The all-man noise-rock quartet formerly known as Girl Band have changed their name to Gilla Band and apologized for “choosing a misgendered name in the first place.” In a statement, the Irish group write that the name “was chosen without much thought, from a place of naivety and ignorance.” They say they made the decision to swap “Girl” for “Gilla,” which is an old Irish name, to “negate any unfortunate role [they’ve] played in propagating a culture of non-inclusivity in music or otherwise.” Read the statement below.
Gilla Band broke out around the release of their Rough Trade debut, Holding Hands With Jamie, in 2015, and released acclaimed follow-up The Talkies four years later. Responding to criticism of the name in 2015, they told Vice, “It isn’t a super ironic thing plus we are probably the least macho people, ever. Some people probably think we are taking the piss out of girls, which we are very much against. It was like ‘Look. We’re really against what you think where we’re coming from.’ I’d really hate to think that we put any women off, or any people off.”
