Gun are loving their new album – but they’ll never ditch the hits

The band are set to play the Barrowland next week for the second time this year, in support of their sixth album Frantic.

Yet singer Dante Gizzi will never drop the likes of Better Days or Word Up from the set.

“It’s such a buzz to play new songs, and that’s natural because they’re fresher, but we’re still passionate about the older ones too,” says Dante.

“We’re never going to become one of those bands who’ll say ‘we’ll never play Word Up again’ because that’s not the right attitude for a band. I know there’s groups out there who’ll refuse to play their biggest hits, or completely change them and make it acoustic, but I think that’s wrong.”

That means their Barras date next Friday (December 18) will include plenty of old favourites too, as the group continue to go from strength to strength. Frantic seems to have confirmed the band’s rejuvenation, and they’ve recently completed one of their biggest tours in years, going around the UK and Europe.

Now they’ll wrap it up with a return to the Barrowland for a pre Christmas party. They played the legendary venue back in March, just as the album was released, and Dante admit he’s stunned the band’s popularity means they’ve been able to book a return date.

“If you’d told me in 1990 that in 2015 we’d still be able to do two nights at the Barrowland, I’d have told you to shut up,” he laughs.

“I just wouldn’t have believed you, but that’s how strong the band are at the moment. I honestly feel this is the strongest line-up we’ve ever had, and it does feel that when we go out there and play, especially to a Barrowland audience, then the butterflies and the buzz are still there 100%.

“We always want to put on an incredible show for the fans – you don’t want to go and see a band that are shoe-gazers, you want to be really entranced by a gig. Growing up as a kid I lived two minutes away from the Barras, so every weekend I’d be down there getting a roll and sausage, so it’s somewhere that’s really close to my heart!”

It was 1989 when Gun released their first album, Taking On The World, and the early years of the group saw them win an MTV Award, tour with the Rolling Stones and storm the charts with their cover of Cameo’s Word Up!. After breaking up towards the end of the 90s they reunited in 2008, and have been keeping themselves busy ever since, with former bassist Dante shifting to lead vocals in 2010.

Their Glasgow connections have never been lost, though, with Frantic’s cover photo snapped inside the Glasgow Film Theatre. They’ve not lost their ear for a good cover tune, either, releasing a version of Hot Chocolate’s Every 1’s A Winner earlier this year, with all the funds raised going towards Marie Curie Cancer Care.

“After Errol Brown passed away in the summer, Jools and I were talking about we’d always been Hot Chocolate fans in the past,” says Dante.

“For me Every 1’s A Winner is one of the most iconic guitar riffs around, it’s up there with Sweet Child O’ Mine and is absolutely brilliant. We actually plagiarised it a bit in the past because we loved it so much, so we thought let’s do a cover version and pay our respects.

“It’s been 10 years since both my dad and my mum passed away, and I thought it was definitely a charity song. Marie Curie Cancer Care were incredible at taking care of my dad, and what these people do is mind-boggling – I couldn’t do that day in, day out, having to comfort both patients and families. They are total angels, so that’s why we donated all the funds to that.”

The band are a kind-hearted lot, having raised cash for charity last year when they played a trio of King Tut’s gigs, playing their first three albums. The reaction to those shows left Dante buzzing.

“You don’t realise how much people get into the whole album, not just the singles, and that’s a brilliant thing to experience,” he says.

“We were getting Facebook posts about how they couldn’t wait for Watching the World Go By or Freedom, and that gives you the buzz to really make them sound amazing.”

Gun, Barrowland, Friday December 18, £18.50, 7pm