blog

The GT’s had settled back into the old routine. JJ French aka Jon "Man-Machine" Melling was back doing what he does best (being a GT), and all was well in the world. There was however, no let up in the GT’s quest to break West Yorkshire. We were off to the Primrose in Leeds but without our newest recruit, he was off enjoying himself somewhere. The Primrose was another of those surprising places to play. Not a great deal to please the eye, and a few tattooed faces but another great place to play. Good sound tech again you see. There were four bands playing, one metal band, one bunch of twats with a Pete Docherty wanna be, and a band called The Superlatives who were effin brill. Boggy soon tapped em up for a future gigs, before chancing his hand on the Keyboard. "Jonny who?" was the cry!

Toward the end of Feb, we had our biggest gig coming up, the Cavern Club in Liverpool. We sorted out a mini bus and a few drove over. There were 4 acts on, including two lots from New York City. The place was cracking, we played on the "Big Stage" which unfortunately wasn’t the Cavern stage where all the tourists watch Beatles tribute acts. Still, it had a back stage area, which was where Boggy B gave his team talk. I thought we must have been playing a world cup semi final or somert cos he was going mental! He didn’t stop there either, he proper went for it stage, banging the roof and dancing the Russian! He was top, and we all played well and enjoyed it. Even got a trophy, which we won’t go into, nor will I tell of Boggy’s mischievous behaviour in their hotel after!

The West Yorkshire trek continued, as Carpe Diem came up. Nice little place, that sounded good. We debuted a new song and made a few friends, a couple of whom came to see us Bradford the following night. It was dead, and until they got there we thought about legging it home for last orders in the Lion. We played though, and were glad we did. There were about 6 people in there who were screaming for more, and having a good old dance. Never before have I seen anyone dance like Fiddy Cent to Got All Night!! The week after that we were back in Easingwold, playing with the Superlatives again. Cracking night, we weren’t at our best but still went down a storm, and got some lauer in kitty n that.... Till next time! - Edd

It was a Wednesday or a Thursday when I heard the news. It must have been a blow for GT fans worldwide. Coming only months after being sacked from Coronation Street Battersby had sensationally walked out on the GT's only days before 2 of the biggest gigs of their career to date, Wakefield and Featherstone. Could it be true? I thought to myself "I know who to ask" so I texted Dave and he said that yep Battersby had indeed resigned from the band with immediate effect and could I dig the band out of this insanely big hole and fill in on these 2 gigs. I havent really played any keyboards in a long, long time but the thought of the bands sad, tearful faces if they had to do a gig without keyboards was too much for me to bear so I agreed to come back into the fold (temporarily at least) to help out.

No time to practice as the first gig was on the Sunday night. The Snooty Fox in Wakefield or the pub from the estate in Shameless to give it its other title is a proper music pub. It did look a bit like the wild frontier but the gig turned out a sucess although no one expected it to be when we walked through the door. The venue is ran by Rick Savage, the bass player for 80's legends Def Leppard, (or does he just look like him?) and he greeted us in a tight pair of leather trousers and a Iron maiden shirt proving it is possible (all previous attempts had failed) to carry off that particular clothing combo. We asked him where the other bands were and he said had we not brought anyone else with us? So far a classic gt scenario. But after a soundcheck and the longest game of pool ever (played Lytwyn/Stone style) with a party in the other room for a goth girl was joining the army on the Monday, there was a definite sense of occasion hanging in the air. The GT's rose to that occasion and hit heights so dizzying that at time we all felt well, a bit dizzy. There was about 10 people down from the bands family and friends and there ended up with about the same again in locals but we got a good reaction and it would only take about 50 people to fill the room and get the place buzzing so the lads are looking forward to playing there again and rocking out. Rick Savage has about 8 cameras set up on the stage but dont worry he's not some sort of stalker, he makes dvd's of the performces for the bands and he did one for us. Its pretty cool actually, and we've heard that he has played our dvd on another night.

Then it was onto Featherstone supporting Bosscaine. Unfortunately the gig was cancelled. As is well known Bosscaine all live on a farm somewhere near Malton and 2 of their cows went into Labour on Wednesday morning. No vets were available so they had to deliver the calf's themselves. So this gig is being rearranged as we speak. Also at the Snooty Fox I was being hassled after the gig by some mad GT fan called Scruff or something? He was asking loads about whether or not I was joining full time again and what was happening and now I finally have an answer for him. The answer to whether Im in the gt's full time is....................................

to be continued! - Jon.

I think over very own Scruff finished the last GT's blog after DV and DV's wedding, so there's a bit of catching up to do. We've spoken since we started this whole thing about getting playing out of York, after 2 years, we'd only done it once - Dogfest! After this we wanted more so Scruff got to work on myspace and sorted us some gigs in Leeds, Guisely and Wakefield. We were well chuffed, a chance to play on front of people we didn't know, should give us a good indication of how we were doing. We'd been doing the same set for a while, but after rolling Utah out at the wedding, she was finally ready for another airing - cos in truth we f****d it up good and proper last time!

First up was the Bourbon Bar, smart enough bar in Leeds near Leeds Met uni, which would mean loads of students - surely? We rolled up, had a sound check and were treated to a crate of lager. It was still early, so we weren't too worried by us being the only people in there. Well that was as busy as it got it! We were pretty gutted, we went through the set - played pretty shit and once again murdered our new song. DV wasn't impressed... But anyway, next up was Guisely. MBNV went to see em the day before the gig. Gaz had got Shingles - nowt to do with me I swear; I'd been clean for weeks!! So we weren't sure if we even had a drummer. Didn't matter! They weren't expecting us anyway! Things weren't looking too good for this playing in front of new people idea...

Our old mate Pie has now moved into the showbiz business, and used his muscle to sort us a gig playing with the Berretas at the Gallery. We were all looking forward to this one as we had quite alot of people coming down to watch. Its been a while since we've been the support act, but it was nice just to get up there, do it and F-off. I reckon this was the best set we've done. It all seemed to come together, we nailed everything went down really well, and came off buzzin'. It'd been a while since we've all been happy after a gig..! Bouyed on by this we moved on to the York Inset's Christmas bash. For those who don't know, this is a scooter club, ran by our new mate Alan. DV suddenly started thinking Scooters are cool which led to me and him going down to Plymouth to buy one that he hasn't ridden yet. Being an Xmas bash we thought we should do some covers - which leads to us all arguing about what to do. We settled on The Jam's Eton Rifles, and a song by the Purple Hearts that we don't know the name of. These took a bit of learning, we already knew Primal Scream's Rocks so decided to throw that in. We were worried that this wouldn't be enough to keep the punters happy, so tried to learn Substitute by the Who in two pracco sessions. Thankfully Boggy B was ill(?) for one of these so we sacked it off. We knew Alan really liked us, but I was a bit worried how we'd go down with the rest of the club. It was busy aswell, and the DJ had given Eton Rifles a spin before we went on - Brill! We played well again, and got some really good feedback. Managed to get a few of em bobbing, and got paid and fed! Hopefully we'll be playing the scooter clubs Yorkshire get together, which is a big event in the summer.

So a decent end to the year for the Jeets, we've got some really good gigs sorted for 08 - big thanks to Scruff, so get your sen down and see us! Merry christmas, happy new year! - Eddy.

After witnessing The GT’s last gig at Dogfest in a rainy Batley in late August, which for the record was a well organised event, in spite of the crap weather, and lack of a bouncy castle, although I’m sure The Real Cider Scruff will disagree (eh Rob..?!) - I can’t help thinking back to on the way home on the coach, before the band treated us to their rendition of ‘Music man’, when they had mixed feelings about the set they had just performed. Some of the band were not happy, some were. I thought The GT’s had done everything possible to get the drenched crowd scene going. Overall it was not as bad as the band thought, a memorable performance and easily one of the best bands there on that miserable day. With gigs lined up starting on the 19th November at The Bourbon Bar in Leeds, The Station in Guiseley on 1st December, the Gallery 5th December and The Snooty Fox in Wakefield on the 6th January in 2008, the GT’s have been putting a lot of pracco in at the Jam Factory, and have even managed to come up with a NEW song called ‘State of Utah’ (more info on this later).

Then, faster than a speeding bullet comes The Track Attackers wedding to my sister Deborah, which The GT’s, past and present, all attended and the present line-up even offered to play a quick, short set at the after wedding do..! The wedding went as smoothly as you would like, great weather, top photographers, great food and drink, a good turn out of guests, and great speeches, yep!.including mine, you piss takers - you know who you are..!! After the ceremony and dinner, it was time to hit the bar in the party room to celebrate the happy couple, but I was disappointed watching the stale DJ at work (sorry, but the guy was late, and just stood there gazing into his laptop all night and only played about four tracks of my compilation CD?). Then though it was time for The GT’s to take to the stage. It was a great set, considering they had consumed a few beers, and were suited and booted in smart wedding attire, a crowd seemed to gather on the staircase behind me, probably after hearing the band start up. They seemed impressed, and it was the first time I had heard the NEW song ‘State of Utah’, sounded really good, I really enjoyed it, especially the middle bit which is quite a different approach for the band. At this point of the night, I was proper pissed, so is all a bit patchy, all I remember is jumping around to Lily the Pink, doing some filming with the cam, witnessing ex-GT Jonny making his move on the ladies, and me attempting to dance with an old dear who our Deb’s works with! Just to finish off this blog, well done The GT’s, they will no doubt be winning over NEW fans in Leeds on November 19th and beyond ... and congrats to Dave and Deborah on their wedding day. Welcome to the family DV, I was proud to give our lass away on the day, and good luck to em both for the future. Judging by what’s unraveling on their honeymoon as I type this, my good luck means shit..!! But on the Saturday of the wedding, a splendid time was had by all! - Scruff.

It’s been a while since the last GT’s blog, but we have been busy of late. The newcomers (Bates and Gaz) are now bedded in after their birth of fire at Cert 18. We wanted - nay needed more gigs before we headed to Batley for a first gig out of York, and our first Stadium gig, so we accepted a gig at the Junction, supporting Swedish band The Flaming Moes - nice name! They were good tho! We got on there and delivered a solid set, I thought loads better than Cert 18, everyone seemed to enjoy it, most importantly Gaz had a good un. We then took on a gig at the Stone Roses bar. It was dead! We had the usual suspects watching us, plus a couple of newcomers, and if it wasn’t for them the place would have been empty. Didn’t matter though, we played a blinder of a set - always sounds good in there for some reason, rolling through what has now become our trusted list of tracks. From the getting things right point of view, I think this was one of the best gigs we’ve done, so confidence was lifted again. Oh yeah, and I won killer pool, pocketing (nice pun - play on words) a cool £8! The Junction called again, this time we were headlining cos some gimps from Manchester were a man down. I asks yers!! Big Geoff Watto played a blinder, the Manc band was crap, and we managed to get Wulryburd to come and play with us for our next gig. The gig went pretty well, loads there, sound was a bit crap cos big Andy wasn’t there, but it was another good gig under our belts.

Easingwold was next, Gaz had sorted us this one out at the New Inn. Wulryburd opened and played a blinder, any band who plays Creedance Clearwater Revival covers is ok by me. Then we were up. The place was packed. Gaz had all his family there and looked a bit nervous so I wasn’t too confident. We cocked up the first track after dying on our arse in the sound check. This wasn’t good. We pulled it back though, even managing to play a brand new song - High Time, along with Suffragette City which we hadn’t done live with the new line up, and they went down really well. I loved it DV though wasn’t happy.

So it was Dogfest time. The gig we had been building up to for quite a while. We put on a coach for our legions of fans, and to take our gear, and set of from Haxby at midday. When we arrived it was pissing down. The bands were playing out of a trailer in the car park, not the stadium gig we had been hoping for, but still the biggest crowd we’d been in front of. The highlight for me was No Fears. These guys rocked, average age of 27, which was surprising seeing as all but one of them was younger than 15. Was he a Dad, or just a dirty bastard? -- I don’t know! Some hours and carlings later it was our turn. Once again, the first song was a shocker, don’t know why we can’t play Law anymore! We rolled out the set, loads of cock ups though, although we got plenty of praise afterwards. We then had a big row on the coach, DV thinking the set was ok, me and Boggy B thinking otherwise. Then the coach broke down. A few (hundred) verses of Music Man later and we back in the lion. The more things change, the more they remain the same... Peace Out. Eddy.

Absolutely bricking my first gig with the GT’s. Left Bates’ Motel mid afternoon and took a train into York, whilst consuming Jack Daniels for Dutch Courage. Found myself in a pub near Cert 18 and had a few pints and some Brandy. OK, things are feeling a bit better, I bumped into the lads on the street and we made a merry way to the venue. If you fancy seeing the largest collection of empty Jack Daniels bottles come here! It’s mental. The venue is buzzing with chitter-chatter and the sound of a band exiting the stage from their set.

Round at the stage side, E double D is supping a pint with ex member Jonny, who is in high spirit and is egging the whole band on. A couple of other people are floating around wishing us all well, and some sympathy is given to me and Gaz the new drummer as we are really nervous. I had to wander to the cubicle a few times before we went on. It didn’t seem like I was in the venue more than 5 mins and we are getting called on stage. DV quickly finishes off my JD, so a big thank you for that knob head!!!

The moment had arrived, Law had started and the adrenaline kicked in. The crowd went mental, it was brilliant. I was such a relief to see the rest of the band fluff on one of the first songs, I think it gave me and Gaz the realisation that you can fuck up, you have just gotta be able to get your head together and get on with it, rather than crash and burn. The set went through really quick, a mistake here and there, which turned out to be a bigger deal afterward than I though it would have done.

The last song was absolutely brilliant, it was fast and it rocked! The whole crowd went totally mental, Commie is The GT’s "rock n roll star"!! I came off in high spirits but with the realisation that I need more practice, and since the gig Gaz has purchased some Velcro sticks and gloves so he doesn’t get anyone else in the eye. We were certainly the most popular band of the evening, shunning the shite band that headlined. The night ended in the ‘Stone Roses Bar’ with pie pissing down the side of a gambler and me trying to smuggle a pool cue into Debbies Bag." - Battersby

P.S. Great to see the GT’s contribute to a such a good cause.
P.P.S If anyone else is worried, I rang the Stone Roses bar and the Pringles machine is fine.

After the amazing success of Newey Sports Club we knew the next gig would not live up to our high expectations!! We were wrong! It seemed to me that The Drum Machine (JJ) had been looking back at the NESC gig with rose tinted glasses all week. He was adamant that we should do the same set at both the Junction BOTB's and Lou's leaving do. Fortunately common sense prevailed and the rest of the band used democracy to trim the GT set down a bit and stop JJ from ruining things.

We have no video footage from the Junction cos Scruff was pretending to be ill (bet the cider wasn't swapped for calpol eh scruff headed warrior??!!!) but it seemed to me to be the best we had played to date. We all know that BOTB's are a bit of a joke as the band with the most mates there goes through first and then usually some 6th form band with trombones (You should have seen Pie's tromBONE when he was checking out their brass section!! Ha ha) and a singer from that popular US teen show Summer Dreams go through on the judges vote. And that's what happened. To be honest the singer looked a bit young so I have to question the judges' motives for letting them through. From what I remember I thought the other band that didn't get through were pretty good though. Lack of support and pedo judges aside I think we put in a dead good showing of ourselves. Very few mistakes, good vocals (where had the witch gone??) and probably our most balanced set so far.

Saturday night, Lou's leaving do was good fun. There were plenty of people there but too many were more interested in having a pint than listening. However, a few people were tapping along so we may have picked up a couple of new fans. Again the music was solid. We now sound and perform more like a real band. Long may it continue!!!!! & Bon Voyage Lou!!

Sunday recording with Alan was ace. His general hyperactivity and all round charisma kept the day bouncing along nicely (just joking Alan, I quite like your Jack Dee style of humour). We did 4 songs, Law, Fire, Bujin and DB. All sounded ace!! Alan commented that we are less bothered about small mistakes than most of the other bands he's worked with. He is correct. We are more about catching the feel/vibe of the song rather than being technically brilliant. The day seemed to be a success. So much so that even the napalm charged sun was shining through the death scarred clouds and shinning off the dead soldiers eyeballs like bullets chinking through major arteries. Yep, it was a good 'un. The day went quite quickly. Drums, guitars and bass down first and then vocals and ivories. The drums, guitars and bass were done by about 3:00pm which meant me and Kev could nip to the pub for some more well deserved cider. By the time we got back Lance Corporal Pearson had taken an enemy bunker single-handedly. Good lad. The cold stench of death was upon us once again and chilled our spines like a stella fridge with a power surge. Meanwhile MB-NV had started laying down some vocals. By the end of the day all the music and vocals were down and all that is left is a few hand claps, tambourines and do-waps for JJ to do when he's next round at Alan's Crib. Am looking forward to mixing the tracks and getting them down on cd.

Things are looking slightly rosier in GT town this week but don't get used to it cos it won't f**kin' last long!!! DV

"Hiya all GT fans out there. March has been an "interesting month". There are 3 events that need to be covered here and I’m just the man to do it. Firstly The Junction Battle of the Bands on the 7th was our first gig since our last triumphant appearance at the same venue last December. This gig went decidedly better. Debuted 3 new songs - Broken Man, DB Cooper and Dave’s Cockpiece err I mean His Girl Friday. We got through thanks to the judges vote (probably cause we actually buy drinks) and got through to the next round on 11 April. We got a good reaction and plenty of ironic dancing from some of the kids. Their mates bands were respectively a piss poor metal band from 1991 (with matching big white trainers with massive tongues, denim jackets with Iron Maiden and Def Leppard patches on) and a band who had a twat (sorry I meant bass player, don’t know how that slipped in there) playing on a wireless bass. They did a cover of Breakfast at Tiffany's. So a bunch of acne ridden boys and girls who had all spent hours straightening their hair for that "natural" look dancing ironically means we must be ok. I would be more worried if they genuinely liked us.

The next night we were on t'radio. This meant another trip to Radio York but with the full band set up this time. We couldn’t hear any of my or Matt’s vocals so it was as much a surprise to us that it sounded ok than anyone else. The radio boys asked us exactly the same questions (in EXACTLY the same order) as last time. The main difference being that our answers were a lot less interesting. We got to play some tracks that have influenced us so we played "Make Love Like A Man" - Def Leppard, "If I was Your Mother" - Bon Jovi and "Hot For Teacher" - Van Halen*.

Leading very nicely onto last Saturdays "Performance" at New Earswick Sports Club. Andy Stones played a set of mainly original material. Utter class that lad. Cheers Ginner!! The GT's took to the stage sometime around 10 PM to a packed out capacity crowd baying us on. My Mum heard a massive roar down the road in Haxby about this time. Coincidence? You decide. We then played what can only be described as an "orgasmic" 30 minute version of Whole Lotta Love. I saw grown men in the audience weep at the sight of Edd soloing on his knees. Jaws dropped when I launched my own 10 minute drum solo. We finished sometime around 2 in the morning exhausted after giving it our all. We finished our set with our now obligatory gravity defying version of James Browns "Sex Machine". + See at the next one. Cheers" - Jonny

* Only some of this paragraph actually happened.
+ None of this paragraph actually happened. Anything relating to actual incidents is entirely coincidental."

"The GT's have just celebrated their first birthday! Our first gig at Fibbers seems a very long time ago, but it was only this time last year. We've now played 13 gigs in total, and have been recorded two excellent EP's. We've had our tracks played on the BBC, and have even been live in session on the radio. Not bad for a year at the start of which Stu couldn't play a chord on the keyboard, and Kev had never played a bass guitar! I remember that for our first gig, we sort of said that we didn't want anyone there to see it - maybe just nearest and dearest. Turns out we had quite a crowd there. The fan base has grown from there. We owe a huge thankyou to everyone who has been to support us, cause it really would be shit playing to no-one! Just hope everyone enjoyed it. Big thanks go Lou Riley for sorting things like the banner and helping to sort out gigs, Jaff for testing our equipment, and his uncle JJ for letting us practise for free around the village! To Jeff Gott for coming to all the gigs, and for lugging our equipment to and from virtually of them, and to PJ and Ruth for our first bit of studio time. To Dave Barrass for his GT's artwork (he hasn't even been to a gig - sort it out Bobby!). Huge thanks to Scotty for designing the website and helping us out with all things technical. Last but not least thanks to the Scruff! Andy Lytwin, for (most!) of his artwork, for his video footage of us here and there, for keeping the message board ticking over a 24 period, and his flyer distribution. Keep it up Scruffster!

So its been an awesome year, we're looking forward to another, new tracks and CD's await - watch this space. "Come on the GT's!"" - Eddy

"The Junction 2nd December. In places it was ok but overall I wasnt feeling great about it and for once most of the band agreed. Everyone felt deflated (except Dave but that might just be the kebabs). I struggled to hear my vocals (again) and all I could hear were guitars. We spent about an hour soundchecking and the fella doing the sound got us sounding half decent once all the equipment was working but then a rapper and 2 bands later it had all gone pear shaped. I dont know why really. There werent many people left by the time we came on but then those that were were the GT hardcore. I even saw some of them dancing (go on Nico!!). Some people blamed the last band on. A good atmosphere was developing and they ruined it with their arty, tuneless, expensive equipment and shit songs music. Some would say that the sound in the venue was rubbish. I would say that we played too many songs to rehearse them well enough and that we've been a bit sloppy lately. I think most of the lads would agree with that in some way. Again, the support was great, hope y'all enjoyed it more than we did!! We'll come back strong 2007, armed with new sounds and songs, till then..." - Jon

"So with the recording out of the way it was on to the crowds at the Junction. Once we had struggled through the supports fan base we finally got inside and enjoyed a much-deserved pint, this was followed by numerous others whilst been our usual slapdash selves in regards to setting up. The support warmed things and next it was time for the GT’s. Performing a relatively new set tonight and without the safety of some of the regulars the GT’s kicked things off with the mighty ‘Pie’s Spaceship’, and continued to roll out some of the new GT material to the much appreciating crowd some of whom even found the way to the front for a boogie!! They likes to boogie.. (u know this one Eddy?) Anyway then for the first time ever the GT’s stopped a few songs from the end whilst Dave, Kev and Pie emptied their bladders, this just gave enough time for Ed, Jon n Matt to role out another cover much to the delight of the crowd, with one audience member calling it and I quote - ‘the highlight of the night’, another ‘incredible’. Bladders emptied The GT’s fired out the last few tracks and the set was complete. Good venue, not bad beer, good support (everyone hammered) for the GT’s (as usual..cheers to everyone again), a good debut at the Junction but more support for the support and tinkering with the sound quality next time out (Dec 2nd)!!!!! ." - Matt

"The day started well, I went down stairs and I found bacon in the fridge. However, I did have a pain in my stomach, I wasn't sure if it was nerves or the Vindaloo I consumed the night before. I am prone to butterfly's on big GT days but I am also prone to shits after a curry and a few beers! I decided to empty my load and to picture the rest of the band naked which seems to help with my nerves. Anyway, I was picked up by Axe about 11 ish and along with Eric and Pocket we travelled to Heworth to meet TA and La. Ta and La had gone to Mr Leech's early to set-up ( i think they thought the rest of us would just get in the way!) so everything was ready for off as soon as we arrived. The guys did a few warm ups to get a feel of the place nothing to strenuous just a few sit ups and star jumps!!! And then we set about work on the new GT EP.

To get the sound right Alan got everyone to run through a few songs by themselves, First up was La banging his drums in his animal from the muppets style - simply breathtaking. Next up TA with his usual solid confident strumming looking like a young, fat Bonehead! Fretting like his life depended on it was Axe and bringing up the rear was Eric, with his pounding of the bass anyone would think those strings had done something really bad to him! As for pocket and me I think Alan was saving best to last or at least that's what I was telling myself.

With the sound right the boys started to play and boy did they play, 2 songs were down before you could say 2 poo's in Alan's downstairs toilet! With The GT's ahead of schedule, Petty Guy and Loretta already down; we decided to roll out Same old song which is a song we know like the back of our hands and a real crowd favourite. This was bashed out dead fast and which seemed to impress Alan because I have heard rumours that some bands take up to 2 full days to record 2 songs and we bashed out 3 in as little as 3 hours! With the lads off getting butties from the local Deli it was my turn to knock out the keys and to mine, La's and Alan's surprise this was a fairly painless process! With all the instruments now recorded it was Pocket's turn to deliver. There was no need to panic as Pocket laid down his vocals in no time at all which is a credit to his professionalism and class because its not as easy as some might think.

Okay, your probably thinking to yourself this is too easy there's gonna be a hitch at some point and you would be right. Backing vocals and hand claps proved challenging but it was our first attempt at this kind of thing so it was to be expected! With Alan refusing my request to get Rick Witter to come in and help we all pulled together and managed to nail it! I think everyone will be surprised with the backing vocals/hand claps because it is a bit different from what you would expect of the GT's but im gonna keep you guessing until you get yourself a copy of the cd!

All in all a fantastic day recording with Alan and the boys - Viva la GT's!" - Sack.

"Around 7:30pm, the GT's..... along with several 'GIMPs' and various members of the public, all sit waiting, slowly drinking, at The 'Stone Roses Bar' waiting for the show to start. The Andy Stones warm-up set is as usual excellent and lasts till well after 10p.m, then its time for The GT's. The band starts off with a new song entitled 'Pie's Spaceship' written after band member 'Stu Baker' who is aka 'PIE'....the song is a confident start. The GT's crack on with 'Cracatoa' and this goes down well with the crowd, which is slowly growing. Next up is 'Don't Fight Clean (fight dirty) a song off the band's last E.P. which regular GT followers will know almost immiedietly. The next song is 'Petrol Guy' another new song, this song is simply brilliant, great vocals and guitar and destined to be a classic. The GT's quickly launch into 'Sweet Loretta Knows' another recently written song, the song is quality and i am slightly taken aback at this point. This next song The GT's play, entitled 'Bujin's Brown' is even better, another new song, evident because Matt has to pratically read the new lyrics of the wall Karaoke style, but obviously with better vocals!!...great song, racey lyrics!. Next its back to familar territory with 'Tow The Line' off The GT's E.P. which the now large assembled crowd scene seems to enjoy. After a short interval, The GT's continue with 'Same old Song'.... one from the back catalogue. Next up is another song from the E.P. album called 'Got All Night' which, if you know The GT's sound, will recognise stright away. With frequent calls of 'Come on Kev (Gott)' the GT's play another new song entitled 'The Law won't slow me Down', bit of a rocker which the crowd increasingly drunk crowd seem to appreciate! With an ode to Bowie the band play a cover version of 'Suffragette City' which the GT's never seem to be without these days. The song played next is a song recently performed for BBC Radio York, called 'Start the Fire' the song is performed brilliantly to a now captured audience. The GT's finish the set off with another recent new song called 'Commie till i Die'....rock and roll at its best. The crowd demands more however, and they get it in the form of another airing of The Law won't slow me down. Class encore, great gig! - Andy (Scruff)

"It was Thursdauy morning and the stench of Napalm and Agent Orange still polluted to South East Asia jungle. The silent sound of death permeated through the morning breeze........ then me and Jon went to the sandwitch shop in Heslighton and it was f***ing mega!! Already we knew it would be a good day! We got to the White room a little late (around 11:20) and a guy who resembled the agent from extras greated us. He was dead nice tho. We unpacked the stuff and had a sandwich. After 15-20 mins gettin the sound ok and settin up the recorder we bashed on. First 2 done dead quick and sounded dead good. Then another sandwich.... Another 2 songs dowm the line and Jonny gets a big over excited. In fact he takes a pic of me banding over and tries to get off with me. We have a sandwich and slice of pizza to calm us down. It doesn't work! After beating JJ off with a spare mic stand (we have a few!!!! ) we crack on again. We do one that I've got a rough idea for (Pizza man) and JJ adds a killer B sec. We finsih off with another of JJ's. We then try and jam a few ideas but it's just not happening (this never normally happens, I promise!!!) After 45 mins of trying ideas that don't work and reminiscing about oasis we pack up. I drop JJ off at his mum's and I go home for a sandwich. All in all a good day and defo a place we cud hire out again in the future!" - Dave

"2 gigs (and a practice inbetween) in 5 nights is probably the busiest we have ever been. Been a good experience for us though. There is nothing that will sort your playing out like playing to a real live audience. You kind of forget everything you ever learnt about your instrument just because 50 people in a room are watching you. So, while there are still some imperfections in the songs (missed drum fills, forgotten lyrics, fluffed guitar lines), we are playing right on it - the tightest ever. The first gig was last Saturday 16th September at Cert 18 in town. Now anyone who knows anything about this place could probably tell you straight away that we arent really their kind of band. We were obliged to sell 30 tickets before they lets us play which left us with the (entirely false as it turned out) impression that if we were the first band on and we had to sell that many then the place would be packed out between the supporters of the 4 bands that were on. In the end we sold about 45 tickets and add another 10 to that and you've got the number of people who were there. We were being filmed by Cider Scruff as he is currently putting together the 1st ever GT's documentary (keep your eyes open for more details). Any way in our 8 song set we had 3 new tunes to play. Firstly, new set opener "Cracatoa", which is based on a Zep-tastic riff by the mighty axeman Edd with some particularly meaningless lyrics written by me. But the two new ones we are most excited about were played at the end. "Start The Fire" has been compared to the Zutons by Matt Seymour from More Raw on Radio York and Commie Til I die was compared to Primal Scream by our sound engineer on Saturday night. I dont think either of them are particularly true but at least people arent saying we sound like Bon Jovi or something. At the end of the gig we went to discuss payment for our performance. Well, you can imagine how grateful we were to recieve (dont spend it all at once) £5 for our efforts and for our friends buying drinks at the bar effort as well. A good turnout by the GT hardcore and a good practice gig for the main event - our first headline gig at the Stone Roses bar. Last night we played 12 (count 'em!) songs to a pretty good sized crowd mainly made up of GT hardcore somewhere between 50 and 60 people watched us play for about 50 minutes and introduce a further 2 new songs "The Guy In The Petrol Station" written by Dave and "Sweet Loretta Know" written by me. We went down well again but all I seem to be able to remember is all the mistakes I made. I just wish I could hear how we actually sound because the sound levels we hear are not the same as what people in the audience might hear. Must also mention we were supported last night by the fucking brilliant Andy Stones doing a great set of his own and other peoples songs. He forgot to plug his myspace site. I dont know the exact address but if you try and search and find him you wont be disappointed. More gigs are currently being arranged so watch out for more announcements." - Jon aka Drum Machine aka Likely La

"Last night's pracco at the Jammo gave birth to 3 new tracks! The Melling/Varley tag team was in full effect early on, before slackers Edd and Matt turned up late after a bit of footy for the mighty Haxby UTD. Krakatoa was polished off, and promises to blow everyone's socks off when she's unvailed at Cert18. Two other tracks were also played for the 1st time and both sound very promising - keep your ears opened for "The Guy in the Petrol Station", and "Sweet Loretta Knows"." - Edd.

"On a mild, damp, end of august evening, the GT's essembled in a car-park outside the Radio york studios....Johnny Melling, Edd Pearson, Dave Varley, Stuart Baker, Kev Gott, strumming away on his guitar confidently, backed up by Matt Boggan singing along to one of the GT songs what would be eventually performed on the radio, this very evening. Once inside with their instruments, the GT's settle down quickly, positioning themselfs around the nearest microphones, and their host 'Matt Seymour' he then asks them to start...! The GT's kick off the session with a red hot acoustic version of 'Start the Fire' which ends up with a deserved round of applause from within the studio. Next, the GT's begin chatting with their host, about gigs, promotion and the band history. Humourous banter procedes every question put to them, with often hilarious results. The session ends on a high note with the GT's performing an excellent, acoustic version of 'Got all Night'. Their host at Radio York, praises the band, and then thanks the GT's for appearing on his show, wishing them all the best for the future. On that note, the GT's casually pack up their instruments and head for the nearest exit, back into the mild night, into the Radio york car-park, to maybe reflect on the events of their evening...?" - Cider Scruff

"Following a sucessful day recording at the Pig Hut Studios, the GT's are pleased to release three preview tracks from the forthcoming debut album, 'Don't fight Clean (Fight Dirty)'
The Tracks:

1. GOT ALL NIGHT. 4:04
2. TOW THE LINE. 3:57
3. DON'T FIGHT CLEAN(FIGHT DIRTY). 3:36
Are available for download, or you can ask us for a cd via email." - Cider Scruff