Goldie Lookin Chain

Goldie Lookin Chain

Live at Leeds Festival 2005
Background information
Origin Newport, Wales, United Kingdom
Genres Hip hop, comedy hip hop
Years active 2000–present
Labels Atlantic Records
Gold Dust Records
Website www.youknowsit.co.uk
Members 2Hats
Billy Webb
Eggsy
Mystikal
Mike Balls
Adam Hussain
Rhys
Grayham the Bear
Past members Maggot

Goldie Lookin Chain are a Welsh comedic rap music group from Newport, Wales. The group produces humorous, controversial and often explicit songs that satirise hip hop, today's consumer society, the "chav" culture and life in Newport and South Wales in general.

Background

Many of the songs contain references to places and hang-outs local to Newport. Much of the humour comes from the adoption of hip-hop style and language, adapted into the local South Wales vernacular, partly to poke fun at "chav culture". Their music also satirises gangsta rap by highlighting the disparity between the band's deliberately unglamorous image, and the media hype and glamour usually associated with gangsta rap.

History

The group recorded 6 albums before gaining a major record deal and were signed to the East/West record label, the home of rock band The Darkness. Rumours suggest that GLC was signed after record label bosses heard The Darkness playing GLC tracks whilst on tour (source: BBC Radio 1 – GLC Documentary). GLC went on to support The Darkness in the latter stages of their UK tour.

GLC's first UK chart entry was "Half-Man Half-Machine"/"Self Suicide", which reached the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart.[1] When group member Dwain Xain Zedong was phoned by BBC chart presenter Wes on the Official Chart Show to be informed of this, Xain informed the rest of the band that they had reached number 1, much to the shock of the DJ. "Half Man Half Machine" was a surreal song about one of the members (Eggsy) believing he was a robot, dressing up in foil, and going to the shops to buy ten fags and some crisps. The song namechecks many well-known 1980s 8-bit computer systems including Binatone, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, ZX81 and BBC Micro.

In August 2004, the group reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart with "Guns Don't Kill People, Rappers Do".[1] With the tagline "The gun is the tool, the mind is the weapon", this track – again satirising the American hip hop scene – was a popular radio hit. The B-side was the album track, "Soapbar".

Their first nationally-released album was called Greatest Hits, the name a play on both the group's previous lack of commercial success and their "stoner" image; it compiled a mixture of new material and selections from their previous six unofficial albums. It was released in September 2004, and debuted at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart.[1] This album was released in May 2005 in the US with the title Straight Outta Newport with cover art similar to N.W.A's album Straight Outta Compton. However, this version of the album was missing two tracks – "Maggot" and "You Knows I Loves You".

Their next single release was "Your Mother's Got a Penis", with an accompanying video based on a supermarket theme. "Your Mother's Got a Penis" first appeared on their album The Manifesto, and reached No. 14 in the UK.[1] This song is based on a sample of Greg Philinganes' track "Behind The Mask" (originally by the Yellow Magic Orchestra and later covered by Eric Clapton in 1987).

The band – informally known as "the Chain" or simply "the GLC" – released "You Knows I Loves You Baby", a parody of 1980s love songs from the albums Greatest Hits and The Manifesto, on 13 December 2004; this reached number 22 in the UK chart.[1] "Your Missus Is A Nutter" was the first single from second album Safe As Fuck. The album was originally going to be called "Safety in Numbers", a tribute to the album Power in Numbers by alternative L.A. rap group Jurassic 5. The single reached No. 14 in the UK.[1] They dedicated the song to Victoria Beckham, which resulted in them being summoned by the Newport mayor's office, who also objected to the title of their album, Safe as Fuck.

In June 2010 GLC played at a May Ball at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. During the last song there was a stage invasion which caused the stage to collapse; no one was injured. On 25 September 2010 the GLC hosted a celebrity golf challenge in Newport featuring Howard Marks, Dirty Sanchez, Super Furry Animals, The Automatic and many other Welsh stars.

Controversy

From their inception to the present day, the band have continuously generated controversy, with commentator John Motson directing a particular amount of ire in their direction.

In 2005, GLC were invited by the Football Association of Wales to perform before the World Cup qualifying match against England at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the nature of the band's music and the participation of England star David Beckham, the band dedicated "Your Missus Is a Nutter" to the footballer about his wife, who was present at the match. The ensuing furore, with the Welsh football authorities having to apologise to the Beckhams,[2] (despite David Beckham appearing to take the joke in good humour) as well as expressing outrage at the band's perceived lack of respect, prompted many people to question why the organisers had hired them to play in the first place. In January 2009, GLC appeared on This Feeling TV, and revealed more about the incident.[3]

In 2012, a reality documentary called Bouncers was shown on Channel 4. The documentary followed the lives of some of Newport's nightclub doormen. GLC spoofed the show in a song called "Newport Bouncers", and posted a video on YouTube containing visual and audio excerpts from the original documentary. GLC's "Newport Bouncers" had over 170,000 hits in under a week when it was removed from YouTube by the documentary's makers Century Films. The reason cited was copyright infringement.

Television

In January 2006 Maggot appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK. He finished in third place behind Michael Barrymore and the non-celebrity Chantelle Houghton.

In 2005 Eggsy appeared on a special music edition of Celebrity Weakest Link, and proved himself to be quite astute despite his stoner image, finishing second to eventual winner Fish (formerly of Marillion).

In 2010 the band appeared on BBC Three's Snog Marry Avoid? where three members, Rhys, Eggsy and Adam had a "make under".<

In July 2011 Rhys was one of eight celebrities on the Welsh reality TV show on S4C called cariad@iaith:love4language learning Welsh in an eco-friendly chic campsite in Pembrokeshire.

Rhys and Eggsy currently are continuity announcers on MTV UK between 6pm and midnight.

Return to independence, and current plans

On 7 March 2006, it was reported that the GLC had been dropped from Atlantic Records a couple of months previously and were now going to release material on their own Gold Dust Records, which was formed on 7 March 2006 by Adam Hussain.

Shortly before they got dropped by their label, they were on tour with UK rock band Feeder. The tour was postponed until the new year when Feeder frontman Grant Nicholas developed bleeding vocal cords, whilst performing at the Brighton Centre. They joined with Feeder when the tour was resumed.

Goldie Lookin Chain then co-headlined The Full Ponty music festival day one on 27 May 2006, also with Feeder.

The group appeared in the 17 June 2006 episode of Doctor Who Confidential, expressing their love of Doctor Who and its local Cardiff production.

In August 2006, the band performed in Ibiza as part of the Ibiza Rocks nights in San Antonio Bay at BarM. Also present at their gig were Wee Man from Jackass and Matthew Pritchard from Dirty Sanchez.

The band at the London Astoria, February 2006

The GLC released a limited-edition album entitled Under the Counter which is a collection of songs made between 2004 and 2006, in early 2008, which was followed in March 2009 by ASBO4Life, the first GLC LP with no sampled material.

In July 2009, the band played many festivals including the main stage at Kendal Calling music festival in the Lake District. They also performed at a Cambridge May Ball, where they invited the crowd to rush the stage, damaging it and preventing Toploader from performing.

In 2010, GLC released a remix album and a new LP called The Mix Tape Two and, in December 2010, they released a Christmas LP called It's a Goldie Lookin Christmas (The Fairytale of Newport), featuring 12 tracks including "Dubstep Christmas" and "You'll Never Be Alone on Christmas Day".

On 17 October 2011, GLC released the Blue Waffle album, featuring new songs including "Biscuit", "I Seen Your Mother", "K Hole" and "If I Told You". Also in 2011, it was reported that Adam Hussain, a fan of the original Dr Who series, had contributed a memory about "How a first date was interrupted by The Doctor"[4] to a forthcoming Doctor Who charity book, designed to raise money for Alzheimer's Research UK.

In 2012, Primordial Soup – The Mix Tape 3 was released on iTunes.

2013 saw the 10-year anniversary on the first GLC live gig and the release of Kings of Caerleon on 2 September 2013.

Newport County Football Club

The group's association with their home city's football club stretches back to their inception as a group. They featured as a sponsor on the Newport County kit worn in the FAW Premier Cup in the 2004–05 season,[5] and are often seen on stage in Newport County shirts. In Newport County's record-breaking 2009–10 season, GLC members provided commentary for the club's popular internet radio service.

Members

Full-time

Occasional/part-time

Discography

Albums

Singles

Charted singles

Year Title
UK
Position
[8]
2004 "Half Man Half Machine"
32
2004 "Guns Don't Kill People Rappers Do"
3
2004 "Your Mother's Got a Penis"
14
2004 "You Knows I Loves You"
22
2005 "Your Missus Is a Nutter"
14
2005 "R'n'B"
26

Other singles

YouTube videos

Band member mini-biographies

Maggot

Main article: Maggot (rapper)

In his own words "the tallest member of the Goldie Lookin' Crew"

Mystikal

Mystikal (right) with a fan in Skinner St., Newport

AKA The Druid, The Walrus, The Alchemist, Dr. Boris Gobshite. His real name is Terry Clithops.

He is quite recognisable due to his green eyes and natural two-tone beard. He claims to have lived for 2000 years and contributes a blog-style record of his and the band's adventures both on tour and in their daily lives on the Goldie Lookin Chain website, known as Mysty's Musings.

One of the tracks featuring his rap is based on 'Englishman in New York' by Sting. Another track has samples from 'The Model' by German synth group Kraftwerk. In his rap for the record R'n'B, he name-checks Enya and the track Orinoco Flow. He has also rapped on the intro to a track called 'Paranoia' which is based musically on the track Walking in the Air, which was made famous by fellow Welsh warbler Aled Jones as a young chorister.

Eggsy

AKA Mr Love-Eggs, Rene La Loux, Chon Benwa Balls, Raphael de la Ghetto, Professor Doppelganger, Pele Maradona, Arther Zico, Fresh Prince Charles of Cwmbran, His real name is John Rutledge.

He is most famously known for pretending to be a robot on the track "Half Man, Half Machine". He has appeared on Irish radio station Q102 (presenter was Pete Wilson) talking about the song "Your Missus Is A Nutter" and the album "Safe as Fuck". It was also quoted in a podcast that his real-life name was Jonothan.

In the track "Professor Doppelganger", the Professor Doppelganger character interviews several of the other AKA characters under hypnosis, so Eggsy is actually speaking to himself in different voices. He is a big fan of the children's TV show The Moomins. Eggsy also Reviews horror films on Shonk Video with Rhys, which can be seen on YouTube.

Adam Hussain

AKA Benny Blanco, Short Term, Draw Ambassador, The Draw Connection, Professor Bongo.

He is the only member of The GLC to have an album (Adam Hussain's Truth & Slander) named after him. Adam's Nan features on one track (Nan Jam) and according to Adam's rap she's 84. The track "Charmschool" is based on the original theme tune (aka Chicken Man) for the 1980s TV show Grange Hill.

Adam is a fan of the TV show SpongeBob SquarePants. He has also featured on the show Doctor Who Confidential along with other members of the band displaying his large collection of over 250 Doctor Who videos and DVDs. Adam grew up in Leeds. He has often spoken of being bullied at school for being good at sports.

2Hats

His real name is Andrew David. AKA Hatsy, 2000AD, The Shotgun Surgeon, Rape Balaclava, Stand-By, Hate Society, Smack Boy, Knobber Cloutface.

He is recognisable by his wearing of two hats (hence his nickname). His nickname is also a play on the British swear word Twats. He fronts the track Shotgun Surgery.

Rhys form GLCs

Rhys, whose real name is Rhys Hutchings is also known as Zardoz, P.Xain and Dwain Xain Zedong.[9] He writes, produces and creates mixes for all GLS tracks. Also known for his work in the kitchen and he has had several recipes published. He is also a keen inventor and has several innovative products awaiting patent and is also the manager of German techno band DIGITALsex.

Between 2007 and 2008 Rhys and Eggsy presented the week-day drive-time shows on XFM South Wales and currently introduce the shows on MTV UK. Rhys and Eggsy occasionally stand in for comedian Rhod Gilbert on BBC Radio Wales and they other DJs, across the world, playing party music to drunks and students. Rhys was one of eight celebrities chosen to participate in an intense week learning Welsh in an eco-friendly chic campsite in Pembrokeshire in the series cariad@iaith:love4language shown on S4C in July 2011. In 2012 Rhys released five albums of different types of music through iTunes: Dim Sglodion (a semi Welsh language album), Ambient Music One (chill out), Hip Hop Instrumentals (32 hip-hop tracks), A Night at the Disco (vocoder funk) and Electronic Music (dance). In 2015 Rhys released a classical piano solo album.

In May 2012 he was elected as a Labour Councillor for St Julians ward on Newport City Council.[10]

Mike Balls

Claimed by many to be 'The Hardest Man in Soccer Violence', Mike is an avid supporter of Liverpool F.C. He headlines on tracks such as "Dogporn" and "Mike Balls Unofficial World Cup Anthem". He is the shortest member of the GLC.

Billy Webb

AKA Tim Westcountry, DVS, The Optician, Graybal The Fisherman's Friend

The youngest member of the GLC crew. Billy has appeared on the Irish Radio show Q102 (presenter Pete Wilson) speaking about his relations in Ireland, Maggot in Celebrity Big Brother, and the band Sparks because he and Eggsy were pretending to be The Mael Brothers on Big Brother's Little Brother.

Billy is also a fully qualified landscape gardener. He is normally to be seen wearing leisurewear, and is most recognisable by his tennis-style head-bands.

DCI Burnside

He is the real life brother of Billy Webb. His nickname is taken from a character, Detective Chief Inspector Frank Burnside, in the ITV show The Bill. He features on the intro to "Superhero".

Dipper Nan

He features on the hidden track "Bedsit" with fellow GLC member Maggot. His real name is Dan Tracey.

Rosco P

His nickname comes from the 80s TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard" after Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane with the same name although the "P" apparently stands for pubes. He used to play for Sheffield United's youth team. His real name is Ross Craven and by day he works at Cassidian Systems Ltd. in Newport.

MC Flatpress

MC Flatpress – (AKA Dave Cocaine). Conceived, co-wrote and performs on the track Soapbar. Flatpress is currently working on other projects under the name 'Flash Back Arrester'

Grayham the Bear

Ex Newport Resident DJ (he was sacked for playing "Sit Down" by James), Gray stepped in to pick up when 2Hats took some 'paternity leave' from the band and has joined the Chain full-time recording many high quality raps since 2005. Grayham owns a dog called Eric that he lets sleep in his bed and lick his mouth. Eric also stars in the GLC video for the song (heal the world) Join hands and sing. Grayham enjoys dressing in women's clothes and going to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Nicknamed 'the Bear' because of his impressive chest hair, Grayham also fronts The Tenants Supermen with Adam Hussain.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 230. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. ↑ "Beckham apology for rapper insult". BBC Sport. 7 September 2005. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  3. ↑ Archived 6 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "Adam Hussain « Adam Hussain on Creating A Doctor Who Book For Charity". Doctorwhobook.wordpress.com. 2011-05-24. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  5. ↑ Jenkins, Catryn (2004-10-26). "Newport County". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-03-03.
  6. ↑ "ChartArchive – Goldie Lookin' Chain – Greatest Hits". Chartstats.com. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  7. ↑ "ChartArchive – Goldie Lookin' Chain – Safe As ****". Chartstats.com. 15 October 2005. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  8. ↑ "ChartArchive – Goldie Lookin' Chain". Chartstats.com. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  9. ↑ "Goldie Lookin Chain rhys n adam on sky news talking about NEWPORT". YouTube. 2010-08-10. Retrieved 2014-08-21.
  10. ↑ "VotGoldie Lookin' Chain's Rhys Hutchings' Newport Labour councillor win". BBC News. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2012.

External links

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