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THE GT’s
Nottingham
| Tony Berrington (aka Neil Downe) - Vocals & Guitar | Kevin Green - Bass & Vocals |
| Paul Betts - Drums | |
The GT’s sole vinyl appearance came on the Raw Records’ compilation Raw Deal, issued in December 1977. Thereafter they vanished from the radar. Tony Berrington gave me the low-down. “We formed from the remnants of our school band, some of whom didn’t get punk at all. Me and Kev were ‘in like Flint’ and we convinced the drummer that he liked punk. These were early days for punk in Nottingham, which can be a naughty place. It's true to say that we fought the punk wars and got a few beatings for our trouble. I remember fighting for my life with a load of bikers at a Johnny Thunders gig in Derby. Happy days!”
The GT’s subsequently recorded a demo in a local church hall, which was despatched to Lee Wood of Raw Records. “We only had about six original songs and we used to cover ‘Remember Walking In The Sand’ (Shangri-La's) and ‘Please Please Me’ (The Beatles). Raw contacted us and put us in a studio in Cambridge to do two tracks. I remember taking a 24-can case of lager so it was a boozy session, but everything came together very quickly and sounded pretty good so it was a very enjoyable session, unlike some I've done since. We went back to Nottingham and then Raw Deal came out.”
But that was it for the GT’s, after Tony Berrington accepted an invitation to join 'Plummet Airlines', who subsequently became the 'Favourites'. “They had a proper record deal with Stiff and management. I don’t have many fond memories of playing with them (what was I thinking?). I later played with the Deadbeats who released one album on New Rose which is pretty damned good if I may say so myself. I also did some stuff with Bill Hurley doing purely Elvis covers, which came out on Mute.” Paul Betts stayed in Nottinghamshire and played in local bands including the Eyes. Kevin Green joined Tony Berrington in the Plummets when they moved to London, and also the Deadbeats, alongside Mark Robertson of the Meteors. Later he would play with Nigel Lewis in the Tall Boys. Green went on to work in studio installation and has done work for Vince Clarke, Flood and Depeche Mode. “Kev has done OK and lives in a big house in the country. Unsurprisingly, ‘Millionaire’ was his song.”
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Thanks to Alex Ogg for the above text which was taken from his book 'No more Heroes'.
©Detour Records
