AAA-Godfathers-PHOTO-2011

The Godfathers are touring, playing Valentine's Day in NYC

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Godfathers – Birth, School, Work, Death (MP3)

Godfathers

Remember Dr. Feelgood? How ’bout Eddie and the Hot Rods? Well, if the white-hot pre-punk R&B/rock’n’roll of those two bands means anything to you, chances are you’ll love the early Godfathers — formed by London brothers Peter (vocals) and Chris (bass/vocals) Coyne, initially as the Syd Presley Experience — to death. Not coincidentally, the late Vic Maile (original producer of both the Feelgoods and Hot Rods) was at the helm for the first three Godfathers discs. (He died shortly after the completion of More Songs.) With lyrics of working class angst in a Britain where, as Peter Coyne sings in “The Strangest Boy,” “My future’s past, already gone and been,” the Godfathers lay out the worst-case scenario of the Pistols’ “No future in England’s dream”: a landscape of poverty, drugs and desperation. Unlike the punks of yore, though, the Godfathers remain motivated, if only by sexual and material desires and a stubborn streak of self-preservation. Punk meets mod at the bottom of the social barrel. [Trouser Press]

Remember The Godfathers? At the time, their 1988 album Birth, School, Work, Death was omniprescent on college radio and its title track in constant rotation on 120 Minutes. You can download it above. Still sounds pretty great. After six albums of well-dressed, snarling, no-nonsense rock and roll, the band broke up in 2000, but got back together in 2008 and have been back at it ever since.

The Godfathers begin a North American tour next month, including stops at Santos on 2/14 and Maxwells on 2/15.

The Santos show is notable in that it will be the first time the band have done their annual Valentines Day Massacre show in New York. The first-ever such show, London 1986, had frontman Peter Coyne shooting a real tommy gun — loaded with blanks, of course — into the unexpecting crowd. They’ve since left the weapons at home but the Valentines Day shows have since become known as the most killer Godfathers show of the year.

All tour dates, plus some classic Godfathers videos, are below.


The Godfathers – Birth, School, Work, Death

The Godfathers – Cause I Said So

The Godfathers – I Want Everything

The Godfathers – 2011 North American Tour Dates
Wednesday, February 9th Off Broadway (St. Louis, MO)
Thursday, February 10th Double Door (Chicago, IL)
Friday, February 11th Club Garibaldi (Milwaukee, WI)
Saturday, February 12th Howard’s Club H (Bowling Green, OH) w/The Sights
Sunday, February 13th Grog Shop (Cleveland, OH)
Monday, February 14th Santo’s (NYC, NY) St. Valentine’s Day Show
Tuesday, February 15th Maxwell’s (Hoboken, NJ) w/The Sights
Wednesday, February 16th Johnny D’s (Somerville, MA) w/The Sights
Friday, February 18th Black Cat (Washington, DC) w/Dot Dash
Saturday, February 19th Frankie’s Inner City (Toledo, OH) w/The Sights
*FROSTING SUPPORTS ALL DATES EXCEPT THE 12th