Girl Band announce name change and three nights at Whelan's (original) (raw)

“We are changing our band name," the Dublin band comment. "We will no longer be performing or releasing records under the name Girl Band. We apologise for choosing a misgendered name in the first place and to anyone who has been hurt or affected by it."

Girl Band have released a statement this morning, announcing that they are changing their name, with immediate effect, to Gilla Band.

To coincide with the name change, they've also announced three headline shows at Whelan's, Dublin, on January 14, 21 and 29.

“We are changing our band name," the acclaimed Dublin band revealed in the statement. "We will no longer be performing or releasing records under the name Girl Band. We apologise for choosing a misgendered name in the first place and to anyone who has been hurt or affected by it.

"When we were starting off it was chosen without much thought, from a place of naivety and ignorance," they continued. "We had no grasp of the weight of it at the time and in the past few years have found it impossible to justify or explain this choice.

"Regardless of our intention the effect of the name has been damaging to individuals. To try and negate any unfortunate role we’ve played in propagating a culture of non-inclusivity in music or otherwise, we have decided to change it.

"Thank you to those who spoke up about it and educated us on this, either directly or indirectly. Moving forward we will be performing and releasing records under the name Gilla Band. Gilla being a given name taken from Old Irish”.

Tickets for Gilla Band's residency at Whelan's – where they're expected to unveil new music – will on pre-sale to mailing list subscribers on Wednesday, November 17, at 10am. General sale is on Thursday, November 18, from 10am.

The band are also playing a sold-out New Year's Eve show at Dolan's in Limerick next month, and will be supporting IDLES on their February 2022 European Tour.

Tour Dates:

31st Dec 2021 – Dolans NYE Show, Limerick – SOLD OUT
14th Jan 2022 - Whelans, Dublin
21st Jan 2022 Whelans, Dublin
29th Jan 2022 Whelans, Dublin