During this year’s Warped Tour, Birmingham, UK punk veterans GBH crossed the pond to participate in the festivities before continuing on for their own US tour. During the Mountain View leg of Warped, Dying Scene was able to sit down with vocalist Colin, to discuss the sentiments around large music festivals, crazy memories of tours south of the border, and what fans can expect from the legends in the future. Read the entire interview here.
GBH’s latest album, Perfume and Piss, was released in April on Hellcat Records.
How have you enjoyed your current US tour?
C: It’s been good. It was kind of hard work getting here; we had lots of visa problems, and we had to miss the first six shows of the tour. But, we’re doing them at the end of the tour.
Do you have a place you’re especially looking forward to playing?
C: New York is always great. LA, Cleveland’s always good as well. Cleveland rocks, you know. It’s a different type of rock there. Yea, yea, well we’ve got friends there so it’s nice.
How was opening day of Warped Tour yesterday?
C: Good. Well received? Yea yea, just getting our bearings and everything I suppose.
You’re a well-established punk band, been around for awhile, why have you decided to play Warped Tour?
C: ‘Cuz we was asked. It seemed like a good thing to do. ‘Cuz like, we played two years ago, that was the first time we played and lots of people told us, “oh it’s hard work, the hours are long, you only get to play 30 minutes.” But we had fun.
Any bands on the tour you really dig or are excited to see?
C: Um, not really, hahaha. Haha, at least you’re honest. I want to see Enter Shikari ‘cuz they’re English as well, they’re the only other English band on there. [There were actually other English bands on the tour.]
What are some of the differences you’ve noticed between festivals in Europe and England like Rebellion, and those stateside such as Warped Tour?
C: Well, Rebellion or Force Attack are more or less just punk or ska, but Warped’s more diverse I think, a bit more commercial. And in terms of the turnout, the fans? Obviously it’s bigger, this is, yea this is humongous. Do you feel like you have more intimate fans in the UK? Nah, I mean when we’d do the Warped we hang out at the merch tents and we meet a lot of people. And the same in like, Europe.
Why are you only performing the first four shows at Warped Tour?
C: ‘Cuz we’re on our own tour anyway, and it kind of coincided with it. Last week you played at the Blank Club in San Jose – very good. What did you think of the venue? It’s great, lovely.
What was it like having Lars mix your new album? What has it been like playing with him on this tour?
C: Good, it was good. We did a mix of it, ‘cuz we recorded it in Birmingham, and we just sent him a hard drive, you know one of those external hard drives, with the mix on it that we wanted, and then he tweaked things. Lars has been a fan of yours since he was coming up. Yea, since he was 11. Was it kind of like a stepping back full-circle sort of experience? Yea, yea exactly. It was great.
The new album, Perfume and Piss, has been out for a couple of months now, how has it been received?
C: Good, um, I read one bad review I think.
After over 30 years of playing and touring, you must have some crazy stories; what’s one that stands out in your mind as truly memorable?
C: Touring stories? I got a list this big of ’em. What’s happened this tour? (to tour manager) Well, this tour’s actually been very smooth, nothing unusual has happened thank God. Shit, why don’t you talk about some of the shows in Brazil. Yea, I’ve heard Central and South American shows have a tendency to be a bit rough. Riot in Mexico City. It’s always Mexico City! Even just getting there. So we had to fly from Birmingham to Heathrow – well that was delayed so we missed our connecting flight. And then they had to re-route us. So they flew us Heathrow to Washington, Washington to LA, LA to Mexico City. And we got there at like 4 in the morning, there was an earthquake. We played the show, we only played six songs, and this like riot went off. I had my jacket stolen, my passport was in it. So I had to go to the British embassy and get a new passport. Ah, the British embassy in Mexico City, what was that like? That wasn’t bad. It was quite easy actually. They weren’t very friendly, I mean they’re like you need two passport photographs. And I just happened to have two, in my bag. I don’t know where they came from.
This is old news, but why did you remove the Charged from GBH?
C: Well, we only added it ‘cuz someone said there was another band called GBH. We never really found out if there was one, but we added it just in case there was. And it turns out there wasn’t so, it saves ink.
What are the plans for the future for GBH?
C: Yea, more world domination and more albums.
If you could put your balls on any national monument, what would it be and why?
C: Haha. The one of Lincoln.
Thanks again for taking the time to sit down and chat with us!