The Godz were born out of the grimy streets of the lower east side of NYC in the mid 1960’s. Their music was a direct reaction to the love and peace hippie movement that was going on at the time. Their music was the dark side that contrasted the false positive late 60’s movement. They were non-political to the point of anarchy.Instead of a love –in , at a Godz show they would actively try to antagonize the audience.
This bunch of rowdy misfits found a home on Bernard Stollman’s ESP-DISK label, and along with labelmates, The Fugs, Pearls before swine, and others, began to create the original proto-punk sound that would eventually become NYC punk rock in the 70’s. The original group released 4 records between 1966-1972, and subsequently broke up for other projects. Hower the ripple of their music continued to reverberate through the punk rock movement and eventually hop across the pond. Rat scabies, drummer for the seminal punk band The Damned, praised Godz 2 as his favorite all time record. The Godz were the also blueprint for the later noise movement, being championed by such rock luminaries as Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Julian Cope. There was a 1999 compilation “Godz is not a put on” put together by Moore, that was released on the Lissy’s label in the UK. It is most evident by the 100’s of covers of their music you can find on Youtube and the internet, by bands all over the world. The group has tried to reunite a few times over the years , most recently in 2008, only recording a few songs before the group disbanded again. In late 2014 original member Larry Kessler put together a road band of seasoned musicians and billed the experience as L.L. Kessler's "GODZ" show and started touring the northeast United States. On April 20th 2015, while the Godz were performing in Arlington VA, Bernard Stollman passed away at the age of 85. A few months later Original member Paul Thornton rejoined the group to tour to celebrate the GODZ 50th anniversary. The GODZ new album “America” will be released this fall. The single "America” is available in stores worldwide. Long Live The Godz |