The 'Alternating Currents' Legacy Interview: Peter Coyne of The Godfathers

Rock 'n' roll with a raw, bluesy underbelly, courtesy of 1991's 'Unreal World'

Credit: Peter Ashworth/Epic Records

---

Prologue

Quite the paradox isn't it, when you're attracted to the confrontational and then realize you're missing the whole point of the situation?

A situation I found myself in just before Godfathers' vocalist Peter Coyne said hello to me over the phone from New York. All signs pointed to an incendiary, flame-throwing revelation judging from a listen to the Brits post-mod experimental Unreal World. It turned out however that Coyne was just a quiet lad from southeast London.

“Sorry about that,” he apologized, as we were 30 minutes late getting started. Hardly what I would expect from a singer whose registered vocal trademark hinges on a combustible mix of bluntness and arrogance.

“I've gotten better over the years,” Coyne said of his vocal prowess. “The singing on this album is the best I've ever done. [Producer] Steve Brown, like everybody else in the band, pushed me as well.”

The Godfathers – Unreal World/℗© 1991 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT/YouTube

---

Unreal World has generated mixed response, some of it leveled at the band's over-the-top approach, far removed from their hard-edged catch on “Hit By Hit” and “Birth, School, Work, Death.” It has them teetering on the edge of neo-psychedelia, drawing comparisons to the Charlatans UK and the Soup Dragons. Bad idea from Coyne’s point of view.

“We’ve changed along the way with every album. I think that's what it's all about, really. We didn't want Steve Brown to copy what [former producer] Vic Maile had done. Just enhance the Godfathers’ sound that’s already there.” Of the distasteful alignment with those tripped-up new bands, he said, “We don't sound like all those other groups and we don't want to look like them, either. I mean, if we’re too individual for some people, fuck ‘em.”

Maile’s passing from cancer in 1989 and guitarist Kris Dollimore’s departure after the 1989 release of More Songs About Love and Hate signaled a shift in the group’s structure. After a series of auditions, the band acquired Chris Burrows and Brown moved into the producer’s role. Unreal World has broadened their sound and maybe their following. It certainly didn’t hurt their reputation as a live powerhouse on a whirlwind eight-city mini-tour. It served as a teaser for a more extensive outing in the summer and it showed at a tantalizing gig at The Paradise on April 6.

Of Burrows’ slotting into the band, Coyne explained, “We wanted him to fit into the Godfathers’ sound.” Burrows was definitely a speedster axeman, fairly Pete Townshend-like, whirlwind arm motions and all as the group – Coyne, Burrows, bassist Chris Coyne (Peter’s brother), guitarist Mike Gibson and drummer George Mazur – hit the stage for the opener “I Want Everything.”

The fire was ignited early on (due to the fact it was 85 degrees near the front) as they whipped through the old (“She Gives Me Love,” “This Damn Nation”) and the new (“Drag Me Down Again,” “I'll Never Forget What’s His Name”). Vocalist Coyne was having microphone problems, unfortunately hitting its nadir during “Birth, School, Work, Death,” but the packed house helped bellow out the antiphonal chorus in his spotty absence.

The Godfathers – Birth, School, Work, Death/℗© 1987 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT/YouTube

---

Closing out the two-encore show with a cover of the Small Faces’ “All Or Nothing” seemed prophetic. The British mods of the early ‘60s were not a fad to their generation – they spoke volumes. The Godfathers’ volatile residence in this generation keeps them a cut above the rest. As Coyne, in his straightforward manner told me, “This is our life.”

Epilogue

Peter Coyne, 2023. Credit: © Joan Vanden Bossche

---