Monocled Alchemist

Muck and brass in the Midlands: GARRY BUSHELL gets charged with GBH

Article published in Sounds, 20th March, 1982

GBH | The Dustbin Men | “Oi has spoilt punk. I really hate the idea of the Oi thing even if some of the music’s alright . . . if Oi and punk are the same thing why split them up in the first place?” — GBH, Sounds, January 30.

“GBH showed themselves up with their ignorant comments about Oi. Musically speaking Oi music is punk music with mob choruses . . . GBH slag it because it’s for skins as well as punks which is like not watching your favourite TV show ‘cos yer sister likes it too.” — Readers Letters, Sounds, February 13.

“What we’re trying to say is if Oi music is supposed to be punk why bother labelling it something different? It’s bollocks to say we’re slagging Oi because it’s for skins as well as punks . . . anywhere we’ve played we’ve had skins and punks dancing together.” — GBH, Sounds, March 6.

“At one time GBH would have been proud of their Oi following but now they’re dead against it. Is it because they’re such big-headed bastards they think they’re superstars?” Readers Letters, Sounds, March 6.

GBH | The Dustbin Men

SO HERE it was as last, the moment of truth, the inevitable showdown. For weeks now both my good self and the Oi movement in general have been viciously slandered by Brummie overkill-punk mayhem merchants GBH. Controversy has raged like an arsonist’s wet dream in the letters page as skunks and skins savagely, nay heroically, laid into the band’s allegedly elitist attitudes, while the boys themselves have been equally scathing in their replies.

So when sylph-like temperance expert Big Al had finished pogo-demolishing the office to their ferociously anthemic ‘No Survivors’ EP and started demanding A FEATURE, it was a challenge!, I like a bloody fool, just couldn’t pass up.

Except now, as I limped meekly off the train at Birmingham New Street station, I started having second (and third and fourth) thoughts in a big way.

High noon

After all, when asked recently what they hated most about the music press the band had replied in unison “Garry Bushell”, a name I just happen to be particularly attached to. I mean, could this be the end of the line for yer old Uncle Gal?

Ahead of me I could see the station clock looming large. And, gulp, just like the song says, look at that big hand moving near to High Noon . . . Oh Christ! Do not foresake me, oh my beergut.

Then there they are, two GBHs in front of me, hairy bassist Ross and Wilf the drummer who towers above my head like some studded peroxide giraffe. His hand darts forward. My heart misses a beat. A blade perhaps? Gulpamundo! If I should die think only this of me, there is a part of Crossroads City that is forever Charlton.

But the hand turns into a shake, with a smile to follow, and before I know it I’m being whisked off (needless to say against my will) to the nearest boozer, the Shakespeare, watering hole for punks and Irishmen.

An ambush perhaps? Not at all, ‘cos once there missing members Col, the singer, and guitarist Big Jock make up the numbers and we plunge recklessly into the heart of the controversy, which as it happens wasn’t that much of one at all.

“I think what we actually said came across wrong,” says Jock, the obvious Jack The Lad of the band, with his multi-earrings, nose-stud and star tattoo on the neck.

“Yeah,” the amiable Wilf adds, “what we were trying to say is why split punk into punk and Oi in the first place? We’ve got nothing against Oi music, we just want to know why it’s called that and not just punk.”

GBH | The Dustbin Men

A LOT of people have made that point, but I I think there was good reason. Remember the term Oi was first coined in 1979 when the first punk heroes had either blown out or sold out, and the music press was ODing on ‘post-punk’ junk. In these circumstances the Upstarts and the Rejects (et al) who adhered to the real ideals of punk (working class rebel rock’n’roll) did seem to be something different. Remember Oi was originally called ‘real punk’ and ‘new punk’.

But two things happened. Firstly Oi got twisted into meaning skinhead punk when it was always for (and played by) punks and skins and hooligans; and at the same time as Oi got going, other punk bands like Anti-Pasti, Chron-Gen, Discharge emerged, who were also street level and also keeping the punk spirit going.

So really the bands who called themselves Oi and the bands who called themselves punk were part of the same movement, that’s why there’s so many crossovers.

Wilf: “So why make a distinction between the first punk and later punk?”

Because there’s always been a division in punk between street punk and poser punk. The Upstarts were a different animal from, say, Generation X who were just pretending to be what they weren’t and waiting for the first chance to become superstars.

“Yeah,” agrees Jock, “We’re different from that sort of band as well.”

GBH | The Dustbin Men

Wilf: “All the new bands are different from the old because there’s no posers in punk now.”

“But I don’t like it when football gets involved,” says Jock, inadvertently hitting on the real dividing line between most punk and most Oi-punk.

Wilf takes up the point: “Yeah, I thought the Cockney Rejects ‘Greatest Hits Volume One’ was brilliant. And then I saw them on Top Of The Pops with all the football scarves . . . there’s no need for it.

Jock: “It’s bound to cause trouble.”

Ah. Here really is the crucial point, and it’s the same division that separated Sham from the Subs as separates the Business from GBH; the former in both cases don’t mind being known as ‘a football band. The real challenge for bands with a terrace following is keeping inter-team rivalry out of the gigs.

“Being a Birmingham fan puts you off football for life,” says Ross, breaking a morose silence. But I notice he’s actually sporting a ‘Mighty Hearts’ badge on his leather flying jacket — obviously the wicked influence of Hearts And Midlothian fan, Jock.

“People might read this and say we’re grovelling to you, but that’s not true at all,” says Wilf, decisively. And take it from me he’s right. “It’s just what we said in that other interview came out wrong, and we wanted to clear up some points. We aren’t against skinheads, and we aren’t against skinheads and punks joining together.”

GBH | The Dustbin Men

Jock: “And we’re definitely not against punks who spray GBH on their leathers. We were just taking the piss out of our roadies and that bloke Middles got it all wrong. He put all the wrong emphasis on things. Half the trouble was it was our first ever interview and we didn’t know how things come out.”

THE FIRST of many, I’d hasten to wager, cos GBH are hurtling out of obscurity and into the front ranks of the new punk assualt at a frightening rate. They actually formed two years back at an average age of 18 as Charged GBH, adopting the ‘Charged’ to distinguish themselves from numerous HM bands called GBH, and leaving it “optional” after their independent chart success.

As Jock points out there’s now loads of little bands round the country called ABH (Actual Bodily Harm).

Somehow this rowdy mob of leatherclad former milkmen, jewellers, warehouse men and clerical officers secured a residency at a local pub called the Crown, building up a local following which they now reckon has slipped away a bit because of playing there too often.

Their big break came from supporting Discharge at the infamous Cedar Club. Cal’s Chaos Kids must have been impressed cos they offered ’em other supports round the country. Inevitably Clay supremo Mike Stone heard the buzz and saw them live, snapping them up on the spot back in July last year for an annually renewable ‘minimum of eight titles a year’ deal.

GBH | The Dustbin Men

The eight-track 12 inch ‘Leather Bristles Studs And Acne’ followed in late August and despite a dodgy initial 2,000 pressing seemingly put out without any guitar, has sold 18,000. Their second release, the superior ‘No Survivors’, sold 7,000 in its first week of release (and 20,000 to date) making the indie chart Top Five and the national chart nether regions.

The ‘No Survivors’ sound in general is a mayhemic mix of Noise Elevation Society approved 100 mph Motorhead-punk that leaves a bootprint on yer heart and a safety pin stuck through yer brain.

Amazingly it was the Evening Standard who captured the true spirit of GBH sound with the phrase ‘dustbin rock’n’roll, the perfect name for their recklessly raucous racket which is actually a truly great mixed marriage of pure punk spunk and over the top metal drive. A less scientific writer might refer to it as the other side of the Tank-style Herbert Metal coin . . .

GBH | The Dustbin Men

“And getting round to herberts . . . ” says the initially silent Col, his six inch peroxide spikes looming menacingly.

“Punk is a way of being different from the kids in the pubs,” says Jock sipping his pint.

“Up here herberts are anti-punk,” continues Ross, “they’re just straights who laugh at punks.”

Yeah well, not in Lewisham John. Actually there’s a definite confusion between herberts, who are more often than not scruffy tykes into punk and a bit of metal, and the dreaded soul boys. But this is getting away from the more interesting point about punk-metal musical cross-overs, that Mark Brabbsian glorious (not to mention nebulous) grey area betwixt extreme punk and extreme metal.

“We’re not trying to cross across to heavy metal,” Jock says adamantly, “no way. But I love what Tank do and I don’t care what you call it.”

Bunch of idiots

Wilf: “We just wanna play loud fast music.”

Colin: “Which is what punk is supposed to be anyway.”

Ross: “And it’s also about doing what you want.”

The party line firmly established, we swiftly descend into gossip.

“Have you seen Motley Crue?” asks Ross, turning his nose up at said pop-metal glamsters. “They look a right bunch of idiots. What about Venom, what are they like? They sound great, totally over the top.”

“The Rods seemed okay,” says Jock with an evil grin on his boat. “All that stuff about where’s the WIMMIN!”

GBH embrace similar subject matter with ‘Big Women’ on the ‘No Survivors’ EP, a spirited anthem to ladies of the larger kind (‘Here they come walking down the street/Big ‘n’ bouncy, look so neat/I like them best between the sheets/Big women give me a treat)

“Women should be obscene and not heard,” says Colin, somewhat sexistly you might feel.

“One of the bands who inspired that song was a local group called the Au Pairs,” says Wilf intriguingly. “They’re so ugly I bet they never get a bloke.”

IN A VALIANT bid to get away from this rampant and inflammatory rudery I change tack to the lyrics of ‘No Survivors’. An anti-war anthem, non?

“Actually that song’s been misinterpreted,” says lyricist Col. “It’s just me saying if there’s another war I ain’t gonna fight. It’s just my point of view —I ain’t trying to tell other people what to think.”

I’m anti-communist

Wilf: “We don’t wanna get involved in politics.”

“I agreed with what you said about the politics of living,” says Jock, “they’re the only politics that matter. Party politics is just a load of bollocks. The riots brought home to Thatcher what she’s doing to people. People like her don’t know what it’s like having no money.”

“That programme on the riots the other night explained a lot,” Wilf continues. “It showed that riots were part of our history and have always happened when things get really bad. Peaceful protest never seems to change anything.”

Jock: “Don’t get us wrong, I’m as anti-Communist as I am anti-fascist, if not more so because Communist dictatorship has lasted a lot longer than Nazi dictatorship. But GBH as a band are definitely coming from the Damned and Slaughter side of punk rather than the f***ing Crass side.”

What punk bands d’you rate now then?

Wilf: “Blitz are good.

Ross: “Rudimentary Peni are brilliant, have you heard them? They’re excellent.”

Wilf: “The Exploited are great. To tell you the truth I really like the 4-Skins’ One Law For Them’ although I don’t like what they’re doing now, that last EP was rubbish.”

Jock: “Infa-Riot are a good band. I think a lot more bands would have accepted them earlier if it wasn’t for the confusion about Oi. I’d like to hear the Business. We wanna challenge them to a table tennis tournament.

Ross: “No, football, a GBH XI vs a Business Xl.”

Col: “What about darts?”

Jock: “Nah, that’s asking for trouble. Football it’ll be.”

We’re all into Discharge

And let us not forget, oh fellow followers of the great God P. Walsh (should-be England superstar) that Jock and Ross first met playing soccer for Sunday League team Sheldon Boys. Mick Fitz beware!

Col: “Of course we’re all really into Discharge too.”

Ross: “I fancy Rainy! Put in that I haven’t forgotten about that 70 quid he owes me.”

Jock is even quite understanding of my sporadic sparring with his Clay comrades. “Well you saw ’em before you heard the records didn’t you? It’s best to do it the other way round.”

How about you lot, what’s the plans?

Jock: “We’re trying to get a drum machine to replace Wilf . . . Nah, we’re writing an album at the moment. It’s due out end of April/May sort of time when we’ll be touring, headlining round the country with local supports.”

It sounds a bit Heavy Metal

“We’ve written about half the album so far,” Wilf confides. “It’s pretty much the same sort of stuff but with a bit more thought in it.”

“No there’s not,” snaps Jock indignantly.

“Yeah,” says Colin, “there is a bit more thought. It’s gonna be called ‘City Baby Attacked By Rats’ (Very philosophical — Ed). Roy The Rocker who did the artwork on the 12″ (a fan called Roy Crowton) is doing the front of it.”

Wilf: “It sounds a bit HM”.

Jock: “NO IT DOESN’T!”

Wilf: “Ah . . . I’m quite happy about the Motorhead comparisons. It’s just that we don’t go out of our way to sound like them and we’re a punk band first and foremost.”

Col: “At least Motorhead look good. Bloody Black Flag at Christmas On Earth looked like Happy Days on speed.”

Ross: “Yeah, they seem to lose all the power on stage.”

SO WHAT do you want out of it all, chaps?

Jock: “Just enough money to live . . .

Col: “And keep going . . . all we’ve made out of GBH is about £200 each after two years. We always just break even.”

Jock: “But we wouldn’t dream of moving to a bigger label. I like the whole idea of the indie thing.”

Col: “It’s what punk’s all about.”

You don’t think you’ll end up pop-stars then?

Ross: “PISS OFF!”

Colin: “We wouldn’t want to. We won’t change from the way we are now.”

Ross: “It’s the people around us who’ve changed in their attitude to us. We haven’t changed.”

Jock: “No, I’m still the same as ever — getting pissed, getting arrested. And to tell you the truth it’s DAVE McCULLOUGH we hate.” Of course!