Gang of Four

Jon King – Vocals
Andy Gill – Guitar
Dave Allen – bass
Hugo Burnham – drums

Hailing from Leeds, Gang of Four had a seven year history from 1977 to 1984, playing punk rock with tinges of funk and reggae. They produced some of the most influential songs in the English post-punk era that were fuelled by the radical political theory and situationism at the time; however it was Television and the Ramones who musically influenced Gang of Four.

Their career produced many tracks, the first single, ‘Anthrax’ was one of the most exciting of it’s time, being an anti-love song with disorientating dual vocals, that had not been used to such effect at the time. Three albums, and a few EP’s later, Allen left the group to join Schriekback, however GOF continued, producing the more R&B laden ‘Hard’ album, with poor response. They later released Burnham and became ‘Gang of Two’ producing the live album, ‘At The Palace.’ They later ended the band in 1984.

In the early nineties, Gang of Four re-emerged with two well received collections, ‘A Brief History of The Twentieth Century’ and ‘The Peel Sessions Album.’ Then in 1995 they released another album, ‘Shrinkwrapped’ which was also well received.

Gang Of Four recently toured in 2005 with their re-recorded album ‘Return the Gift’ which contained material from their earlier years.