The Godfathers are an English alternative rock/new wave band from London, England, with strong influences from R&B and punk.
Career
The Godfathers were formed by Peter and Chris Coyne after the demise of The Sid Presley Experience in 1985, joined by Mike Gibson, Kris Dollimore & George Mazur. Fellow TSPE member and later Godfather, Del Bartle, went on to form The Unholy Trinity with drummer Kevin Murphy. After independentsingle releases produced by Vic Maile, and collected on their debut album, Hit by Hit, they signed to Epic Records in 1987. Extensive tours of the UK, Europe and the United States followed. Single and title track of their first album "Birth, School, Work, Death" made the U.S. BillboardTop 40 in 1988 after college radio and MTVairplay but the band were less commercially successful in the UK. Albums More Songs About Love and Hate and Unreal World followed, with Chris Burrows replacing Kris Dollimore on guitar in time for the latter, after which the Godfathers left Epic and released two albums on German label Intercord in the early 1990s. The band ceased activity in 2000. In 2003 Peter Coyne and Kris Dollimore played briefly in a band called The Germans with Rat Scabies, formerly of The Damned.
Reformation
In 2008, the band reformed with its original line-up. In March 2009, the band announced a change with Del Bartle returning to replace Kris Dollimore. Grant Nicholas later replaced George Mazur on drums, and Mike Gibson also left the band. In 2010 a live albumShot Live At The 100 Club was released as a DVD/CD set on Secret Records. 2011 saw the band release two download-only singles "Back Into The Future" and "The Outsider". "Primitive Man" followed the next year and all were included on their comeback album Jukebox Fury, released in 2013. Promotion for the album included a month-long UK tour supporting The Stranglers & drummer Dave Twigg stepping in for recently departed Grant Nicholas. 2014 saw another fresh line-up change, with two new guitarists, Mauro Venegas and Steve Crittall, replacing Del Bartle, and Tim James replacing Grant Nicholas on drums. A new AA-sided single, "Till My Heart Stops Beating" / "Rewind Time" was released in June 2015, and the band undertook several European and UK tours, also celebrating their 30th anniversary with a headline show at the 100 Club where they played 30 songs - one for each year - over the course of two sets. In 2016 Chris Coyne left the band and was replaced by Darren Birch, formerly of Gunfire Dance, and touring bassist for both Walter Lure and Brian James. The new line-up recorded a new album, A Big Bad Beautiful Noise in Birmingham that summer, which was released in February 2017, preceded by a single, "You Don't Love Me". Reviews hailed the album as the band's best in many years, with Vive Le Rock claiming it was "up there with the Godfathers' '80s classics". During the A Big Bad Beautiful Noise 2017 tour through Europe, Mauro Venegas left the band and was replaced by guitarist Alex McBain.
