An announcement was teased for 10am January 22nd. Fans waited excitedly, the usual banter flowing between them and then (2 hours and a lot of anxiety later) it happened. The announcement came. They were disbanding.

Just as The Magic Gang had started with one upload online, it ended with one too.

Thank You and Goodnight

“Maybe we haven’t come about at the best time” Paeris commented to GQ in a 2018 interview and maybe this is true, maybe if they had come a little earlier or a little later they would have been appreciated to the extent that they always deserved. Maybe if Covid hadn’t hit when it did the second album would’ve reached the heights it should have. But what was it that had made them want to call it quits? Were they suddenly overwhelmed with their need for solo pursuits? Were they beginning to foster a toxic work environment like The Beatles circa Let it Be? or did they simply run out of energy for this project that dictated their lives for the best part of a decade?

I hate to break it to you… but I don’t know. I failed to crack the case. I went into this thinking I would be able to pinpoint the exact moment it fell apart. Get a Yoko eating George’s biscuits, if you will. But eventually it dawned on me how silly I was being, there was never going to be any dramatic reasons as to why they’re parting ways. It was all there in black and white in Jack’s announcement message. “When the first album came out the band was our entire identity” (Source), Gus made a few comments about this in his 2020 interview with the Daily Star. He explained how the music of the second album was different because, they were different. They had found their individuality again and realised they were more than just a quarter of The Magic Gang. Forming a band in young adulthood takes away your ability to be an individual, this theme crops up all the time in band biographies. You gain a lot from being in a successful band but you lose a lot too. Lockdown, I would imagine, provided them with the time and space to consider who they are outside of the band. It probably provided them with an idea of what they wanted to do with their careers and what their aspirations are in this new phase of life. As Jack said, “The most natural thing now is for everyone in the band to spend some time exploring their own creative pursuits”. It was there, in that line of the announcement the entire time but I couldn’t see it for what it was. So…Did I waste my time falling down this rabbit hole? Maybe, but time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted time my friends! and hey, I got a newfound appreciation for The Magic Gang out of it.

The Magic Gang are a band made up of four extremely talented individuals who had to work damn hard to get to where they are. It is understandable that fans feel dismayed by their separation but it is also easy to forget the fact that they poured everything they had into this band for over a decade. They truly do deserve a rest from it. When the band first started out Gus said their main purpose was to ‘try and make people smile, to make people happy’ (Source) and they did just that, countless times. They did exactly what they set out to do. The most amazing part is, they will continue to do just that, even if they are no longer together and making new music.

Even though it is going to be incredibly bittersweet, I still find myself excited for the Farewell Shows. I know they are going to give us a night we will never forget. I hope the crowd are their usual rambunctious selves, I hope the band feel as much elation and joy as they did back in Echochamp. It’s time for one last hurrah as we the fans and they the band close this chapter.

You said that we would have the time of our lives… and that we did.