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The first incarnation of Gang Green was in 1980 and consisted of 15 year olds Chris Doherty, Mike Dean, and Bill Manley and contributed seven tracks to the This Is Boston, Not L.A. compilation in 1982.
Unfortunately, in 1984 the group disbanded and lead singer Chris Doherty joined the band Jerry's Kids for their album ‘Is This My World?’ In 1985, Gang Green released the 7" "Sold Out" on Taang! Records, the heavily influential Boston label's first release. All of the tracks recorded by the original line up of Gang Green were later released on the Preschool CD, released by Taang! Records.
With the first reunion and the release of, ‘Another Wasted Night ‘(1985-1986), Doherty re-emerged with an all new Gang Green line-up consisting of himself (vocals, guitar), Chuck Stilphen (guitar, vocals), Glen Stilphen (bass, vocals) and Walter Gustafson (drums). This second line-up is the most famous nationally as it was both the first to tour and the one that recorded the songs "Alcohol" and "Skate to Hell".
This record is considered to be the band's best recording and is regarded as one of the definitive hardcore punk records of its time.
The song "Alcohol" has been covered by a number of bands. Tankard, a German thrash metal band, featured the song on their album Chemical Invasion. It was also covered by Impaled Nazarene, a black metal band from Finland. It appeared on their EP entitled Motörpenis which was released in 1996. Boston punk rock outfit, Dropkick Murphys covered the song on their "Back to the Hub" 7 inch. It also appeared on their live compilation, Live on St. Patrick's Day from Boston, MA. It was also covered by The Meatmen on their album Pope on a Rope, and also by No Fun at All on their album Master Celebrations. Metallica also played the song live and it was rumoured to be a consideration for their Garage Days EP but did not appear on the release.
During the years being signed to Roadrunner Records (1987-1989), the band’s musical style had come to lean more toward heavy metal and the personnel of the band had changed completely, the Stilphen brothers departed at the end of 1986 to form Mallet-Head and later Scratch and Nuns of Punk. This incarnation of Gang Green consisted of Doherty, Fritz Erickson (guitar), Joe Gittleman (bass) and former Jerry's Kids drummer Brian Betzger. In 1989 Gittleman left to devote more time to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and was replaced by Josh Pappe, formerly of Dirty Rotten Imbeciles.
During Gang Green’s second hiatus (1990-1995)
After touring the United States with Social Distortion in 1990, Gang Green experienced a few more line-up shuffles before being dropped by Roadrunner and going on hiatus for several years in which Doherty founded the bands Klover (Mercury Records) and Hamerd.
With their Second reunion (1996-2004)
In 1996, Chris Doherty, Chuck Stilphen, Glen Stilphen and Walter Gustafson re-formed to play 5 east coast dates including shows at The Rat and CBGB's. Gang Green surfaced yet again with Walter Gustafson returning on drums, along with newcomers Mike Earls (guitar, vocals) and Matt Sandonato (bass, vocals). They re-signed with Taang! Records and in 1997 released Back & Gacked (EP) and Another Case Of Brewtality.
These records saw the band returning to their punk roots and even moving in a pop direction. Gang Green toured Europe and the U.S. extensively in 1997 and 1998.
Chris Doherty then moved from Boston to Cincinnati shortly afterwards and in the early 2000s Gang Green played only once or twice a year in Boston and NYC.
In 2005 Chris Doherty and a new Gang Green line-up supported the Dropkick Murphys’ tour of the U.S. west coast tour.
In early 2007, the band toured through Florida and up the east coast of the US with bands like Lucky Scars before heading out for a European tour scheduled for spring 2007 that included UK and Irish dates. These Irish dates were filmed for a live DVD by punk filmmaker, Lewis Smithingham.
Mike Dean moved to Maui in 1990 and now lives in Las Vegas.
In 2009 Chris Doherty formed a Cincinnati chapter of the band with a line-up featuring Chris Donnelly, Dusty Bryant and Troy Bryant and began playing a few local shows.
Gang Green is in the studio working on a new album. Once out, it will be their first studio recording in 13 years.
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