The early career of legendary (though consistently overlooked) Birmingham hardcore punk band GBH is celebrated in a new clam shell box set.
GBH: The Rough Justice Years spans the period 1984-1995 and features five albums along with bonus tracks, including EPs, singles and demos.
The featured albums are third long-player, Midnight Madness And Beyond (1984), plus No Need To Panic (1987), A Fridge Too Far (1989), From Here To Reality (1990) and Church Of The Truly Warped (1992).
Bonus tracks include Oh No It’s GBH Again EP, and Wot A Bargain EP.
While much is regularly made of Brum’s contribution to Heavy Metal, New Romanticism, reggae and Britpop, the city nonetheless produced a variety of important punk and New Wave acts, with few as influential as GBH.
Formed in 1978, their debut album, City Baby Attacked By Rats, reached an impressive No 17 in the official UK album charts (and No 2 in the Indie Album Charts) in 1982.
Still firmly active – their current gig list features appearances in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Russia, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Italy and Belgium – the band are a cornerstone of both hardcore and trash, and have been an acknowledged influence on such acts as Rancid, Slayer and Metallica.
Metallica’s James Hetfield confessed they took the title of 2016 track Spit Out The Bone from GBH’s Passenger On The Menu [link], while Slayer covered GBH’s Sick Boy in 1996 [link].
The band’s earlier releases – including debut single Leather Bristles Studs And Acne, their debut album City Baby Attacked By Rats, City Babies Revenge and a live gig from ’83 – were previously released earlier in the year as Charged GBH: 1981-1984.
GBH: The Rough Justice Years is released via Captain Oi/ Cherry Red on 25 January 2019.
GBH play Coventry’s Arches on 12 January 2019 and The Mill, Digbeth, Birmingham on 4 May 2019.
For more information on the band, see: GBHUK.com
