Goldblade

Goldblade are an English punk rock band from Manchester, England. The band formed in early 1995 when ex Membranes frontman, John Robb, put the band together with Wayne Simmons and former Membranes and A Witness vocalist Keith Curtis on bass, Rob Haynes (ex Houndgod and Killing for Pleasure/K.F.P.) on drums and Jay Taylor on guitar. The band signed to Ultimate Records and released their first single, "Soul Power", before releasing several more singles and two albums - Home Turf (1996/97), and Goldblade Drop the Bomb (1998) before Simmons departed. In 2000, Goldblade recruited a new percussionist, Martin Gray, into the line-up and recorded two singles, "AC/DC" and "Who Was the Killa?", together with a third album Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock 'n' Roll. These recordings released in 2002 on a new label, Twenty Stone Blatt. In 2001, Jay Taylor left the band to concentrate on his Bonebox project, and two new members Johny Skullknuckles and Pete 'Gorgeous' Byrchmore (ex-Nightingales, and U.K Subs) were recruited to begin work on the next album, Rebel Songs (2004). Second percussionist Gray left shortly after the recording sessions, and the album was released in 2005 on the Captain Oi! label. The band continued gigging and recording as a five-piece, with the next album Mutiny (also on Captain Oi! Records) released in 2008. Both Rebel Songs and Mutiny were also issued internationally. Goldblade continue to tour extensively. They regularly appear at major UK music festivals, including Glastonbury Festival, Reading Festival, Wickerman Festival and Rebellion Festival, and several smaller ones (Strummercamp). They have played in St Petersburg to 25,000 people, in Serbia and, in early 2010, in Algiers (being one of only a handful of Western bands to do so). In March 2010, Skullknuckles was replaced by another guitarist, Andy Taylor (no relation to the Duran Duran member.) In September 2010, Goldblade released a compilation album, Beyond God & Elvis, on Kids-Union Records. The album was exclusive to China, and was accompanied by tour dates in Beijing. On 20 May 2013 Goldblade released the album The Terror of Modern Life on Overground Records in CD, vinyl and download formats. Since the release of the 2014 album Acoustic Jukebox, Goldblade's activities have taken a backseat to the reformed Membranes, a band featuring John Robb, Peter Byrchmore and Rob Haynes. They have reunited on several occasions to play festival sets, including two charity shows at Manchester pub the Star & Garter in 2018 and 2019. Both of these shows featured the return of Johny Skullknuckles.