Gorilla Biscuits
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| Gorilla Biscuits | ||
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| Background information | ||
| Origin |  New York City, USA |
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| Genre(s) | Melodic hardcore Youth crew |
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| Years active | 1987–1991 2006–present (Brief reunions: 1997, 2005) |
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| Label(s) | Revelation Records | |
| Members | ||
| Anthony Civarelli Walter Schreifels Arthur Smilios Alex Brown Luke Abbey |
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Gorilla Biscuits are a New York straight edge hardcore punk band on Revelation Records, consisting of Anthony Civorelli, Walter Schreifels, Arthur Smilios, Alex Brown and Luke Abbey.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early career
Gorilla Biscuits were formed when Smilios met Civorelli while they were both living in New York City and going to the same high school. They were both fans of the band Agnostic Front and became interested in hardcore from listening to them. They started going to hardcore shows at CBGB's on the weekends, where they met people like Ray Cappo and Porcell, of the band Youth Of Today.
Arthur wanted to start a hardcore band and wanted Civ to sing, but Civ had no interest in singing and had to face the floor or wall while doing it in the early stages of the Biscuits. Members of the band Token Entry hooked them up with a show (Gorilla Biscuits used Token Entry's drummer for that first show), and needed a name for the still unnamed band, in order to give it to the show's promoter. The drug of choice in their neighborhood was quaaludes, which people called "gorilla biscuits" because they were so huge. The name was only meant to be temporary but stayed with them.
The start was kind of rough. They made poor quality demo tapes. The cassettes themselves were of poor quality, bought at a dollar store which had no cases, so they just cut and pasted some stuff onto a piece of paper and copied them. The first shirts were blue with a gorilla riding a skateboard, and were made using a black magic marker and an ink blotter.
[edit] Increasing popularity and hiatus
After having the early Gorilla Biscuits song "Better Than You" on one of their compilations, Revelation Records released an eponymously titled Gorilla Biscuits 7" EP in 1988, which later became a hardcore hit. The band then toured the United States and Europe twice. The year 1989 saw the release of their first full length album, Start Today. The album became the biggest selling ever for Revelation Records, and was also the first album that was issued on C.D., alongside it's vinyl and cassete versions, as part of the routine production. The band started writing material for a second L.P. (an unreleased song, "Distance" can be seen played by the band during a performance in the 1991 documentary "Live In New York") which they never recorded, and eventually disbanded around the year 1992. Some of the members went on to play in a follow up band, CIV. Besides singing for CIV, Civ now owns a tattoo studio in New York City. Walter went on to form the "post-hardcore" band Quicksand. He then wrote the songs for and helped produce CIV's first album.
[edit] Reunions and the future of Gorilla Biscuits
The Gorilla Biscuits briefly reunited in 1997 for a benefit at CBGB, and played another show there on August 14, 2005 as a benefit to save the club from financial problems.
In 2006 Revelation Records reissued their seminal recording Start Today. The album is remastered and features in-depth liner notes by Walter Schreifels.
In the summer of 2006 they did a month-long reunion tour which featured an exclusive 7-inch only available on tour stops.
As of March 2007, Gorilla Biscuits have announced two UK tour slots, with the location for either, as of yet, unconfirmed. They reportedly, turned down playing at Download festival.
In later March Tour dates for Germany,Austria and Swizerland appeared in the poisonfree.com Forum:
| Gorilla Biscuits German/Austria/Swizerland Tourdates |
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| 27.05. Kiel - Wilarin Festival |
| 28.05. Essen – Open Air Werden |
| 29.05. Berlin – SO36 |
| 30.05. Schweinfurt - Alter Stadtbahnhof |
| 31.05. Bremen �* Schlachthof |
| 01.06. Wiesbaden �* Schlachthof |
| 03.06. Köln – Kantine |
| 05.06. Saarbrücken – Garage |
| 17.06. Hamburg – Grünspan |
| 18.06. München – Backstage |
| 19.06. CH-Genf - Usine |
| 23.06. A-Wien - Arena |
| 29.06. Chemnitz - With Full Force Festival |
| 30.06. Münster – Vainstream Rockfest |
However on the Second April a News on the Essen Pfingst OpenAir Homepage said, that Gorilla Biscuits are not playing the Show. Also the Page of the Kantine kantine.com said that one of the Band Members has become ill and thats why the Tour has been postponed.
In addition to the dates posted above, Gorilla Biscuits are scheduled to play at Lille Vega in Copenhagen, Denmark on the 13th of June 2007. The band was also scheduled to play at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden, but this show has been cancelled. The show was scheduled to one of the days from 14th to 16th of June 2007. The reason for the cancellation posted on the festival's website is that they are recording, but this information is yet to be confirmed from resources with a closer relation to the band.
As of this moment there are no confirmed plans for a new Gorilla Biscuits album.
[edit] Members
- Anthony "Civ" Civorelli - vocals. Civ went on to form punk rock band CIV. Starting out with Lava Records and Revelation Records, they signed a major label deal with Atlantic Records in 1995. They achieved commercial success with the single "Can't Wait One Minute More." Civ is also the owner of a Long Island tattoo studio called Lotus Tattoo.
- Walter Schreifels, who played guitar and wrote most of the songs for the Gorilla Biscuits, went on to be the frontman in Quicksand, one of the most influential post-hardcore bands. Later, Walter was in Rival Schools and Walking Concert. While in Gorilla Biscuits, Walter went onto sing for the band Moondog. His reasoning being he "wanted to sing for a band. Playing guitar and writing songs for Gorilla Biscuits had always been fun but after a while I wanted to be doing something more." He has also done extensive producing for other bands and lately he does a lot of solo acoustic shows. He has also been a member of n Warzone and Youth of Today.
- Arthur Smilios - bass. Arthur had also played with Token Entry for a little while, and after the demise of the Gorilla Biscuits joined CIV with Civ.
- Alex Brown - Second guitar. He had previously been a member of the Straight Edge Hardcore bands Side By Side and Project X, before joining Gorilla Biscuits. He was also behind the New-York based fanzine and record label Schism, together with John Porcelly of Youth Of Today (who also ended up playing guitar in a later incarnation of Gorilla Biscuits).
- Luke Abbey - drums. While in Gorilla Biscuits, Luke was also a member of Warzone, and had been a part of the first real line up of Judge. He was later replaced by Sammy Siegler in Gorilla Biscuits (who had been in the band in its early days).
[edit] Discography
| Title | Release date | Notes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original 1987 Tape Demo Gorilla Biscuits | 1987 | Bootleg, can also be found on Walter Sings The Hits. | 99 Records |
| Gorilla Biscuits | 1988 | First 7" EP | Revelation |
| Start Today | 1989 | Their second and final album | Revelation |
| Walter Sings the Hits | 199? | Bootleg, contains a full version of Start Today with Walter on vocals instead of Civ, several live shows, and two early demos | ? |
| A Puzzle of 38 Pieces | 19?? | Bootleg | ? |
| Live At CBGB's 8/14/05 | 2005 | Bootleg | ? |
| 2 Song 7-inch | 2006 | Sold during the 2006 reunion tour. Only 20 copies were sold at each stop. It featured two brand new songs by the original line-up. | Self-released |
[edit] Compilations
- New York City Hardcore:Together, 7" (1987, Revelation Records)
- New York City Hardcore: The Way It Is, CD (1988/1992 (reissue), Revelation Records)
- Where The Wild Things Are (1989) Blackout Records
- Threat: Music That Inspired The Movie, CD (2006, Kings Mob Productions)
[edit] Trivia
- The voice in the introduction to the song "Big Mouth" ("Yo, sucka', you got a big mouth!"), out of the bands first E.P., belongs to Raybeez, singer of the New York based Hardcore Skinhead band Warzone.
- Start Today was partly funded by friend (and Revelation Records president) Jordan Cooper's compensation from a vehicle accident
- Folk Punk band Defiance, Ohio covered "Things We Say" for their split with Ghost Mice
- Fall Out Boy covered "Start Today" for the Tony Hawk's American Wasteland soundtrack
- In 2006, the track "Start Today" was contributed to the mashup album Threat: Music That Inspired The Movie, where it was remixed by Defragmentation and dubbed "Zolobovine."
