Through all the deed and greed of mankind, the pecking and ordering, the “leaders, landlords, and employers”, there is one token that never ceases to impress.
The rose, that wild babe who turns the hearts of the easily swayed into mush, and pricks the touch of those who fight it’s grasped allure too tight, is but an idolisation in conventional folklore and Guru’s ‘Roses’, are the prized possession of them all.
Through legendary word-of-mouth, Guru are the exact devil’s-defoliant Olympus wouldn’t trust near a Venus Fly-Trap let alone their Eden and yet somehow, with ‘Roses’, they’ve found their way past the golden gates, into Paradise’s greenhouse and have set themselves ablaze. Kicking up shit like an adversary-advocate seeking riotous-repent, they lace their post-punk boots in specific eyelets so as to maximumly imprint a tightly signature stomp, on the groundings of societal foundations.
Talking about the track, frontman Tommy Cherrill adds “‘Roses’ is about the uphill struggle of trying to get anything done when you’re at the bottom of the pecking order, whilst simultaneously knowing you don’t want to be anything like the people at the top. It’s about playing the game even though you don’t want to, levelling with yourself that every step you take closer to success, can potentially cause you to become less like the change you want to see. I thought this was best exemplified by the gifting of a rose, which can be seen as both a gesture of gratitude, and of buttering someone up. I guess now is a better time than ever to put this out – with leaders, landlords, employers etc all showing a remarkable lack of empathy to the everyday lives and wellbeing of those less fortunate. It shouldn’t be necessary that people in the most vulnerable of positions have to work the hardest to enact compassionate change which should come from the top.”
If your only way to the top is via deceit and deception, are you really any better than those down below? This quintet of Brightonian seedlings spend their time bending and contorting expectational growth so as to simultaneously find a new-natural path to the top, whilst avoiding the inevitable spiritual stump, from personable pesticide. You may use vindicator vines as a stepladder to the highest height and seek pleasure in the climb but, just as progress is being made, be sure to cut the creepers into six-strings of snapped fury and swing free.
To have and to hold, “to be seen and to be heard” is only effective when you’ve got rings of embossed Guru on each knuckle; ready to crack at a moment’s notice.
Header Photo by Jamie Macmillan
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