Iconic UK punk band GBH headlines Berkeley's Cornerstone
BERKELEY -- A long lineage of hard-hitting British bands has risen from the industrial grit of Birmingham. the Midlands city that proved to be the spawning ground of everyone from early metal architects Black Sabbath and Judas Priest to pioneering extreme outfits like industrialists Godflesh and grindcore greats Napalm Death. Birmingham's street-punk heroes GBH have been raging against the status quo since first coming together in the late '70s.
As part of the "UK82" resurgence of England's punk scene alongside politically charged anarchist contemporaries Discharge and The Exploited, GBH filled its influential early albums City Baby Attacked by Rats and City Baby's Revenge with antiwar screeds and black-humored salvos aimed at the Church of England and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The band was among the most active touring British punk groups during the 1980s, traveling through the states and regularly playing shows in the Bay Area during the initial rise of thrash metal with local crews like Death Angel, Sacrilege and Vio-Lence at Ruthie's Inn in Berkeley and the Stone in San Francisco.
Almost 40 years after first coming together, GBH continues to stir up aggressive moshing and reckless stage diving everywhere the band plays. Still powered by singer Colin Abrahall's gravelly bark and guitarist Colin "Jock" Blyth's locomotive riffs (original bassist Ross Lomas and longtime drummer Scott Preece round out the line-up), the group returns to Berkeley Friday night for this headlining show at the Cornerstone, delivering the angry anthems from throughout its career along with songs from Momentum on Hellcat Records -- the band's 2017 album that was their first collection of fresh material in seven years.
The show at Cornerstone in Berkeley Friday will feature two more bands, including veteran punk act MDC. Contemporaries of GBH, MDC formed in Austin, Texas, in 1979 before relocating to San Francisco a few years later. They became part of the Bay Area hardcore scene and releasing albums on the Dead Kennedys' label Alternative Tentacles. Led by political firebrand lead singer Dave Dictor, the group emerged from a lengthy hiatus in 2000 and has been releasing new music ever since. Openers NIIS are a younger Los Angeles band fronted by intense lead singer Mimi SanDoe (who has Bay Area ties) who were an early highlight at last year's Mosswood Meltdown festival.
GBH with MDC and NIIS
Friday, May 26, 8 p.m. $25-$30
Cornerstone