Sounds From The Junkshop #34 - Gold Blade

 

"Where will ya be with your very last breath? Full of relief of full of regret?" - Gold Blade, Strictly Hardcore, 1996

Like a lot of bands from this era, it was via hearing their excellent debut single Strictly Hardcore on Steve Lamacq's evening session some time in the autumn of 1996 that I first became aware of Gold Blade. To say that they were a bit of an oddity in the Britpop era is putting it mildly but their sheer individuality and energy really set them apart from the copyists that were already bogging down the Britpop wagon as it skidded towards its eventual crash site the following year.

The group were formed from the ashes of notorious post-punks the Membranes (who I was vaguely aware of at that point due to Therapy? covering their song Tatty Seaside Town on the B-side of the Trigger Inside single) with frontman John Robb and bass player Keith Curtis deciding to renew their links and start a new band up with a more straightforward punk approach. The group took on singer/MC Wayne Simmons (who went to the same gym as Robb) plus guitarist Jay Taylor and drummer Rob Haynes. Robb's connections via his work as a journalist at Melody Maker among other places meant that they were fairly quick off the mark in terms of sorting out a record deal with Ultimate records and the band was ready to go.

They may have claimed to be the Clash meets Elvis by way of Vince Taylor but to me the group that Gold Blade reminded me of most at the beginning was actually Shaun Ryder's post-Happy Mondays outfit Black Grape albeit a much more focused and brainier version. Strictly Hardcore was a confident opening salvo from them and cracked the Top 75 (sadly the only time they'd ever do so) and its follow-ups, the frenetic Black Elvis and the chantalong Not Even Jesus were worthy efforts as well.

The group's debut album Home Turf was an excellent statement of intent and I'd honestly rate it as one of the best of the era. Although the punk influence is very much there, it's far from the only thing at play with the likes of the almost Fun Boy Three style Fastest Man Alive and the pumping rhythms of Long Slow Fuck proving that they were far from one trick merchants. At the same time, album highlight Hail The People, Downtown (Greed In My Soul) and Canal Street Breakdown brought the necessary punk energy and the slower Saddest Song (about those punk legends no longer with us) and the epic closer Five True Believers showed a more considered side to their approach.

The group were keen to build up a cult around them with the album including their manifesto - anti-drugs (actually quite a different attitude to the norm in an era where Noel Gallagher had memorably described having a line of coke as being as normal as having a cup of tea), sharp rockabilly duds and a full on commitment to the power of rock 'n' roll rebellion.

The group's second album Drop The Bomb surfaced in late '98 and was pretty much a straight continuation of their debut (although I think the debut shades it by a whisker in terms of quality) with the frenetic likes of 16 Tons and Hometurf bringing the punk and the swaggering likes of Rock 'n' Roll's A Loser's Game showcasing a bit of variety. They even got an appearance on SMTV Live with Ant & Dec to play the second single from it, the funked-up Hairstyle which looked to set them up for their first proper hit...only for their label to promptly fold two days later. Talk about lousy luck.

Rattled, the group would retreat underground for a bit. Simmons would leave the group shortly followed by Taylor with the group recruiting two new guitarists Pete Gorgeous (ex-Nightingales) and Johnny Skullknuckles and losing the space in the middle of their name to become Goldblade. The resultant album, 2003's Do U Believe In The Power Of Rock 'n' Roll would see a definite shift in the sound towards straight-up Clash style punk rock. The key is though that they pulled it off very well with songs like lead-off single AC/DC, the furious Kiss My Ass and the spooked Who Was The Killa? quickly becoming live favourites. 2005's Rebel Songs was even better, seeing the group vitriolically railing against the Blair and Bush neoliberal consensus on the likes of War (Not In My Name), Everything Is Porn and Government Lies while the awesome frenetic lead-off single Psycho would have given them a second chart hit in a just world. It was about this time that I started to go and see the band regularly as they became regulars on the punk revival circuit which is where I'd started to hang out at this time. The two years I went to the Wasted Festival at Morecambe they were one of the standout bands there with the band's sheer energy (especially Robb's livewire presence up front) making them one hell of an experience in the live arena.

The group only really put their foot wrong with the follow-up, 2008's Mutiny which was a bit punk-by-numbers but they quickly righted things with the much more complex The Terror Of Modern Life in 2012 which saw them coming on like Sandinista! era Clash with songs veering into dub and post-punk territory. Unfortunately, as of time of writing it's their final album - 2013 saw the band start doing some reunion shows as the Membranes which went so well that they've reformed full time since. The reunion has produced two excellent albums in 2015's Dark Matter Dark Energy and 2019's What Nature Gives, Nature Takes Away - however, the sheer scope and variety in these is very different from Gold Blade's more stripped back output. Both highly recommended though.

Robb still resurrects Goldblade for the odd gig here and there and continues to be one of the best music writers around in Britain today most notably on the excellent Louder Than War website which he edits. His emphasis these days may be very much more on the Membranes but I'd be very surprised if we didn't see another Goldblade album at some point in the future. For now though, catch 'em if you can if they surface for a gig near you and give their records a spin if you've not already (personal opinion - start with Home Turf then move on to Rebel Songs, Do U Believe, Drop The Bomb and The Terror Of Modern Life - Mutiny is a bit less essential but still worth a spin). For pure punk rock entertainment with a serious message, these guys are hard to beat.