Gail Greenwood to Join Gang of Four for Hometown Show at Greenwich Odeum June 28

Gail Greenwood is excited – and maybe just a little nervous.

The veteran Rhode Island bassist, best known as a member of Belly, recently joined Gang of Four, the influential 70s punk band originally from Leeds, England. Even more unexpectedly, she is sharing the stage with fellow Rhode Islander Ted Leo, who also joined the gang last summer. The band plays the Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA on Friday, June 26, before heading to the Greenwich Odeum on Sunday, June 28, for what counts as a hometown show for to the Rhode Island residents.

A refresher: Gang of Four, best known for their debut album Entertainment emerged in the late-1970s with a sound that was sharp, restless, and unlike anything else at the time. The group mixed jagged guitar lines, danceable rhythms, funk-inspired bass, and songs about politics, power, consumer culture, and everyday life. They’ve influenced generations of alternative, punk, and indie bands, including Talking Heads and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Greenwood came to the Gang unexpectedly. She received a call out of the blue two summers ago from drummer Hugo Burnham, one of the original members, who now lives and teaches in Massachusetts. “He said, ‘We would like you to come play bass with us,’” Greenwood recalls. “And I was like, ‘What!?!’ I still to this day do not know how he got my name.”

Burnham was likely familiar with Greenwood’s deep resume. In addition to her work with Belly – the only Rhode Island band to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone -- she has played with L7, Bif Naked, and a long list of musicians in benefit shows and special projects. Still, Greenwood says she did not consider herself an obvious choice for the job. “I had to tell Hugo, I’m not a studio cat. Belly’s my main gig, obviously, and I play with a lot of other people in different formats for benefits and stuff. It takes me a long time to learn songs and get it right.”

Learning Gang of Four songs meant taking on a serious challenge. Greenwood was moving into a role once held by the late Dave Allen, whose bass lines helped define the band’s original sound. She wanted to honor those parts, not simply approximate them. “I didn’t want to do Dave Allen wrong,” she says. “I’m like, I don’t think I’m up for the task. I don’t think I can do this. This is an insanely difficult gig.”

Greenwood's longtime boyfriend artist Chil Mott convinced her otherwise. “He said, ‘I know you can do it. You have to do this. So you better practice your ass off,’” Greenwood laughs. She spent four months learning the material, often practicing three hours a night. “I wanted to play them verbatim because I didn’t know if there would be haters in the audience that were like, ‘That’s not what Dave did on the record.’”

Originally, Greenwood thought the job would be brief. “I was just supposed to do three festivals with them,” she says. After what she calls “three insane shows” in Mexico City, the band asked her to join its North American farewell tour. Greenwood says the fit made sense not only musically, but philosophically. Gang of Four’s politics, humor, and cutting edge vibe all appealed to her. “To their credit, (singer) Jon King wanted someone in their age group, a female, who could also sing the higher parts for backups,” she says. “The whole thing was age-appropriate. They’re all about women’s rights, they’re not ageists, they’re anti-fascist, and everything about them was just like, yes.”

Greenwood was certainly a fan of the band long before she joined them. Back in the 1980s, she played in The Dames, a Rhode Island band that won the 1986 WBRU Rock Hunt. She remembers going to see Gang of Four in part because of bassist Sara Lee. “Mostly, we went to see any band that had a female player, because back then, there still were not a lot of instrumentalists who were women,” Greenwood says. “We knew of Sara, so we wanted to see them play, and they were just insane.”

She was familiar with their better-known songs, including “I Love a Man in a Uniform” and “Damaged Goods,” but says she only fully appreciated the depth of the catalog once she had to learn it. “It was really only until I got into their catalog, where I got into a lot of deep cuts, that I realized how genius the band is,” she says. She also has high praise for original singer and lyricist King. “His lyrics are just insanely genius,” Greenwood says, noting King’s unusual career path, including his work with the London Symphony, and in advertising and television.

Greenwood is looking forward to the East Greenwich show. “Belly played the Odeum a couple of months ago. It’s a really cool venue,” Greenwood says. “My only issue is that it’s a sit-down venue and Gang of Four is definitely a dance band. I call it an anti-fascist dance band.” She hopes fans feel free to stand, move, and dance. “It’ll be great because basically it’s a hometown show for Ted and me,” she says. “So we’re gonna know every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the audience.”

That can make things more nerve-wracking, not less. “You get more nervous than when you’re playing somewhere where you don’t know anybody,” Greenwood says. “You just don’t want to bring shame upon your state. And that’s hopefully what Ted and I will not do – bring shame upon the state of Rhode Island.”

Gang of Four plays Solid Sound Festival on Friday, June 26, and the Greenwich Odeum on Sunday, June 28 at 8 pm For more information on the Odeum show, visit GreenwichOdeum.com.