Gbh - The Garry Bushell Hour

Her role as Louise Raymond in BBC's EastEnders brought her stardom and notoriety, but Carol Harrison's true life story has been as gripping as the plot of any television soap opera. Born in London’s East End to a single mum, Carol grew up in abject poverty. It has been said that there are four main routes out of the East End - crime, sport, acting and rock'n'roll. Carol’s life connects three of those (she was once married to the son of one of Britain's best-known gangsters). Garry’s guest tonight opens her heart about her screen love affair with Ross Kemp's character Grant Mitchell... her crazy fans... and the dubious lure of celebrity TV. Yes, it’s a treat for EastEnders aficionados... but there’s a lot more besides... Carol’s life-long love of Mod culture, and especially Steve Marriott the singer with The Small Faces, has prompted her to become a theatrical producer. The stage musical All Or Nothing (which Carol wrote) opens in Worthing on 13th September, and tells the story of this iconic singer who inspi

Iron Maiden are one of the world’s most successful heavy metal bands with more than 85 million albums sales to their name. Dennis Stratton was their guitarist right back in 1979. He played on and co-produced their self-titled debut album and their first three hit singles. Here he chats exclusively with Garry (who wrote Maiden’s authorized biography Running Free) about life on the road in those early days – the laughs and the tension, and his enduring friendship with the band which, like him, was forged in the East End of London. Den is honest about his fall-out with manager Rod Smallwood that lead to his sacking, and the perils of working with their fiery first vocalist Paul ‘The Beast’ Di’Anno. He also talks about his early days on the London rock circuit of the pre-punk seventies, his work with hugely respected rock and blues bands, including Remus Down Boulevard and Praying Mantis, and his unfortunate encounter with Jonathan King. Still a working musician, Dennis is one of the most genuine and talented g

The Specials were one of the most important, vital and influential bands to come out of the post-punk explosion, the band who created the 2-Tone movement. The Coventry-based Ska combo had eight Top Ten hits including ‘A Message To You Rudy’, and the chart-toppers ‘Ghost Town’ and ‘Too Much Too Young.’ And right at the heart of them was Garry’s guest tonight Neville Staple, the roadie who became a star and then went on to have seven more hits with his next band The Fun Boy Three. Although badly hurt in a car crash a couple of years ago, the irrepressible Nev continues to work with his own Neville Staple Band. Tonight, he talks about his 2009 autobiography, Original Rude Boy, the Specials' reunion, the early days of 2-Tone and his dream of taking his brand of English Ska out to Jamaica... Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Be a wonderful human being and support us with a donation

Tonight's guest on the Garry Bushell Talk Show is the legendary reggae star Roy Ellis, also known as Mr Symarip. Roy is one of the genuine icons of sixties reggae in the UK and his band Symarip were famously the first to target the emerging skinhead youth cult with their best-loved song, 1969’s Skinhead Moonstomp. The young skins were feared by the press and the establishment; but the Jamaican-born star found love and acceptance amongst all those cropped heads, braces and bovver boots. Roy grew up in Balham, south west London, where he boxed at welterweight before breaking into the music business. In this very special show, Roy frankly talks about his life in music, the giants of reggae, his home in Switzerland and the controversial working class cult who made him their very own. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Be a wonderful human being and support us with a donation

A few months after he joined the Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious hooked up with beautiful 16-year-old Norwegian Teddie Dahlin who was acting as translator on the band's 1977 Scandinavian mini-tour. Sid, 20, had split up with girlfriend Nancy Spungen at the time, and the smitten bass-player begged Teddie to come back to England with him. If her horrified mother hadn't confiscated her passport, Sid might not have got back with Nancy, and might not consequently have died in New York nineteen months later. The course of punk rock history might have changed... Teddie's book A Vicious Love Affair: Remembering The Real Sid Vicious recalls her fling with the doomed punk icon, born plain John Ritchie in Lewisham, South east London. She has also written Fast Living: Remembering The Real Gary Holton about the suspicious death of the Heavy Metal Kids front-man and TV star. Garry's other guests tonight are Cockney piano player Frankie Boy Flame, and Phil Templar from New York Oi band The Templars. A lively show full of terrific

Jim Davidson gives his first major interview since winning Celebrity Big Brother! Cockney comic Jim Davidson was written off as a dinosaur by a younger breed of middle class stand-ups. Falsely suspected of all the "isms", Tory-backing, troops-loving, womanising Jim had been sacked by the BBC and snubbed by TV. And when he was arrested by Operation Yewtree in January 2012... well, it seemed that after four explosive and lucrative decades of fame, Davidson was finally finished. Media commentators queued up to dance on what they saw as the grave of his career. But then in rapid succession the charges were dropped - Jim entered the Celebrity Big Brother house and - against the odds - he won the series with the biggest vote in the show's history! The public rallied behind him and Jim Davidson was reinvented as a star for a new generation. So who is the real Jim Davidson? Is really the monster that the Ben Elton generation of comics tried to make out? On tonight’s Garry Bushell Show, you can meet this comedy legen

This is the time, the time for action! Secret Affair were at the forefront of the 1979 British Mod Revival. Like the Specials, the young Essex band's sound was rooted in sixties music but whereas the Specials were firmly grounded in bluebeat, Secret Affair's took their musical cue from Tamla Motown and Stax. Their cynicism came from direct exposure to major labels. Singer Ian Page's vision of a new street-savvy teens called Glory Boys found a ready audience and their tunes did the rest. As the first wave of punk receded, the new Mod bands braved rock press put-downs to put dance back into the charts. Secret Affair's motto was "gogo, not pogo". Their debut single, 'Time For Action', sold 198,000 copies in the UK alone; 'My World' did just as well and their first three albums went Top Ten. As their latest sell-out UK tour comes to an end, Ian and guitarist Dave Cairns tell Garry about the highs - and the scary lows - of their glory years. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Be a wonderful human

Garry’s guest tonight is Pauline Black - the charismatic leading lady of 2-Tone, the musical movement that combined the anger of punk with the joyous bounce of Jamaican Ska.  Arriving after the first waves of punk were receding, the new blue-beat bands put dancing and tunes back into pop. Pauline’s combo The Selecter were one third of 2-Tone’s Holy Trinity along with The Specials and Madness. She was one of the very few women in the male-dominated movement; but as a mixed-race girl growing up in an all-white working class part of Romford, Essex, Pauline was used to being an outsider - and tough enough to confront the sexism as well as the racism of the early 1980s. Today, as a Eton-educated British Prime Minister David Cameron loftily proclaims that “multiculturalism has failed”, maybe we should hear from Pauline – the woman who got both skinheads and rude boys dancing together.  Pauline for Prime Minister? Don’t rule it out. Pauline’s memoir Black By Design is available now. Download the show as m

Her voice sounds like an angel caught in a mantrap – or maybe, pulled backwards through a cheese grater.  There’s a raw emotional honesty to Brit punk sensation Louise Distras that some might even find too intense... which would be a terrible shame - because on tonight’s GBS, Louise sings four superb live tracks for us from her forthcoming album Dreams From The Factory Floor that are nothing less than unmissable. Bold, brainy and ballsy, Louise Distras represents nothing less than the rebirth of British punk; reinvented for a new generation. Writing her own material, Louise is taking the UK – and soon America - by storm.  For a world grown flatulent on the pabulum of  Simon Cowell’s X Factor synth-pop, Louise might be far too incandescent, all too real.  But you know what?  She couldn’t care less. “The X Factor is not a talent show”, says Louise. “It’s a show where people go on a stage and others laugh at them.  It celebrates a culture of bullying.  And that culture of bull

Before reggae there was ska - originating in Jamaica in the late 1950s and still a major music genre.  Garry’s guest tonight is Nick Welsh - one of the busiest and most prolific ska musicians of all time - it’s fair to say that much of the ska music that has been produced and performed in the UK over the last few decades has Nick’s fingerprints on it somewhere. He’s worked with and produced A-list artists such as Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken, Dave Barker, Rico Rodrigues, and Judge Dread as well as Lee 'Scratch' Perry with whom he worked on the Grammy Award winning album Jamaican ET.  He has also been the bassist and songwriter in Bad Manners and The Selecter (helping to shepherd both band's post 2-Tone careers - he wrote Skaville UK). A great show full of fabulous music... and the kind of full-disclosure interview you won’t find on any other station! Links to music in this show: Old Firm Casuals Control Missing Andy The Goddamn Electric The Last Resort Judge Dread Nick Welsh The Straps Booze &

Garry's live guest this evening is the co-founder the seminal anarchist punk band Crass, Steve Ignorant. Always uncompromising, highly influential, often copied but rarely bettered... Crass were simply one of the most important bands to emerge from Thatcher's Britain. And maybe even more relevant now than then. Join us for tales of Thatchergate, direct action, penis envy and situationism. Doesn't get better than that, does it? Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Be a wonderful human being and support us with a donation

He's spiky, no question.  "I'm just a rude f$!%er, I suppose", sighs Garry's guest James Delingpole.  "I've reached the point where I don't give a f$!% what I say any more, as long as I believe it to be true.  Some of my editors find this terrifying." Bête noire of the Met Office, tilter at wind farms, and tormentor of the University of East Anglia... James is both more complicated and more surprising than you would ever have expected. From  Glastonbury ("my rosebud") to Greenpeace ("no less cynical than Exxon") via Led Zeppelin, David Icke, Ecstasy and Viagra... this is the James Delingpole you never knew about - until Garry met Jimmy, that is. So what do you think? Have your views on JD changed?  Let us know in the comments section, here. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Be a wonderful human being and support us with a donation

The Lurkers were one of the greatest and most seminal of English punk rock groups, and tonight, Garry's guest is Pete "Manic Esso" Haynes, their drummer and creator of the of the band's name.  Constantly compared to The Ramones, The Lurkers were not always loved by the Punk Rock cognoscenti.  No pretensions, no frills, no hype - just pure rock'n'roll. "We didn't really want to remain outsiders", says Pete.  "We tried to be friendly, but we just weren't hip.  Our songs were an outlet for repressed emotions - maybe we should have been playing Broadmoor [high-security psychiatric hospital] rather than the Roxy...!" Today, Pete writes plays & books, his most recent being MALAYAN SWING.  And as you'll hear in this frequently hilarious programme, Pete's razor wit and searing powers of observation have only sharpened since his punk days. So how does Pete feel about comparisons to The Clash - cleverly marketed as "The Only Band That Matters" by CBS, their record label? "I don't really ne

On this Saint George's Day, Garry welcomes Robin Tilbrook, chairman of The English Democrats, and poses the question - what exactly does it mean to be English? And just how close is patriotism to nationalism - to racism?  It's a minefield out there!  As always, Garry dispenses with the niceties of Political Correctness in the pursuit of truth.  And justice.  And the English way. A great, thought-provoking show - pass the link on! And in the meantime, join in the discussion on the website. Download the show as mp3 file Subscribe in iTunes Be a wonderful human being and support us with a donation

John King will forever be recognized for his debut novel The Football Factory - an instant word-of-mouth success.  Heralded as a ‘state of the nation’ novel by some reviewers, others criticized its aversion to political correctness. Football fans and the wider public made it a best-seller, with more than 250,000 copies sold in the UK to date.  Filmed by director Nick Love, starring Danny Dyer and Dudley Sutton, the presence of a number of known Chelsea hooligans among the film's extras caused great excitement in the media. Join us for a fascinating conversation between Garry and John, whose interests are far and wide... football (obviously), music (of course) but also John's publishing company, London Books, which is dedicated to both today's emerging authors and the marginalized fiction of London’s forgotten working-class writing. And in the meantime, join in the discussion on the website.

He's Britain's most controversial politician, and he tells it like it is.  David Cameron? On Botox!  The BBC's chairman Chris Patten? An old toad who should be abolished! And please don't get him started on immigration. Wait a minute - this is The Garry Bushell Show!  The place where political correctness goes to die!  Yes - we can talk about immigration - and every other topic that mainstream media ignores today. Garry will go there.  And he's got the scalps to prove it. Join us for this take-no-hostages one-one-one with Garry and Nigel Farage, the boss of UKIP. UKIP now has a crucial 16% of the national vote, and will almost certainly decide the outcome of Britain's next election. Love him or hate him, you've never met a politician like him. Join us every couple of weeks right here for free thinking and free speech. And in the meantime, join in the discussion on the website.