Post by Lucky on Jun 22, 2007 1:54:32 GMT 1
What can be said about Gary Bushel, the man that put our music on the map and rose above all the criticism that has been leveled against him. A lone voice at a time when no one had a clue or, had the bollox to talk about street level Rock and Roll music.
Number one
Tel. Gary. Ive waited donkey’s years to interview you and I always wanted to ask what might seem a right lame question but…..how do you feel about being called the Godfather of Oi!
Gary. Garry Johnson called me that first in The Story Of Oi. It’s great, isn’t it? Very flattering, but the only thing I’ve got in common with Marlon Brando is the gut, mate.
In my mind’s eye, I’d be Harold Shand. In reality I’m more like Harold Steptoe. With Johnson as Albert squawking about ’Ackney in the background.
I’ve had flack from NME and Guardian types over Oi for more than 25 years, so I’m not going to disown it now. I’ve always loved Oi. I’ll hold my hands up and take responsibility for the name, for the albums, for managing the Rejects etc. Oi attracted great bands and produced some of the rawest and most honest music of the last 25 years. I’m not ashamed of my involvement at all.
Tel.When did you first decide to get up and get a band together and who are your influences musically?
Gary. I had my first band, Pink Tent when I was at school – that was in the early 70s and we were in to Slade, ska, Mott, John Lennon, Alex Harvey, Spike Milligan, Sabbath, Monty Python; and later bands like Eddie & The Hot Rods. We became the Gonads in late ’76 and broke up a year or so later. We didn’t reform until 1980 when the band was just a studio laugh except for a few local gigs – me and the Business, me and the Rejects, me and Splodge or the Blood. We didn’t become a proper band again until 1991.
Tel. During the 70’s, Time of the Pistols, Cock Sparrer, Sham etc. Who out of those bands did you rate the most and why?
Gary. The Pistols, Ramones and the Clash in ’76, followed swiftly by the Damned. It seems a shame to rank them. It was a blinding time, you could go to three or four brilliant gigs every night in London and for a lot of the time I did. I suppose the Clash were my real love, even if they lied a bit about their backgrounds. I adored the Jam too, but they were at their best a couple of years later. I saw Sham in ’77 and Pursey was the first person I ever interviewed for my punk fanzine. (Polly Styrene was second.) If Jimmy had been as bright as he was gobby he’d have been dangerous. He wasn’t so nuts back then but the megalomania was always there..
Loved Sparrer and the Lurkers obviously, then Menace and the UK Subs. I started writing for Sounds in 1978. NME said punk was dead but I was going out seeing bands like the Ruts, who were amazing live, the Skids, the Members …it was a great time to be young.
Tel. What did you think of Malcolm Maclarren?
Gary. McLaren was a con man and I hate his rip-off fashions but he had big ideas and a lot of style. He offered to manage the 4-Skins. If they’d accepted they’d all be millionaires.
Tel.. Of the bands that followed Sham. The Cockney Rejects. 4 Skins. The Last Resort. The Business and the like.
Gary. I managed the Rejects so obviously I feel very close to those brilliant, crazy self-destructive nut-jobs. The only other band I managed briefly was The Blood from Charlton in the mid-1980s. They had it all but they were sabotaged by their own laziness – they never wanted to tour. Great songs, though. The 4-Skins had a very unique sound: that combination of Hodges’s growl and the powerful melodic tunes which sound different because they were mostly written by Hoxton Tom on a bass guitar. I’d known Tom well since ’78. He should write an autobiography. He lived through it all: punk, skin, suedehead, Glory Boys etc. A fascinating character, and much respected.
The Business were from Lewisham and Lee, so my side of the water. They were pretty unique too in the early days, more pop-oi than 1-2-3-4 gear. The Resort were more basic but very hard-hitting. Blitz was another favourite of mine, they wrote fantastic anthems…for a bunch of sheep-shagging yokels.
I find it depressing when newer bands reduce Oi to a very similar, limited sound. When you think back the first Oi bands were really varied in sound and attitude. It went from Splodge through to Black Flag (on the fourth Oi album) via the Toydolls and Prole. Case were the ones who got away
Gary At Acklam Hall West London during a big off with QPR who came looking for West Ham (Who were not there luckily for QPR).Just goes to show that he was really at the sharp end of Oi and Street Punk.
Number one
Tel. Gary. Ive waited donkey’s years to interview you and I always wanted to ask what might seem a right lame question but…..how do you feel about being called the Godfather of Oi!
Gary. Garry Johnson called me that first in The Story Of Oi. It’s great, isn’t it? Very flattering, but the only thing I’ve got in common with Marlon Brando is the gut, mate.
In my mind’s eye, I’d be Harold Shand. In reality I’m more like Harold Steptoe. With Johnson as Albert squawking about ’Ackney in the background.
I’ve had flack from NME and Guardian types over Oi for more than 25 years, so I’m not going to disown it now. I’ve always loved Oi. I’ll hold my hands up and take responsibility for the name, for the albums, for managing the Rejects etc. Oi attracted great bands and produced some of the rawest and most honest music of the last 25 years. I’m not ashamed of my involvement at all.
Tel.When did you first decide to get up and get a band together and who are your influences musically?
Gary. I had my first band, Pink Tent when I was at school – that was in the early 70s and we were in to Slade, ska, Mott, John Lennon, Alex Harvey, Spike Milligan, Sabbath, Monty Python; and later bands like Eddie & The Hot Rods. We became the Gonads in late ’76 and broke up a year or so later. We didn’t reform until 1980 when the band was just a studio laugh except for a few local gigs – me and the Business, me and the Rejects, me and Splodge or the Blood. We didn’t become a proper band again until 1991.
Tel. During the 70’s, Time of the Pistols, Cock Sparrer, Sham etc. Who out of those bands did you rate the most and why?
Gary. The Pistols, Ramones and the Clash in ’76, followed swiftly by the Damned. It seems a shame to rank them. It was a blinding time, you could go to three or four brilliant gigs every night in London and for a lot of the time I did. I suppose the Clash were my real love, even if they lied a bit about their backgrounds. I adored the Jam too, but they were at their best a couple of years later. I saw Sham in ’77 and Pursey was the first person I ever interviewed for my punk fanzine. (Polly Styrene was second.) If Jimmy had been as bright as he was gobby he’d have been dangerous. He wasn’t so nuts back then but the megalomania was always there..
Loved Sparrer and the Lurkers obviously, then Menace and the UK Subs. I started writing for Sounds in 1978. NME said punk was dead but I was going out seeing bands like the Ruts, who were amazing live, the Skids, the Members …it was a great time to be young.
Tel. What did you think of Malcolm Maclarren?
Gary. McLaren was a con man and I hate his rip-off fashions but he had big ideas and a lot of style. He offered to manage the 4-Skins. If they’d accepted they’d all be millionaires.
Tel.. Of the bands that followed Sham. The Cockney Rejects. 4 Skins. The Last Resort. The Business and the like.
Gary. I managed the Rejects so obviously I feel very close to those brilliant, crazy self-destructive nut-jobs. The only other band I managed briefly was The Blood from Charlton in the mid-1980s. They had it all but they were sabotaged by their own laziness – they never wanted to tour. Great songs, though. The 4-Skins had a very unique sound: that combination of Hodges’s growl and the powerful melodic tunes which sound different because they were mostly written by Hoxton Tom on a bass guitar. I’d known Tom well since ’78. He should write an autobiography. He lived through it all: punk, skin, suedehead, Glory Boys etc. A fascinating character, and much respected.
The Business were from Lewisham and Lee, so my side of the water. They were pretty unique too in the early days, more pop-oi than 1-2-3-4 gear. The Resort were more basic but very hard-hitting. Blitz was another favourite of mine, they wrote fantastic anthems…for a bunch of sheep-shagging yokels.
I find it depressing when newer bands reduce Oi to a very similar, limited sound. When you think back the first Oi bands were really varied in sound and attitude. It went from Splodge through to Black Flag (on the fourth Oi album) via the Toydolls and Prole. Case were the ones who got away
Gary At Acklam Hall West London during a big off with QPR who came looking for West Ham (Who were not there luckily for QPR).Just goes to show that he was really at the sharp end of Oi and Street Punk.
