G.B.H. (Charged GBH) are an English hardcore punk band, formed in 1978. G.B.H. were early pioneers of English street punk, along with Discharge, Broken Bones, The Exploited, and The Varukers . They have gone on to influence several punk rock musicians.
1981 saw the release of the seminal ‘Leather, Bristles, Studs And Acne’ 12” mini album on Clay Records, which was a must have vinyl disc for any self respecting UK82 fans, as well as their 7” ‘No Survivors’ and ‘Sick Boy’ singles, which dropped the following year.
1982 also saw the release of GBH’s first LP, ‘City Baby Attacked by Rats’, which reached No.17 in the UK Albums Chart, as well as No.2 in the UK Indie Chart. The band’s singles had also reached the UK Indie Chart, leading to an appearance on the UK TV programme ‘The Tube’, where they performed ‘Give Me Fire’ (UK Indie Chart No.2).
The success of the first album was repeated with their second LP, ‘City Baby’s Revenge’, in 1983 and saw more extensive touring in America and Europe and higher profile UK shows, one of these being here in Brighton on 17th March 1983 at ‘Xtreems’ night at The New Regent which used to stand down the Eastern side of West Street. The band that night consisted of Colin Abrahall on vocals (1978–present), Colin “Jock” Blyth on guitar (1978–present), Ross Lomas on bass (1980–present and Andrew “Wilf” Williams – drums (1978–1986).
G.B.H. (who are still Colin, ‘Jock’ and Ross, along with drummer Scott Preece (1994–present)) have announced a 40th anniversary celebration of ‘City Baby’s Revenge’ and will be performing an extremely rare Sussex concert, when they headline The Con Club in Lewes (courtesy of Death or Glory Promotions) on Saturday 16th December 2023. No doubt you can expect to hear tracks from ‘City Baby’s Revenge’ as well as hopefully their earlier material too!
Tickets are available HERE and HERE.
Find out more about G.B.H. at gbhuk.com.
Now if that wasn’t enough excitement for hardcore punk fans, then also on the bill will be The Varukers who originally formed in 1979. The band were one of the first to play the musical style called as D-beat, created by Terry Tezz Roberts, the drummer of Discharge, after whom the genre is named. Vocalist Anthony Martin, better known as’ Rat’, is the only permanent member of the band.
They, unlike G.B.H., have recently played live in Brighton, the last time being at The Pipeline on 3rd June 2022 and prior to that at The Hope & Ruin on 25th May 2019. The Brighton & Hove News attended this concert and our report is HERE.
Find out more by visiting their Facebook page HERE.
Completing the bill will be West Midlands hardcore unit Face Up! who incidentally are headlining the afternoon bill at The Prince Albert on Sunday 30th April – Further information on that event HERE and more on the band can be found at faceupuk.com.
Further reading on the lost venue that G.B.H. played in Brighton:
A few years back the Brighton & Hove News put together detailed information on the concert venues or Brighton past and present. This included two listings of where G.B.H. played. The actual venue was called The New Regent, but they had special gig nights that went under the banner of ‘Xtreems’. Here are those listings:
The New Regent, West Street, Brighton, BN1 2RA.
I used to really love this compact venue. It seemed as though I was here every week in the early 1980’s, but that was when it was usually an Xtreems night. I have therefore added an Xtreems listing later on. I located a post that stated that Siouxsie & The Banshees played at The New Regent on 25th November 1977 with support from The Crabs and Wrist Action. It says “opening night” and thus I suspect that refers to the opening night for The New Regent and not opening night of the tour, as I can’t find any earlier mention of the club prior to this. The early concert tickets for the venue state “Foxes at The New Regent”. The New Regent eventually called it a day around mid 1983. They had hosted some terrific acts in their day including U2, Buzzcocks and X-Ray Spex. They were certainly well ahead of the game. (see also Xtreems)
Xtreems, West Street, Brighton, BN1 2RA.
Xtreems was a club run at The New Regent located at the Eastern side of West Street near to the main A259 coast road. The club was the brainchild of brother and sister Johnny and Dinah Clarke. Xtreems started on 3rd September 1981 and died around Easter 1983, after a raucous King Kurt gig and the actual New Regent club followed shortly afterwards. I have many wonderful memories of gigging in the ‘golden triangle’ in the early 1980’s. This was made up on this venue plus the Top Rank Suite which was directly across the street and Jenkinsons which was around the corner. I spoke to Blancmange here backstage, I was one of those described in the link below as standing and watching Nico – ‘Janitor Of Lunacy’ was the best track. It still haunts me to this day. Other than that performance, Xtreems was nearly always boisterous and I used to endeavour to hang just inside the door arch on the left just in front of the stage in order to avoid getting my head kicked in. But if you really want to know what Xtreems was like? Then read this account written in 1989, then updated in 1999 and I would like to add in 2020 that Dinah is still glamorous, but there’s certainly nothing granny about her. She does actually now go out to gigs all of the time and is always seen bopping along at the front with her blond locks flowing over her black tops. She’s not adverse to taking the odd photo of a buff chap on stage either. Lastly, one thing that has been missed was Dinah’s dedication in re-purposing the previous unsold tickets for another gig with white patches stuck on the front. She did every single one by hand! (see also The New Regent).
