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The Gonads started life as Pink Tent in 1975, but were kicked up the jacksie by The Clash and The Sex Pistols a year later. Inspired by Strummer, Lydon and the Ramones, with a subtle hint of Ian Dury and not so subtle hints of Monty Python's Flying Circus (and Jimmy 'Kinnell' Jones), The Gonads exploded onto the South London Punk scene like an agitated pint of lager on a warm Summer's day...which is about as long we stayed together the first time round. "We could have been massive," says Si Spanner. "If only we'd played outside of SE7." Founder member and punk zine writer turned Sounds rock scribe Garry Bushell (alias Gal Gonad) reformed the band in 1979 with a Cockney Reject here and a member of the Business and The Blood there for support...and Hoxton Tom on occasional backing vocals.
At the time, Gal was fighting what often seemed a lone battle for bands like the Ruts, the UK Subs, the Skids and the Members in the increasingly jaded UK rock press. Gal's Gonads were were instrumental in defining the Oi music genre and pioneered StreetPunk as well as the now over-looked style known today as "Punk Pathetique." The band's legendary early songs include 'I Lost My Love To A UK Sub', 'Jobs Not Jails', 'Sandra Bigg (Really Big)', 'The Joys Of Oi', 'Got Any Wrigleys John', 'Punk Rock Will Never Die', 'Eat The Rich', and 'Tucker's Ruckers Ain't No Suckers.' Contemporaries of, and often sharing liner notes with (as well as a few band members) such groups as the Cockney Rejects, the 4-Skins, The Business, Max Splodge, and Oi poet Garry Johnson, the Gonads appeared under various guises and incarnations including the Magnificent Gonads, Gary & the Gonads, the Brothers Gonad (w/ Max Splodge) the Orgasm Guerrillas, Prole and Lord Waistrel & The Cosh Boys. They added humour and passion to the original series of Oi albums, which Gal also conceived and compiled.
Today, after some 31 years, The Gonads are still going strong with Garry Bushell, now an accomplished author and media personality, on lead vocals, along with long time first mate Clyde Ward, a much sought after producer and studio musician on Bass, and American member André Schlesinger, formerly of NYC Oi legend The Press and currently heading Maninblack, on guitar synthesizer, Tony Feedback (formerly of the Angelic Upstarts and Joe Public; also with Long Tall Shorty) and others. The Gonads have just finished our brand new sixteen-track studio album 'Live Free, Die Free' which was released in October 08 by Empty Records to critical fanzine acclaim; it includes guest appearances from Steve Whale of the Masons, Jennie Bellestar, Tony Van Frater of the Cockney Rejects, Liberty Hayes, Leah McCaffery, Paul Haslin of Waysted and Terry Hayes of the East End Badoes. 'Live Free, Die Free' will be released as a vinyl double album by Joe Pogo (USA) in January 2009, with two bonus tracks. We are also touring again, with Andy Gonad on bass and Jim Gonad on drums. .
Gonads afficiandos can show their appreciation by visiting the official Gonads website and leaving their comments in our guestbook.
Oi! – A statement from The Gonads: Brothers, sisters and friends...we are an Oi-Tone band; we mix street-punk, Ska and Cockney humour. We are Londoners, we are English and we are working class – and we are rightly proud of being so. But we're not obsessive about it. All are welcome at our shows. The Gonads started as a street socialist punk band and became one of the leading first generation Oi! bands. We’re about “having a laugh and having a say.” We have strong views on individual liberty. But we don’t preach politics. We are patriotic but for the benefit of halfwits, cultural snobs and lazy newspaper hacks let us state that we are not now, have never been and will never be a racist band. Ska is part of our musical and cultural heritage, along with the Music Hall, rock, punk, The Long Good Friday, Spike Milligan and Carry On films. And if you dig that, you will probably dig us.
The Gonads would like to thank all their fans, groupies, minders and hangers-ons for their continuing support. This page will be constantly updated with news about the band, drunken ranting blogs from Gal and Lord Waistrel, and myself, and alternating MP3 files of all the Gonads hits so check back often! You can cop hold of most of our latest CDs direct from us; go HERE
And if you'd like to book us or Gal as a punk and ska DJ email Dale 'The Beast' Beeson - d.beeson@tiscali.co.uk. Serious requests only, please, because a) he's busy, b) he knows Vince Riordan, c) he makes Ari Gold look like Charlie Chuckles. If anyone has any other questions or comments that need immediate attention, or if you just want to talk to a Gonad, please feel free to bother Gonads' road manager Fat Col by raising him on AIM (user name: FatCol) Ha ha!
GONADS - The Complete Discography
Singles and eps
1977 Stroke My Beachcomber Baby (Scrotum Records)
1982 Pure Punk For Row People (Secret Records); ep
1982 Peace Artists (Secret Records); ep
1983 Delilah – The Punk Epic (Razor Records); ep – as Max & Gal, the Brothers Gonad
1997 Oi Nutter (1,2,3,4 Records, UK; Pub City Royal, USA)
2006 Oi Mate (Soitainly) – download single
2008 Punk Is Back (Havin’ a Laugh Records) – split vinyl ep with Klasse Kriminale
2008 Go Ska With The Gonads (Soitainly) – download ep
2008 St George’s Day ep (Soitainly) – download ep
Albums
1983 Live And Loud - The Official Bootleg, The Gonads
(Syndicate Records), double album
1987 Full Time Result (Link) – split album with The Blood
1989 The Revenge Of The Gonads (Street Link)
1994 Punk Rock Will Never Die (Harry May)
1999 Oi! Back & Barking (Captain Oi)
2001 Schitz-oi!-phrenia (Captain Oi)
2006 Old Boots No Panties (Captain Oi)
2008 Live Free, Die Free (Empty)
2009 Live Free, Die Free (Joe Pogo) - vinyl double album
Tracks and oddities
1981 Tucker’s Ruckers Ain’t No Suckers – track on Carry On Oi (Secret)
1981 Oi Christmas – track on the Bollocks To Xmas ep (Secret)
1982 TNT – track on the Total Noise ep (Total Noise)
1982 Getting Pissed – track on Oi Oi That’s Yer Lot (Secret)
1983 Jobs Not Jails and Lager Top Blues – tracks on Son Of Oi (Syndicate), (we also appeared as Prole and the Orgasm Guerrillas)
1984 SE7 Dole Day – track on The Oi Of Sex (Syndicate), (we also appeared as Prole and the Orgasm Guerrillas)
1984 The Joys Of Oi and Eat The Rich on The Joys of Oi (Syndicate - not released until years later). And we think, although the memory is going with old age, that this is the comp that featured Gal's 'Reg & Ron' by Lord Waistrel & The Cosh Boys with Mark Brabbs from Tank as Waistrel.
2002 Unky Bunk – track on Addicted To Oi (Captain Oi)
2007 Hey You – track on Oi! Fuck You (Ascalon Records)
2008 Alconaut and Valhallaballoo – tracks on The Kings Of Streetpunk (GnR Records), (we also appeared as the Orgasm Guerrillas and The High Priests Of Mong)
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