Genre
punk (hardcore)
Years Active
1982-1984 (formation thru their first hiatus)
Well Known Songs
"Alcohol," "Skate to Hell," "Another Wasted Night"
Members
Chris Doherty (guitar)
Bill Manley (bass)
Mike Dean (drums)
See the band's facebook page for a full member list
Band Bio:
Formed by three 15-year olds from Braintree, MA, Chris Doherty, Mike Dean, and Bill Manley, the trio played fast hardore punk, partied hard, and were instrumental in forming the East Coast hardcore scene. Even in their early days, they set their place in Boston punk history by cutting seven tracks on compilation This is Boston, Not L.A. along with other local bands Jerry's Kids, The Proletariat, The Groinoids, The F.U.'s, Decadence, The Freeze. Of their recordings on the compilation, producer Mike Bastarache said in the liner notes:
“There was no way to know how the Gang Green sessions would turn out. They were just three 15 year old South Shore kids who had played a few shows at the Media Workshop and Gallery East. Their earliest live shows sounded pretty awful; not much better than blenders on overdrive. It was just as hard to find Gang Green's sound in the studio. We put the band members in separate recording booths to isolate what each person was playing. It still sounded like crap - we weren't ever sure they could hear each other. From the control room each Gang Green song sounded exactly the same - an initial blast of feedback followed by a furious rush of guitar/bass/drums noise, a sudden stop, and more feedback until we paused the tape deck. It seemed hopeless.
Our discouragement improved slightly during the initial mixing sessions. We finally heard some structure lurking beneath the chaos. After dubbing the vocal tracks, we mixed each tune, but the results were still less than great. We just couldn't get the right balance of song and energy, and had run out of our allotted time...We scraped some extra cash together for a few more hours of studio time. This time it clicked. All the sound came together and morphed into a god-like, punk rock experience. We played back the new mixes one more time. There was no need to say anything, we all knew right then... fuck yeah - this is what Gang Green sounds like.”
Soon after contributing to the legendary compilation, the original trio broke up (Chris Doherty would be the band’s constant member until today).The remainder of the band’s studio recordings went to their three-song EP, Sold Ou!, on Taang in 1984, and a track on Modern Method’s 1983 EP Unsafe at Any Speed.
Doherty went on to join fellow Braintree punk band Jerry’s Kids in ‘83 and in ‘85 reformed Gang Green with a new group, including the drummer from Jerry’s Kids. Under the most well-known lineup for the group, they released their Another Wasted Night LP on Taang! in 1986, which included “Alcohol” and “Skate to Hell,” and was the first time they toured.
The band continued to put out several more records through Taang! and Roadrunner, including their third album called I81B4U (in response to Van Halen's OU812). The lineup changed again, along with their sound, leaning more in rock and metal directions, and they broke up in the early ‘90s. The band went on to reform in ‘96 and the early 2000’s, including a tour with the Dropkick Murphy’s.
The band down in history as the last band to perform at Boston’s infamous club, the Rathskellar, in ‘97 with their single “Alcohol.”
[Content combined from Wikipedia, Taang! Records, Punk News, Kill From The Heart, and The Phoenix]
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