User:Andre666/The David Gilani Experience

The David Gilani Experience (The DGE) were an English comedy band from Southampton. Formed in December 2010, the group was founded by University of Southampton students David Gilani (lead vocals, keyboards), Andy Neilson (guitar, vocals) and Rob Leane (bass, vocals). Seven months after the DGE's formation, Neilson graduated from the university and was replaced by André Pusey, who worked with the group on their first and only release, the Experience This! EP.

Drawing inspiration from such comedy groups as Flight of the Conchords, The Lonely Island and Tenacious D, the DGE's style was focused around Gilani's keyboard work and the group's onstage persona, with lyrics written about arbitrary topics delivered in a purposely awkward fashion. In addition to their original material, the band also traditionally included cover versions in their sets, often arranged in medleys of various popular songs.

2010–2011: Formation and early shows
Gilani, Neilson and Leane originally met through their mutual involvement in the University of Southampton Students' Union (SUSU) radio station Surge, at which Gilani was the Programme Controller, Neilson was the Head of Music and Leane was the Head of Live Music in the 2010/2011 academic year. The band began discussing the idea of forming a band in late 2010, and started playing together in January 2011, writing the songs "So Much Lovin' in the Room Tonight" and "The Magna Carta" during their first practice session. "Cobras" was written during the group's second rehearsal, and early set lists were completed with cover versions of a number of chart songs, including Rihanna's "What's My Name?", David Guetta's "Sexy Chick", James Blake's "Limit to Your Love" and Far East Movement's "Like a G6".

The DGE began performing at a number of SUSU events in February, and branched out into other local venues in the following months. The fourth original song written and performed by the band was "Green Pieces", a track written about ways in which the environmental issues in the world can be solved, which was debuted at an environmental benefit concert in May 2011. Later in the month the band arranged and hosted their own show, dubbed "A Southampton Showcase", at which local bands Dodge This and #Tags performed before The DGE headlined. The whole show was filmed, and is available for streaming on the band's official channel on YouTube.

2011–2012: Lineup change and debut EP
In June 2011, Neilson graduated from the University of Southampton and the band replaced him with André Pusey, who up to that point had been managing the trio. Moving into the 2011/2012 academic year, the final year of all three members, a number of new songs were written for the new lineup's first shows including "Breasts", the band's first attempt at comedy hip hop, "DGE", an autobiographical song inspired by the Tenacious D song "History", and "Mexican Man", a narrative song about a Mexican superhero. The band performed at more SUSU events throughout the year, and later participated in a battle of the bands tournament at popular local venue The Talking Heads, which was won by indie rock band Triassic.

In June 2012, shortly after Gilani, Pusey and Leane had completed their degrees, the trio entered the Surge studios to record their debut extended play. The record, which features songs from both periods of the group's history, was recorded over a period of two weeks and released for free at a special album launch show at the end of the month, which featured local bands The Fruit Cellar and Dance Barry Dance. As of July 2012, each of the band's members has graduated from university, and as a result the DGE is currently on indefinite hiatus.

Band members

 * Final lineup
 * David Gilani – lead vocals, keyboards (2010–2012)
 * Rob Leane – bass, backing and lead vocals (2010–2012)
 * André Pusey – acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals (2011–2012)
 * Former members
 * Andy Neilson – acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals (2010–2011)


 * Timeline

Discography

 * Experience This! (EP) (2012)