the Glasgow based band have just released their offical debut album 'Who Took Utopia?' to critical acclaim. This was a self-produced and self-released follow up to Two mini LPs ‘Bus Stop Apocalypse’ & ‘Social Not Working’ and a secret album called 'Taxi Driver Rumour' where the Girobabies used an indie/grunge, almost punk, backbeat to deliver pertinent political/social observations akin to the likes of the Sleaford Mods, The Streets & The Fall.

This latest full length takes the band into new, almost genre-defying, grounds. The Giros leave their peers behind with this stunning conceptual album. What may initially seem politically devoid for the Giros style, the poetical wordsmithing of front man Mark McG soon demonstrates his ability to break the realities of life down to their core vulnerabilities and deliver one the most relevant and observed social commentaries around. Through rollercoaster tales of joyful expectation, apathy and our deepest insecurities McG chronicles the line by line delivery with a comforting and a blissfully self-assured Scottish accent, pulling you in and permanently leaving you wanting more.
In-house producer (and guitarist) Robbie Gunn leads a masterfully orchestrated composition taking you from a fiery Pixie-esque outset, through Nick Cave melancholy to the realities of discovering where your own Utopia may be found amongst this layered pop-punk, sometimes funk-reggae (even psychedelic!) offering.

BIO:
As well as being the frontman with the Megaphone, McG is a renowned poet, writer & spoken word artist under his alias Jackal Trades. Guitarist Robbie Gunn (also performing solo under the guise of Sun Dogs) is a leading Glasgow producer. Drummer by trade, Gordy Duncan JR is also a well-respected solo artist (releasing his debut album in 2015). Recent additions of Jess on Keyboards and the Bass of renowned DJ & Producer Jo D`arc (also of the Twistettes) has refined the balance is this multi-talented band of artists.
Self-funding everything they do, in the truest DIY spirt, the Girobabies have made a name for themselves be being stalwarts of the summer festival scene and gigging the length and breadth of the UK - culminating in a co-headline slot at the legendary Barrowlands. Appearances on STV, airplay and BBC 6 Music continues to propel the band into the consciousness of music lovers everywhere.
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Quotes:

They just totally blow me away. Great, very focused lyrics and delivery smashing a path through a band who manage to sound tight and loose like all the best bands do. Best of all though the Girobabies mean something and stand for something. They are not just popping their heads above the castle wall they are standing on it with a mega phone screaming "C'mon ya bass". A rare band who owe nothing to anybody`
– Steve Mason

“The Girobabies tell it like it is, like it was and, most importantly, like it's going to be! Long live The Girobabies!!"
– Paul Heaton

'The Girobabies are a band steeped in the nightlife and sub-culture of Glasgow and some of the material is akin to eavesdropping on a late-night pub conversation'
9/10 Louder Than War

'How many bands draw from the past these days? Practically all of them but every now and then something uplifting happens and a band actually uses its influences to build something new. You can hear the exaltation of others all through “Who Took Utopia?” yet there is something special here. Let’s call it originality. Let’s call it ability. Let’s call it the best reason to have ears that you will find this year. *****`
– Bluesbunny.com

Here, we have that incredible mix of humour and tragedy in the lyrics – but McG’s writing is only one facet of his boundless ability, his timing and melodies really shining through on this album as a whole. The cacophony of punk, rap, rock and psychedelic shouldn’t have such an elegance and beauty to it, but it does, and it has a real earnest about it. This album is a departure from the first two Girobabies’ records; high production values give this a very different feel to it – a maturity in songwriting and themes of apathy and hopelessness countered with a dose of elegance and grace
– The Daily Record

The band’s earlier releases were great because they were catchy, punchy, tight, smart, and angry. But Who Took Utopia? is all of these things and more. The elements that set it apart from the earlier recordings are: intricacy of the musicality, quality of production, ambition, consistent tune after tuneage, and thematic unity. Indeed, it is astonishing that an unsigned band can pull something off like this, essentially powered by mates’ rates and DIY. Social Not Working and Bus Stop Apocalypse contain songs that express a general ‘Fuck You’ to the shitiness of our world (power, greed, and corruptible seed), songs that grab you on first listen and shake you about and make you want to smash shit. Who Took Utopia? has this effect but it also achieves something more subtle, which for me, is what makes it great. It still shouts, “Fuck This!” but it also analyses ‘this’ and tries to come to terms with it. And musically, the songs grow in complexity, and after multiple listens you are still hearing new things in them"
- New Hellfire Club, Glasgow

There are still bands out there who channel their frustration via the medium of music bands like Scottish refuseniks The Girobabies who clearly didn't get the memo. They sound like a Caledonian Half Man Half Biscuit infused with the anger of the dispossessed. If Peel were alive they'd be all over his programme like a rash`
- The Devil Has the Best Tuna

The Missing link between Guided by Voices, Joy Division, Nick Cave and The Pixies. One of the best records of the year
- Beerjacket

The sonic murkiness of earlier tracks (‘Equinox’ and ‘Secret Animal’) makes way for a more psychedelic, even grunge-like tonality. Meanwhile, the rhythms often verge on funk, with a rotational side-note in catchy melody lines too. This genre bending should perhaps be a turn-off but actually serves to form its own cohesive thread throughout the record, pulling you in as it plays
- isthismusic.com

The ten-track release is a stellar combination of dark grunge melodies and funky reggae beats with a sprinkling of catchy lyrics to satisfy the listener, whatever the mood. Girobabies certainly have their own personality that they elegantly portray in their music and in their first full length offering.
- Ravechild.co.uk

'Dub-funk meets grunge-punk in Glaswegian psychotherapy clinic waiting room'
Vive Le Rock