City Of Christmas Ghosts

Track list:

  • 1 City Of Christmas Ghosts
  • 2 All We Got Is Rebel Songs
  • 3 Beyond God And Elvis

IN 2008 JOHN ROBBS HARD WORKING PUNK ROCK N’ ROLL BAND TEAMED UP WITH LEGENDARY X-RAY SPEX LEAD SINGER POLY STYRENE FOR A BIT OF CHRISTMAS CHEER!

DG323(GREEN)

RELEASED A TWO DIFFERENT COLOURED VINYL 7” (Green & Red) WITH AN EXCLUSIVE A SIDE AND TWO CLASSIC GOLDBLADE SONGS ON THE B-SIDE

 http://www.goldblade.com

HERE’S A GOLDBLADE BIOG…

 1994, Manchester, England: Since the demise of his seminal alt-rock outfit The Membranes after ten years and four albums; John Robb had continued his music journalism and moved into TV presenting. Nothing, though, could replace the primal adrenaline rush of rock and roll, and so when he met up with percussionist Wayne Simmonds at a local gym, the pair realised they shared a mutual passion for martial arts and punk rock, and knew that they had to form the definitive rock and roll outfit.

A scrupulous recruitment process gradually assembled like-minded musicians – bass player Keith Curtis from the Membranes, drummer Rob Haynes from industrial rockers Houndgod and guitarist Nick Hewitt.

 

A relentless touring schedule maintained their second-to-none live reputation – no corner of the British Isles was left unvisited, and the gospel was spread throughout Europe, to Germany, Yugoslavia, Macedonia and beyondTogether, they rehearsed intensely for months, forging a molten mix of The Clash’s punk rock rush, Fugazi’s straight-edged intensity and The MC5’s righteous evangelism. A low-key tour of Europe forged the live unit away from the unsuspecting eyes of Britain, and when Hewitt departed to be replaced by Jay Taylor from local indie heroes Dumb, finally they were ready to enter the studio. A limited edition EP, ‘Soul Power’, was released in 1996, which attracted widespread critical acclaim and drew attention to the band’s scorching live act. A year later the album ‘Home Turf’ was a brash, bull-necked call to arms and the single ‘Strictly Hardcore’ was a chart bound three-minute manifesto.PolyStyrene&JohnRobb

Pausing long enough to spend a month in the studio they emerged in 1999 with the second album ‘Drop The Bomb’, packed full of their calling card rock ‘n’ roll but seasoned with all manner of flavours. The disco-tinged ‘Hairstyle’ found them on the brink of mainstream success, gaining the band single of the week on the prestigious BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show and a live appearance on Saturday morning television chart show SMTV. Chart dominance was halted only by the news that their record label had just gone bankrupt… 

The band retreated to their bunker and Simmonds departed to concentrate on his video and photography work. The remaining members recruited percussionist Martin Gray, buckled down and began writing new material. Stripped down and more raw than ever, the band discarded the keyboards and horn section and embraced their punk rock roots with fervour.

When Taylor left to concentrate on his Bone-Box project the band wasted no time in recruiting two red-hot lead guitarists – Pete G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. from The Nightingales and Jayne County collaborator Johny Skullknuckles. Shortly afterwards, 2002’s ‘Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock and Roll?’ was released. With an onstage sound louder than ever, new levels of intensity were reached.

As always the Blade maintained near-constant touring across the world, building a huge live following via everywhere from small clubs shows to arenas, festivals including Glastonbury and Wasted, and supporting bands including The Stranglers, The Damned and Russian punk megastars Karol y Shut.

“One of few bands with the imagination to make something of guitar rock n roll” – NME

Once more fate took an unhealthy interest in the Blades activities, as this second label went bankrupt, thereby making ‘Do You Believe..’ virtually unobtainable.

At Wasted 2005, the Blade were seen by the label bosses of UK independent Captain Oi! Records. In a break with the labels usual style of putting out re-issues, they signed Goldblade on the spot. ‘Rebel Songs’ was released in 2005 to enormous critical acclaim, and basically has not stopped selling since, becoming the bands biggest release. In addition Goldblade have been signed to SOS Records in the USA, who have released a US only compilation with distribution by Sony, which is helping them gain exposure in the States. The result of this was that US label Cleopatra Records signed the band and made ‘Rebel Songs’ available in the USA.

 2006 saw Goldblade release their first live DVD ‘Testify’ (Cherry Red Records) filmed in Blackpool during Christmas 2005, it ideally demonstrated the experience that is Goldblade live, the energy, the chaos, the entire audience on stage!!

Goldblade then toured with Stiff Little Fingers, The Misfits and The Damned, in addition to performing all over the UK for their own headline sets.

 Due to the unavailability of the three early albums Captain Oi! took the decision to issue a compilation CD ‘Strictly Hardcore’ and bundled on a couple of tracks from ‘Rebel Songs’ – This release has been very well received, though its caused the Blade to be in the enviable position of being forced to make all their albums available as digital downloads in an effort to meet demand!

  2007 began with the same frantic pace that 2006 closed; Goldblade returned to Europe and played dates in Germany, the first for 7 years – The band received a fantastic response, particularly in Berlin and Hamburg. Additional dates were also played in Switzerland and a first ever date in Gdansk, Poland – Once more being greeted by huge crowds. Goldblade then appeared at the Punk & Disorderly Festival (Berlin) followed by Rebellion (A’Dam) These two appearances cemented their reputation as a high energy band, and secured them a place at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2007, appearing on the Left Field Stage. In addition the band have written the forthcoming album, but now just need to find the time to actually record it! so things are certainly not slowing down for Goldblade, quite the opposite as they are tipped to break through to a much larger audience in the coming 12 months.