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Gang Of Four

31.01.11

Gang Of Four are one of the most radical, and radically important, rock groups of the last 30 years. Their music, starting with 1978's Damaged Goods EP, offered a danceable solution to the problem of where four-piece guitar bands could go next after punk. They also provided the perfect answer to the question: how can one be polemical without being po-faced, ponderous, banal or doctrinaire?

They were formed in 1977 in Leeds by singer Jon King, guitarist Andy Gill, bass guitarist Dave Allen and drummer Hugo Burnham. Gill and King, the primary creative forces in the band, brought together an eclectic array of influences, ranging from the neo-Marxist Frankfurt School of social criticism to the increasingly clear trans-Atlantic punk consensus. Gang of Four was named by a member of the Mekons when he came across a newspaper article on the intra-Party coup against China's "Gang of Four".

School friends Gill and Jon had played in bands together in their teenage years and at Leeds University they met up with drummer Hugo Burnham, later after recruiting Dave Allen who answered an advert for a 'bass player wanted'.

Their music was heavily influenced by a University-funded trip to New York, where they saw Television and the Ramones at CBGBs. The Gang's debut single, ‘Damaged Goods’ (backed with ‘(Love Like) Anthrax’ and ‘Armalite Rifle’), was recorded in June 1978 and released on 10 December 1978, on Edinburgh's Fast Product label and was a Number 1 indie chart hit. John Peel offered them two radio sessions, which, with their incendiary live performances, propelled the band to international attention and sold-out shows across Europe and North America.

They were soon snapped up by EMI and released their classic debut album Entertainment! in 1979, which ranked at Number 490 in Rolling Stone's recent article on The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,, with David Fricke of the paper saying that "Gang of Four are probably the best politically motivated band in rock & roll."

Their second single, ‘At Home He's A Tourist’, actually made the UK Top 40. Gang Of Four had been due to appear on Top Of The Pops to celebrate its success, but were dropped and blacklisted at the last minute when they refused to remove the relatively innocuous term 'rubbers' from the lyrics. Having refused to compromise their song they missed their television opportunity, setting them on a course for enduring cult relevance rather than mainstream success.

The music on that debut long-player was born out of a specific time in history, the result of a series of very specific circumstances and conditions – social, economic, emotional, political, musical – and yet it remains as true, as resonant, as relevant, as universally applicable three decades on as it was the day it was released. Whilst they didn’t pack quite the same punch, similarly complimentary things can be said of follow ups Solid Gold (1981), Songs Of The Free (1982), and Hard (1983).

For a while, that was it, but in 1990 Gang Of Four was re-formed by Andy Gill and Jon King, with various people filling in on bass and drums. The first single from the reformed band was ‘Money Talks’, released by independent record label Scarlett Recordings, and an album Mall followed in 1991, on Polydor. The sound was rather more electronic than Gang Of Four's earlier work, and later they admitted to only being happy with about half of it. Andy and Jon recorded soundtracks for various feature films, including, Delinquent, the score of which provided much of the music for the sixth Gang Of Four studio album, Shrinkwrapped. The album was released by When! in 1995, to widespread acclaim. A few rare but triumphant gigs followed, notably in London and America. In 1998 Andy, Hugo and Dave worked together in compiling a 2-CD compilation, 100 Flowers Bloom, which was released in the USA including a number of new remixes and previously unreleased live and demo versions of earlier songs.

In 2005 Gang Of Four re-recorded a selection of their favourite tunes on Return The Gift, featuring Mark Heaney on drums while Hugo Burnham played live shows with the band until late 2006, when he left to focus on his successful academic career in the USA. Mark then took over as drummer for live appearances and has played across Europe with the band ever since. In April 08 Dave Allen left to be replaced by Thomas McNiece.

Gang Of Four, contends Jon, are as challenging and questioning in 2010 as they were in 1978. "What I've been thrilled by over the last few years is that our music still seems to makes sense to our audiences, however old they are, and these days they're mostly under 30. They tell us that our music means something, that it makes them want to go start a band. That amazes me. I would never have imagined when we started off that we would have this impact after such a long time. We are a noisy, great rock'n'roll band. And that exclamation mark still applies: we should call ourselves Gang Of Four!”

"We're loud and physical and visceral," he continues. "We make music to dance to and shout to and get drunk to – maybe not get laid to, because of the trouble that might get you into on the rhythmic front. We feel obliged to do more great things. We work hard every time we play and it works."

Content, the much anticipated new album is out this month. Early reviews suggest it hasn’t lost any of the intensity of earlier works, maintaining their driving, caustic wit and fervour. The band are on a tour of America and Europe for the start of 2011, kicking off with a show at London’s Heaven on the 2nd of February.

LINKS

gangoffour.co.uk – Official Site

facebook.com/gangoffourofficial –Facebook

twitter.com/gangof4official - Twitter

myspace.com/gangoffour - MySpace

gillmusic.com – Andy Gill’s personal site

last.fm/music/Gang+of+Four – Last.FM

notgreatmen.com - Fansite

DOWNLOADS:

FREE MP3 DOWNLOAD - ‘You’ll Never Pay For The Farm’ (from new LP Content)

VIDEOS:

‘You’ll Never Pay For The Farm’: