“It was just three chords, one amp, a stolen microphone and anywhere there was electricity”: Gang of Four’s Hugo Burnham on the early days of punk rock
With the DIY culture that defined the early days of punk rock, post-punk trailblazers Gang of Four were emboldened to make their mark, despite frontman Jon King never having sung or late guitarist Andy Gill never having played in a group before.
Speaking in the new issue of Uncut, founding drummer Hugo Burnham says the group were previously trepidatious about their chances as a fledgling band, before punk came along to tear up the rulebook.
READ MORE: Heritage introduces the H-555, a new top-spec addition to its Custom Shop Core Collection
“Before that, we’d have looked at the sleeve of Pink Floyd’s [1969 album] Ummagumma, with their truckloads of equipment, and thought, ‘We could never do that,’” Burnham says.
“But after punk rock you didn’t feel you needed to be musically competent or have lots of expensive equipment. It was just three chords, one amp, a stolen microphone and anywhere there was electricity. And off we went.”
After nearly 50 years in the game, Gang of Four stand as one of the jewels in the crown of punk rock, and their influence has been far-reaching.
In the same Uncut feature, Rage Against the Machine firebrand Tom Morello names Andy Gill as one of his “primary influences” as a guitarist, commenting on how he “approached the instrument in a totally irreverent way”.
“Not The Ramones’ irreverence where you only needed three chords, but the idea that any sound the guitar could make could be spliced into a funk groove or off-kilter riff,” Morello says.
“Andy was really like a lion on the plains of guitar players. He attacked the instrument like a raptor, but the band’s ideological point of view didn’t stop with the lyrics. It was the entire way that they approached making music.”
Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea also notes how Gang of Four’s debut album Entertainment! “changed everything” for him.
“I grew up liking jazz and thought rock music was for stupid people until I heard Entertainment!” he says. “Together they created something so profound that after that I didn’t care about virtuosity anymore. It opened me up to emotion and artistic vision.”
The post “It was just three chords, one amp, a stolen microphone and anywhere there was electricity”: Gang of Four’s Hugo Burnham on the early days of punk rock appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
