Band Pages - The Gonads

The Gonads are one of the UK's leading StreetPunk bands. They were the brainchild of Garry Bushell, the punk fanzine writer turned Sounds rock scribe who managed the Cockney Rejects and the Blood and compiled the first four Oi! albums. Bushell (alias Gal Gonad) started the band at school as Pink Tent. They became the Gonads in 1976. 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, The Gonads exploded onto the South London Punk scene like an agitated pint of lager on a warm Summer's day. They recorded just one single 'Stroke My Beachcomber Baby' on their own Scrotum label before disbanding in 1977. "The Gonads could have been massive," says former member Si Spanner. "If only we'd played outside of SE7." Throughout 1978 and 79, 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. Later he acted like an unpaid A&R man, securing deals for bands like Blitz, Red Alert and the 4-Skins. In 1980, he reformed the Gonads. The band was instrumental in defining the Oi 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', 'The Joys Of Oi', 'Got Any Wrigleys John', 'Jobs Not Jails', 'Punk Rock Will Never Die', 'Stroke My Beachcomber Baby', 'SE7 Dole-Day' and 'Tucker's Ruckers Ain't No Suckers.' They were anti-Nazi and anti-Thatcher. 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, The Blood, 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. Gal reformed the band with Clyde Ward in 1992. Now, 32 years after the birth of punk, The Gonads are still going strong; gigging more than ever

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“Live Free, Die Free” is the newest studio album from Britains very first Oi band, the mighty Gonads. 16 new tracks with Garry “Gal Gonad” Bushel on vox, Tony (Cockney Rejects) on guitar, Steve (The Mason, The Business) on lead guitar, Big Billy Boy on bass and Paul on drums. Full color cover designed by non other than Bad Co. and Oxymoron’s Sucker. Standout tracks include “Cemetary Of Lost Souls”, “Sid Vicious Lives”, “Valhallaballoo” and “Pink Tent”.