GBH (band)
British punk band
GBH (originally known as Charged GBH) are an English punk rock band, formed in 1978 by vocalist Colin Abrahall, guitarist Colin "Jock" Blyth, bassist Sean McCarthy (replaced by Ross Lomas after two years) and drummer Andy "Wilf" Williams.
Background
GBH were early pioneers of British street punk, often nicknamed "UK 82", along with Discharge, Broken Bones, The Exploited, and The Varukers.
The band's name was originally Charged GBH, then was shortened to GBH. It is widely understood that the name came from then-bassist Sean McCarthy being charged with grievous bodily harm (GBH), though vocalist Colin Abrahall denied this in 2018, claiming it was just a name like U.K. Subs; and, when pushed, said the initials stood for "Girls, Booze, and Hash". Though the core line up of Colin, Ross, and Jock has stayed the same throughout their history, the drum stool has been occupied by a number of incumbents following Wilf's departure after the Midnight Madness and Beyond album and Oh No, It's GBH Again 12" EP. 1989 saw the arrival of German drummer Kai Reder who played on three albums (No Need to Panic, A Fridge Too Far, and From Here to Reality), as well as the Wot a Bargain 12". Kai was replaced by American Joe "Fish" Montanero for one album (Church of the Truly Warped); this was the band's last release for the Rough Justice label. The drum stool was then occupied from around 1994 by former Bomb Disneyland/Bomb Everything drummer Scott Preece, who has remained to this day and played on all releases since.
Throughout their recording history, the band has often included a cover version on many of their albums. "Boston Babies" originally recorded by Slaughter & the Dogs (on City Baby Attacked By Rats), "I Feel Alright" from The Damned and The Stooges (on City Baby's Revenge), "Avenues and Alleyways" by Tony Christie (on No Need to Panic), "Needle in a Haystack" originally by The Velvelettes (appeared on A Fridge Too Far), "Destroy" by The Vibrators (on From Here to Reality), "I Need Energy" by Zero Boys (on Church of the Truly Warped).
GBH embarked on several English and mainland US tours during the early 1980s, including several gigs at the 100 Club. 1982 saw the release of GBH's debut album, City Baby Attacked by Rats, which reached No.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q601984. VIAF identifies the subject as 168080340. The Library of Congress control number is no2003118953. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1978, 2018, 1989 and 1994.
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This entry incorporates text from “GBH (band)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.