Liner Notes to Pre School
The Story of GangGreen:
Henry Garfield (Rollins) lectured them on their drinking habits.
They didn't listen.
The Misfits tried to get them laid.
They were more interested in St. Marks Pizza.
Jello Biafra tried to teach them his political views.
They dedicate "Kill a Commie" to him still.
Formed in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, GangGreen started out as a four piece band in 1980. The line-up consisted of Steve MacDonald, Mark Foley, Bill Manley, Mike Dean and manager at the time, Chris Doherty.
The first show was as a five piece with Doherty. The day before the show Doherty got a '68 Fender Mustang guitar and joined for the first show as a no name act. The band had been asked to perform the national anthem at a little league opening day ceremony in the parking lot of South Shore Plaza in Braintree, Massachusetts. But they never did. Instead, their own brand of chaos and meyhem ensued. Doherty couldn't play more than two chords on his freshly acquired fiddle so, in frustration, he tried to smash the drum set of Mike Dean. The parents of the little sluggers were horrified and in complete shock at this horrendous event.
By this point in time two of the five members of the band, Steve and Mark, had very different ideas of what the band should be. The other three members wanted to be in a band in hopes of creating total chaos!!! From that day forward the line up was set. They became a three piece. Mike Dean, Bill Manley and former manager Doherty, now guitarist and vocalist, became the new line-up for the still unnamed act. Little Sluggers was considered for a name but they wanted to erase that first show from history.
Springa from SSD, who lived in the next town over, Quincy, heard the rumblings from across the tracks. He wandered over the town line armed with a tape recorder and a handgun and documented their practice. He asked only two questions:
Do you guys have a name? "No we do not."
Would you open for SSDecontrol? "Yes we will."
With two weeks away from the show, no name for the band and Doherty who had to learn to play the guitar, the band had to come up with enough songs to fill a set.
The practices were daily in the Dean attic. At dinner time Ma & Pa Dean called the young tykes for some home cookin' but the guys ignored the dinner bell. Mike Dean's parents insisted on having them take a break for dinner in hopes of a brief moment of peace. The band kept practicing through dinner. When family members would call them for dinner the reply was, "We have rabies stay away from us!"
During the third day the act realized they were bored with formula punk rock. They decided to brew their own recipe. Why don't we just play as fast as we can possibly play, faster than anybody has tried to play before & see how it turns out? All agreed, the straw was cut, the mirror was cleaned & the band started to wail.
A few practices were held in the attic of the Dean residence in Braintree which is now a landmark offering tours to music historians and hardcore enthusiasts. It has become the hardcore "graceland". Directions to this landmark can be obtained from TAANG! for a small fee. In other words, send us $5.00 and we'll tell you how to get there.
The first track ever written, "Puke" was written because Doherty's favored means of transportation was running. Even when he was offered rides to practice he would run three miles from his house in 90 degree weather. On one of these occasions Chris stopped at a red light and heaved his lunch (macaroni & cheese) in front of several suburban motorists. Chris was so amused by their reaction that he wanted to sing about it. The song was called, "Run Until You Puke" later renamed, "Puke".
The second track, written by Mike Dean, was called, "Kill a Commie". The title came from an issue of Mad Magazine. There was a picture of a youth in an arcade and the name on the video game he was playing was called, "Kill a Commie" and featured a detachable gun.
"Terrorize"
A song about terrorizing people on your skateboard while crusing a local shopping center. The lyrics:
Hit 'em with your skateboard, watch the bundles fly.
We love every minute of it and that's no lie
"Narrow Mind" came from Chris Doherty when he left the soccer team and joined GangGreen at age 15. His soccer teammates did not accept the new team he was on, GangGreen of the Boston Hardcore Division. Chris decided to write a song about it. Years later the old soccer mates became some of the heaviest supporters of GangGreen and are still seen at shows to this day.
"Rabies"
I have rabies. Stay away from me... would always ward off fans who would try to interrupt practices.
A few songs written and with less than three days left until the famed debut Boston gig, the nameless band was still nameless.
The Christening of GangGreen:
Rivals/friends, Jerry's Kids were at the practice space. They were excited to have another band from their home town slamming out chaotic music so they ventured over, listened and absorbed. The band gave a thumbs up for approval, yet a trace of rival envy hung in the air. Jerry's Kids were no longer the only band from Braintree, they now had to share their district with new kids up the block.
As the three were debating about the name and Jerry's Kids were leaving the space, guitarist Bob Cenci said, "Why don't you call it GangGreen?" as the door closed. The 3 members pondered for only a second & took the name of the disease as their title. This would grace this name on shirts, cds, records, stretching to all corners of the world for years to come. The band was christened GangGreen from that day on.
The Boston Debut:
Yes. They had a name and now flyers could be made. Two days later, at the Media Workshop, GangGreen played their first gig. Not a lot of people; some mohawks, skinheads, skaters and a few punks, but one person there in particular changed history.
Bill Manley's Dad (real estate tycoon) showed up to see his son play in a band. He watched for a few minutes and then realized that he was in a decrepit, old Boston building that should be condemned. "Death Trap" were his actual words. The elevator didn't work and there were certain goings on that were not up to code. The weird thing about the Media Workshop was that Bill Manley's dad actually owned the building. In retaliation to his son's new found career, he had it closed down within a few days. It didn't stop GangGreen or Boston Hardcore from becoming the best music movement Beantown ever saw.
Finding a new site was the next move. Gallery East, McNasty's and my particular favorite, Streets, were some of the new spaces that opened their doors to the growing hardcore movement. It was at Streets where GangGreen played one night as a four piece with JR from Stranglehold on guest vocals, opening for Anti Pasti. It was during this show that the front cover shot for the "This is Boston Not L.A." compilation was taken, which featured a pigpile with GangGreen during the GangGreen set. Within a few months This is Boston Not L.A. came out and the word got out that GangGreen were the second coming of Christ.
The famed McNasty's show with Bad Brains & Negative FX:
Bill's dad showed up again. However, he knew he couldn't stop his son from playing this new form of art. He agreed to go to the show but had a hard time getting through it. It was Bill's confirmation day. Bill's dad enjoyed a scotch & water with what seemed to be the only other person over 25 at the venue, Ric Ocasek, producer of the Bad Brains. Bill's dad didn't know who the hell the Bad Brains were, or The Cars for that matter. While he watched his son played manic punk rock thrash at over 100 m.p.h. in his confirmation robe (he felt like on of the parents of the Little Sluggers).
By 1983 GangGreen were a memory. They did not play out anymore or record. But their popularity seemed to grow to epidemic proportions. Meanwhile: Hardcore was at its peak in America and Boston was the breeding ground for such bands as Negative FX, SSD, DYS, The FU's, Last Rights, Jerry's Kids, and The Proletariat. But the GangGreen tracks on "This is Boston Not L.A." led them to legendary status. There was a postumus release called, "Unsafe at Any Speed." The track by GangGreen was called "Selfish." Their only other recordings were known as the "Sold Out Sessions." Three songs were recorded during that session: "Sold Out", "Terrorize" and a song that was never finished called, "America." The bill was $275.00, unpaid, overdue and threatened to be taped over.
Enter Taang! Records:
It wasn't until Dave Collins, drummer of DYS, showed up at a Bad Brains show with a copy of the GangGreen tape known as the Legendary Sold Out Sessions. The reason Dave Collins got a copy of the tape was because DYS were recording at Radiobeat studios and he managed to get a copy of the most eagerly awaited unreleased tape in Boston history.
Meanwhile at the Bad Brains show:
For this particular Bad Brains show there was a seven hour wait because the Bad Brains needed to score weed.
The crowd that gathered in The Channel parking lot did not enter the club. They remained outside due to the no remittance once entered rule. That day the lot looked like a HARDCORE WOODSTOCK. Skate ramps were built that day, graffiti was sprayed on naked buildings, children were even conceived... but most importantly, a record label was born.
Dave Collins searched the lot for the Motorhead Mobile, an all black '67 Camaro which was a listening haven for many. He spotted the car and found members of GangGreen, Negative FX, SSD and most of the Boston hardcore scene huddled around the car blasting Discharge. DC aka Dave Collins held the tape high above his head in victory yelling, "Hey crew look what I've got." The Discharge tape was exited out of the tape deck & GangGreen tape slid in. After several repeated blstings of the tape there was nothing but praise. The bands nodded in approval but Curtis, a D.J. at the time, who plagued radio with hardcore (especially Boston hardcore), could not contain himself. "This is fucking great!" he shouted, "It should be on X-CLAIM!"
Doherty whispered to Curtis, "We're not straight edge." "That's fine," Curtis replied, "Springa & Chris Foley never were either. X-CLAIM is Boston & this has to be on a Boston label!" demanded Curtis. X-CLAIM was thee Boston label at the time. Known to most for straight-edge hardcore and releasing albums by great Boston hardcore bands.
The X-CLAIM situation was this:
No one ran it.
Bands used the name and there were four different addresses. DYS got SSD's mail and The Fu's threw out Jerry's Kids' mail... get the picture? So it was time to start fresh. Curtis was handed the tape and it was up to him to do something about it. Doherty, Dean, and Curtis are all friends and X-Claim was X-Claim.
Curtis got some help from people he had helped; Al from X-Claim/SSD, Ian from Dischord/Minor Threat, Glen from Plan 9/Misfits, Jon Loder from Crass/Spiderleg, Mike Stone from Clay. These five people were a great inspiration and direction for this new label. TAANG! Records was born with the release of "Sold Out" by GangGreen in March '84. The record took off, word got out all over the world. The label was on its way.
As for GangGreen: They reformed for the release of "Sold Out" (TAANG! #1) but shortly thereafter Bill decided not to play music anymore and the band played their last show with the Minutemen at The Channel in Boston. Doherty passed out face first on the floor due to a long day of drinking with Dicky B. at a nearby bar.
The Aftermath:
Mike Dean got a call from Glen Danzig after the Misfits broke up and asked if Dean would move down to New Jersey and play drums for his new band, Samhain. Mike Dean replied, "I'd love to Glen but I leave for Paris Island and join the Marine Corps in a few days." Years later Dean got out of the USMC and then joined Jerry's Kids but never recorded with them. Jerry's Kids went on to record "Kill Kill Kill". Mike Dean moved to Hawaii thereafter and now lives in Las Vegas. He will be recording with Bob Cenci from Jerry's Kids. They will be rehersing in the attic of Mike Dean's home in Vegas as of June '97 (funny how things turn out).
Chris Doherty went from so many different bands it's time to make a Doherty family tree. First, Jerry's Kids where he recorded the legendary "Is This My World?" record (originally on X-Claim now on TAANG!). Then it was time to move on to Stranglehold to put out the power punk classic, "She's Not Leaving/Same All Over" 45 (TAANG! #3). Stranglehold then became The Oysters and Doherty joined ska band The Cheapskates with members of Stranglehold, DYS and the soon to be Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Chris re-started GangGreen in 1985 with Walter Gustaphson from the Outlets and recorded 15 tracks for TAANG! in 1986. They toured the world extensively and released several LPs on the Roadrunner label. They just recently reformed 10 years later and are recording 23 new songs (practically a case) "Another Case of Brewtality" for TAANG! in '97.
Bill Manley graduated from college, has a family and recently opened up a bar in Boston where you can bet this CD is heavily blasted throughout the tavern.
When Chris Doherty, Bill Manley and Mike Dean played together the phrase "Triple-speed hardcore thrash" was coined. No band ever played as fast and furious as these Braintree bashers. A total of 10 songs were ever recorded during this line-up and are brought to you in their entirety on this CD, including the legendary, "Sold Out" 7 inch which was TAANG!'s first release in 1984.
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