The Godfathers. Aprenda inglés (del bueno) con Harlem

"We wanted to inject back a dose of some real rock and roll that had been sadly missing for years"

Los parámetros clásicos y guitarreros del rock, influencias del pub rock, el punk, la música negra y el pop coinciden en la propuesta de Godfathers, una banda londinense que presume de nombre “poderoso, glamoroso y peligroso”, y que 25 años después de su formación pisa los escenarios con la imagen trajeada convertida en marca de la casa. OSCAR CUBILLO entrevistó al cantante Peter Coyne en una reciente visita a España. Tomo morrudos, retomamos la charla ahora que están a punto de actuar en Bilbao (31 de marzo, Kafe Antzokia), Canarias (1 de abril, Paraninfo de la Universidad de Las Palmas) y Ponferrada (3, Freakland Festival).

ORIGEN
When we formed The Godfathers in 1985 the music scene had become very bland, very light-weight and we wanted to inject back a dose of some real rock and roll that had been sadly missing for years - music with an edge, something different, something noisy, exciting and totally thrilling. I'd like to think we definitely achieved that with great records like 'Birth School Work Death', 'I Want Everything', 'Walking Talking Johnny Cash Blues', 'This Damn Nation' and 'Cause I Said So'.

INFLUENCIAS.
Beatles/Rolling Stones/Sex Pistols/Stooges/Who/Johnny Thunders/Small aces/Ramones/Kinks/T Rex & thousands of others as well!!

NOMBRE.
We were searching for inspiration for a name for the group in a huge film reference book called Halliwell's Film Guide, when we came across a section devoted to Francis Ford Copolla's epic gangster classic The Godfather. We wanted a name that sounded powerful, glamorous, dangerous and there it was staring right back at us and daring to be used. Hopefully by now the name means the purveyors of some of the most exciting rock music imaginable. The Godfathers' name also means that we always get paid the correct money at the end of each concert!!

MULTI O INDIE.
It's totally different releasing an album on Sony/Epic or your own label. You have to do all the work yourself and there's always so much work to be done!! But you retain control better, get more job satisfaction from your endeavours and certainly don't have to sell your soul as part of the deal.

ELEGANTES.
We love to wear suits and look smart on stage - it's part of the performance and of being in a band like The Godfathers. It's an event, an occasion, a night out, you are meeting people - dress up for it! Our clothes, of course, are also a contradiction - we might look clean or neat but we play 100% dirty, filthy rock and roll. Lovely!CONCIERTOS.
On stage we love to interact with our audience and for our audience to interact with us - they are always the best nights when we can get a great response going.

SPAIN IS PAIN.
The Godfathers have been privileged to have played many fantastic concerts in Spain over the years - the Spanish and Basque audiences have always been tremendous to play to and get a big response from. Beautiful people and loyal fans who are as fanatical about their rock and roll music as The Godfathers.

PRIMER DISCO, 'HIT BY HIT'.
Our debut album 'Hit By Hit' was originally released on our own Corporate Image label in 1986 and consisted of 10 tracks that included our first 4 singles - 'Lonely Man', 'This Damn Nation', 'I Want Everything' and 'Love Is Dead. It is now being re-released in February in a vastly expanded, 29 track, deluxe 2 CD edition, again on our label Corporate Image. As well as the original recordings, we have also added two Radio 1 sessions, live recordings from the period and rarities that have been previously unreleased. There's live versions of 'Hit By Hit' stuff as well as live covers of the Sex Pistols 'Anarchy In The UK', the Ramones 'Blitzrieg Bop' an lots more besides. It's going to be cool - see www.myspace.com/theoriginalgodfathers for more details.