Diverse scenkaraktärer summerar 2015 - Garry Bushell (The Gonads etc)

Paco avrundar 2015 med att låta scenkaraktärer från Sverige och utlandet enligt ett standardiserat formulär och ur ett subkulturellt perspektiv utvärdera 2015. De "intervjuer" som är gjorda med icke svenskspråkiga har jag låtit bli att översätta, såväl för att spara tid som för att inte omedvetet färga svaren.

Garry Bushell behöver ingen presentation, ändå sitter jag här och ska tåta ihop nåt. Ni vet själva; Sounds, The Gonads, Bushell on the Box, myntade begreppet Oi!, kompilerade samlingsskivor som är så klassiska att varken du eller jag skulle vara nåt utan dom... typ. 

Music Release of the Year: The new Penetration album Resolution was the best punk album of the year. It’s powerful, tuneful, provocative – and Pauline’s voice is still a joy to hear. The best Oi album of 2015 was The Last Stand by Gimp Fist, their best work to date. But check out Oi Still Fighting, a compilation of great streetpunk bands including Duffy’s Cut, Victory and Lion’s Law, which I put together with Oi The Boat Records. Away from punk, I really rate the Graveltones album Love Lies Dying; it is merciless blues rock that hits like Anthony Joshua. And it’s definitely worth hearing Punk Rock Stories & Tabloid Tales, the album Garry Johnson has recorded with Sulo Karlsson which marries Oi lyrics to Mott the Hoople style rock. Modesty prevents me from telling you how hot the Gonads new album, Greater Hits Volume 3: The Complete Cobblers is. But just between us, c’est magnifique!

Best gig of the year:  The Bar Stool Preachers at Rebellion, a great young band full of energy and tunes with a charismatic frontman in Tom McFaull. The Amphetameanies anywhere – the big-hearted Scottish Ska band whip up a proper party atmosphere everywhere they go and Jane Chalmers has a great voice.

Biggest disappointment of the year/worst release: Apart from Louise Monot refusing to return my phone calls….the biggest disappointment was Public Image Limited at Shepherd’s Bush. Terrible sound, lacklustre performance. I was also gutted to miss Giuda when they played London.

Some other thoughts on the scene 2015? Did something special, bad, sad or spectacular happen?  The worst thing that happened was the death of my old friend Tony Van Frater from the Cockney Rejects. He was only 51. Such a lovely man and a brilliant guitarist in his own right. I am hoping that Micky Geggus will reconsider his decision to quit the band. One of the best things all year was hearing the Slaves belting out ‘Where’s Your Car Debbie?’ on normal radio last night. At last some energy in the mainstream! I think the punk scene is too retro now. It should never be just about nostalgia. It is also too narrow-minded. Too many people who call themselves punks these days are just short-haired hippies. They tell you what you can think, what you can say, what you can eat. Fuck them. Punk is thinking for yourself and challenging everything – including their clapped-out dogma.

What's your plans for 2016? The Gonads will release our acoustic set on CD, it’s the set we played at Rebellion. We are also working on our own range of women’s underwear. We shall continue to play live and hope to be back in France next year. We were frustrated that we had to pull out of our Brittany gig this year. I will also be recording with my new band GBX (the Garry Bushell Experience). I will continue to look for new and exciting music to play on my podcast https://litopia.com/shows/hungry/ And hot bands to feature in Street Sounds http://streetsoundsonline.co.uk/ Street Sounds will also publish our first collection of short stories and release our first Ska compilation album

What about your books? I am just finishing the second volume of my music memoirs which will be published early next year. The first volume – Riff-Raff, Rebels & Rock Gods – is out in paperback, as an eBook and a six hour audio-book. After that I shall make myself finish the Oi! book that I have been writing for a while. Cheers Paco! Garry