Garry Bushell

Garry Bushell
Bushell with Pauline Black, lead singer of The Selecter
Personal details
Born	(1955-05-13) 13 May 1955 (age 61) Woolwich, London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Musician, music journalist, author

Garry Bushell (born 13 May 1955, Woolwich, South East London) is an English newspaper columnist, rock music journalist, television presenter, author and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Oi! band the Gonads and manages the New York City Oi! band Maninblack. Bushell's recurring topical themes are comedy, country and class. He has campaigned for an English Parliament, a Benny Hill statue and for variety and talent shows on TV. Although his TV column Bushell on the Box still appears weekly in the Daily Star Sunday, Bushell now focuses on his band, novels and his one-man stand-up show.

The son of a fireman, Bushell attended Charlton Manor School and Colfe's School (which was then a grammar school). At secondary school, he first performed in the group Pink Tent, which was heavily influenced by Monty Python. They wrote songs and comedy sketches; performed at parties and at each other's houses. Bushell was involved in the National Union of School Students and the Schools Action Union, a socialist organisation that had a strong situationist streak that led them to mix schoolboy hijinks with student activism. He worked for Shell as a messenger, and then the London Fire Brigade before attending North East London Polytechnic and the London College of Printing simultaneously.

Pink Tent evolved into the Gonads, an Oi! and punk pathetique band that has continued to perform in the 2000s. They describe themselves as an "Oi-Tone" band because they play ska and street punk. Many of their songs are comical party tunes, but they have occasionally written more serious material. Two examples of their songs that include social commentary are "Dying for a Pint" (which comments on nightclub bouncer brutality) and "Jobs Not Jails" (a critique of the Margaret Thatcher government's policies).