G.F.U. love livin’ in the city on their biting new single and video Rats — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
It’s a proud tradition for punk bands to pay tribute to the disaster area where they live. The latest crew to follow in the footsteps of forebears like Fear and Manitoba’s Wild Kingdom: Ontario quartet G.F.U., who immortalize their life of filth on Rats, the latest track from their 2023 debut EP Grand Slam. Over a classic amphetamine rhythm and guitar riffs straight from CBGB, the band peel off an anthem to a neighbourhood where the garbage is piled as high as your knees. And of course, there’s that titular infestation they chant about on the chorus, with all the nihilistic bravado of a young Black Flag:
“There’s garbage to my knees and rats in the street
It’s so hot outside the stink is rising high
Heat sizzles and crackles every hair on my head
Sooner or later we’re all gonna be dead
Fishbones in the trash can look like a good meal
Especially when they go down with a tasty zeal
Rats, in the streets
We got rats, in the streets.”
Bassist/vocalist Thomas “Tommy Boy” Miliband wrote the song about living conditions he had to endure back when he was a member of a group called Tomcats. But a chance meeting at rehearsal changed the destiny of the song — and its author. One room over from where Tomcats were woodshedding, guitarist/singer Matt “Mad Matty” Bergman was producing tracks for singer Jeremy “Jayboe” Cibirka. In the veritable wink of an eye, the latter two had conscripted Millband to form a new group.
Christening themselves G.F.U. (you get three guesses what the name stands for), they recorded Grand Slam at The Hive Studios in York Region, relying on the production expertise Bergman had built up working with the likes of the award-winning surf-punk band King Beez and the Grammy-nominated Green Jelly. He even played drums on the record, since designated stick handler Dan Felushko was unavailable. In their first year as a group, they not only released the record but played more than 60 live shows, including high-profile gigs with legends like Forgotten Rebels, Ripcordz, Chris Murray and Random Killing. (Friend of the band Billy Briggs filled in on drums until Felushko could finally take his rightful spot.)
G.F.U.’s high-impact style and novel three-vocalist format have earned them a rabid cult following that call themselves The Wrecking Crew. The band are proud of their combined weight of over 1,000 pounds and their collective height of more than 25 feet, which they feel gives them the look of pro wrestlers working a side hustle. But they can show a sensitive side too, and revel in the diversity of having an Indigenous guitarist/producer and an autistic lead singer.
Watch the video for Rats above and listen to G.F.U.’s Grand Slam EP below.
