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Oral history with Garry "Gman" Sullivan, drummer for Smokescreen, the B-52s, the Cro-Mags, the Exploited, and more, recorded on December 6, 2024, as part of the "Uptown Rumble: Heavy Music in The Bronx" project at The Bronx County Historical Society and shared with The Bronx African American History Project. The interviewer is Steven Payne, director of The Bronx County Historical Society. In his oral history, Gman speaks about his family's roots in Africa and South Carolina before ending up in Harlem and The Bronx. Born in the old Morrisania Hospital, Gman recalls his childhood in the Gun Hill neighborhood of The Bronx and moving to Co-op City as a teenager. As a child, he remembers sitting at the drum kit of a daughter of one of his mom's friends and instantly knowing what he wanted to do with his life. He was a concert percussionist in the music program first at Olinville Junior High School and then at I.S. 181 and Harry S. Truman High School in Co-op City.

He shares the incredible musical education that he received at all three schools, and relates his memories of honing his skills and being the consistent victor of regular drum battles in high school. An avid lover of all kinds of music since a child, Gman remembers mastering early hip hop breakbeats as a teenager amid the strong community he found at Section 5 of Co-op City. At Truman High School, Gman started being more exposed to heavier rock music and metal first via Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Rush. He recalls that the biggest rock band at Truman High School in the early 1980s was Smokescreen, and they recruited him as the drummer after he won a drum battle. Gman speaks about the racism he experienced at Truman High School from some white and Puerto Rican metal heads and the ways that his drumming skills helped shut them up. He also speaks about the close bonds he formed with other white and Puerto Rican metal heads, as well as Eddie Evelyn, the African-American lead guitarist for Smokescreen. He mentions in passing his time with the B-52s, one of many very notable bands he's played with, and he spends more time talking about his more recent years with the Cro-Mags and, currently, the Exploited.

LINK TO VIDEO RECORDING: http://cdm17265.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/baahp/id/120

Disciplines

African American Studies | Public History

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