Goldblade

Goldblade
Background information
Origin Manchester, England
Genres Punk rock, hardcore punk, art punk
Years active 1996–present
Labels Captain Oi!, Ultimate Records, Overground Records (Current May 2013-)
Website http://www.goldblade.com/
Members John Robb
Pete 'Gorgeous' Byrchmore
Keith Curtis
Rob Haynes
Andy Taylor
Past members Wayne Simmons
Jay Taylor
Johny Skullknuckles
Martin Gray

Goldblade are an English punk rock band from Manchester, England. The band formed in early 1995 when ex Membranes frontman, John Robb, put the band together with Wayne Simmons and former Membranes and A Witness vocalist Keith Curtis on bass, Rob Haynes (ex Houndgod and Killing for Pleasure/K.F.P.) on drums and Jay Taylor on guitar.[1]

The band signed to Ultimate Records and released their first single, "Soul Power", before releasing several more singles and two albums - Home Turf (1996/97), and Goldblade Drop the Bomb (1998) before Simmons departed. In 2000, Goldblade then recruited a new percussionist, Martin Gray, into the line up and recorded two further singles "AC/DC" and "Who Was The Killa?" together with a third album Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock 'n' Roll all released in 2002 on a new label, Twenty Stone Blatt.

In 2001, Jay Taylor left the band to concentrate on his Bonebox project, and two new members Johny Skullknuckles and Pete 'Gorgeous' Byrchmore (ex-Nightingales, and U.K Subs) were recruited to begin work on the next album, Rebel Songs (2004). Second percussionist Gray left shortly after the recording sessions, and the album was released in 2005 on the Captain Oi! label. The band continued gigging and recording as a five-piece, with the next album Mutiny (also on Captain Oi! Records) released in 2008. Both "Rebel Songs" and "Mutiny" were also issued internationally.

Goldblade continue to tour extensively. They regularly appear at major UK music festivals, including Glastonbury Festival, Reading Festival, Wickerman Festival and Rebellion Festival, and several smaller ones (Strummercamp). They have played in St Petersburg to 25,000 people, in Serbia and, in early 2010, in Algiers (being one of only a handful of Western bands to do so).

In March 2010, Skullknuckles departed to be replaced by another guitarist Andy Taylor (not the one from Duran Duran).

Goldblade issued a compilation album, Beyond God & Elvis in China (on Kids-Union Records) in September 2010, following it with dates in Beijing.

On 20 May 2013 Goldblade issued the album 'The Terror Of Modern Life' (Overground Records) - Released in CD/Vinyl and download formats.

History

Goldblade formed in Manchester in the mid 1990s playing what they called "punk rock hooligan blues", and what was described in The Independent as "a shamelessly fundamentalist collision of The Ramones, James Brown and The Stooges".[2] The band toured a lot and signed to Ultimate Records. Their debut single, "Soul Power", was single of the week in the NME, and their third single "Strictly Hardcore" was a minor UK UK Singles Chart hit.[1] The band's debut album Home Turf was released in 1997 on the Ultimate Records label, produced by Gavin Monaghan. Their second album, Drop The Bomb, was recorded in Brighton at The Levellers' studio, and again released on Ultimate Records (TOPP CD071) in May 1998. Do You Believe In The Power of Rock n' Roll? was released in summer 2002 on the independent label Twenty Stone Blatt Records. The band toured Germany previewing new songs for the album. Guitarist Jay Taylor left shortly after recording, to concentrate on his own band Bonebox. Rebel Songs was released in the UK by Captain Oi! Records (AHOY CD252) in 2005, and in Germany via KB-Records. Mutiny was released in the UK by Captain Oi! Records (AHOY CD305) in September 2008. The album was also released in Germany via KB-Records (KB 037) in a vinyl only edition. "Riot! Riot" was used on the soundtrack for the film Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground. The band's world tour included a stadium gig in Russia and a headline show in Algeria where they were the first western rock band to play the country for 20 years.

The Terror Of Modern Life was released by Overground Records] (OVER132) on 20 May 2013.

Discography

Albums

Singles

DVDs

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p.414-5
  2. ↑ Price, Simon (2002) "The Breeders, Academy, Birmingham/Gold Blade, Garage, London/Le Tigre, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow", The Independent, 2 June 2002
  3. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 230. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

External links