Graham Anthony "Gizz" Butt (born 3 August 1966 in Manchester, England) is a British musician, lead vocalist and lead guitarist for Janus Stark best known for being the live guitarist for the band
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...
in the late 1990s. His own band Janus Stark, from the same era, enjoyed a minor hit with the song "Every Little Thing Counts" from the album ''The Great Adventure Cigar''.
Biography
Graham Anthony Butt acquired the nickname "Gizz" from the character of 'Gizzard Puke' who appeared on ''
The Kenny Everett Show
Kenny Everett (born Maurice James Christopher Cole; 25 December 1944 – 4 April 1995) was an English comedian, radio disc jockey and television presenter. After spells on pirate radio and Radio Luxembourg in the mid-1960s, he was one of the fi ...
''. Coming from a musical background, Butt began playing the guitar at the age of eleven, taking lessons with a jazz guitarist in Manchester. In 1978, his family relocated to Peterborough, where Butt formed his first school band, The Northern Lights. Within a few months he changed the band name to The Exits, and wrote a whole 4 song set of original material including guitar solos. He turned the band into a three piece called The System and began booking his own shows locally. He was recruited by another band,
The Destructors
"The Destructors" is a 1954 short story written by Graham Greene, first published in ''Picture Post'' and subsequently collected in '' Twenty-One Stories'' later that year.English Dogs. While in The English Dogs he toured the United States, and it was at this time his fusion of punk and metal based guitar playing started to get him noticed by people such as
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
and was helping to influence the thrash metal genre " a lot of the songs you hear on Forward Into Battle were actually written before the (preceding) To the Ends of the Earth EP, so we’re talking about a very ‘early days’ punk/metal fusion. It was the beginning of that scene, so you’ll still hear a lot of the things that influenced the first English Dogs LP , or even stuff I wrote when I was in The Destructors in 1981-83”. By 1987, the English Dogs came to a halt, and Butt formed another band, Wardance. Andy Sneap produced and mixed the album ''All The World's A Rage'' (1995).
'' Kerrang!'' magazine writer and photographer Morat mentioned Butt's name to
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...
and within two weeks he was playing T in the Park Festival. He toured with The Prodigy for three years when they were at their most successful. Butt formed Janus Stark in 1998, who had US chart success with "Every Little Thing Counts". Janus Stark released ''Great Adventure Cigar'', which led to The Foo Fighters inviting Butt on stage to join them for a spell.
In 2003, Butt and Blair formed The More I See, a five piece thrash metal band that released 3 albums "The Wolves Are Hungry", "The Unholy Feast" and " The Disappearing Humans".
Butt performed with Sabbat, replacing original bassist Fraser Craske. He continued to perform with the band for the remainder of their 2007 festival appearances and all European and American dates in 2008.
In 2006, Butt began working with
Steve Ignorant
Steve Ignorant (born Steven Williams in 1957) is a singer and artist.
Career
Steve Ignorant was born in Stoke-on-Trent but grew up in Dagenham, East London. He later lived at Dial House, which since 1967 has been a self-sustaining anarchist- ...
, founder of anarcho-punk band Crass on a set based around that band's ''
Feeding of the 5000
In Christianity, the feeding the multitude is two separate miracles of Jesus reported in the Gospels.
The first miracle, the "Feeding of the 5,000", is the only miracle—aside from the resurrection—recorded in all four gospels (Matthew 14:13� ...
'' album, which was performed in November 2007 in London at Shepherd's Bush Empire. In 2009 they decided to expand the show and tour worldwide, calling the tour The Last Supper. They announced their final show of this tour in London in 2011. Butt filled in on guitar for Love Amongst Ruin for two dates on the Recycling Party Tour in France in May 2011.
In 2012, Butt reformed the English Dogs to tour the US, with the band's earlier material.
In 2015 Butt joined the German alternative metal band Pyogenesis. He appeared on their most recent albums "A Century in the Curse of Time" and "A Kingdom To Disappear". He left the band in June 2018.
Outside of performance work, Butt teaches, formerly at
Stamford School
Stamford School is an independent school for boys in Stamford, Lincolnshire in the English public school tradition. Founded in 1532, it has been a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference since 1920. With the girls-only Sta ...
, now at Hampton College Peterborough and also currently at the Ormiston Academy in Peterborough.
Butt has been cited for his guitar skills. "I started collecting Beatles records from when I was 9 so George Harrison would have been the first influence but my brother Chris was a player and a massive heavy rock fan. There was always a guitar hanging around the house. Chris introduced me to the Lynyrd Skynyrd album “Pronounced Le-nerd Skin-nerd” and a Jimi Hendrix live at Woodstock bootleg he’d picked up and I was gobsmacked. I wanted to play like that!". "It’s a tough decision to make but Randy (Rhodes) may be my favourite all time player. He’s certainly up there."
Discography
The Destructors
"The Destructors" is a 1954 short story written by Graham Greene, first published in ''Picture Post'' and subsequently collected in '' Twenty-One Stories'' later that year.English Dogs;
* Forward into Battle (Rot Records ASS20, 1985)
* Where Legend Began (Under One Flag Records FLAG4, 1987)
* Bow to None (Impact Records, 1994)
* All the World's a Rage (Impact Records, 1995)
* I've Got A Gun! Live in Helsinki (Retch Records, 1999)
* This Is Not A War (Retch Records, 2002)
* To the Ends of the Earth 12" (Rot Records, 1984)
* Metalmorphosis 12" (Under One Flag Records 12FLAG101, 1986)
* Sei Was Du Bist (Impact 1995)
* What a Wonderful Feeling to Be F**ked By Everyone (Retch Records, 1995)
* The Thing With Two heads (Earache Records, 2014)
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...
;
* Breathe (Xl records 2006 Gizz plays on the live version of "Their Law – Live at Phoenix festival 1996)
* The Fat of the Land (XL records 2007 There are samples of Gizz's playing on "Fuel my Fire and a live photo of Gizz inside the cover)
* Their Law DVD (Live DVD includes footage from 1998 UK tour and 1997 Red Square gig . Gizz is on these)
The More I See;
*''The Wolves are Hungry'' (SPV 2005)
*''The Unholy Feast'' (Transcend 2007)
*''Tread the Darker Path'' (Transcend 2010)
*''The Disappearing Humans '' (Earache 2013)
Janus Stark;
* Dynamo EP (1998, Earache Records)
* Great Adventure Cigar (1998, Earache Records)
* Every Little Thing Counts EP (1999, Earache Records)
* Clique EP (1999 Earache)
* Whatever Happened to Harold Smith soundtrack – (2000, East West Records)
* Angel In The Flames (2019, Time & Matter Records)
* Face Your Biggest Fear (2022, T&M Records)
Pyogenesis;
* 2017 ''A Kingdom to Disappear'' ( AFM Records)
* 2015 ''A Century in the Curse of Time'' ( AFM Records)
The Desecrators;
* Speed Up the Death Process (Pro anti records 2010)
Sundance;
* The Beyond within (Looney Tunes records 1990)
Doom Day;
* Count Your Useless Hours (Swell Creek records SWSH 003, 2007)
Police Bastard;
* Live in Frieberg