The Godfathers - St. Valentine's Day Massacre live in London February 14th 2012

The Godfathers will play their regular legendary Saint Valentine's Day Massacre gig at the 02 Academy Islington in London on Tuesday February 14th 2012.

Tickets available from the Box Office 0844 477 2000 or from Ticketweb.

The late '80's and early '90's was not a good time for me musically, I just didn't click with a lot of the British bands around at the time. The shoe-gazing and grebo things went over my head and it was all a bit bland for those of us needing our fix of raw rock 'n' roll. Luckily some bands including The Screaming Blue Messiahs, still carried the torch, taking over from The Prisoners, The Playn Jayn Billy Childish's Milkshakes. The Sid Presley Experience too who, of course evolved into The Godfathers. It's hard to believe now just how out of step The Godfathers were with the majority of their so-called Indie band contemporaries. Mean, sharp-suited coolness personified with their two guitar attack and aggressive live act, at odds with the shambling, charisma-free zones of most bands they had to share stages with.

My ticket for The Godfathers 1989 Valentine's Day Massacre

Singer Peter Coyne sneered his songs of mis-trust and cynicism from centre stage whilst around him was a blur of flailing guitars, courtesy of the live-wire Kris Dollimore and Mike Gibson. Bassist Chris Coyne was all coolness and calmness whilst the excellent drummer George Mazur kept the beat going. A direct link from the best of mean edged rock, from early garage punk to The Creation, The Who, Johnny Cash, to Dr. Feelgood and The Sex Pistols, The Godfathers took that musical lineage and spat it out in classic tracks of their own such as "I Want Everything", "This Damn Nation" and the anthemic "Birth, School, Work, Death". It didn't stretch your imagination too much to picture their guitar cases being fitted with compartments for baseball bats and machine guns!
 

And one from the 1990 gig at the Kilburn National

So The Godfathers are back and since 2009 have been playing with the Coyne brothers, drummer Grant Nicholas and original Sid Presley guitarist Del Bartle, this year releasing two stunning download singles "Back Into The Future" and "The Outsider".  I am already looking forward to next Valentine's Day to get the chance to show my appreciation to the band that helped me through those barren musical years with my dose of rhythm and booze flavoured rock 'n roll!