Posted on August 14, 2023August 14, 2023 by admin — Leave a comment

One dead, six others injured in south Minneapolis shooting at Punk show USA

MINNEAPOLIS — One person was killed and six others were injured in a shooting in south Minneapolis Friday evening.The victim, who was in their 30s, died at the scene of the 2200 block of 16th Avenue South, Minneapolis Police say. Five others with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds were taken to the hospital, and one other person who was shot took themselves to the hospital.Police say they were all the backyard of the house when the shooting happened around 10:15 p.m. Two suspects walked up the alley and at least one of them started shooting into the backyard, police say. The suspects then ran away through the alley. In all, police say they recovered 10 casings from the scene.MORE: Minneapolis music community mourning after mass shooting that killed 1, injured 6Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said he believed at least one person was targeted.

This video of previous show. DIY punk at the Nudieland club

Five of the people who were injured had graze wounds, O’Hara said at a press conference Saturday afternoon. One person required surgery.No one is in custody, and the investigation is ongoing.Victim identified

Man shot at Minneapolis punk show was talented songwriter, dedicated friend

A friend and bandmate said August Golden died in a shooting Friday at the punk venue Nudieland in south Minneapolis.

By Tim Harlow Star Tribune

AUGUST 13, 2023 — 3:19PM

PROVIDED BY BRYAN MAY

Friends identified August Golden, 35, as the person shot and killed at a backyard party Friday night in south Minneapolis’ Phillips neighborhood.

A Friday night house party in south Minneapolis was double cause for a big celebration. A band was playing numbers from its new recording. Another person was having a birthday.

But the good times at the punk venue Nudieland abruptly ended about 10:15 p.m. when gunmen fired into a crowd of people assembled in the backyard of the house on the 2200 block of 16th Avenue S.

Multiple people were injured, police said. One man died. Two suspects seen running away on foot were still at large on Sunday afternoon, police said.

Authorities have not released the name of the man who died in the shooting. But on Sunday, Bryan May said he is still coming to terms that his best friend and bandmate August Golden, 35, was killed.

“He was one of my favorite songwriters,” said May, who played with Golden in the Minneapolis punk band Scrounger. “Talented.”

May met Golden over a decade ago when they both lived in Santa Cruz, Calif. May moved into a house where Golden and 30 other people were living. The two hit it off immediately, May said.

“He was one of the most inviting people,” May said.

https://subcultz.com/shop/

Posted on July 28, 2023July 28, 2023 by admin — Leave a comment

Why did Punk scare society

HISTORY

What was punk – and why did it scare people so much?

A man in punk dress is apparently admonished by a man in London in the mid-1980s. Punk’s expressive dress and anarchic politics were seen as a general affront to middle English conservatism in the mid-1970s, with the movement continuing as a subculture through the 1980s and beyond.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROGER HUTCHINGS / ALAMY

BY SIMON INGRAM

PUBLISHED 1 JUL 2022, 16:27 BST

EVERYONE knows the sound of punk: unfiltered and breathless, an assault of sonic claustrophobia captured unpolished in a studio, or garage, living room, or perhaps an alleyway. Guitar riffs are sharp and unruly, driven by drums clattering around a gritty, decisive bassline. Vocals are unpolished and expressive, yelling lyrics loaded with agenda above the instruments. Aggression, frustration, sneering sarcasm – and all of it loud.

Everyone too knows the look of punk: statement haircuts, ripped clothing, badges, metalwork, makeup and leather. To its makers and its audience, punk was the cultural identity of anger, disenfranchisement, and rebellion.

The surge of – and appetite for – the punk scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s wasn’t limited purely to the music. It became an ideology, spawning literature, poetry, fashion and political defiance. But, as dramatised in new Disney+ biopic Pistol, it was the music that became its gravitation point, giving a beat and an identity to a genre that would explode, implode – and be reinvented over the decades around the world. (The Walt Disney Company is majority owner of National Geographic Partners.)

Defining the undefinable

Punk as a movement – perhaps appropriately – defies definition. Defined by Monika Sklar in her book Punk Style, punk was a ‘vital new way to perform subcultural ideas, that incorporated its own art, music, dress and lifestyles… commonly rooted in those who are somehow disenfranchised from society.”

The word punk was originally an archaic term for a prostitute – ‘Puncke’ was used by Shakespeare as such in Measure by Measure, though ambiguously – and was later a common slang term for any kind of miscreant, or charismatic, good-for-nothing threat to authority such as the characters played by James Dean or Marlon Brando in movies such as Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild One. It was also widely used as prison slang to denote a victim of predatory sexual advances.

People in punk dress walk down King’s Road in London in the 1970s.

PHOTOGRAPH BY HOMER SYKES / ALAMY

Exactly when it was appended to music is uncertain, though it’s likely to have been a lot earlier than most realise. A note in the San Francisco Call of 3 October 1899 carried the outraged remarks of one Otto Wise, who reviewed the singing of a companion in a fraternity house as “the most punk song ever heard in a hall.” In this and later tuneful contexts, which were plentiful, the word was used as an adjective to describe any kind of music that was authentically ragtag or unpolished – the implication being that those making it were somewhat rough around the edges as well.

Far from a simple expression of alternative ideas, or music simply of a lowbrow nature, by the time ‘punk rock’ was a thing, it was perceived as being on a mission to deliberately provoke. Miriam-Webster defined the music as “marked by extreme and often deliberately offensive expressions of alienation and social discontent” – though the word wasn’t used widely when the movement was first finding its voice. It was around, though: In the May 1971 edition of edgy music magazine Creem, journalist Dave Marsh, in a retrospective of 1960s US bands ? and The Mysterions, described their output as being a “landmark exposition of punk rock” – one of the first times the term was coined as a genre.

The Sex Pistols in the United States, 1978. Punk rock grew concurrently in the U.S. and the U.K., though the musical movement began in America with bands such as the New York Dolls and The Stooges helping set the scene for what would follow. Stooges songs were part of the repertoire of the Sex Pistols.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PICTORIAL PRESS LTD / ALAMY

American groups such as the New York Dolls and the Ramones (‘New York rock’), The Stooges and the MC5 in Detroit (‘garage rock’) had the swagger and bare-bones musicality vibe nailed. But the general use of a term so associated with scallywags of one kind or another was frowned upon, and mainly used by journalists to categorise elements of their music. A 1976 article in the UK’s Sounds magazine by John Ingham was entitled ‘Welcome to the (?) Rock Special’ – the question mark a clear statement that nobody quite knew what to call the new movement now emerging in the U.S., Australia and in the U.K. On the eastern side of the Atlantic at least, punk rock didn’t get its enduring identity until there was a band of suitably shameless menace upon which to pin it.

Linda and Sara Wycombe Punk girls . By Gavin Watson — Sara and Linda, Wycombe Punk girls . By Gavin Watson

Trigger point

Enter the Sex Pistols. The mid 1970s punk scene in the UK came at a point of economic decline and civil unrest. A recession was in full swing, police were clashing with the public on the streets in a series of disputes, Britain was sliding down the economic power list and – against a backdrop of a fading, increasingly costly Empire – the prospects for young people were bleak. An ungovernable ‘failed state,’ as summed up by journalist Simon Jenkins, who wrote: “The word ‘strike’ was in every page of every newspaper almost every day. Public services really were collapsing. This country really was a mess.”

The Sex Pistols performing in Norway, 1977. The band used European dates to emphasise their ‘banned in the UK’ notoriety, though in truth the band was never banned; merely their songs were excluded from the playlist of conservative broadcasters like the BBC, which it is believed limited their commercial success. Many believe the controversial single ‘God Save the Queen’ reached number 1 in the singles chart but was denied the accolade, losing out to Rod Stewart’s ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

PHOTOGRAPH BY NORWAY NATIONAL ARCHIVES

Against such a scene, by the mid-1970s the emergence of a colourful counter-culture of bands that seemed to articulate the country’s frustrations were a tempting lightning rod for disenfranchised youngsters.

Punk rock’s musicality – or as perceived in some quarters, lack thereof – was itself a reaction. While artistically, the songs sometimes sounded like the band had only a loose acquaintance with their instruments (a 1973 review of The New York Dolls compared the sound of the band to lawnmowers) it was a conscious riposte to grandiose, stadium-filling bands playing rambling prog-rock and employing operatic and indulgent performances.

Punk rock, when it arrived, was edgy, brief and unpolished, with unpredictable and chaotic live performances which sometimes ignited pent up crowds into violence. Out went virtuoso solos and twinkly stagecraft: musicianship came second to attitude, and the feeling of accessibility – that those on stage weren’t couched and pampered rock stars, but just someone with struggles, frustrations and something to say. Lyrics were often politicised or critical of what was increasingly seen as a country run by arcane and regressive institutions.

Such rough but charismatic sound also bred its own recession-proof fashion. The ascetic, unkempt look of American rock bands such as The Ramones and Television and artists such as Lou Reed and Patti Smith – ripped jeans held together with safety pins, recycled thrift store clothes and t-shirts – spread across the Atlantic and became individualistic styles that were by definition a unique statement. While aped – ironically – by fans, the emerging movement provided a platform for self-expression that was authentic, rag-tag, and accessible for anyone.

Some of the boldest statements were crafted by Vivienne Westwood, who at the time was in a relationship with socialite and sometime promoter Malcolm McLaren. After the latter had spent a period in the U.S. managing the New York Dolls, he became interested in managing a local band called The Strand, which he and Westwood used as a kind of musical billboard for their Chelsea fashion boutique. With the rise in popularity of fetish wear, Westwood and McLaren had renamed the boutique from Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die to SEX – and The Strand to the Sex Pistols, with McLaren describing his desired aesthetic for the band as ‘sexy young assassins.’

‘The antithesis of humankind’

It was an uncomfortable contradiction that success and popularity was the inverse to punk’s philosophy, but also the inevitable consequence of connection with large numbers of disenfranchised record buyers. This came to a scandalous head in December 1976 when Thames TV presenter Bill Grundy – who, in a last-minute switch, found himself interviewing The Sex Pistols instead of Queen in a primetime evening broadcast – appeared to challenge the band on its anti-materialistic authenticity given it had accepted £40,000 for a record deal.

Singer John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, mumbled a swearword under his breath which Grundy asked him to repeat in defiance of the channel’s stringent policies. After more goading, guitarist Steve Jones broke into a profanity-loaded rant at the presenter, all of which was broadcast live. Grundy’s career never recovered, and the Sex Pistols were instantly notorious.

Westwood and McLaren's shop on The King's Road in 1976. Initially named Let it Rock, then Too ...

Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood in London, 1977. Westwood wears the original artwork for God Save ...

Left:

Westwood and McLaren’s shop on The King’s Road in 1976. Initially named Let it Rock, then Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die, then SEX – and later The Seditionaries, and finally World’s End, which it remains to this day.

PHOTOGRAPH BY TRINITY MIRROR / MIRRORPIX / ALAMY

Right:

Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood in London, 1977. Westwood wears the original artwork for God Save the Queen on her t-shirst. Westwood’s designs were deliberately intended to shock and provoke, and she and McLaren’s influence over the Sex Pistols made them a leading charge on both the genre’s music and look.

PHOTOGRAPH BY TRINITY MIRROR / MIRRORPIX / ALAMY

Bernard Partridge, a member of the Great London Council, described the band as the ‘antithesis of humankind,’ adding that punk rock in general was “nauseating, disgusting, degrading, ghastly, sleazy, prurient, voyeuristic and generally nauseating… I think most of these groups would be vastly improved by sudden death.”

Anarchy in the UK

The perceived threat that punk rock presented to society was framed neatly by the release of what would become an anti-establishment anthem. For a target, as the head of state presiding over a country enduring austerity, the Queen was apparently as good as any.

Though the band denied the record was intended as a stunt, the Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen was engineered by McLaren to be released during the Queen’s silver Jubilee on 27^th May 1977.

Originally promoted using as a portrait of the Queen with a safety pin through her lip and with a record sleeve depicting ransom-like lettering over her eyes and mouth, the song – not unreasonably – was seen as an assault on the royal family and its values. Outlawed by the BBC, it was a popular success but also made the band targets for pro-monarchy supporters. Drummer Paul Cook was attacked outside a tube station by six men armed with knives; John Lydon was assaulted with razorblades outside a pub in Highbury leaving him with injuries to his hand and face.

The sleeve for the single God Save the Queen (1977.) The song was originally called No Future, and variations of the artwork, designed by artist Jamie Reid, included images of the Queen with a safety pin through her lip and swastikas over her eyes.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT LAZENBY / ALAMY

Lydon – who wrote the lyrics – has held the opinion that the song, which was originally titled No Future, was misunderstood. In Isle of Noises, Lydon told author Daniel Rachel the song captured ”the idea of being angry, of the indifference of the Queen to the population and the aloofness and indifference to us as people.” But writing in The Times in 2022, he stated: “I’ve got no animosity against any one of the royal family. Never did. It’s the institution of it that bothers me and the assumption that I’m to pay for that.”

45 years after its release, a reissue of the song reached number 1 in the UK charts for the first time on 4^th June 2022 – the weekend of the Queen’s Platinum jubilee.

The inherent provocativeness of punk’s anti-establishment, anti-capitalism and anti-conformist statements inevitably went into darker territory, which deepened the divide between the older, more conservative generation and the punks themselves. As cultural theorist Dick Hebdige wrote in Subculture: The Meaning of Style, “No subculture has sought with more grim determination than the punks to detach itself from the taken-for-granted landscape of normalised forms, nor to bring down upon itself such vehement disapproval.”

Violence was a feature of many punk gigs – both within the crowd, between the crowd and the band, and between the more strait-laced public spoiling for a fight with a subculture seen as a genuine threat to the British way of life. Despite a reputation for unruliness, the punks became targets, too.

“Punk rock is nauseating, disgusting, degrading, ghastly, sleazy, prurient, voyeuristic and generally nauseating… I think most of these groups would be vastly improved by sudden death.”

BERNARD BROOK PARTRIDGE

“Punks’ transgressive, shocking attitudes and stances caused normative culture to react viciously against them,” wrote Andrew H. Carroll in ‘Running Riot’: Violence and British Punk Communities, 1975-1984, “and it further isolated them from normative society; the reactions against them pushed punks deeper into their alternative community.”

Another theory for punk’s perceived aggression was the spiralling divorce rate and the dissolution of what many considered ‘traditional’ family values. As Connell states, “one way young people reacted to this was by constructing a new community, centred on punk music, that used violence to define itself.”

In addition, sinister accessories such as dog chains and knives were adopted as effects. In a further shock attack on older generations swastikas and other Nazi aesthetics were frequently worn as a deliberate provocation to those who had fought in WWII three decades earlier.

The latter was infamously sported by John Richie – better known by stage name Sid Vicious – who joined the Sex Pistols as a bassist in 1977. Vicious would come to epitomise punk’s more self-destructive side: allegedly talentless as a musician, he became a heroin addict, assaulted members of the band’s audience, carved slogans into his chest on stage and in 1978 was arrested for the second-degree murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen in the aftermath of a party in New York. Vicious died from a drug overdose whilst awaiting trial in February 1979.

The Sex Pistols sign a record deal, 1977. Manager Malcolm McLaren (second from right) orchestrated stunts such as this for maximum publicity and affront to institutions such as the monarchy. It’s no accident the contract was signed in front of Buckingham Palace, nor that the record God Save the Queen was released to coincide with the Queen’s silver jubilee. The band themselves denied the record was timed as such.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PA IMAGES / ALAMY

Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen in 1978. Both would be dead a year later Spungen supposedly at the hands of Vicious, and Vicious by a drug overdose. As Vicious died whilst awaiting trial, the question over who murdered Spungen – she was found stabbed by Vicious’s knife in late 1978 while the latter was in a drug-induced blackout – remains controversial.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PICTORIAL PRESS LTD / ALAMY

Punk goes mainstream

Vicious’s death was considered one of the death knells for punk itself. Bands that followed The Sex Pistols’ lead included Buzzcocks, The Damned and The Slits, all of whom were influential in developing punk rock as a genre along various political themes, from austerity to equality, with some – including The Clash – becoming highly successful in the process. The latter made racial tension one of its protest flags, after lead singer Joe Strummer witnessed the violence between police and Black revellers at the Notting Hill Carnival in 1976, penning the song White Riot in response.

The Clash, pictured here in 1979, would be one of the British bands that would develop punk rock beyond the 1970s.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PICTORIAL PRESS LTD / ALAMY

As the 1970s became the 1980s, punk became even more resplendent. But as the decade progressed, inflation fell, the economy improved and new, less volatile bands caught the attention of younger generations.

While less menacing and gritty, the bright colours, creative hairstyles and use of makeup and other more tranquil ostentations of the 1980s music fashion appeared a natural development of punk. But stylistically, many of the bands that followed were an exaggerated contrast to their predecessors. Artists influenced by the punk movement such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Adam and the Ants earned the early nickname ‘peacock punks.’ The anger quelled, the motivations became less aggressive; guitars were augmented by new technology such as synthesisers that once again gave songs the produced shimmer bands like the Sex Pistols had gleefully binned. Punk, as a subculture, remained – but popular music evolved.

Their philosophy, however, didn’t – and has emerged periodically since, with movements such as gothic rock, grunge and EMO exhibiting many of the anarchic attributes that led to punk. Some of the albums produced in that first wave frequently rank in critics’ lists of the top albums of all time.

One of the bands identified as a kind of spiritual heir to The Sex Pistols emerged from Seattle in 1987. But for the lead singer, it was the philosophy, not the music, that tied the two together. “The only reason I might agree with people calling our band “The Sex Pistols of the 90s” is that, for both bands, the music is a very natural thing, very sincere,” said Kurt Cobain, of Nirvana. “All the hype the Sex Pistols had was totally deserved – they deserved everything they got.”

Posted on October 26, 2022October 26, 2022 by admin — Leave a comment

Ron Watts Wycombe Punk Rock promoter legend remembered

Ron Watts – 1942 to 2016
(Obituary researched and written by Paul Lewis – First published 16th July 2016)
Ron Watts in the green room at The Nags Head High Wycombe Legendary music promoter Ron Watts passed away on 20th June 2016, aged 73, following a long illness. Watt’s spent much of his life living and working in High Wycombe and brought world wide fame to The Nag’s Head, a former HQ of the Wanderers.

Watts is best known for his involvement in the rise of the punk scene in 1976 and 1977, promoting gigs at the famous Nag’s Head venue in High Wycombe, in addition to the legendary 100 Club venue in Oxford Street, London. However, it be an would be an insult to his legacy to leave unmentioned his part in bringing top Blues acts to venues in the UK during the late 1960’s and beyond, plus his front man role in legendary Cajun Blues band, Brewer’s Droop.

Watts, born in wartime Slough in 1942, schooled at Langley Grammar School but had moved to High Wycombe with his family by his later teenage years. His love for music came from an early age – his initial taste was jazz but he soon got into the Blues, buying his first single in 1957 when he picked up a 78 rpm version of Chuck Berry’s School Days.

After passing his A Levels he worked at Midland Bank, High Wycombe and used some of his wages to attend R&B gigs in London – taking in early performances from Alexis Korner and Charlie Watts and mixing with the likes of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger, well before they had become household names.

In his 2006 autobiography, ‘100 Watts, A Life in Music’ he recalled that High Wycombe at the time was ‘terminally uncool’, although he attended gigs at the Town Hall, plus jazz evenings at Court Gardens, Marlow. Watts also got the bug for live performing following an impromptu singalong during an R&B gig in West Wycombe featuring John Mayall.

He married for the first time in 1962 – tying the knot at Terriers Church before moving into a flat in Farnham Road, Slough with his wife Pauline. The couple had a daughter Terri shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, his work life took him to the Mars factory in Slough. It was in his early 20’s that he saw The Beatles take the stage in Slough, while his love for live music saw him help out at The Star and Garter pub in Windsor.

Having split from his wife in early 1966, Watts first ventured into music promoting in the summer of 1967 when he put on a show at Farnham Village Hall. Another gig in January 1968 at High Wycombe Town Hall would prove another significant step in his musical career. Watts would take to the stage again to sing with Wind of Change but the news got back to his employees at Mars and he was given the ultimatum on whether to quit his job or quit his on stage antics. To his employees surprise he chose the former and his serious promoting days were about to begin.

Within weeks of handing in his notice at Mars he had arranged his first concert promotion – an R&B night in the upstairs room at The White Hart pub in White Hart Street, High Wycombe. He would dub the venue ‘The Blues Loft’ – a title that would travel with Watts over the years ahead. Shakey Vick would be one of the first acts he would promote at The White Hart, along with Jack Dupree.

The impending demolition of The White Hart forced a brief spell of gigs at Ye Exchange, also in High Wycombe, but it was when he found The Nag’s Head on the London Road that he knew he had the venue he craved for – a relatively small (300 ish capacity) upstairs venue with its own bar.

His first gig there came in March 1968 and his Blues nights quickly gained in popularity. He would bring in the legendary John Lee Hooker to the Nag’s Head at a cost of £125. With tickets set at just 7/6 (37 ½ p), it was a risk that paid off. Other names that followed, included Howlin’ Wolf, plus in May 1968, an early live appearance for Jethro Tull – six months before their debut album had hit the top ten of the charts.

Status Quo and Thin Lizzy also performed for Watts at the Nag’s Head as the 1960’s drew to a close, while Marc Bolan, playing in the then folky Tyrannosaurus Rex, was another name that would become household during the 1970’s and as they became Glam Rock monsters T.Rex.

Despite moving to London in September 1968, the following years saw Watts continue his association with the Nag’s Head, although his attention was now the formation of the National Blues Federation (NBF), along with Chris Trimming. The pair also took on the ‘quiet’ Tuesday night slot at The 100 Club, quickly gaining high regard in the Blues world and seeing BB King take the stage one evening for a jam session.

Then in 1969, another impromptu singing performance, this time during a Blues Festival on Wycombe Rye, proved the catalyst for Watts to make the decision to form a band of his own.

Brewer’s Droop were formed and played a mixture of Blues R&B and Cajun (swinging jazz). Watts took on the role of lead vocalist, while other band members included Steve Darrington (pianist), John McKay (guitar), Malcom Barrett (bass) and Bob Walker (drums). Brewer’s Droop played almost 300 gigs in 1970 and close to 1,000 in the following four years the band were on the road – sometimes playing three shows in a day. Record company interest grew and an album ‘Opening Time’ was released on RCA in the summer of 1972. The album cover featured a picture of the band standing outside The Antelope pub in High Wycombe town centre – a regular drinking and performing haunt for the band. A single followed called ‘Sweet Thing’ and just failed to make the top 50.

With Brewer’s Droop regularly on tour and Trimming offered other opportunities in the music industry, the NBF folded. However, despite his busy schedule, in April 1970, Watts promoted an early Mott The Hoople gig at The Nag’s Head, while he kept connections with the London Road venue by using the ‘Blues Loft’ for rehearsals with ‘The Droop’.

An eager Watts also started promoting gigs at High Wycombe Town Hall, initially assisting the Broom & Wade apprentice association with a Savoy Brown and Wild Angels gig. Elsewhere, he would keep in touch with the local scene by helping to promote gigs at the newly opened Twylight Club – described by Watts as a ‘concrete bunker’ – under a new flyover built in High Wycombe around 1969.

Meanwhile, back at the 100 Club, a highlight for Watts was putting on Muddy Waters in May 1972. A visitor to ‘in crowd’ at the time also included a young American student called Bill Clinton. Watts recalled in his autobiography: “He swore to me he was going to be President of America one day. He had the biggest beard you have ever seen. He was a good kid, bucket loads of charisma.” Colonel Gaddafi, as a younger man, was another regular at the ‘Blues Loft’ and the 100 Club. Watts said: “We had a couple of drinks and he seemed like a good bloke. He said he was planning to ‘go into politics’ when he returned to Libya.”

Watts married again in February 1973, wedding Maureen at Priory Road Methodist Chapel in High Wycombe. The couple had first met around late 1968 when she had interviewed Watts for a Bucks Free Press article.

A second Brewer’s Droop album was recorded in late 1973 that included the relatively unknown guitarist Mark Knopfler (later of Dire Straits) on some of the tracks. Produced by Dave Edmunds, it remained unreleased until 1989 when RCA released they had a potential seller on their hands and released it under the title of The Booze Brothers. Watts made no income after the rights had been sold off years earlier.

Brewers Droop split in 1974, leaving the way open for Watts to concentrate again on the promoting side. Now living in Lane End, he kept open his local connections with a short stint of gigs at The Crown, in Marlow. Meanwhile, he was now promoting 2 or 3 nights a week at The 100 Club as the mid 1970’s ‘pub rock’ scene began to break with the likes of Ian Dury’s Kilburn & The Highroads, Dr Feelgood, Eddie & The Hotrods and the 101 ers – the latter led by a youthful Joe Strummer.

However, with Watts starting to become bored of the live music scene, he took on a job with G.D. Searle in High Wycombe and dabbled again briefly with playing live again with the short lived Jive Bombers. Towards the end of 1975 Watts recalls that he saw an article in Rolling Stone magazine about the US ‘punk’ movement. It sparked an interest that would come to a head in the following months.

It was a chance viewing of a Sex Pistols gig on Friday 20th February 1976, at what was when then known as High Wycombe College of Higher Education, that changed his life dramatically. A 33 year old Watts was apparently at the Screaming Lord Sutch gig to see the college social secretary about a stripper he was booking for them. He popped his head into the gig to witness The Pistols creating chaos but was interested enough to think it would be worth putting on what he described as a ‘bunch of scruffs’.

Pistols Manager Malcolm McClaren would later seek out Watts at The 100 Club. McClaren said he wanted his band to play the Oxford Street venue. Watts, recalling his memories of the High Wycombe gig a few days before, agreed. The Pistols would appear for the first time at The 100 Club on Tuesday 30th March 1976. The eventful period in Watts’ life also saw the birth of his first son Stuart. The toddler would spend some of his early life being bounced on the knee of the punk rock bands.

The Pistols would appear a further 10 times at the 100 Club in 1976, including the famous Punk Festival held on 20 and 21 September 1976. Before then, on Thursday 2nd September 1976, Watts would bring the Pistols back to High Wycombe for an appearance at The Nags Head – a venue Watts was now back promoting gigs at.

Violence at the punk gigs at The 100 Club bought a ‘punk’ ban at the Oxford Street venue – the infamous Sid Vicious bottle throwing incident at the September 1976 ‘Punk Festival’ being the final straw. But London’s loss was High Wycombe’s gain as Watts brought the up and coming ‘punk’ bands to The Nag’s Head. Following the summer heatwave of 1976, Watts promoted gigs from the likes of the Stranglers, The Damned and The Clash – all before they had signed deal with major record labels.

Watts’ gigs at The Nags Head would play a significant part in the rise of ‘punk rock’ and also helped wake up the ‘terminally uncool’ High Wycombe to develop a punk movemenet of its own, putting on many local bands as support acts to the wave of artists that exploded onto the national music scene at the time. However, a brief foray into band management in 1976 with The Damned ended on a sour note when he objected to the band swearing at the paying punters, shouting from the back of the loft venue at The Nag’s Head, “Keep it up and I’ll fetch my shotgun. We’ll see how much of a punk you are then.”

In 1977, UK ‘punk’ went viral. Watts continued to put bands on at the Nags, showcasing acts like The Jam, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Generation X, The Police, Tom Robinson Band, Elvis Costello and XTC – again, in many cases, before they had signed record deals. When some of the acts out grew the London Road venue, he complimented the Nags with the more central High Wycombe Town Hall. The Stiff Tour of 1977 played the opening night at The Town Hall in October 1977 featuring one of the first ever performances by Ian Dury and The Blockheads. That same month, Watt’s second child with Maureen, Marie Watts was born. However, the marriage would not last and they split up in 1979.

Regular gig promotions continued at The Town Hall through the late 1970’s until the cloud of violence (at a non-Watts promoted gig) resulted in a draconian council ban on ‘rock concerts’ in the summer of 1980. But gigs at The Nags carried on, with the regular Thursday rock nights including a performance from ‘Top Irish Rock Act’ U2 midway through 1980.

However, a culmination of the Council restrictions and a landlord unenthusiastic for live music, saw limited opportunities at The Nag’s Head leading to Watt’s adding the Alexander’s Disco at Cippenham to his CV of music venues. It would host an early outing for new romantics Spandau Ballet but it was not Watts’ scene to see bands more interested in their hair do’s than the music.

Now back living with his parents in Slough, Watt’s tried to save the flagging fortunes of the Nag’s Head by arranging music sessions in the downstairs bar. It was around this time that a 29 year old Tony Blair would visit the venue – the then Labour MP for the ‘safe’ Conservative seat of Beaconsfield.

Never one to shy from work, Watts started working as a Quality Engineer for British Plastics in Slough in order to boost his income from the now even more risky promoting business. Some gigs at The Nag’s would be packed while others would see just a handful in the audience. A residency by local favourite John Otway proved particularly popular. Elsewhere, Watt’s gave some of their first gigs to local uprising stars Howard Jones and Marillion. Southend Blues rock act The Hamsters, also played some of the debut gigs at The Nag’s and continued to return to the Wycombe area until their retirement in 2012.

Watts’ association with promoting gigs at The Town Hall eventually came to an end in the early to mid 1980’s after the local Council decided to seek out a sole promoter for the ageing venue. The aspirations of the Council never came to fruition and the venue was effectively lost from the live music circuit.

By this time Watts had returned to High Wycombe to work as a Quality Technician at Broom and Wades. He also lived on a house boat on the Thames, near Bourne End before the leaving the area completely, residing briefly in Ffestiniog, North Wales before a move to Tamworth, Staffordshire.

Some of his final gigs at The Nag’s Head saw performances by former Cream bassist Jack Bruce, cult early 1970’s psychedelic band, The Pink Fairies, plus several more reunion night’s with Brewer’s Droop. A 20th anniversary of his time at The Nag’s came in 1988 when Shakey Vick returned with his Blues Band for an evening that Watt’s described as a ‘great night’.

After being made redundant by Broom & Wade in May 1991, Watt’s finally severed all promoting ties with High Wycombe and moved on to team up with Jim Simpson with the running of the Birmingham International Jazz Festival. Watt’s continued to confirm his love of the Blues by promoting gigs at The Bear in Bearwood (three miles from the centre of Birmingham). Within two years it had built up a membership of 5,000. He was also heavily connected with the organisation of the Birmingham Blues Festival during August Bank Holiday 1992. Gigs continued at The Bear until the summer of 1994.

Realising that the live music scene was not going to make him a living, Watt’s finally settled in Tamworth working for TNT before fulfilling one of his dreams of retiring to the South Coast by moving to a village close to Weymouth, Dorset in 2008.

During the intervening years, Watt’s was occasionally asked of his musical history and turned back the clock to be a guest of honour at a Sex Pistols reunion gig in Brixton in 2007. A year earlier he published his autobiography, Hundred Watts – a life in music, revealing much of the detail of his musical history that would have otherwise been lost. His comments at the time still rang true at the time of his passing in 2016: “Technology has taken a lot of the fun out of gigs. Too many bands today think that they can sit in their bedrooms and do it all from there. They need to get out there like we did and shake their arse.”

For those who went to any of Ron’s gigs, you will remember that he never tucked himself away from the spotlight. At The Nag’s Head he would regularly sit at the top of the stairs, taking your small change for entrance and checking your membership card. At the Town Hall he would sometimes come out onto the front steps before letting in the punters, with a warning that he didn’t want any trouble at that evening’s gig.

And the final word goes to Ron, again from a 2006 interview where he reflected: “I have had a blessed life. I didn’t have any special talent, I was just in the right place at the right time. Things just kept landing at my doorstep. Every day was Christmas.”

Also see:
Wanderers into the record books and the night Ron Watts first saw The S*x Pistols
The Nags Head – former Wanderers HQ and legendary venue lost to developers
Hundred Watts – a life in music – at Amazon.co.uk

Posted on August 1, 2020August 2, 2020 by Subcultz — Leave a comment

Northern Irish Punk Rocker attacked in Berlin

Lead singer and Bass player of Mister Lizard. My very good friend and best friend of my sons was bashed by 5 guys with knuckle dusters last night in Berlin in Friedrichshain area. Completely Unprovoked attack other than him being a punk, and them casuals. He is a Northern Irish Punk, who cant speak German, and one of the nicest people I know

Adam was out with a few friends, when he was approached by an aggressive German who seemed to have a problem with Adams appearance, but not understanding the verbal confrontation Adam tried to communicate, but was then set upon by another four attackers armed with Knuckledusters

We believe the attackers could have been in Berlin in connection to a huge demonstration the following day 1st August 2020

“We left a bar and walked around the corner and a guy started shouting at us but we ignored them, then he ran up to us and I turned around and that’s when his friend hit me with the knuckleduster, screaming Antifa scum. His associates then joined in fully armed in an unprovoked ferocious attack, leaving Adam unconscious with severe head wounds.

Adam is the singer and bass player with his band Mister Lizard and has only recently moved to Berlin to play in the active Punk music scene of the city. Also a lighting tech for bands that include Slipknot. He has no political ties, but was wearing a small crossed out swastika badge on his hat, very commonly worn by punks ever since the 1970’s.

Mister Lizard singer Adam McConville attacked with Knuckledusters in Berlin

Berlin Police were called but were not interested in persuing any form of investigation. However we are appealing to anyone with information to contact us. This is an attack once again on our subculture. Most young people that get involved in subculture will at some point come up against bigotry and abuse, sometimes turning violent like the tragic case of Sophie Lancaster killed for being a Goth.

https://www.facebook.com/misterlizardnoise/

Posted on August 1, 2020August 4, 2020 by Subcultz — 1 Comment

Life for the ‘feral thugs’ who killed a girl Goth Sophie Lancaster

A JUDGE attacked the “feral thuggery” blighting Britain yesterday as he jailed two yobs for life for the murder of a student.

SOPHIE: Kicked to death in a park after being picked on by a gang because of her Goth clothing

Sophie Lancaster, 20, was kicked to death by two drunken 15-year-olds as she tried to stop a “merciless” gang battering her boyfriend unconscious in a park.

Three other youths were jailed for assaulting him.

Judge Anthony Russell QC said tough sentences were necessary to curb increasing attacks by youths roaming the streets.

Fuelled by cheap alcohol, a gang of yobs set upon Sophie and 21-year-old Robert Maltby just because they wore distinctive Goth clothing.

Judge Russell said: “This was feral thuggery of a kind that is quite unacceptable. It raises serious questions about the state of society which exists in this country at the beginning of a new millennium which was heralded with such optimism.”

He added: “At least wild animals when they hunt as a pack have a legitimate reason for doing so – to obtain food. You had none and your behaviour on this night degrades humanity itself.

“Regrettably, cases where gangs of youths attack others viciously, sometimes using weapons, sometimes using their own brute force through their feet, are becoming more prevalent.

“Where such crimes are proved, severe punishment will follow.

“I want the message to go out loud and clear that cowardly thugs who resort to kicking others senseless are sentencing themselves to lengthy custodial terms.”

Preston Crown Court heard how Sophie and Robert were attacked last August as they walked home through Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Lancs.

Brendan Harris, 15, felled Robert with a punch before the others set upon him “like a pack of wild animals”.

Harris told how – as Sophie cradled Robert on the ground and urged them to stop – Ryan Herbert, also 15 at the time, kicked Sophie’s head “as though he was volleying a football in full flight”.

The pair continued to stamp on her head before leaving the couple for dead.

Their injuries were so severe that paramedics could not tell them apart.

After the attack the gang bumped into a witness, who said they were behaving in a “giddy way, hyperactive and bouncing around doing silly things”.

He added: “It was as though they were boasting about what they had done.”

Herbert told him: “You wanna see them, they are a right mess.”

Sophie, a gap-year English degree student who enjoyed writing poetry, slipped into a coma and died two weeks later.

Robert, a Manchester University art student, survived horrific head injuries. But he has been left psychologically scarred and is afraid to leave his house.

In a statement he told the court: “I have regressed to a child-like state and I am finding the world a terrifying place.”

Sophie’s mother Sylvia, 52, told the court: “Their actions are so heinous I can’t bring myself to think about it.

“My daughter’s last moments on Earth must have been a living hell. Not only did she witness Robert being kicked and stamped upon, but she died not knowing whether Robert lived or died after the vicious attack on him.”

Harris, who was found guilty of murder, was jailed for life and must serve 18 years before he can be considered for parole.

Herbert, now 16, who admitted murder, was given life with a minimum of 16 years, three months. Neither showed any emotion as they were led away.

Joseph Hulme, 17, his brother Danny Hulme, 16, and Daniel Mallet, 17, were handed indeterminate sentences after admitting causing grievous bodily harm with intent by attacking Robert.

The Hulmes must serve a minimum five years and ten months each. Mallet must serve at least four years and four months.

Outside court, Mrs Lancaster, who works with problem children, said: “No sentence could ever be enough.

“I feel I have a life sentence. They will be out before the end of their 30s.”

Posted on May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 by Subcultz — Leave a comment

David Paul Greenfield Stranglers Legend dies from Covid19

David Paul Greenfield (29/3/49-3/5/20)

We are deeply and profoundly saddened to announce the untimely passing of keyboard legend Dave Greenfield on the evening of 3rd May 2020. Following a stay in hospital for heart problems, Dave tested positive for the Covid-19 virus last Sunday but he sadly lost his battle last night. Dave had been an ever present in the band since joining in late 1975 and his keyboard wizardry was world-renowned over his 45 year career in The Stranglers. Dave was a lovable, friendly and eccentric character who always had time to chat.

We have received the following tributes from Dave’s fellow band members JJ, Jet and Baz as well as Sil the band’s manager:

“On the evening of Sunday May 3rd my great friend and longstanding colleague of 45 years, the musical genius that was Dave Greenfield, passed away as one of the victims of the Great Pandemic of 2020. All of us in the worldwide Stranglers’ family grieve and send our sincerest condolences to Pam.” – JJ Burnel

“We have just lost a dear friend and music genius, and so has the whole world. Dave was a complete natural in music. Together, we toured the globe endlessly and it was clear he was adored by millions. A huge talent, a great loss, he is dearly missed.” – Jet Black

“We lost a true innovator, musical legend, and one of my dearest friends today. The word genius is bandied around far too easily in this day and age, but Dave Greenfield certainly was one. We stood together on the same side of the stage for 20 years, laughed, joked and shared our lives in the way that only band mates can. I’ll miss him forever. Our thoughts and hearts are with his wife Pam, and to the millions of fans who worshipped at his altar, he’ll never be equalled.” – Baz Warne

“We are all in shock, Dave was a kind, generous soul who had time for anyone and everyone and it has been my privilege to have known him as both a close friend, his tech and manager for over 40 years. Our thoughts are with Pam at this sad time” – Sil Willcox

He is survived by his wife Pam and we ask you to respect Pam’s privacy at this very sad time.

Fly straight Mr G, fond adieu xx

very sad news, another punk legend gone. Peaches was one of the first 7″ singles i ever owned (nicked off my sister) and one of the very first to have swear words on it. for a 12 year old kid in 1977 oh S**t and Bummer were oh so shocking. Then Duchess still stands as one of my all time favourite punk songs. RIP to a Legend

Posted on April 11, 2020April 11, 2020 by Subcultz — Leave a comment

Richard Hell & The Voidoids

“More Heroes” – Spotlight on Punk: Richard Hell & The Voidoids

by Luca Morettini Paracucchi -April 9, 20200185

“More Heroes” is a column dedicated to the discovery of the biggest names that have made the history of punk, many of which are not adequately known as they deserve. Today the spotlight is on Richard Hell & The Voidoids.

The third attempt is the right one

Richard Lester Voices “Hell” Meyers was born in New York in 1976. Although active for a short time, they are one of the most influential groups of the first wave of American punk. Hell (whose pseudonym is inspired by the opera “A Season In Hell” by the French poet Arthur Rimbaud) had previously been bassist and founder of two other big names of those years: Television and Heartbreakers . Both experiences ended due to the constant clashes with those of those bands who will be the leaders, respectively Tom Verlaine and Johnny Thunders.

Finally, the third attempt to start a band proves to be the right one and thus the Richard Hell & The Voidoids are born. Accompanying the bassist are guitarists Robert Quine and Ivan Julian and drummer Marc Bell.

“Blank Generation” and “Destiny Street”

The group signs a contract with the Sire label and in 1977 they debuted with the epochal “Blank Generation” , a milestone of the first American punk which sees in the title track a real generational anthem and of all punk (song already played in the times of Television and Heartbreakers) in which Hell’s poetic vein and literary influences emerge. Noteworthy is also the work of Quine and Julian in which their passion for rock’n’roll and jazz emerges.

Cover of the 1990 reissue of “Blank Generation”. The original featured Hell with a bare chest and “You Make Me ____” written on his chest.

Immediately after the release of the album, the band goes through a difficult period in which they abuse drugs. They participate in a tour of England by shoulder to the Clash which however will leave them dissatisfied with the English punk scene. The internal balance between the various members does not hold and in 1978 Bell left the group to join the Ramones, assuming the pseudonym of Marky Ramone. In 1979, on drums Frank Mauro released the 45 rpm “The Kid With The Replaceable Head” . Shortly thereafter, Julian also leaves, disappearing from the music scene.

We have to wait until 1982 for the second rehearsal of Richard Hell & The Voidoids, who now see Fred Maher on drums and Juan “Naux” Maciel on the second guitar. But ” Destiny Street” , released for the Red Star label, however good a album it becomes, becomes the last piece of the band’s history which effectively ends its adventure in the same year. Some reunions will follow during the 90s, but never with the original lineup. The latter met once in 2000 to record the unreleased track “Oh” which will be included in a compilation.

Subsequent careers

Over the years Hell has ventured as a writer, poet and sometimes actor acting in several films, including “Desperately Seeking Susan” with Madonna. Very few record rehearsals, following his retirement from the world in music.

The poster for the film “Desperately Seeking Susan” by Susan Seidelman.

In 1992 he was in the supergroup named Dim Stars where he found Quine and which included Don Fleming of Gumball and Steve Shelley and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth.

Quine has collaborated with many artists, first of all Lou Reed. He committed suicide in 2004 with an overdose of heroin. The previous year, his wife’s disappearance had led him into severe depression.

Curiosity

Richard Hell is considered by many to be the inventor of the famous punk look made of bristly hair, studs, chains and ragged clothes. Look taken from Malcom McLaren (manager of the Sex Pistols) and his wife, the stylist Vivienne Westwood.

In 1980 the film “Blank Generation” was released starring Hell, the band and a young Carole Bouquet.

Recommended songs:

Blank Generation (1977)
“Love Comes In Spurts” (1977)
“Another World” (1977)
“The Kid With The Replaceable Head” (1979)
“Time” (1982)
Destiny Street (1982)
“Oh” (2000)

Posted on April 2, 2020April 2, 2020 by Subcultz — Leave a comment

The Casualties and the trouble with punk rock

‘I just wish that more energy were used to protest the real culprits of misogyny and sexism, rather than punk bands,’ one fan wrote, as if the two are mutually exclusive

When I was a teenager, I often went to see a friend’s punk band play shows at an all-ages basement bar in Guelph.

He was a year younger than me, played bass, and had a bright green mohawk that stood about a foot high. The singer was a bit older and went to a different school; he wore his hair in liberty spikes. Most of the kids who went to these shows had the types of hairstyles that required Elmer’s glue to make stand on end, but not me: I had blonde highlights and a bob.

When you’re a teenager, the way you style yourself assigns you membership into a tribe that usually corresponds with what type of music you like, but at the punk shows I went to, this coding didn’t necessarily apply. As soon as I paid my cover and walked downstairs, I belonged. Punk rock is good like that, or at least it’s supposed to be: as long as you categorize yourself as some type of outsider, you’re part of the scene. Punk rock is always there for you. So it’s not hard to declare an unwavering loyalty to the scene, the fans and — most importantly — the people in the bands that comprise it.

On Thursday, Toronto’s Mod Club announced that it would be cancelling an upcoming show by punk group The Casualties due to allegations of rape against the band’s singer, Jorge Herrera. The cancellations are nothing new. A couple months after The Casualties announced a Canadian tour, 13 dates in total have been scrapped.

Allegations about Herrera have circulated for years, most notably in the form of a blog post on the website Put Your Damn Pants On by a woman named Beth who claims she was raped by Herrera when she was 16 years old, and he was about 26. Since then, a number of websites and blogs have been flooded with the comments and responses of those who claim similar experiences with Herrera; one Tumblr page compiled a list of 28 victims.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

The backlash to these allegations has been toxic. The band’s management has used a particularly heinous line of defence, claiming that it’s NOT VERY PUNK ROCK to believe the women accusing Herrera of rape: “Unfortunately, people have been quick to judge and have not taken the time to think that they are not only slandering a singer from a punk band, but also a father, husband and family man,” a statement on the Casualties’ Facebook page read earlier this week.

“The mob has lit the torches and wants to see blood. Not a thought is wasted that it could hurt an innocent,” the band said in a statement in February. “We will not stand by while an innocent man’s life is being ruined. The only thing Jorge can be found guilty of is playing in a punk band.”

The fans are right there with them, maintaining that there’s a difference between being punk and being capable of rape. “Stay strong and stay f–kin’ punk y’all,” wrote one fan, while another assured the group that “The real punx we gonna stay with you guys!” Worst of all: “I just wish that more energy were used to protest the real culprits of misogyny and sexism, rather than punk bands,” a commenter wrote, as if the two are mutually exclusive.

A similar rationale permeates the discussion surrounding Bill Cosby. In her defense of him, Cosby’s former co-star Phylicia Rashad evoked the comedian’s “legacy” as a champion of diversity. Jill Scott did the same (though she distanced herself from her remarks recently), as did rapper Chuck D just a few weeks ago. Surely, hundreds of thousands of people who grew up with Bill Cosby thought the same: that a childhood hero, a moral arbiter, a beloved comedian with a proud legacy as a Black entertainer could not also be a monster, because if he is, what does that say about all of us who loved him?

When a scheduled NXNE concert by rapper Action Bronson was yanked off a public stage in downtown Toronto due to a petition crying foul over his misogynistic lyrics, the outcry was similar, but more simplistic: if you don’t want to hear it, just stay home. “It does seem like you’re trying to placate a bunch of soccer moms instead of your actual target demographic by booking the cleanest rapper you could think of,” a comment under NXNE’s announcement of Shad as Bronson’s replacement during the fest. “What the hell,” another said. “This is Toronto. It’s music. It’s art. If someone is offended well … f–k em. They don’t have to be there.”

The comments aren’t just an attempt to silence those standing up against misogyny and sexism, but a shaming: how dare you call into question something I believe in? How dare you take this away from me?

I don’t really like The Casualties; my experience with punk rock was always a little wimpy. But growing up, I drifted in and out of the punk scene in my hometown because even if I never felt quite like I was part of it there was no sense that I was unwelcome. Everyone I ran into at shows was a little bit of a weirdo like me, and they were there because it was a supportive environment. And I knew a lot of people who liked The Casualties.

But you can be an outcast — and speak for outcasts — and still do garbage things. Punks aren’t just punks; they’re people. And anyway, it’s not like the punk rock community is immune to the pratfalls that pervade every other community.

It can be difficult to reconcile that our heroes, mentors and idols do terrible things, not least of all because of a sense that their wrongdoings are somehow reflective of ourselves. And so the impulse to doubt or lash out against accusations is sometimes born of an impulse to keep ourselves comfortable. It’s an impulse that is, by definition, harmfully closed-minded. And that’s not very punk rock.

Rebecca Tucker

The Casualties were formed in 1990, with original members Jorge Herrera (vocals), Hank (guitar), Colin Wolf (vocals), Mark Yoshitomi (bass) and Yureesh Hooker (drums). The members aimed to return to what they viewed as the “golden era” of street punk, embodied by bands such as The Exploited and Charged GBH which they believed had disappeared by 1985.^[3] During the early years, the lineup was fluid, with several changes.

In early 1991 Hank left the band, to be replaced by Fred Backus on guitar to record Political Sin in March 1991 for the Benefit for Beer compilation.^[4] Soon more changes were in the works, with new guitarist Fred heading off to school. C Squat’s Scott temporarily filled Fred’s shoes until he returned a short time later. During this period, guitarist Hank filled in for a couple of shows, and Steve Distraught also played briefly with the group on second guitar. The Casualties stabilized long enough to record the first demo in the fall of 1991 and the 40 oz Casualty EP in the spring of 1992, and was building up a fan base in their hometown of New York City. At the end of 1992, Mark and Fred left the band and were replaced by Mike Roberts on bass and Jake Kolatis on the guitar, followed by the departure of Yureesh and Colin in 1994, to be replaced on drums by Shawn, while the band went down to a single vocalist.^[1994 sees the recording of the 4 song EP, Drinking Is Our Way Of Life, however it would not be released. The songs would later appear on the Casualties “early years 1990-1995” CD in 1999. In 1995, the band’s second release, the 4 track A Fuckin’ Way Of Life E.P. was released on Eyeball Records. After recording A Fuckin’ Way of Life, Shawn left the band, and Marc Eggers (nicknamed Meggers) of the Rivits became the regular drummer. The line-up of Jorge, Jake, Mike and Meggers continued until 1997.

In 1996 the Casualties became the first American band to appear at the “Holidays in the Sun” Festival in London. 1997 saw the release of the band’s debut album, For the Punx is released on Tribal War Records, and the band embarks on its first American tour with The Varukers. Mike (the bassist) left the band in 1998, to be replaced with Johnny Rosado, from The Krays. They released their second LP that year, Underground Army, and begin a world tour.

Line-up
David Rodriguez – lead vocals (2017–present)Jake Kolatis – guitar (1993–present)Rick Lopez – bass (1998–present)Marc “Meggers” Eggers – drums (1995–present)

Past line-up
Jorge Herrera – lead vocals (1990–2017)Colin Wolf – vocals (1990–1994)Hank – guitar (1990–1991)Fred Backus – guitar (1991–1993)Mark Yoshitomi – bass (1990–1993)Mike Roberts – bass (1993–1997)Johnny Rosado – bass (1997–1998)Yureesh Hooker – drums (1990–1994)Shawn – drums (1994–1995)

Posted on March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Mods v Rockers! The beach battles that rocked Britain in 1964 – and terrified bank holiday tourists

50 years ago the nation was shocked by violence which accompanied our first true youth culture. One man at the notorious Brighton brawl looks back on the chaos

The bank holiday began with tourists flocking to the coast but ended with them fleeing for their lives as Mods and Rockers turned beaches into battlefields.

Fifty years ago, in the spring of 1964, simmering rivalry between the groups reached a flashpoint as they clashed repeatedly on seaside piers and promenades across the country.

But the worst of the violence was seen in Brighton, as families were trapped in a shocking showdown which sparked moral panic about the state of British youth.

Tony Edwards was 18 and one of the first band of Mods to arrive on the Sussex coast that day. He says: “The Rockers had outnumbered us for years but leading up to 1964 we’d grown in numbers – now it was payback time.

“When we arrived on the beach there were just a few Mods and a big group of Rockers in the middle. Within about 90 minutes the beach filled up with hundreds of Mods.

“Then someone on our side threw a pebble at them and within a few seconds they were just being blitzed. I saw one guy who’d been cut on the head with blood running down his face.

“In the end the police had to charge on to the beach and escort this group of Rockers off the seafront, which must have been humiliating. They were tough men and we were just little kids poncing around in fancy clothes.

“But we weren’t going to take their c**p any more. It was the holidaymakers I felt sorry for. They looked terrified.”

You’re coming with me, son: Police arrest youths on Brighton beach (Image: PA)

Tensions had been rising for some time. The Rockers were usually in their 20s or 30s; Elvis-loving bikers rooted in 1950s Teddy Boy culture.

The teenage Mods’ culture, which flourished in the early 60s, was based on continental clothes, Italian Vespa and Lambretta scooters and the music of soul and jazz musicians.

They first clashed that spring on the March bank holiday in Clacton. At the Essex resort 97 people were arrested and the battle lines were drawn.

After that, trouble flared from Bournemouth to Margate, up to the bank holiday of August 1964. But Brighton’s Whitsun clash was the most notorious, thanks to sensational headlines and its immortalisation in Mod flick Quadrophenia.

Battles ran well into the night but although there were weapons – knives, chains and makeshift knuckle dusters – most scuffles involved fists and boots.

Tony, once branded King of the Mods in hometown Reading, says: “There were quite a few scuffles. I got into a few myself and nearly got arrested.

“I kept out of it most of the time but we would rush over and watch if something did kick off. We saw the action on top of the aquarium, a scene which is famous.

“In the middle were these Mods with deck chairs bringing them down on the heads of Rockers.

“But a lot of injuries came from the sense of panic and all these crowds running around. It was bedlam.

“A Mod got pushed through a window and got so badly cut he was pouring with blood. It was really nasty and there was this copper holding this lad and he was quite emotional: ‘For Christ’s sake, just look at this!’ he said.

“It was an accident, the crowds pushed him through, but word spread that a Rocker did it – and that fired us up more.”

The Mods got much of the blame for the violence but 68-year-old Tony, now a dad of three and a grandad of two living in Cornwall, blames the Rockers and police.

He says: “The police were very heavy-handed. There was panic about Mods but it was misplaced. All we wanted was to have a good time. Music and clothes were our passion.

“There was probably a hardcore of violent people, Mods and Rockers, who just used it as an opportunity for a fight.

“But it was the Rockers who went to Brighton knowing there was going to be trouble. They went there looking for it – and they certainly found it.”

Posted on February 29, 2020October 26, 2022 by Toria — Leave a comment

Punk Rock Promoter Ron Watts

RON

RM) Were the early Punks, like Siouxsie, middle class students? If so, how did they feel when Punk was taken up by the masses?
Ron) No. The early Punks were solidly working class. There was the art college mob, they weren’t numerically very strong, but they were the most vivid people, because of their appearance. They set the standard, the tone, you know? But immediately behind that, by the time of the punk festival of ‘76, the bulk of the audience was being formed by young, working class people and they took it to their hearts at once. RM) Were the movements roots biased towards the fashion element or more towards the music side, or was it one package?Ron) The fashion and art side, you know, was where Siouxsie was coming from. They took it very seriously, it was a new movement and they only had the one band to start with. It was very arty, but it was an art movement that worked. If you’d been there the first night I put the Pistols on, I think it was March 30th 1976, and you saw the Bromley Contingent coming in! They didn’t all come at once, they come in dribs and drabs. Each time, it was breathtaking and jaw dropping just to see them walk through that door.RM) Were contemporary Londoners shocked by the appearance of the early Punks?
Ron) Initially, yeah. They’d got used to it by the end of that year. But initially, like in the early months, absolutely.RM) The summer of ’76 is famous for its heat wave. I bet you’ve great memories of it?
RW) In that summer, and remember that it was the hottest, the best summer in living memory, it was the summer, people still talking about it now, and nothing was happening, everybody was asleep, you know. Anyway, this New Zealand film crew turned up to capture London. They’d been dispatched from Auckland to film London, in the summer. They were bright enough to cotton on to the movement, and they were haunting me! I mean, they got so many yards, so many miles of film, some of it’s not even been seen yet. All the main punk films, like the Rock ‘n Roll Swindle, The Filth and the Fury, were relying on their footage. They were amazed when they got their first, full on, Bromley Punk. They could not believe it. They said “You guys are 200 years ahead of New Zealand!” RM) Were you interested about the politics in Punk?
Ron) I tried to keep it at arms length. I wasn’t interested in sub-divisions.RM) What about The Clash?
Ron) Didn’t know that they were! (political). I think they were just trying to make it, I mean, they latched on to it. The Pistols had got a lot of the market wrapped up with their attitudes, so The Clash had to find some attitude, and they probably cooked it up with their manager, I reckon. What attitude can we have? Well, the Pistols have got this, that and the other and they found the one that they could go for. RM) I’ve read that the purists hated them, but I loved The Jam. They flirted with politics early on, and then really got involved, with Paul Weller joining Red Wedge later.
Ron) The Jam were some of the biggest winners out of Punk. There was such a lot of talent in that band. That band was so tight.RM) Did you get more involved with them once they’d started to get bigger?
Ron) They wanted me to help them with their American tour, by going ahead from city to city publicising it. But this was ’77, and I was amazed that their manager John Weller had asked me, and I would’ve loved to have done it. But, I was at the height of my promoting career, and I realised that. So I said “No, I’ve got to stick with this.”
RM) The Jam always felt like a band that, as a fan, you had a stake in.
Ron) I tell you what, they did a show for me at the 100 Club, when they’d been doing really huge venues like the Hammersmith Odeon. They’d always said, when we get there, we’ll come back and do one. They ended up doing three for me. One at Wycombe Town Hall, one at the Nags Head, which is a pub, you know! And, the 100 Club. They were really good like that, and I appreciate what they did for me and I love ‘em to bits.RM) It’s weird that there was all that acrimony between those people, and even stranger that Rick, and now Bruce, are playing in a Jam tribute band. (The Gift).Ron) Good drummer. I think, and this is my opinion, as I’ve no proof of it, that the girls all used to go for Bruce Foxton. The band was great, and they knew the band was great and they loved Paul Weller. But, in their hearts they all fancied that they’d get off with Bruce Foxton. When I did the box office at the 100 Club, there’d be all these girls turning up in school uniforms. I’d be saying “How old are you?” and the answer was always “19!” Am I really going to sell these girls tickets?!RM) I read somewhere, years ago, that Sid Vicious and Paul Weller had a fight after arguing about the Holidays in the Sun/ In the City riff. Did you hear that one?
Ron) No. I can’t see that. Paul Weller was from a tough, working class background. A fight between him and Sid Vicious would have lasted about 8 seconds. He would have dealt with Sid in no time at all. It didn’t happen. Sid would need to have been tooled up, and I’ve had to fight him 3 times when he was. And I’m still here. Sid came at me with a chain, once. I confiscated it, and wish I still had all these weapons, as I could put them up for sale at Christies, couldn’t I?! And I saw Sid with a knife, threatening Elle, the singer out the Stinky Toys with it. I took that off him and gave it to Malcolm Mclaren. Wish I’d kept it. RM) Ron, did you have much to do with Rock Against Racism (R.A.R)?
Ron) Only in as much as I endorsed it. And, I wouldn’t have any racist behaviour, as it says in the book, in any of my venues. I just wouldn’t. No way, I mean my bouncers were black, a lot of my acts were black, and I wasn’t going to have it. There were a few occasions when it surfaced, and I did the natural thing and let the black guys sort it themselves.RM) Empowerment?
Ron) Yeah. At Wycombe Town Hall, the British movement guys were having a go at my bouncer, Gerry. One black guy against twenty or thirty of them, so I said to him “I’ll take your position, don’t be long, go down the pubs and get your mates.” And he come back in with a dozen big black lads. I said to them, “Look, you’re here to look after Gerry, not to kill these white guys.” So, Gerry stood in front of them, and there wasn’t a word out of them again! They moved out of the way, and went down the other side of the hall, these bullies. They saw the odds evening up a bit, and given the other 8 or 9 bouncers I had stood in the hall, we would’ve murdered them.
RM) Jimmy Pursey went on-stage with The Clash at R.A.R in Victoria Park. Was this damage limitation on Pursey’s behalf? He seemed to get his fingers burned when the Skins affiliated to Sham 69.
Ron) Exactly. And I don’t think he liked that one little bit. See, now, Jimmy Pursey is another guy, like Paul Weller and Joe Strummer, probably all of them at that time. Underneath he was a much nicer person than the media, and the world, would realise and portray. He was an alright geezer and he caught the wrong end of the backlash. People were believing what he was portraying and singing about, and that wasn’t necessarily him!RM) Did Sham 69 dance a bit to close the flame? They could be perceived as “rabble rousing”, if you like.
Ron) They were looking for something to hang their stick on, if you like. The Pistols found it in one. Joe Strummer looked around with The Clash and thought about it and did it, you know. The Jam done it through their potent mix of soul and punk, and I think Jimmy Pursey thought he’d go with the hard boys in the East End. The skinheads, and the mobsters and the ruffians, you know. RM) Musically, Sham 69 were similar to the Pistols…
Ron) Yeah, closer than some. I liked Sham 69, they were alright. I think Pursey is another guy who hung his hat somewhere, and that hat got on the wrong peg.

RM) How fast did Punk spread throughout 1977?
Ron) Well, it got going in ’76. The Wycombe Punks, because they had me to promote at the Nags Head, got their first Sex Pistols gig there on September 3rd, which was actually 3 weeks before the 100 Club Festival. They were on the case really early. In ’76, Wycombe and the surrounding towns were full of Punks. By the end of that year, they even had a black Punk in Wycombe, a guy called Marmite. He had black hair, with a silver zigzag stripe in it. By ’77, it was all up and running everywhere. By January or February 1977 almost everyone under the age of 18 or 19 was a Punk.RM) When did the press really get hold of it?
Ron) Then. But they were on to it before the Bill Grundy Show, the Punk Festival was before that show and from then it was just….you know. I used to get phone calls, from NBC and CBS in America asking if anything’s going on, or coming off, could you let us know.
RM) That’s odd, being as the Americans claim to have invented Punk!
Ron) They were a year or two ahead. It’s like most things. It’s like the Blues. We had to take the Blues back to America for White America to know about it. Cream, Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, those sort of people. RM) America’s too big and too diverse. It couldn’t host youth movements like Punk and 2-Tone.Ron) No. It had to come from somewhere else. I mean, in New York it was a club scene, in Britain it was a national scene. RM) What did you think of those American bands?Ron) Some of them were really good. I didn’t think New York Dolls were as good as bands like Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. They were probably the best Punk band I ever saw, actually.
RM) And Blondie?
Ron) Well, Blondie. The bass player, Nigel was a guy from the Nags Head. Tigger, we used to call him. That was his name round Wycombe. He played at the Nags Head before he was in Blondie. I’ve got to say that Tigger and Blondie didn’t get on. Maybe she fancied him, and he didn’t fancy her!

RM) He would’ve been the only British male in the late ‘70’s who didn’t, then?!
Ron) Perhaps he knew something we didn’t!RM) Back to the serious stuff, Ron. The Clash flew to Belfast, had some nice photos taken near some barricades and murals. Then they flew home. No gigs played. What do you think about all that?
Ron) Well, it’s up to them. Sometimes, promotional events can take over. You can be wise after the event, it might have sounded like a good thing at the time. Who knows, I mean, it might have been sincere. I didn’t see them as a band who had very political motives outside of the publicity. I’m not saying they didn’t have a heart, but sometimes publicity sows a life of its own, you know.RM) If they’d played, this would never have been an issue with people over the years.
Ron) No, but they would do benefits and things, R.A.R, and one just before Joe died, for a fireman’s benefit. RM) It’s ironic. The Pistols and Strummer/Jones last gigs in England were both strike fund benefits. And the Pistols, apparently, never cashed their cheque from that Christmas Day one.
Ron) I wasn’t a party to any of that, but yeah, that was a good gesture. A lesson. A guy came down to interview me, and he lived near Joe Strummer. Lived in the same village and he was a long time journalist. He said that he thought that Joe Strummer had a lot of heart, and it was very typical of him that he’d go out and do a benefit as The Clash, but commercially would only do The Mescalero’s.

RM) Back to the Pistols, now Ron. What was their early live sound like?
Ron) I’ll tell you something now that I’ve never told anybody before. Musically, when the Pistols started, I thought that they were, or sounded like, a youth club heavy metal band. Not the songs, or the vocals, or even the presentation but the actual sound of the band. It wasn’t a weak sound, but it wasn’t particularly pokey. Within three months, they’d perked it up a lot.
RM) How big an influence was Dave Goodman to their sound?
Ron) He brought a lot of stuff to them. He gave them a lot of advice. He’d make them sound a lot more pokey, he’d get them to do things. I spent a lot of time with Dave Goodman, as when you’re a promoter, you’re there to open it up. And Dave used to arrive early, you know, he’d arrive at four in the afternoon. I’d give him a hand in with some of the gear, and we’d spend some time together as we’d be the only ones there for a couple of hours. I’d be answering the phone and stuff, doing other things like that, but I got to know that guy. He never actually spoke to me about Punk. He mentioned the Pistols, but he never actually spoke about the Punk movement. I wish I’d recorded all those conversations!RM) Did you always fill the 100 Club?
Ron) Well, after the first couple of months, it filled out, yeah. I mean, the Pistols didn’t pull a crowd for about their first six gigs. We’re talking about 50 – 80 people, the Bromley Contingent and a few interested parties!

RM) Some people must’ve come in to watch the Pistols out of curiosity? Maybe just walking by the club, then deciding to see what was going on in there, and finding their lives would never be quite the same again?
Ron) Yeah, I think that younger people who come down to see it would change. They’d come down the first night with long hair and flares, and by the third night they’d seen them they’d come down in drainpipes and Punk haircut, you know?

RM) What about the other clubs, Ron, like the Roxy?
Ron) Went to the Roxy, yes, many times. It was a bit of a pokey hole actually. The Roxy didn’t last long. The Vortex I went to. The stories I used to hear about that place! It was more of a disco crowd, actually. Rent-a-Punk, you know? It wasn’t for the faint hearted, not very savoury! RM) Did you get to read many of the fanzines?
Ron) Yeah, I did. I used to see them all. We had one out in the Home Counties called the Buckshee Press, which is a piss take of the Bucks Free Press, of course there was Sniffin’ Glue, we used to see that at the 100 Club all the time. There were others, too, I came across them all over the place, actually, some of them were just one issue, you know, and just a couple of pages.RM) Did you know Mark Perry and the music hacks the time?
Ron) Yeah, I knew Mark. Caroline Coon, too. Caroline has been very kind to me in her books, and things, you know. In fact she blamed me, or congratulated me for the whole of Punk in one of them, special thanks to Ron Watts, and that’s nice! Caroline was the first dedicated journalist who wanted to see Punk happen. And, I’m glad in a way that it happened for her, too, because she put her money on the table, you know? Same as I did. She ran that Release thing, which got all the hippies out of jail for cannabis. She was ahead of her time, I mean seriously, you can’t lock someone up for 6 months for smoking cannabis! RM) Changing tack again, Ron. What did you think of Malcolm Mclaren?
Ron) I like Malcolm personally. No doubt, you know, I’m not just saying that. On first impressions he looked like an Edwardian gentleman. He’d got that off to a tee, I’d never seen anyone look like him, actually. I never had any bad dealings with him, and he was always very straightforward.RM) People either loved or loathed Mclaren. John Lydon isn’t a fan.
Ron) Yeah, I think it was more of a financial thing, but I mean, John Lydon should also remember that without Mclaren he probably wouldn’t have been in them. Mclaren set the scene going, I was the first to pick it up, from that, before recording deals, but he never stuffed me like he stuffed the record companies. They made a lot of money, initially.RM) Did the record companies drop the band so willingly because it was Jubilee year?
Ron) Well, the Pistols were full on and did it. I mean, “God Save The Queen” become one of the biggest selling British hit singles, didn’t it? It’s still selling now! And they wouldn’t let it on the shelves, would they. Bless ‘em! RM) You were on the legendary ’77 boat trip up the Thames, when the Pistols played and Mclaren got arrested. What was that like?
Ron) It was lovely! You should’ve been there, honestly. The band were ok, they just did their normal gig. I enjoyed seeing people that you wouldn’t expect, talking to each other. When you’ve got the boss of Virgin, that business empire, talking to Sid Vicious, can you imagine what sort of conversation they had?! I’d loved to have taken a tape recorder in there! RM) Do you think the police raid on the boat was planned?
Ron) I tell you what, I was amazed at that. I was actually on deck, and the boat was going downstream, back towards Westminster Pier. The Pistols were playing, and it got a bit jostley. You know, a bit of charging about in a small space ‘cause it wasn’t very big, the boat, really. So, I went out on to the deck by the railings, and a couple of other people come and joined me. There was plenty of food and drink, and I had a beer and a chicken leg or something, you know. And I’m looking and I can see these two police boats, and they were a way off. Downstream, I could see two more police boats, and they were a way off, too. I carried on eating the chicken and drinking the beer, looked round, and they were all there, together, at the same time! I mean, the degree of professionalism was just amazing! And then they were on that boat, in force, like about twelve or fifteen coppers, in moments. The boat was quite high sided, but they were up there. And you know what they were doing, they were up there and on that boat and we were escorted into the Westminster Pier basin.RM) Then Mclaren was nicked. Do you reckon he did just enough to get the publicity of an arrest without being charged with anything serious?
Ron) I saw that. He got a lot of press out of it, yeah. He knew. Everybody turned to me, to try and sort it all out. One of them was a Countess!
RM) Ron, you mentioned that no other bands were on the boat. Was there a real rivalry between these new bands at the time?
Ron) The Jam were the young upstarts according to the Pistols, you know. The Clash were their biggest rivals at the time. The Damned, they had no time for.RM) Why don’t The Damned get their due credit? In my opinion, they should.
Ron) I don’t know. A lot of people say they’re just a Punk cocktail act. You don’t see a lot about them, and yet they were the first to get a single out and they could play. Scabies could play. Brian James come up brilliant, but then he’d have done anything, if they’d have asked him to join Led Zeppelin he’d have done that, and Captain (Sensible), well I like Captain.RM) Buzzcocks were, from what I’ve heard on bootlegs, a bit rough to start with. They really hit a rich seam once they got up and running.
Ron) If the Buzzcocks could make it, anybody could. I wasn’t impressed, really. But what’s in the future’s in the future, you never know what is at the time. They blossomed.

RM) And Magazine? Did you rate them?
Ron) Yeah, I did. Brilliant guitarist, John McGeoch. And Penetration, they were a good band, and X-Ray Spex.

RM) Which bands are you the most pleased to have seen play?
Ron) Well, I mean, it’s all of them. But where do you start?! Alright, the Pistols and The Clash, definitely, yeah. The Jam – pleased to see them anywhere, anytime. I did enjoy the Damned at an early stage, but they’re not in the top 5. And Sham 69, and The Heartbreakers.RM) I heard “Pretty Vacant” on the radio in my car earlier today, and I got the old goose bumps. Does any of the music from that time affect you the same?
Ron) All the early Pistols stuff, yeah!RM) What’s your view on Punk and Reggae getting married?
Ron) Yeah, if people want to get together and cross pollinate ideas, then that’s alright. It was the underbelly, twice. You had the white working class and the black working class responding to each other at last! RM) Some Punk bands who had a go at playing Reggae were better than others. Ruts, SLF and of course The Clash all cracked it in their own styles…
Ron) The worst Reggae act I ever saw, were The Slits. Actually, probably just the worst act! RM) Do you think that Punk and Reggae blending in ’77 was the root of Two Tone?
Ron) Yes. I’m sure it came out of that. I used to have a lot of Reggae acts on in that club, aside from Punk and the Blues and everything. I’d put on Steele Pulse, or an American Blues artist like Muddy Waters, as long as it was what I liked.
RM) Your best front men and women?
Ron) I’m thinking about this one…The best oddball front man was Wayne County. Best front woman, from what I saw, Faye Fife.RM) You rate Faye Fife over Poly Styrene?Ron) You’re putting me on the spot there! I’d put them equal for different reasons. Faye used to put on a great act. They were perennially at the club and at the Nags Head. Because I had so many venues, when they were coming down again, I needed to know, because that’s three bookings to give them. It was always like, “get your diary out, mate, when you coming down?” If I gave them three bookings, they’d come down, and they could fill it out with other stuff, do the rounds. X-Ray Spex were good, too. Really good band. The Rezillos are still going, actually. RM) I watched a documentary on TV the other night about that Stiff Records tour. The one where they hired a train from BR.
Ron) They did the first night for me, at High Wycombe, yeah. There were some funny people there! Wreckless Eric was at the Punk thing I did in Blackpool this year. It took me about an hour to recognise him. I kept looking and looking and vaguely remembered him. Not a nice bloke. RM) Here’s the last one, Ron. Punk lit a fuse for many people. I’m one (albeit two years late), the other people who contributed questions to this interview are others and there’s millions more. As Ed Armchair puts it, his fuse is still burning to this day, and has affected virtually every aspect of his life since it was lit. Do you have the same feelings about Punk as we do?
Ron) Yes. I got going through that and it still survives. My first love in music was, and is, Blues. I see a lot of similarities between Punk and Blues. They both come from the underbelly of a society, and they’ve both triumphed against all the odds. They both spoke for their people of that time and place. They’ll reverberate forever. Punk freshened up a stale music scene and the Blues were the bedrock for twentieth and twenty-first century music.RM) Ron, thanks for your time and best of luck with your new projects.END

Posted on January 30, 2020January 30, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Mods Of your Generation Interview – Sam Q’s NightPatrol – ‘Mod Bossa’

MODS OF YOUR GENERATION·WEDNESDAY, 24 JULY 2019·

SAM QURESHI is an Alto Saxophonist and Composer of Jazz, Mod Bossa & Latin soul. He was born in Pakistan, grew up in Birmingham and has lived in Manchester since 1997. He is a talented & dedicated Jazz Musician with over 35 years working with some big names in the music industry. He has an interesting and exhilarating story to tell. Mods of your Generation are excited to feature him an interview.

Mods took their name from Modern Jazz in London 1958 becoming the phenomenon we know and love today. The culture spread throughout the united kingdom and worldwide, effecting fashion trends in many countries adopting Italian scooters such as Vespas and Lambrettas and tailored suites. It was an essential part of The Swinging 60’s. The original Mods of this exciting new subculture frequently attended Jazz clubs listening to Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Miles Davis – New Mods are listening to Sam Q catalogue in the same way however some are sceptical and not aware about its original roots. Whether it’s the chill-out Bossa Nova set in the lounge or the late night hot sambas to dance the night away. It has become the re-Birth of The Cool. Sam Q’s Night patrol are the essential sound to take you on a journey back to the roots of the Modernist culture and how it first began.

1) can you explain the Concept of Jazz Music /Bossa Nova in terms of Mod Culture? It’s the pure History of the UK and Worldwide birth of the Mods. It began in London in the late 50’s at the Jazz Clubs at the time. I guarantee you the members of The Who, The Kinks, Paul Weller will be big Jazz fans – and the former would have been attending Jazz/ Bossa Gigs in the Swinging 60’s -They will have original Blue Note Records in glorious Vinyl of the Jazz/Bossa Nova Masters such as Miles Davis, Stan Getz and John Coltrane. Jack Kerouc in his book ‘’On The Road’’ documented it as ‘’The Beatnics Generation’’ – you can read this blog on my website also https://spinningwheelrecords.com/modbossa

2) Do you think your music would sit in with Modern Day Mods? Yes! I think they are fed up of the norm bands – There are some really cool Mod bands out there for both old and young Mods these days . I think the ‘’New Mod’’ would really dig the sound of ‘Sam Q’s Nightpatrol’’ with the hybrid Latin sounds that Ive invented coupled with infectious rhythms and catchy melodies, it’s a very cool and stylish vibe and they would recognise and identify with their sub culture no problem. Of course, Ska and Northern Soulies also would latch on the Saxaphone influence straight away. My Vinyl EP ‘’Peles Groove’’ proves this with the demand being so great I had to manufacture another run.

3) Who are the band members of Sam Q’s Nightpatrol? Your not going to believe this but I must have worked with over 100 Musicians since the birth of my Latino adventure called Nightpatrol some 10 years ago!! Jazz musicians are hard to hold as they are in so much demand and they tend to keep moving on with alternative projects. But this gives me such a emphathy with for example the great Saxaphonist John Coltrane and other greats from the 1960’s – as it was the same problem with the quartets he tried to establish. Eventually finding his classic quartet of Garrison, Tyner and Jones. I have used many vocalists worldwide on my compositions also – the greatest musician I used on my ‘’Birdbrain’ and ‘’Secret Bossa Nova’’ tracks is Gibi Dossantos of the Sergio Mendes Band. On my current EP ‘’Lucky Charm’’ I have introduced a young Swedish Girl on vocals called ‘’Maya’’ – I love to nuture and develop- Also my most regular musician bassist Mike Crumpton.

4) Do you find this movement of musicians very difficult to cope with? The opposite is true. It keeps everything very fresh and new. I always have a nucleus of great musicians available who know my stuff – Although I do strive for my Spiritual line up. My idea is to introduce a new vocalist every 12 months – To give others a chance of breaking through in the music Industry – I think this is important also destroys that old fashioned image of a regular band line up- It’s great when I’m going to do a gig people wondering ‘’will it be Maya or Vanessa or Taylor on Vocals tonight etc’’ – When I tour different countries I will introduce local singers there for example in Los Angeles Fernanda Franco who sang on ‘’Love Spring Fountains’’ in Spain ‘’Almudena Moldes’’ who is the singer on ‘’Birdbrain’’

5) What is a typical Sam Q’s Nightpatrol gig like? We normally do 2 sets – The first is what I call the ‘’cool set’’ a selection of gentle Bossa Novas from the Jobim Songbook – as well as many originals both instrumental and vocal. This really relaxes the audience as they get prepared for the later set. It really puts their mind on the alpha levels, of course the alcohol also helps to! The 2nd set is the ‘’hot set’’ fast Bossas and Sambas and the joint really is jumping believe me!! Dancing on the tables. Now who says they don’t like Jazz.

A live performance of Sam Q’s Night patrol in Manchester UK at Bar 21 playing ”Peles Groove” 6) How important is it to play the Bossa Nova Standards and can you name some of them? I think its very important to play a few standards at each gig as this educates the audience onto the birth of the genre and how they relate to my compositions. The music biz can also see how equally my originals sit with the ‘Masters’ of the past which of course wins me gigs and Record Deals. Proof of this is how well my music is being accepted by the Brazillians themselves and currently been offered a Tour of Brazil. The classic Jobim Tunes I will play are ‘’Desafinado, Wave,Corcovado’’ to name a few we also do the Classic Sergio Mendes ‘’Mas Qu Nada’’

7) Your sound seems to be accepted by a much wider audience than the normal Latin Jazz threatening to break commercially – Proof of this is 2 of your past Managers – Can you tell us a little bit about them both? A tear comes to my eyes as they have both now passed away. The great Joe Moss who managed The Smiths and Johnny Marr saw me playing a gig by pure chance in Manchester some years ago and immediately wanted to work with me. I was actually playing in a ‘’Indie Rock’’ venue and instead of the punters leaving they were phoning their friends to get to the venue and we got 5 encores. He saw a parallel with the Indie Music movement of Manchester in the 80s when all the major labels said it would never sell. Joe proved them wrong.. The Smiths sold millions. Joe loved my style of Bossa Nova and encouraged me to keep pushing on a regular giging circuit, ofcourse he would represent me to the Majors and prove them wrong a second time haha.. Bruce Replogle who worked with manifold commercial bands over the years including US Manager for John Lennon heard a few of my tracks on New York Radio Station and instantly phoned me and sent me a management contract – He called us ‘’The Beatles of Bossa Nova’’ – I miss them both dearly.

8) Tell me more about the Major Interest currently and why you think this is? I think Latin Music has come into the forefront of Commercial Music today – Its influence is very apparent such as massive hit Justin Bieber ‘’Depacito’’ – Every week a major seems to release a Latin inspired track – Of course back in the 60s The Beatles touched on this with the Latin inflected ‘’and I love her’’ – But clearly today and now they are searching for the flagship of Bossa Nova – People from Sony, Universal and Warner are actively making contact with me – Im talking right now with Universal Music LA about a potential US Tour to follow up our Brazilian Tour next year. On my Social Media and websites stats you see them monitoring every move I seem to make!! I recently signed a Publishing deal with the original David Bowie and Black Sabbath Team which is another strong indication.

9) Tell me about your previous releases including your current release ‘’Lucky Charm’’? I have recorded to a high level 8 albums/EPs and recently formed my own label ‘’Spinning Wheel Records’’ to accommodate the business sides. Albums have completely different musicians and vocalists on them as I touched on in a previous answer. They are digitally distributed via Imusica in Brazil who power all the Latin releases worldwide so Im very proud of this. From ‘’How To Steal The World’’ to ‘’ Magnetic Lunchbox’’ to the current ‘’Lucky Charm’’ they seem to be rocking the Industry and music lovers Worldwide. The Vinyl EP ‘’Peles Groove’’ is doing fantastically well in the marketplace. The current ‘’Lucky Charm’’ features vocalist ‘’Maya’’ and is 2 originals and 2 classic Bossa Nova side by side. It includes ‘’The Girl from Ipanema’’ and my original ‘’Magpie and the Squirrel’’

10) You were a professional Busker for years and was spotted by Paramount Pictures. How else did busking Jazz in the streets help with your musical development? My busking years started in Birmingham in the early 1990s – and I continued when I first arrived in Manchester in 1998 – It helped me establish my first gigs in Manchester as many Bar owners saw me playing – Busking is a very special artform there’s nothing like it to master your instrument 30 minutes of Busking is equivalent to 4 hours practice!! When you learn something standing in the streets you will never forget it and Studio Session work becomes a doddle. Any fool can go into a Studio with a recording team and high-quality equipment and made to sound good. But busking is the REAL deal the Public aren’t stupid, and they will know immediately if you don’t have the talent. I busked jazz, no backing tracks, and kept the punters happy. I must have played over 1000 tunes across the board, never planning my sets just blowing my Sax and let the spirit take me where it wanted to go. Paramount Pictures Scouts were walking though Manchester during their filming of the remake of ‘’Alfie’’ and approached me to appear in the production as a New York street busker – which was great but but NOTHING beats the feeling when a small child of 4 years of age comes and dances in front of your playing when you are busking and the parents film and put a few pennies in your box. That’s true musical success!!

11) Tell me about your School Days and your friends growing up? I was 13 years old and sneaked into a Pub in Birmingham in 1978. On my way out I was set about by National Front members in their early 20’s – To my rescue a group of lads black/white in their late teens who turned out be a starting out UB40. Afterwards they took me to their rehearsal room, a shabby old cellar. 12) How did UB40 Influence your musical career? They had learned their instruments from scratch and influenced me to do the same and join the band, but I was still a school kid. I used to play truant from school and watch them rehearse and go to their gigs. I loved watching them develop their reggae sound and how music could deliver such a powerful political message, they were the forefront of the Rock against Racism movement in the early 80s and played with all the Ska Two Tone bands like The Specials, Madness and The Selector. Also, this was my first flavour with the Mods who had adopted 2 Tone at that particular time. In Birmingham I was regarded as the 8th member of UB40 Sax player Brian Travers bought me my first Saxaphone.

England World Cup Anthem Song 2014 Written by Manchester Jazz Musician Sam Qureshi for the Brazil World Cup 2014. 13) Who was your greatest influence to become and succeed as a musician? In one word my Mum. She was my inspiration and kept me going when I easily could have given up. She was my rock in the Industry and I always got my strength from her. She passed away 4 years ago, but I can feel her by my side every single day. Check out Mods Of Your Generation via the link below https://www.facebook.com/modsofyourgeneration/ Interview by Johnny Bradley – Mods of Your Generation interview (c) Johnny Bradley & Mods Of Your GenerationPhoto (c) Sam Qureshi

Posted on January 30, 2020January 30, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Punk Rock: A Jewish History

From its emergence in the 1970s, punk rock was a movement which concerned itself with the present. Its hallmarks were rock ‘n’ roll, a do-it-yourself attitude and a good sense of humor. As it spread from the U.S. to the U.K., it would also come to include a distinctive political sensibility. Many of the early punks were young people who actively sought to distance themselves from their upbringings, from any kind of ethnic ties, and to form new identities through their art.

Given the punk attitude of leaving the past behind and forging a new way forward, it seems counterintuitive to connect punk rock with Judaism. Yet punk, like many art forms to come out of New York City, has deep roots in Jewish history. From its origins with Jewish musicians in the 1970s to modern-day Jewish punk bands, the histories of Jewish culture and punk rock are deeply intertwined.

Many of the people involved in the original punk scene in 1970s New York were the children of working- and middle-class Jews. Their backgrounds ranged from overtly religious to secular and culturally Jewish, but all of them were formed by their Jewish backgrounds and would in turn bring those influences to their music and performances. These included not just musicians—such as Joey and Tommy Ramone, Chris Stein of Blondie, Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group, Richard Hell, and all of The Dictators—but also managers, photographers, club owners and more. Punk might not exist as we know it without the Jewish club manager Hilly Kristal, founder and owner of CBGB, the club where many New York punks performed for the first time. Nor would it have made it to the U.K. without Jewish manager and Sex Pistols founder Malcolm McLaren. Jewish record company executives like Seymour Stein recorded the music, while Jewish photographers like Bob Gruen documented the scene for posterity.

However, despite the large Jewish presence in early punk, many were reluctant to discuss their Jewish heritage. Like many Jewish entertainers, quite a few punks took on less Jewish-sounding stage names (like Thomas Erdelyi and Jeffrey Hyman, who became Tommy and Joey Ramone, respectively), while others had their names changed by their parents in childhood, in order to better fit into the American middle class (as with punk godfather Lou Reed, whose father changed the family name from Rabinowitz). Some even went as far as denying or refusing to discuss their Jewish heritage. While for some this may have reflected their discomfort with their Jewish identities, many more undoubtedly did it as part of embracing punk’s freedom to recreate oneself. “The tabula rasa aspect of punk is one of the most important things about it,” says Vivien Goldman, who was a music journalist covering punk in the U.K. in the 1970s and is now the author of Revenge of the She-Punks, a book on women and punk. Although Goldman’s Jewish background is certainly important to her—her parents were Holocaust survivors, and she is a first generation British citizen—she believes that “to be a punk was to liberate yourself from what had gone before.”

This seemed to be the predominant belief among punks of the 1970s on both sides of the Atlantic. Jewish culture was rarely at the forefront of punk music, even if its creators were quietly Jewish behind the scenes. Some offhand references to Jewish culture crept into the occasional song, but these were “few and far between and largely subterranean,” says Michael Croland, author of the books Oy Oy Oy Gevalt!: Jews and Punk and Punk Rock Hora: Adventures in Jew-Punk Land. These references were largely secular and easy to miss, such as The Ramones’s reference to “kosher salamis” in the song “Commando.”

Quite a few punks took on less Jewish-sounding stage names—like Thomas Erdelyi and Jeffrey Hyman, who became Tommy and Joey Ramone.

Something that did become part of the imagery for many early punks—Jews and non-Jews alike—was, counterintuitively, Nazi imagery. Young punks were known to wear swastikas and, particularly in the New York scene, collect Nazi memorabilia. The reason for this can seem difficult to grasp. “They weren’t serious [about being Nazis],” says Goldman, however she also adds, “I didn’t like it, and a lot of us didn’t like it.” One reason for the use of the swastika by U.K. punks, as Goldman and others have speculated, is that it was a way to rebel against their parents, the generation that had lived through World War II and had yet to stop talking about it. In America, Steven Lee Beeber speculates in his book The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk that the use of Nazi imagery was a means for Jews to take back control of the narrative, to control former Nazi property, to play with it and poke fun at it as they pleased.

Starting in the 1980s, punk underwent a series of musical and cultural changes. By this point, many of the best-known original punk bands had either broken up or evolved their sound to fit punk’s new commercial market. However, their early work had permanently changed the music world, especially for young people, with new punk bands arising and the genre spawning new offshoots such as post-punk and new wave. Punk was disseminated beyond its original scenes, leading the musical style to be adopted for new purposes. This included, for the first time, Jewish punk bands who embraced their Jewish identity in their music, rather than relegating it to the background.

According to Croland, the first such band was Jews from the Valley, which arose from the L.A. punk scene in 1981. At the time, they were still somewhat of an outlier. While new punk bands like Bad Religion and NOFX carried the 1970s torch in having Jewish members while not making most of their music about Judaism, Croland says that Jews from the Valley began when “one guy was screaming along to ‘Hava Nagila’ one day and thought, ‘I should distort that and put that into a song.’” That guy was Mark Hecht, and the song and the band both became known as Jews from the Valley, and thus began the short-lived career of the first Jewish punk band. Their music incorporated well-known Jewish songs such as “Hava Nagila,” original songs with Jewish themes, and a good dose of Jewish/punk humor and offensiveness. The band broke up after just a couple years, and at the time, it seems there were no other bands making punk music explicitly Jewish.

The 1990s saw punk undergo yet more major changes. In the early and mid-90s, punk (or pop punk, depending on who you ask) became radio-friendly, with bands like Green Day and The Offspring mainstreaming the genre. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, many pop punk bands rose to fame. The other major punk revolution of the decade was Riot Grrrl, a movement which combined punk rock style and aesthetics with feminist politics. Though women had been present in punk scenes since the beginning, feminism was now being brought to the forefront of punk politics, and all-female punk bands such as Bikini Kill were rising to prominence. On a somewhat smaller scale, Jewish identity also became a more prominent feature of punk, helped by the fact that Jewishness was becoming a more acceptable topic in popular music at large (a trend which Croland partially credits to Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song”). Though there was not—and is not—really a Jewish punk “scene,” the 1990s was the first time that multiple Jewish punk bands came into existence simultaneously.

Probably the most prominent example of such a band was the Australian group Yidcore. Formed in 1998, they put their Jewish identity at the forefront of their music and performances, albeit not in a particularly serious way. “They were all about shtick,” says Croland, “whether that was drinking Manischewitz wine out of a shofar, getting into food fights on stage with hummus or bagels or falafel, or using their songs to try to woo Natalie Portman.” They drew on the traditions of the early punk scene, not just in musical style, but also in their love of humor and irony, while adding an in-your-face Jewish twist which early punk bands lacked. The group stayed together for over a decade, becoming perhaps the best-known Jewish punk band.

In the 21st century, punk has splintered into many styles and subgenres, including the further development of “Jewish punk” and “punk-influenced Jewish music” as genres unto themselves. With punk so well integrated into the musical mainstream, it is hard to point to an insular “punk scene” such as that of 1970s New York, but instead, punk and its offshoots have spread out, both stylistically and geographically.

Moshiach Oi! performing at the book launch for Michael Croland’s Punk Rock Hora in March 2019 (Credit: Shloyo Witriol)

While Jewish punk continues to be a niche genre, several bands have carved out an unabashedly Jewish space in the modern world of punk. Moshiach Oi! is one such band. Formed in 2008 and still active today, the band performs songs with an overtly religious bent, made to showcase its love of Torah. In the realm of cultural Jewishness, The Shondes has become a successful punk band that is open about its Jewish roots. “I came into playing rock music through Riot Grrrl and queercore—radical punk movements that helped shape my aesthetics and politics at a really formative age,” says Louisa Solomon, the band’s singer. The Shondes’ music combines rock and radical politics with references to Jewish proverbs and melodies, a combination which came naturally. “We write as full people informed by all of our experiences,” says violinist Elijah Oberman. “Jewishness is one part of that, just as our experiences as queer or as women or trans/non-binary people are. Jewish stories and ritual are a part of how we’ve come to be who we are, and so are Jewish melodies.”

The Shondes at a seder in their new Passover-themed music video “True North” (Credit: Jeanette Sears)

The Shondes

Similarly, punk—both its aesthetic and its attitude—has permeated more traditional forms of Jewish music, including klezmer and simcha music. Younger musicians like Daniel Kahn grew up with punk as part of their musical taste. Kahn has taken aspects of punk and made them part of his klezmer-based repertoire, creating a self-described “radical Yiddish punkfolk cabaret.” Similarly, bands such as Electric Simcha have adapted aspects of punk to simcha music—traditional Jewish music played at celebrations such as weddings. Just as punk has influenced non-Jewish forms of music, forming such genres as pop punk, so too have there been multiple punk-y variations of Jewish music.

The fact that punk has been and continues to be influenced by Jewishness (and vice versa) speaks to the core concerns at the center of both cultures. In discussing why Jews continue to be drawn to punk, Oberman gets to the heart of one of their most essential similarities: “Jews are taught to wrestle with G-d, and to me that also means wrestling with our texts, our rituals, our traditions. When even the things you hold most sacred are always up for debate, I think that can lead to a level of comfort with deep questioning of how things are or are supposed to be. Pretty punk, yeah?”

Written by: BRIANNA BURDETSKY

List of Punk Rock Jews:

A

Patrick Aleph

B

C

D

The Dictators

F

G

H

I

Jack Irons

J

Mick Jones (The Clash guitarist)

K

L

M

P

R

S

T

V

W

Y

Posted on January 30, 2020January 30, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Chuck D of Public Enemy on The Clash

The Clash and Chuck D — Image captionChuck D on The Clash: “They taught us to fight for what really matters”.

When Public Enemy frontman Chuck D was introduced to the righteous punk of The Clash, he didn’t get it.

“I thought they were a bunch of people with brand new music that were whining about their existence,” he tells the BBC.

“I didn’t think their problems were as severe as black people’s problems, but oppression is oppression and abuse is abuse.

“At that age I didn’t know how much their pain was. I do now.”

What the rapper later discovered was a band who were unafraid to take artistic chances, filing front-line reports on the poverty, boredom and lack of opportunity facing the British working class.

Fiery and idealistic, their music nonetheless seemed alien to a hip-hop fan in Long Island… until Chuck D’s friend Bill Stephney told him Public Enemy should be the rap equivalent of The Clash.

“The idea was that we were going to do something that would have a level of intellectual heft,” Stephney later recalled.

“It would have some substance to it, but it had to rock the party.”

The song that first made Chuck D “pay attention” to The Clash was The Magnificent Seven – unsurprising, given that it was itself inspired by the boombox rap of Grandmaster Flash and the Sugarhill Gang.

Built around a loping bass line (played by Norman Watt-Roy of the Blockheads) it saw Joe Strummer pick apart the human cost of capitalism, as he chronicled a day in the life of a minimum wage supermarket employee.

The combination of rap and a social message made a big impression; and Chuck cannily noted that reporters often talked about The Clash’s message as much as their music.

“They talked about important subjects, so therefore journalists printed what they said, which was very pointed,” he told NBC earlier this year.

“We took that from the Clash, because we were very similar in that regard. Public Enemy just did it 10 years later.”

Musically, Public Enemy were just as revolutionary, with cacophonous soundscapes that relied on avant-garde cut and paste techniques, brutal beats and the squeal of police sirens.

But of all the qualities they shared with The Clash – from attitude and lyrical urgency to musical innovation – Chuck says the most important was “fearlessness”.

Both bands fought for social and racial justice, and both faced criticism for their depictions of police brutality: The Clash on Know Your Rights and Public Enemy on Fight The Power.

But they remained staunchly, defiantly independent – even though, in The Clash’s case, they were signed to (and in some cases strait-jacketed by) a major international record label.

Chuck D suggests that most modern acts lack that spirit.

“Bands today want to sell out,” he says. “They’re not pressured to stay broke and unknown and unpopular.

“They want to be popular and known and able to make a living… so it’s hard to tell young people to stand up for something and not worry about being paid.

“And who can blame them? As you grow up, you gotta work. They want to be able to do their music and art and make a living at it and you gotta honour that.”

Image captionChuck D and Public Enemy – the band he once described as an “information portal”

If you think the firebrand rapper sounds like he’s mellowing out, you’d be right.

Whereas once he declared: “Elvis was a hero to most / But he never meant [expletive] to me,” the 58-year-old no longer agrees with The Clash’s 1977 manifesto, “No Elvis, no Beatles or Rolling Stones”.

“Time has erased the golden idols and the only thing that fights against time is the proper curation of their works,” he says, presumably with one eye on his own legacy.

His own contribution to preserving The Clash’s legacy comes in an eight-part podcast, produced by Spotify and BBC Studios, which follows the punk heroes from their origins at the 1976 Notting Hill riots, to their clashes with the National Front, their struggle for creative control and their later experiments in funk, jazz, reggae and dub.

“It’s the story of a band that changed everything,” he says.

“They taught us to fight for what really matters – and to do it as loud as hell.”

Stay Free: The Story of The Clash is available now on Spotify.

Check out Subcultz event, The Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton

Posted on January 5, 2020October 26, 2022 by admin — Leave a comment

Punk To Save The Planet

Chris Packham: “Punk is coming back to save the planet”

The naturalist sees punk pioneers getting excited again – and it’s down to Extinction Rebellion and youth climate strikers. He recalls his youth pogoing to God Save the Queen and draws parallels to today in Forever Punk

CHRIS PACKHAM

10 Jan 2020

It’s April, it’s sunny, and I’m humming…

‘We’ve heard it all before / We’re learning to ignore / You must confess this awful mess /Isn’t just a bore’

I’m unnaturally jovial…

‘It’s more than we could bear / But you don’t really care / Kiss of life to save our life /All you do is stare’

It’s one of my favourite songs from way back in 1978…

‘I’m back in full attack / Never give in until they crack / Emergency’

It’s Emergency by 999, perhaps the most underrated punk band, and I joyously recall vocalist Nick Cash reeling around the stage spitting out this song. So, so good! I’ve always liked the ‘never give in until they crack’ sentiment, and it’s particularly relevant today – because today is all about the biggest emergency ever.

When I reach Extinction Rebellion’s pink boat, moored on Oxford Street [in April], there’s a festival atmosphere and thousands of people are clearly delighted by the DJ’s choice of London Calling by The Clash. The bass is thumping through the colourful crowd, many of whom are singing along. I’m tempted, but I’m no Joe Strummer, so I keep my voice to myself. Well, my singing voice anyway.

When I address the fabulous party and salute their energies and endeavours to put the climate and environment emergency on the map and in everyone’s mind, I finish by asking them to continue to “shout above the noise”, to embrace the musical mantra that has informed, fuelled, directed and given integrity to my life for the last 40 years.

Fast forward a few weeks and I’m tiptoeing on tenterhooks into the basement of a North London pub to meet the maker of that essential and integral part of me, Pauline Murray – the vocalist from Penetration who penned that awesome anthem to independence, defiance, self-determination and rebellion.

They say you should never meet your heroes. They are wrong. She is wonderful and nurtures me through my starstruck interview and ends by handing me a handwritten copy of the lyrics. It’s framed now. It hangs prominently in my home and would be grabbed if fleeing from a fire. It will be in the casket with me for the terminal fire. It defines me and what I’ve done and what I do.

You see, for me the attitude and ethos of punk still pumps through my veins. Not just the music, the politics, the fashion, the art, but the method and the ferocious desire to change things – to never take ‘no’ for an answer, to make this a better place, to rail against injustice and always, always challenge authority. And maybe tear it down…

But am I just a sad old geezer trapped in the past, nurturing the nostalgic ideals of a youth, no longer of any contemporary relevance? Worse, am I, Chris Packham CBE, a sell-out, a hypocrite? Have I become the bastard I would have hated when I was pogoing to God Save the Queen?

Is it just me or are there a generation of other spiky old gits out there still angry, still fighting, still fired up by that social maelstrom that ravaged the UK in the mid-1970s? Well, that was my summer’s quest for BBC Four – to find them, quiz them, get the measure of them and then to see if their philosophies have been reborn and empower today’s activists, protesters and game-changers.

Spoiler alert. When I asked my stellar cast of punk’s original playmakers whether their ideology was alive and well, to a man and woman they cited “Extinction Rebellion” and the “youth climate strikers”. They smiled, got excited, shifted in their seats, punched the air – their eyes sparkled.

The consensus was that punk had finally woken from hibernation and was re-emerging to excite a new wave of very angry young people. They might be short of studs and safety pins, but they are not mincing their words and they are not afraid of the establishment.

They are breaking down doors, put ethics before the law, and, critically, these “stupid idiots” are not going to “shut up and go back to school” (that’s what Jeremy Clarkson said about Greta Thunberg). No these “truants” and “uncooperative crusties”(the last insult courtesy of our PM) will suck up such antipathy and use it like kryptonite to detonate essential creative and positive change. They might not know or even like it, but they are punks. I’ll leave Pauline with the last enduring and pertinent words…

‘Silence is no virtue in a crowded world / Where no-onehears / Feast your eyes upon the fools / Who follow theleaders without thought / Don’t let them win / Don’tthem drag you in / Shout above the noise.’

Chris Packham’s Forever Punk is on BBC Four on January 10

Posted on December 27, 2019January 30, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Modern Rap, The New Punk Rock attitude

There are few things more exhilarating than being stuck in the middle of a mosh pit during a JPEGMAFIA show.

On stage at this year’s Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, the 30-year-old US rapper’s topless body, dripping with sweat, contorts urgently as he channels the aggression of the crowd into brutal bursts of movement that sit somewhere between an intoxicated Iggy Pop and an irate DMX.

Sheffield’s post-punk explosion: synths, steel and skinheads

Music

In the late 70s, the city’s bands set out to create the sound of the future – while trying to avoid getting beaten up. Jarvis Cocker and other leading lights recall a revolutionary scene

Daniel Dylan Wray

Phil Oakey of the Human League performing in Sheffield in 1980. Photograph: Martin O’Neill/Redferns

‘Sheffield in 1977 had a slight feeling of being the city of the future,” recalls Jarvis Cocker. “I didn’t realise that it was all going to go to shit. It was Sheffield before the fall.”

That pre-fall year is the starting point for a new box set: Dreams to Fill the Vacuum: The Sound of Sheffield 1977-1988. Familiar names appear – Pulp, Heaven 17, the Human League, ABC – but they are joined by a wealth of other acts, such as I’m So Hollow, Stunt Kites, They Must Be Russians and Surface Mutants, spanning punk, post-punk, indie and electronic with that droll outsider energy particular to South Yorkshire.

Sign up for the Sleeve Notes email: music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras

In 1977, Paul Bower was producing a local fanzine, Gun Rubber, and playing in the Buzzcocks-indebted 2.3. Like Cocker, he recalls the late-70s as being a time of optimism and flux. “There’s this myth of northern miserablism, that everything was shut down and shit,” he says. “But it wasn’t – that came later. It was a really interesting, bustling and creative time.”

Sheffield had plenty of dirt-cheap “little mester” workshops, once used by master craftsmen working in the city’s cutlery industry, and these provided room for bands to move in and experiment. Bower’s band 2.3 shared a space with the Future, an early incarnation of the Human League that featured Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh along with Adi Newton before he formed Clock DVA. “We were enamoured with the New York scene,” says Ware. “In our own little way we were imitating the Exploding Plastic Inevitable.” Bower describes it as: “Andy Warhol’s Factory in the land of Bobby Knutt.”

The pioneering industrial and electronic outfit Cabaret Voltaire had been active since 1973. “They were the godfathers of Sheffield’s new music,” says Simon Hinkler, who played in bands such as TV Product and Artery, as well as producing early Pulp. “You can’t overstate how important they were.” Ware echoes this. “They were our mentors,” he recalls. “Their methodology and lifestyle was something we aspired to. Not so much musically, but as a template for doing your own thing.”

Cabaret Voltaire on stage in the late 70s: the band are credited with kickstarting the Sheffield scene. Photograph: Ray Stevenson/Rex/Shutterstock

Cabaret Voltaire took on Western Works, another old cutlery factory, as their studio. While Ware looked to New York for inspiration, Cabaret Voltaire’s Richard H Kirk was more interested in Germany. “Kraftwerk and Can had their own spaces,” Kirk says. “We thought that was the perfect model. You could be there 24/7 without having to worry about the clock or some idiot engineer not knowing what to do with you.”Advertisement

The Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton. first line up announcement, tickets available now

“The environmental influences were very strong,” says Jane Antcliff-Wilson of I’m So Hollow. “Industrial and austere – steeped in working-class history. Imagination and vision were left to run wild in this bleak landscape.”

By 1978, an explosive flurry of music was coming out of the city. “Punk was year zero and Sheffield really took that to heart,” says Cocker. “They said: ‘Right, we’ll invent the music of the future.’ The Cabs and the Human League really did do that.” It was enough for people to move to the city because of it. Jake Harries of the industrial punk-funk band Chakk was one. “This music didn’t sound like it came from anywhere else,” he recalls. “There was an otherness to it. Sheffield sounded like the place to be – it was electronic, strange and inspiring.”

Not everyone warmed to peculiar new sonic explorations such as Cabaret Voltaire’s heavily deconstructed cover of the Beatles’ She Loves You. “This guy stormed out and physically grabbed me,” says Bower. “He’s screaming: ‘You’ve got to stop them. It’s sacrilege, they are destroying the Beatles.’ I said: ‘Yeah, that’s the point.’” Kirk thrived on the friction. “We went out of our way to pour petrol on the fire,” he says. “We knew people had never heard anything like what we were doing. It was meant to be confrontational.”

The throbbing intensity of Artery’s live shows were as terrifying to some as they were thrilling to others; Clock DVA got banned from venues after their first gig; during one gig, I’m So Hollow were thrown off stage after just two songs. The debut Human League show went down surprisingly well, even if their new singer hadn’t mastered his role yet. “Midway through the gig, Phil Oakey walks off stage, straight through the audience with his high heels on,” remembers Bower. “Comes up to the sound desk and says: ‘How’s it going?’ I said: ‘Fine, Phil, but it’s traditional for the singer to stay on stage during the gig.’”

Because of the conflict that would arise at shows, the Human League began performing with a Perspex shield around them. “Paul Morley wrote it was some extemporisation around alienation in contemporary society,” recalls Ware. “No, it was to stop skinheads gobbing on the synthesisers.”

After the Human League split in two in 1980, one half went on to form Heaven 17. Photograph: Virginia Turbett/Redferns

Things got bleaker in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher, even if some of the music got shinier and major-label attention followed. After the Human League’s 1981 album, Dare, made the revamped band world famous, major labels flocked to the city “signing groups in a bid to cash in on the scene”, says Newton. “We [Clock DVA] signed with Polydor but I consider this a low point, because innovation became secondary to commerciality.”

While pop stardom visited many, it seemed to evade one person. “The 1981 John Peel session Pulp did convinced me that I was going to be a teen star,” says Cocker. “But the 80s were depressing. The city was falling apart and our first album sold virtually nothing. I was crestfallen.” Violence was also an inescapable part of going out during this period. “It was like Pac-Man,” says Cocker. “You had to pick your route and avoid the beer monsters. Violence, or the threat of it, was a constant thing.” One night he had a pint glass land on his head; on another he was beaten up for wearing a patent leather mac. “I put two fingers up at them thinking my bus was about to leave, but it wasn’t, so they just got on it and smacked me.”

However, when the city was in sharp decline and the musical buzz of the early 80s was wearing off, Chakk did something crucial: “We signed with MCA and had them agree that we could build a recording studio out of our advance,” says Harries. FON Studio (named after a piece of local graffiti that read Fuck Off Nazis) was the result. Located in an old karate studio above a metal works, countless bands from across the UK recorded there. Richard Hawley’s teenage group Treebound Story was one. Rob Gordon, who would later co-found Warp records, found himself producing indie bands there in 1986 via a Youth Training Scheme. “It was obvious he was a genius,” recalls Hawley. “We were just kids but he made us sound amazing. He even tolerated us dropping acid, taking all our clothes off, playing the bongos and making a racket.”Advertisement

Trojan Records Lgends of ska. The Pyramids – Symarip limited edition 7” Vinyl. click to buy. Available on Subcultz Records

“It was a brave thing to do,” Cocker says of FON. “Sheffield was not going anywhere and it showed solidarity. They could have just taken the money and scarpered.” It was a combination of pride and practicality, according to Harries. “We thought it was crazy Sheffield didn’t have a large recording studio considering how much great music it produced. Plus, the country was divided at the height of Thatcherism. We wanted to bring some money from London to where we lived.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jarvis Cocker in 1991. Pulp formed in 1978 but had to wait till the early 90s before tasting success. Photograph: Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images

Over at Western Works, Cabaret Voltaire’s new neighbour was a bagpipe-playing Scotsman who was building and selling nuclear fallout shelters. “There was a rising sense of fear,” recalls Kirk of the time, one no doubt intensified for the people of South Yorkshire, given it was the location for the harrowing 1984 nuclear apocalypse TV drama Threads.

Even as the socio-political climate grew gloomier, that original spark of autonomy and ambition remained alight, says Hawley. “Even with all the shit going on from those horrible fuckers, a lot of magical stuff happened. Beauty came out of some very difficult situations.” Ware links this mentality to the city’s history. “There is pride in craft in Sheffield that runs through everything – from cutlery to engineering. It’s in our blood.”

Not all bands could contain their steam. “Artery had an intensity that was up there with Joy Division,” says Cocker. “But they didn’t have a Factory Records or a Tony Wilson. They got stuck in Sheffield, got frustrated, got off their heads, and lost it.” 2.3 had a single out on Fast Product before the Human League or Gang of Four, but collapsed. “We were like the Commitments but worse,” Bower says, likening the group to the dysfunctional Irish band from Roddy Doyle’s novel. “By 1979, it was like: ‘Screw it.’”

But others did make it, of course. The days of Cocker and co dodging pint glasses have been replaced by city-wide adulation, an irony not lost on them. “One day, some people were chasing me and Jarv down the street to get our autographs,” Hawley says. “Jarvis turned to me and said: ‘It’s not that long ago since the same people were chasing us down the road trying to kill us.’”

• Dreams to Fill the Vacuum: The Sound of Sheffield 1977-1988 is out on Cherry Red

Posted on November 29, 2019January 29, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Biker Girls. Life Magazine1940’s

These are some badass girls! In an era when it might have been strange to see the woman in pants, their doing that while riding motorcycles! So inspiring in so many ways! These photos were taken in 1949 by Loomis Dean for LIFE magazine.

Posted on July 10, 2019January 30, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

The big picture: punks and skinheads in harmony against Racism

The big picture: punks and skins in harmony against Racism, a point very rarely spoken about, especially when the name skinhead gets involved

The big picture Photography The photographer who captured the spirit of punk has released a book of her most arresting portraits

Black and white image of four young white men in leather jackets and ripped jeans sitting on steps smiling one with arm round the other. — Punks and Skins on the Steps, taken in Coventry in 1980. Photograph: Janette Beckman

If they weren’t a band, they should have been. Janette Beckman, who chronicled the early years of punk in the UK, took this photograph in Coventry in 1980. She had by then made her name on Melody Maker, with pictures of the Clash on tour and the Sex Pistols in a skip; she caught the moment when Paul Weller first met Pete Townshend, one modfather to another; she made the Police’s first album cover; she assembled the Specials on Southend pier.

Beckman, who grew up in north London, had left London College of Printing and walked into Sounds magazine one afternoon in 1977 with her student portfolio. She was immediately dispatched to photograph Siouxsie and the Banshees and never looked back.

She was as likely to turn her camera on the audience and the streets as on the stage and the tour bus. In those years the boundaries between music and art and style seemed unusually porous. Punk was above all an “irrepressible attitude” she has suggested of that moment. “It was about change, the idea that people should question authority and do it for themselves.”

The four lads in this picture capture that spirit. They have put thought into how they look but are not striking poses. The picture is included in a short monograph of Beckman’s work of that time, which also includes images of Sid Vicious’s funeral procession and the Saturday afternoon punks of King’s Road, Chelsea. In 1982, after the edge of that attitude had given way to the posturing of the new romantics, Beckman moved to New York, where she took similarly iconic pictures of pioneer hip-hop artists and their followers. “People were really happy to be photographed back then,” she says. “As it didn’t happen very often.”

Janette Beckman’s Raw Punk Streets UK 1979-1982(Café Royal Books, £6) is available atcaferoyalbooks.com

Posted on June 3, 2019January 30, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Harrington Saints: A Thousand Pounds Of Greatness

The Harrington Saints are an amazingly talented bad with members who all have other massive side projects. Up until now most of their songs have been about your classic punk and skinhead topics. You know? The same “rah rah we are West Ham” coming from some guys in California is a bit hard to grasp. What I bet you didn’t know behind all the mod influence and skinhead style music. There is a lot of heart and emotion that comes out of this band. I’ve been a fan for a bit and “1000lbs of Oi” is one of the best albums of it’s genre in the last five or so years.

“State Of Emergency” is something you would expect from Bad Religion not Harrington Saints, and that is NOT a bad thing. The song is about gun control and the lack of empathy Americans have for dead kids. It seems more important they have their guns. Instead of sugar coating it behind flowery language like Bad Religion does often. This is a raw as a nerve end track.

There are some classic oi songs, like the title track. These guys are not small humans so the “1000lbs of Oi” is a little bit tongue and cheek. I love it personally as a somewhat larger lad. Rock N Rolla is a splitting oi track that brings you back to the 1980s. However the highlight to me was the song “Fremount Train” about a very real incident that happened. This isn’t your typical “fuck Nazis” song. It’s about beating the fascists up, and walking away with a smile with blood on your hands because you know you’re in the right. One of the most poignant lines being “why is the right wing always on the wrong side of history? Why is this a lesson we still have to teach today?”

If you don’t have a copy of this record it’s available on bandcamp, iTunes as well as Pirate’s Press Records…..or you know where ever awesome records are sold.

Check out this awesome tune

Posted on June 2, 2019January 30, 2020 by admin — 2 Comments

Getting to know my mother, punk icon Poly Styrene of Xray Spex

By Celeste Bell CULTURE GAL-DEM MUSIC 21st May 2019

My mother is the late British punk icon Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, better known as Poly Styrene. Before I came into the picture, she had been a leading figure in the UK punk scene as the first woman of colour to lead a punk band, X-Ray Spex. And, she was one of the first black women in rock in the UK. I had known this but didn’t fully comprehend the extent of her role as the creative force behind the band’s success. That isn’t the version of her that features in all my earliest memories.

What I remember is the warmth of her lap, the late night baths in the kitchen sink and the songs she sang to me before I slept. So many songs. Some were borrowed, most were her own. There was rarely a moment when mum wasn’t singing, writing, or creating. At times I was jealous of her art. She would sit at her little desk channeling her creative energy, while I wondered where ‘mummy’ had gone. My nan would come to visit and tell her off for leaving me to my own devices. I was half dressed with unbrushed hair, causing chaos in the kitchen cupboards while my mother was lost in her own world. When I complained that I was bored, she sent me off with some paper and crayons, telling me boredom was merely the consequence of an unimaginative mind. Mum often struggled to reconcile her art with her duties as a mother, and sometimes I resented her lack of presence when she was in the zone. Creative people don’t always make the best parents.

Celeste Bell, Daughter of Poly Styrene sings with her band Debutante Disco at The Roundhouse London 2008 Supporting Xray Spex

But, when she died in 2011, shortly after being diagnosed with breast cancer that had already spread to her bones, I was inconsolable. As an only child, I was suddenly entrusted with my mother’s legacy. It was a position I had never imagined I would find myself in such a young age. I had boxes of her belongings that I was not ready to open. Alongside the boxes was a small vase containing her ashes, waiting to be scattered in India’s holy Yamuna river – as a devout Hare Krishna devotee, this was her only dying wish. It would take me several years to take the ashes to India. Even longer to open those boxes. Three years ago I began long the long process of archiving her artwork, lyrics, poems and diary entries. After so many years spent grieving the loss of my mother, this helped me to reconnect with her once again and discover a part of her life I had only known through stories, her life as Poly Styrene.

Through the archival process, I was able to piece together a snapshot of that artistically prolific period in her life. Not only did she write all the lyrics to the songs on the highly acclaimed album Germ-Free Adolescents, but she also created all the artwork for the band herself. This was a woman who took Punk’s DIY ethic to a level beyond that of most of her contemporaries, and she did it all as a working-class teenager whose formal education ended at the age of 15 when she dropped out of school and ran away from home.

My mother created X-Ray Spex as a musical vehicle for her alter-ego who she saw as a kind of plastic punky princess living in a dystopian future somewhat reminiscent of Huxley’s A Brave New World. She was inspired by postmodernism, science-fiction, and television advertisements. In songs such as ‘Genetic Engineering’, ‘The Day The World Turned Day Glo’ and ‘Arti-i-ficial’ she describes a synthetic, scientifically enhanced world where nature has retreated and consumerism is the state religion. An astute prophecy. While in others she is brashy. “Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard. But I say… Oh Bondage! Up yours!” she sings in the now iconic punk single from 1977.

“After so many years spent grieving the loss of my mother, this helped me to reconnect with her once again and discover a part of her life I had only known through stories”

On my journey to memorialise her, I have co-authored Dayglo: The Poly Styrene Story alongside writer Zoe Howe, which was published by Omnibus Press last month. Originally intended as a coffee table style art-book to showcase my mother’s visual artwork and writings, it has evolved into the definitive story of her life and work. Shortly after embarking on the book project we joined forces with Invisible Britain director Paul Sng on a documentary film, Poly Styrene: I am a Cliché.

As I reconstructed my view of who my mother was, it became clear that exhibiting her archive was the final piece of the jigsaw. Identity! A Poly Styrene Retrospective, which is currently showing, is the first exhibit of my mother’s work. It lays bear her status as a hugely significant yet under appreciated multidisciplinary artist. 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning is one of the only art spaces originally established to champion the work of African, Caribbean and Asian artists. And, the location was also significant as Brixton was where my mother had spent her formative years.

It took a year to plan and organise, but Mattie Loyce and I have put together an exciting program of events. I’m really looking forward to the Identity! Weekender on 1 June, which explores her legacy through panels and an evening of music curated by the DIY punks of colour festival Decolonise Fest. The program of events involves people who knew Poly, like Youth who produced her last album Generation Indigo. They’re joined by artists who found inspiration in her work such as Melodie Holiday, artist and lead singer of Art Trip and the Static Sound, and creatives who are continuing her DIY and radical legacy today like black feminist punk Big Joanie.

I am nowhere near the end of the journey I embarked on three years ago. The documentary project has taken a lot longer than I had initially envisaged. The stress of my first foray into filmmaking has at times had me questioning why I ever got myself into such an endeavour in the first place.

Ironically, now I understand the all-encompassing reality of trying to bring your creative ideas to life. Seeing my mother’s art exhibited in a gallery, art that had been lying in unopened boxes for so long, has been truly rewarding and therapeutic. The sense of achievement and overwhelmingly positive reactions to her work tells me that this journey has been worthwhile.

Identity! A Poly Styrene Retrospective will be exhibited at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning until 7 June. Find out more here.

Posted on March 7, 2019February 28, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Lydia Lunch: ‘If it’s for the money, you’re not doing art. You’re doing commerce’

The no wave legend has worked with Sonic Youth and Nick Cave, written books and created art. At 56, she still rages against the commercialisation of pop culture

Lydia Lunch: ‘Just call me Lady Gaza’ — Lydia Lunch: ‘Just call me Lady Gaza.’ Photograph: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images

Lydia Lunch takes the stage in Berlin. Gazing behind her black bangs into the front crowd at Urban Spree’s DYS Festival, she points her red nails through the dry ice, screaming: “Narcotics and psychotropics, ecstasy slips through my hands. I’m still searching for the drug – I need a year in a sexual coma to take care of my problems – I tried crack five times, I couldn’t get high.”

Even at 56, Lunch remains the voice of New York’s underground, from which she emerged in the late 70s as part of the no wave movement. A singer, poet, actor, visual artist and spoken word performer, she has no manager or PR agent – she’s even been homeless at points in her career.

“If you’re doing it for the money, you’re not doing art. You’re doing commerce,” she said. She says that being an artist is not a career choice, but a necessity “if your blood boils”. Even if spoken word performance is dying, it doesn’t stop her from being what she calls “the last war whore left”.

After 37 years on stage, Lunch – who got her name because she used to steal food for her friends, American punks the Dead Boys – is in discussion with various American universities and institutions to place her colossal archives of over 1,500 books, posters and diaries, unseen live footage, unpublished photos and fan mail, for public view.

Sign up for the Sleeve Notes email: music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras

“It’s everything I’ve ever done,” says Lunch over a glass of white wine in Berlin’s Michelberger Hotel. “I’ve been taking photos since 1990, each one needs to be scanned. I have letters from guys I don’t know – letters with bodily fluids. Thirty-seven years is a lot of time for creating. I want it all available.”

Lunch is now hosting a writing workshop with former Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, a Buddhist writing institute in Boulder, Colorado. She plays San Francisco’s DNA on 29 July and at Los Angeles’ Teagram Ballroom on 31 July. That same night, Lunch opens an exhibition of her photos in a two-woman show with Jasmine Hirst called Beautiful Wrecks at Los Angeles’s Lethal Amounts Gallery, where her black-and-white photographs of adolescent boys, All My Heroes are Killers, are on view. She then heads to Melbourne for the Supersense arts festival. Bloodworks, an anthology of her poetry, is slotted for release next year in France.

After Melbourne, Lunch will return to Woodstock to write her next book, a tome about sex which she says will stand in stark contrast to her previous work. “I’m into pleasure rebellion,” she says, lighting a cigarette. “I’ve shared all my misery and tragedy but in my personal life I’m a cheerleader, an optimist. That aspect of myself is not shared. Once you are free from trauma, you are going to luxuriate in pleasure and happiness – personal pleasure. A divine gluttony, I should say.”

For this book, she’s done “a lot of research with one person”, whom she declines to name. “It took me this long to find someone who is going to inspire what I think is going to be a great work of art and needs to enter literature. Sex is often portrayed so badly, 50 shades of what? It’s insulting, so shallow.”

Lunch fled New York in 2004 when Bush won a second term: “I couldn’t take it.” Based in Barcelona, she travels frequently to writer’s residencies and arts festivals and tours with her band Retrovirus. This nomadic lifestyle, she says, is why she is looking for a permanent place for her archives. Upbeat and garrulous, she has always taken a stance against mainstream pop culture and doesn’t hold back her opinions on corporate America.

“The celebrity of riches and being famous for doing nothing is a cycle and I hope one day there will be a cultural rebellion,” she said. “People will be sick of vacant, culturally bankrupt bullshit based on how much you paid for your dress or surgery. Will there be a generational rebellion? We can hope the next cycle will be anticorporate. Corporations have won – your worth is based on what you make, not what you do or what you say.

“Madonna and Lady Gaga have stylists who are cultural vampires who steal the ideas from the underground then elevate transgression to a mainstream,” she adds. “Complete fraudulence on every front. These are my enemies. That’s why I say: ‘You can call me Lady Gaza.’”

However, there are some musicians she does admire. Electronic musician Nicolas Jaar contacted Lunch as a fan, asking if he could remix a track from her 1990 spoken word album Conspiracy of Women (COW), which he reissued on his label, Other People. “He is doing something to support people,” she said. “He is the beginning of the cultural revolution of people his age. That’s where my hope doesn’t ever die.”

Born in Rochester, New York, in the 70s Lunch moved to New York City, where she founded Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Along with bands like James Chance and the Contortions and Mars, the band were an integral part of the no wave scene – a raw, noisy and arty alternative to the more commercial new wave movement of the time, typified by bands like Talking Heads and Blondie.

Right from the get-go, Lunch was more than simply a singer, always hungry to collaborate with like-minded artists. In 1978 she played a dominatrix in no wave film-makers Beth B and Scott B’s Black Box. Her unforgettable vocals seared Sonic Youth’s Death Valley 69. Her 1997 book Paradoxia: a Predator’s Diary is a fictionalised memoir which details her substance abuse, abusive father and her sexually dominant tendencies, which she continues to explore in her thorny lyrics.

As well as Sonic Youth, Lunch has worked with Nick Cave and Henry Rollins, with whom she co-starred in a short film called Kiss Napoleon Goodbye. She curated and starred in the work of artist Richard Kern. “A lot of the people I worked with were no more famous than I was, they just became more famous,” she says. “They did the same record 100 times, I did not.”

The new Retrovirus album Urge to Kill was released in May on her own label, Widowspeak, its nine tracks filled with meandering, scratchy vocals and wailing guitars. Lock Your Door is a vengeful breakup anthem, while Dead Me You Beside is infested with fuzz guitar. “I’m just a writer, I just use music as a machine gun to get the words across,” she said.

Despite her illustrious body of work, Lunch still feels like she’s had no cultural impact. “I always say ‘Don’t blame me for Courtney Love, she’s a trainwreck crash into a bank’. I know I’ve impacted individuals and that’s what’s important but I see no culture reflecting back the impact I’ve had.”

Nevertheless, she battles on and encourages others to do the same. Lunch has created a workshop called From the Page to the Stage, which helps writers perform. “Women should write stories, even if it’s for the exorcism of their own demons.

“People have always been afraid, I don’t know why. This is why I feel like I haven’t had a cultural impact otherwise women would be ranting on street corners and shouting and whispering. After 37 years, one can learn to master it.”

Posted on March 4, 2019February 28, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Keith Flint: Prodigy Legend dies aged 49

Keith Flint: Prodigy

vocalist dies aged 49

Singer with band found dead at his home in Essex on Monday

Keith Flint of The Prodigy — True Punk Energy and creativity Keith Flint of the Prodigy

Originally a dancer with the group, Flint performed the vocals on The Prodigy’s No 1 hit singles, Firestarter and Breathe. Photograph: Andy Sheppard/Redferns

Keith Flint, vocalist with the Prodigy, has died at the age of 49, after being found at his home in Essex on Monday.

The Prodigy released a statement confirming the news, saying: “It is with deepest shock and sadness that we can confirm the death of our brother and best friend Keith Flint. A true pioneer, innovator and legend. He will be forever missed. We thank you for respecting the privacy of all concerned at this time.”

Liam Howlett, who formed the group in 1990, confirmed his death was a suicide. “The news is true, I can’t believe I’m saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend,” he wrote on Instagram. “I’m shell shocked, fuckin angry, confused and heart broken ….. r.i.p brother Liam”.

An Essex police spokesman confirmed that a 49-year-old man had died. “We were called to concerns for the welfare of a man at an address in Brook Hill, North End, just after 8.10am on Monday,” he said.

“We attended and, sadly, a 49-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”

With his punk aesthetic of piercings, spiked hair and intense stare, Flint became one of the UK’s most iconic musical figures in the 1990s. He joined the Prodigy as a dancer, later becoming a frontman alongside rapper Maxim. Aside from their 1992 debut, all of the group’s seven albums have reached No 1 in the UK, the most recent being No Tourists, released in November 2018.

Flint performed the vocals on the Prodigy’s best known singles, Firestarter and Breathe, which both went to No 1 in 1996 – the former became their biggest US hit, and the group are often credited with helping to break dance music into the mainstream in the country.

The Prodigy: ‘we should be as important as Oasis or Blur’

Firestarter’s black and white video, featuring a headbanging, gurning Flint, was banned by the BBC after it was screened on Top of the Pops, with parents complaining that it frightened children. The self-lacerating lyrics – “I’m the bitch you hated / filth infatuated” – were the first Flint had written for the band. “The lyrics were about being onstage: this is what I am. Some of it is a bit deeper than it seems,” Flint told Q magazine in 2008. The track sold over 600,000 copies in the UK, with

Speaking to the Guardian in 2015, Flint lamented the state of modern pop music. “We were dangerous and exciting! But now no one’s there who wants to be dangerous. And that’s why people are getting force-fed commercial, generic records that are just safe, safe, safe.”

Tributes have been made from his musical peers, including Ed Simons of dance duo the Chemical Brothers, who called him a “great man”. Beverley Knight said the Prodigy were one of “the most innovative, fearless, ballsy bands to grace a stage and Keith was perfection up front. We have lost a Titan.” Sleaford Mods, whose frontman Jason Williamson collaborated with the Prodigy on 2015 track Ibiza, tweeted: “Very sorry to hear of the passing of Keith Flint. Good night mate. Take it easy,” while drum’n’bass producer Friction said “I wouldn’t do what I do without him and the Prodigy in my life.”

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner also paid tribute, saying “R.I.P. Keith, you leave so many great memories behind”.

As well as his success with the Prodigy, Flint also founded the successful motorcycle racing outfit Team Traction Control, which made its debut in 2014, and went on to win multiple Supersport TT titles.

Really terrible news, such a legend of British music, a cross over from Punk Rock into dance music, This band defined a time of the raves of 89-90. I first saw them in a tent at an illegal rave, then worked with them while with the Mean Fiddler in the 90’s. My kids would run round the room shouting ‘Smash my picture’

Raw energy and talent

The Punk connection was very apparent with the inclusion of Gizz Butt of English Dogs on guitar

I am completely gutted over this. when the raves broke out in 88-89 it was the tail end of the skinhead days for me. violence was escalating to such crazy levels that we were just banned from everywhere. My mob had started drinking in the estate pub as we couldn’t go many other places, i broke up with my first real love live in girlfriend, i had gone on a crazy one around town and attacked 5 -6 people for no reason, i had been badly bottled, blood rolling down my face, but my girlfriend had betrayed me. Police were chasing me, i was having to hide, but because of the blood, no one would take me in, they made me go to the hospital to get stitched up. i was arrested for violent affray. The following week i was called by some mates for a big kick off, as one of our skinhead girls had been raped by a guy from an opposing mob. tooled up we went on the war path…. things were getting out of hand, chains, batons and one bloke had a gun.. i knew it couldn’t go on, but where was i going, how was i going to change direction, my mob, the wycombe skinheads were my blood, i was never going to back away, never abandon them, it was all or nothing… then as i stood at the local pub a week later waiting to see if anyone was coming up for another round of violence, it was like a siege mentality. but 12 years of being in the crew had lead us from those fun days of 2tone, through Oi! past the skinhead fashion, into a mob, crew, firm…

Then a camper van pulled up, some of the skinheads had been asked to go help at a rave, back up against drug dealers, so fuck it, why not, i got in the van and we headed to Slough Centre. The older lads, of The Woobo and the The Xtraverts crew were running the Rave, they greeted us with warmth, told us what was happening, and if we could be back up if it came on top. As i walked through a tunnel of white sheeting i found myself in this big warehouse, music i had not heard before called Acid House, lazers and dry ice filling the room, packed full of sweaty bodies and a repetitive electronic music thumping. Something completely different than i had ever seen.

Out of the haze came the most beautiful girl i have ever known Lizzy Mitchell wearing a bikini, her long blond hair to her waste. she came and kissed me on the lips, hugged me, and put her tongue in my mouth, and pushed a pill down my throat, 20 minutes later life would never be the same again, my days of violence were over, as the love rush just sent me higher than any cloud i could ever imagine.

At that Rave were all the local Punks, all the Rastas, Soul boys, Casuals, and above that the same mob we had been smashing fuck out of eachother for the last few months, one came up to me a black bloke called B he spoke in my ear, ‘So good to see you here mate, you know you lot are an army and we know we were never going to beat you’, I looked at him and could feel no anger, no aggression. I said in return ‘Well you lot are all cousins, we had no chance either’, to that we both laughed, he was clearly flying as well. That was the summer of 89.

For the rest of that year we were on the magic roundabout, raving round the fields of the M25, then off to Ibiza in 1990. i saw this band back then in the small tents at the raves, in the middle of some crazy days. and watched them grow into becoming a huge part of British music when i was backstage management team for The Mean Fiddler at Leeds Festival, Glastonbury etc. The Prodigy really were the band that spoke to me, like many of us early ravers, we came out of the crazy violence and punk rock of the 80’s to a new era, a new time, but more punk than punk, this was fucking the system off in a way that had never been done before 20,000 people illegally in a field loved up and jumping about to huge sound systems waking the entire home counties up. When my kids were little they were obsessed with the Prodigy, running round the house shouting ‘smash my picture’ they found out years later it was ‘Smack my bitch up’, RIP to a man, a music and a time 🙂 xx

Symond Lawes Subcultz

Keith Flint death: The Prodigy frontman died by hanging, coroner hears

The Prodigy's Keith Flint performs in 2015 — The Prodigy’s Keith Flint performs in 2015 ( EPA )

The Prodigy frontman Keith Flint died as the result of hanging, an inquest has heard.

The 49-year-old was found dead at his home in the Essex hamlet of North End on March 4.

Coroner’s officer Lynsey Chaffe told a two-minute hearing in Chelmsford on Monday that Flint’s provisional medical cause of death is hanging.

She said: “Police attended, all protocols were followed and his death was confirmed as not suspicious.”

A post-mortem examination was carried out at Broomfield Hospital on March 7 and the provisional medical cause of death was recorded as hanging.

Ms Chaffe said this remains under investigation while toxicology reports are awaited.

Senior coroner for Essex Caroline Beasley-Murray opened and adjourned the inquest until July 23 for a full hearing.

For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123, visit a local Samaritans branch or go to samaritans.org

• In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or emailjo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. Topics

Posted on December 22, 2018March 2, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Rebel Dykes London Punk Rock

Brixton in the ’80s was home to a group of radical lesbians who mixed sexual politics with squat culture. Meet the group calling themselves the ‘Rebel Dykes’

In the early 1980s, young gay women, many still teenagers, gravitated to London, attracted by its diversity and experimentation. A lesbian subculture grew up around the squats of Brixton and Hackney. ‘You could tell which houses were squats by the painted doors and blankets in the windows,’ Siobhan Fahey remembers. ‘I wanted to live in Brixton, so all I did was walk around the streets asking if I could move in.’

Fahey had come to London from Liverpool as a teenager. At the time being gay could be dangerous. It had only just become legal for gay men to have sex, and in 1988 Margaret Thatcher brought in Section 28, legislation which outlawed the promotion of homosexuality as ‘a pretend family relationship’. The capital’s empty buildings offered safe spaces for sexual openness, creativity and activism, and so the Rebel Dykes – as Fahey later christened them – were born. Dressed in biker jackets and chains, their hair sculpted, shaved and rainbow-coloured, the Rebel Dykes were the antithesis of ’80s conservatism. They helped establish women-only squats across the city and opened London’s first lesbian fetish club.

‘There have been no books or articles. It’s like it never happened’ – Siobhan Fahey

Now, though, these pioneering women feel like they’ve been written out of history. ‘There have been no books or articles. It’s like it never happened,’ Fahey says, explaining that their ‘punky intersectional feminism’ was attributed to ’90s movements like Riot Grrrl, while stories about 1980s squat culture often focused on men. Eventually, she set up a Facebook group to find former Rebel Dykes and nearly 200 people joined. Now she’s producing a documentary to tell their story.

The roots of the Rebel Dykes can be chased back to the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, the female-only protest which campaigned against US nuclear weapons being sited at an RAF base in Berkshire. It was a feminist hub and, according to many of the women I spoke to, a hot spot for coming out and hooking up.

‘ I was young, I was cute – why not?’ – Karen Fischer

Rebel Dyke Karen Fischer, known as Fisch, explains that, for many lesbian women, heading to Greenham was liberating. ‘It was like being alone on a desert island, then suddenly there were loads of you,’ she says. ‘It was like being a kid in a candy store. I was young, I was cute – why not?’

There was more at stake, though. ‘If people found out you were gay, you could lose your job, you could get your kids taken away,’ says Fisch. ‘Our lives were made political by the lifestyles we had.’ One Rebel Dyke told me how a Lesbian Strength March was followed by neo-fascists.

Pink Paper

Two women kiss at Pride (from Pink Paper)

A major component of the Rebel Dykes’ ‘political lives’ was London’s squat culture. Squatting became a criminal offence in 2012, but in the ’80s it was a basic lifestyle option for
struggling young people. More than 30,000 people were reported to be living in squats in London at the start of the decade. With 3 million Brits out of work, a scene of artists, activists and musicians grew in our city’s squats. As women from Greenham drifted to London, a radical group formed among them.

Fahey ended up living – ironically – in a disused housing benefits office as well as sharing a room at a well-known house on Brailsford Road. ‘We lived in one street that was full of squats where we all took turns cooking at each other’s houses,’ she says, describing how there was a band practice room downstairs .‘There were lots of people in open relationships,’ says Fahey. ‘We had parties that would go on for days.’ It wasn’t all fun, though: drugs, Aids and homelessness affected the community.

The back page of ’80s squatters’ zine Crowbar

The Rebel Dykes were known for their liberal attitude towards sex . They launched London’s first lesbian fetish club, Chain Reactions, which caused uproar among other lesbian groups who were more conservative. Fahey says that the complaints only fuelled the night’s success. It was always packed out, with a different ‘sex cabaret’ each week. ‘Groups of women would come together to put it on and fall in and out of love while making it,’ she laughs. ‘We had pickets outside from other lesbians who thought that lesbians shouldn’t be doing this thing as it “wasn’t quite right”.’

Another popular night was Systematic at Brixton’s Women’s Centre, run by promoter Yvonne Taylor. ‘It was different to other club nights at the time,’ she says. ‘Because it brought in a whole range of different types of women: black, white, young, old, butch and femme.’ Taylor still hosts a monthly night – Supersonic – and says she’s enjoyed watching London’s nightlife become more inclusive in recent years. She’s not the only Rebel Dyke still involved with London’s LGBT+ nightlife, Fisch still performs as drag king Frankie Sinatra.

‘I would climb into first-storey windows, take parts of security doors off and change locks’ – Atalanta Kernick

Beyond clubbing the Rebel Dykes’ lives were centred on punk bands and protests. They took part in anti-apartheid, Stop the Bomb and Support the Miners demos as well as early Pride marches. ‘I’ve got a photo of me carrying a banner that reads: “Brixton Dykes Demand Wages for Bashing Bailiffs”,’ says Rebel Dyke Atalanta Kernick. ‘It’s a play on a campaign for women demanding wages for housework. Another was made out of pink mesh and had cats embroidered on it. It said: “Brixton Dykes Make Pussies Purr”.’

Lesbians are fucking everywhere. London Punks

T-shirt made to promote fetish night Chain Reactions

As a teenager with an acid-green mohican, Kernick moved into her first squat in 1985 with a woman she met at Greenham Common. ‘I would climb into first-storey windows, take parts of security doors off and change locks,’ she says. ‘I did a building maintenance course, then carpentry, electrics and plumbing.’ She was one of a number of women who used the skills they learned squatting to take cash-in-hand trade jobs.

Rebel Dykes now: Kernick, Fisch (left), Fahey, Taylor (right)

Eventually Kernick left London, but the era remains a key part of who she is. After living up north for 15 years, she returned to the city after reconnecting with another Rebel Dyke. ‘We used to flirt in the squats when we were 18,’ Kernick smiles. ‘We’ve been together five years now.’

For Fahey, the Rebel Dyke years are still relevant. She sees her film as a way to connect with today’s queer activists. ‘Sometimes young people look at us like: “You’re so brave”,’ she says. ‘But we had the dole, squats and no CCTV. I look at them in awe.’

Help the Rebel Dykes make their film at www.rebeldykes1980s.com/donate-to-us.

Posted on August 2, 2016March 2, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Skinhead Girls, Derek Ridgers 1980

Who are the subjects in the iconic “Skinhead girls, Bank Holiday, Brighton 1980” photo by Derek Ridgers used in Morrissey’s 1992 “Your Arsenal” tour as a backdrop and merchandise (t-shirt, program cover)? Finally we know – Caroline and Debbie. Both were together recently and surprisingly, both learned just last weekend (Aug. 2016) about the use of the photo on Morrissey’s tour 24 years ago.

Debbie writes through emails:

I am one of the skinhead girls in the photo as I have just found out my picture was used… Caroline on the left, I’m on the right (in both 1980 and 2016 photos, below). She moved to Australia and was over last weekend. That’s when we found out via Google about the photo, such a shock but a nice one. Eyes nearly popped out when we saw the huge backdrop of us.

I have been in touch with Derek, he is sending us a photo as we never got one. Sent him a photo of what we look like now and he thinks we haven’t changed (well, longer hair and older). Does anyone have any tour mementos?

Caroline lives in Perth, Australia, is married with 3 children and also a granny.

I live in Surrey, married, with 1 son and work in community nursing.

We was both wild when young, me being the worst as my mum tells me.

Skinhead Girls London 1980. derek Ridgers

Posted on November 13, 2015March 2, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Angelic Upstarts Hamburg, A week of Subculture

A week full of subculture

July 21st 2015 – July 26th 2015

It was tuesday, 21st of july 2015. My bell rings at 3 o’clock in the morning. This time I wanted to go to Hamburg to see the Angelic Upstarts from South Shields in England. Support band at that show were The Headlines from Malmö/Sweden.

I wasn’t in the city of Hamburg for a long time, so I started at about 4 o’clock in the morning to have the posibility of spending much time in Hamburg. But my first destination wasn’t Hamburg, it was the city of Oldenburg in Holstein. Frank, a good friend of mine lives there. First time we met was in Lübeck at an Oi! Punk show where he and his band „Drunken Swallows“ played as support act. Frank invited me to stay the night at the flat of him and his nice girlfriend. Otherwise I had to drive 4 hours to get home after the Angelic Upstarts show. He really takes care of me, hahaha.

At about midday we drive together with Henning, a mate of Frank to the harbour of Hamburg. The sun was shining and it was warm so we decided to go on a ship to do a sight-seeing-tour of the harbour and have a few beers in the sun. After that we to the store of Remedy Records to meet our friends of Skinheads Hamburg. We had a little meal at the greek rstaurant next to Remedy Records and went to the concert at Monkey Music Club. When we arrived The Headlines were already on stage. The location was mostly full of people, so a lot of people saw this great show of the four swedes. Some songs were sung by Jake, the male singer and guitar player and some songs were sung by Kerry, the female singer and bass player. I think that hot Kerry ist he reason why especially some male persons in the audience will like this band. They played their own songs and covered Sham 69’s If The Kids Are United and Rose Tattoo’s Nice Boys Don’t Play Rock’n’Roll.

Now it was time for me to see Angelic Upstarts. They entered the stage very confident. The audience enjoyed the show as much as I. It was a wonderfull evening and I was glad to see some classics like 2.000.000 Voices, Teenage Warning, England or Solidarity live. Sham 69’s If The Kids Are United was covered by Angelic Upstarts too. After the concert we went back home to the city of Oldenburg in Holstein.

I slept very well and long at Frank’s sofa. At 12 o’clock I was on my way back to my north hessian home. The rest of the day I spend in my flat because of the 11th Back On The Streets Festival in a village called Rheinböllen one day later.

It was thursday july 23rd 2015. After loading my car I startet to Rheinböllen. I was very happy because I knew I will see a lot of friends and bands I like at the festival.

At the early afternoon I arrived in Rheinböllen. I occupied my hotel and decided to do a little siesta because I knew that the evening would be very hard, haha. My first Stop at the festival was Diana and the pavilion of Randale Records. We hadn’t seen for a long while so we had to tell us a lot and had to have a few beer. Thank’s Diana for the records you brought to me. It was a wonderfull first evening of that festival with lots of friends from Kassel, Frankfurt, Hamburg, the „Ruhrpott“ and Passau. We told stories from the past, had a laugh and made new friends. My musical highlight of that evening were the guys from Rude Pride (Madrid/Spain). They do traditional Oi! with some influences of ska and reggae. They did a great job!

It was friday morning and I woke up with a big headache. Maybe we had a few beer too much at the evening before. When we went back to the festival our first stopp was again the pavilion of Randale Records. On this day The Business played at the festival and we wanted to have a look if they took some new merchandise to Diana. The first band playing was called Extrem Unangenehm (in english: extreme unpleasant). Butt he show of them wasn’t as bad as their name promised. It was a pity that there were just a small quantity of people in the audience. Then a Band called Foiernacht entered the stage. These four young guys from South Tyrol played a mixture of Oi!, Punk and Psychobilly. They did a very good job and there were more and more people in the audience.

my personal highlight was The Business as you maybe expected. From the beginning their show was powerfull and the sound was great. mostly the whole audience were in front of the stage so many people enjoyed The Business as much as we did. The weather got worse and worse. Now another band from South Tyrol wanted to play their instruments. They had one of the best slots at the festival but the heavy rain caused there were just a few fans watching their show. The completely tattooed singer of the bandwas able to encourage the audience although the weather was as bad as possible. While Unantastbar played their Song „Das Stadion brennt“ (in english: The football stadium burns), a song about football fans burning pyrotechnics, many people in the audience burned pyrotechnics too. Maybe a little bit dangerous but it looked very impressive. The last act of the night was Roy Ellis aka Mr. Symarip. The rain stopped so the audience got bigger again and the people dancd heavily to his reggae beats and ska tunes. As his concert ended, we got back to our hotel.

Saturday, July 25th 2015. It was the last day of eleventh Back On The Streets Festival. Because of the bad weather the local authority forbade to start the music before 5pm. So all the bands had to abridge their set. It was 5 o’clock in the afternoon and the first band of the day called EgOi!sten played their show very experienced and the audience liked it. Either I didn’t see the drummer of the band Paris violence or they used a drum computer, but I think it was the second one. The band Martens Army got strengthening by Ferdy Dörnberg while they were playing. Ferdy, the half Englishman is a real virtuoso at many instruments and this time he played the slide guitar. Then my personal highlight entered the stage: Superyob. Franky Flame and his band really knew how they got the attention of the audience. Many young bands could learn a lot from this Oi! Punk veteran. After KrawallBrüder played their set Franky entered the stage again. It was just him, his Piano and Ferdy Dörnberg for a few songs. I couldn’t imagine a better end of the festival as these two great musicians.

At the next morning I bade farewell of my friends and drove to my north hessian home.

Thilo
(written in august 2015)

Eine Woche voller Subkultur

21.07.2015 – 26.07.2015

Es war Dienstag, der 21. Juli 2015, 03:00 Uhr, der Wecker klingelte. Mein Weg sollte mich dieses Mal in den Norden der Republik führen. In Hamburg spielten an diesem Tage die Punkrock-Urgesteine Angelic Upstarts aus South Shields in England. Vorband an diesem Abend waren The Headlines aus Malmö in Schweden.

Ich war schon länger nicht mehr in Hamburg, deswegen fuhr ich schon um 04:00 Uhr in der frühe los, um noch möglichst viel vom Tag zu haben. Das Auto war gepackt und so ging es in Bad Hersfeld auf die A7 und immer Richtung Norden. Das erste Ziel meiner Reise hieß aber nicht Hamburg, sondern Oldenburg in Holstein. Dort wohnt Frank, ein mittlerweile sehr guter Freund von mir. Ich lernte ihn vor Jahren in Lübeck auf einem Oi!-Punk Konzert kennen, an dem auch seine Punkrock-Band Drunken Swallows spielte. Er lud mich ein die Nacht in der Wohnung von ihm und seiner Freundin zu schlafen, damit ich nachts nach dem Upstarts-Konzert die Strecke von Hamburg nicht mehr zurückfahren muss, sondern erst ausgeschlafen am nächsten Tag. Sehr führsorglich von ihm, hehehe.

Gegen Mittag fuhren wir dann zusammen mit Henning, einem guten Freund von Frank in die Hansestadt. Da das Wetter absolut auf unserer Seite war, fuhren wir nach St. Pauli an die Landungsbrücken. Da jeder von uns überraschenderweise eine Hafenrundfahrt machen wollte, taten wir genau dies und gönnten uns währenddessen auf der Elbe ein paar Bier. Inzwischen war es später Nachmittag und wir trafen uns bei Remedy Records mit unseren Freunden von den Skinheads Hamburg, gingen nebenan griechisch essen und fuhren weiter auf das Konzert in den Monkey Music Club. Als wir ankamen, hatten The Headlines bereits die Bühne betraten und begannen zu spielen. Der Club war bereits sehr gut gefüllt, sodass die Schweden nicht vor einer halb leeren Location spielen mussten. Das war auch gut so, denn die vier Punkrocker legten die Messlatte zu beginn an gleich sehr hoch. Ihre Musik war kraftvoll und der Wechsel zwischen Frauen- und Männergesang passte perfekt dazu. Kerry, die Bassspielerin und Sängerin sorgte zusätzlich für Kurzweiligkeit, insbesondere beim männlichen Publikum. Neben ihren eigenen Liedern coverten sie Sham 69’s If The Kids Are United und Rose Tattoo’s Nice Boys Don’t Play Rock’n’Roll. Danach betraten endlich Angelic Upstarts die Bühne und begannen vor einem nahezu überfüllten Club zu spielen. Endlich konnte ich Angelic Upstarts das erste Mal live sehen. Ihr Programm war sehr solide und auch die Song-Auswahl war gut überlegt. Bei den Klassikern wie 2.000.000 Voices, Teenage Warning, England oder auch Solidarity gab es im Publikum kein halten mehr. Auch Angelic Upstarts coverten Sham 69’s If The Kids Are United. Nach dem Konzert fuhren wir wieder zu dritt zurück nach Oldenburg in Holstein.

Nachdem wir am nächsten Morgen ausschliefen und danach gemeinsam frühstückten, war es auch schon wieder Zeit sich zu verabschieden. Gegen Mittag startete ich wieder in meine nordhessische Heimat. Den Rest des Tages verbrachte ich nur zuhause auf dem Sofa, denn am nächsten Tag ging es schon wieder weiter. Das Ziel hieß Rheinböllen. Dort fand das 11. Back On The Streets Festival statt.

Donnerstag, der 23. Juli 2015. Gegen Mittag stieg ich voller Freude ins Auto, denn ich sollte an diesem langen Wochenende viele Freunde und Bekannte wieder treffen und auch die ein oder andere gute Band zu Gesicht bekommen.

Am frühen Nachmittag kam ich in Rheinböllen an. Da ich noch etwas Zeit hatte, nachdem ich im Hotel eingecheckt habe, beschloss ich ein kleines Mittagsschläfchen zu halten. Der Abend sollte ja noch lang genug werden, hehehe. Mein erster Halt am Festivalgelände galt dem Stand von Diana und Randale Records. Lange hatten wir uns nicht mehr gesehen und hatten uns daher viel zu erzählen und hatten auch das ein oder andere Bierchen zusammen zu trinken. Danke an der Stelle noch einmal an Diana für die Platten, die sie mir mitgebracht hatte. Es dauerte auch nicht allzu lange bis meine Freunde und bekannte aus Kassel, Frankfurt, Hamburg, dem Ruhrpott und Passau ankamen. Mein musikalischen Highlight an diesem Festivaltag waren Rude Pride aus Madrid/Spanien. Ihre traditionellen Oi!-Klänge, bei manchen Liedern mit leichtem Ska- und Reggae-Einschlag trafen voll meinen Geschmack. Die Jungs können was!

Es war Freitag Vormittag und ich wachte mit einem ordentlichen Kater im Hotelzimmer auf. Ich ging vom Hotel zum Rastplatz um zu frühstücken und erstmal einen Kaffee zu trinken. Inzwischen war es Nachmittag geworden und ich pilgerte mit ein paar Freunden zurück aufs Festival Gelände. Da an diesem Abend The Business spielten, gingen wir zuerst wieder zum Stand von Randale Records um zu sehen, ob The Business Diana noch neues Merch zum Verkaufen vorbei brachte. Die erste Band des Tages hieß Extrem Unangenehm, wurde aber ihrem Namen überhaupt nicht gerecht. Ganz im Gegenteil, Ihr Konzert war sehr kurzweilig. Schade nur, dass noch nicht allzu viele Leute vor der Bühne standen. Ähnliches Schauspiel bei der Band Foiernacht aus Südtirol. Ihre Mischung aus Oi!, Punk und Psychobilly kam beim anwesenden Publikum sehr gut an. Auch sehr gut waren die 5 Jungs von Restrisiko. Das Publikum wurde inzwischen auch immer größer und das Festivalgelände füllte sich zunehmends.

Mein persönliches Highlight an diesem Tag des Festivals waren – wie vielleicht schon zu erwarten – The Business. Ihre Show war von Anfang an energiegeladen. Und da mittlerweile das Festivalgelände fast voll war, konnten dies auch noch viele andere so sehen. Das Wetter wurde zwar zunehmend schlechter, aber die Jungs konnten noch trockenen Hauptes Ihr Konzert beenden. Danach spielten die Punkrocker von Unantastbar aus Südtirol. Diese hatten mit dem starken Regen allerdings so dermaßen Pech, dass bis auf einige Fans nahezu alle Gäste das Festivalgelände verließen, oder sich bei den Zelten der Merchstände unterstellten. Bei ihrem Lied „Das Stadion brennt“, ein Lied über Pyrotechnik in Fußballstadien, zündeten jede menge Fans passenderweise Bengalos. Ein herrlicher Anblick.

Zu guter letzt an diesem Abend lud Roy Ellis alias Mr. Symarip zum Tanz ein. Da sich das Wetter wieder einigermaßen beruhigt hatte, folgen dieser Einladung viele Festivalbesucher. Als sein Konzert vorüber war gingen wir auch wieder ins Hotel zurück.

Samstag, der 25. Juli 2015. Es war der letzte Tag des diesjährigen Back On The Streets Festival. Aufgrund einer Unwetterwarnung des Deutschen Wetterdienstes konnte das Programm erst um 17 Uhr beginnen und nahezu alle Bands des heutigen Tages durften nur ein verkürztes Set spielen. Da das Festival so spät los ging, hatte auch die erste Band EgOi!sten Glück und konnte vor einem großen Publikum spielen. Selbstsicher spielten sie Ihr Programm und wurden vom Publikum auch gut angenommen. Ein gelungener Auftritt dieser noch jungen Band. Bei der Band Paris Violence vermisste ich den Schlagzeuger. Entweder ich habe ihn tatsächlich übersehen, oder sie verwendeten einen Drum Computer. Die Band Martens Army holte sich für ihren Auftritt auf dem Festival Verstärkung in Form von Ferdy Dörnberg. Der halbe Engländer ist ein echter Allrounder, was Instrumente angeht und unterstützte Martens Army an der Slide Gitarre. Danach sollte mein persönliches Highlight an diesem Abend folgen: Superyob. Franky Flame schafft es auch im hohen Alter noch, das Publikum ganz auf seine Seite zu ziehen. Viele jüngere bands können sich von ihm noch eine gewaltige Scheibe abschneiden. Nachdem dann die KrawallBrüder einen zum Besten gegeben haben, betrat Franky erneut die Bühne. Dieses Mal haute er allerdings Solo am Piano. Auch Franky bat Ferdy Dörnberg für das ein oder andere Stück auf die Bühne. Diese beiden Virtuosen bildeten wirklich einen würdigen Abschluss für dieses Festival.

Am nächsten Morgen trat ich den Weg in meine hessische Heimat an.

Thilo
(geschrieben im August 2015)

Posted on October 30, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Tony Van Frater of The Cockney Rejects dies.

Tony Van Frater, the guitarist with Sunderland punk band Red Alert, has died, reportedly of a heart attack. He was 51.

He was a mainstay of the group, who were formed in Sunderland back in 1979 and went on to tour nationally and internationally.

He also played with the Angelic Upstarts and Cockney Rejects, and was one of the most respected figures in the North East punk scene.

Tony – real name Anthony Frater – was a founder member of Red Alert, who made three studio albums and released several singles which reached the UK Indie Charts Top 30.

Red Alert broke up in 1985, reformed four years later and continued touring and occasionally recording.

Meanwhile, Tony, who was known as ‘Tut’, played with South Shields band Angelic Upstarts, and, since 1999, with the reformed Cockney Rejects.

Away from music, he used to have an ice cream van, and it is believed he had recently been working as a taxi driver.

Tributes started flooding in today on social media sites.

Official announcement from the Cockney Rejects.

Dear friends and supporters worldwide, most of you are probably aware of the tragic circumstances of this past week in which we lost our beloved brother and friend Tony Van Frater. Due to this catastrophic event we have no option other than to cancel the forthcoming UK tour forthwith as a mark of respect for the man and his family.
none of us knows what the future holds at present, we wish to enter a period of mourning and reflection on the massive contribution and impact that Tony made on all our lives.
All tickets will be refunded and we apologise for this, and we hope that we have your understanding and co operation in these difficult times.

Thank you one and all. The Cockney Rejects.

Tony played for us at Concrete Jungle Festival for us in 2007, and has been a big part of the Cockney Rejects band since he joined

“The founding member of Red Alert and Cockney Rejects bass player was one of the scene’s true gentlemen.

“His talent and friendship will be missed by many. RIP big man – our thoughts are with your family and friends.”

Red Alert singer Steve ‘Castiron’ Smith wrote on his Facebook page: “Best mate, brother, legend, thanks for the memories son, see u up there.”

I was actually to be seeing Tony tomorrow, as i am DJ’ing a festival in Bavaria. we are all deeply shocked by this, and our thoughts go out the the Rejects and all Tony’s friends and family, it makes you realise once again, how short this life is, and we have to keep on keeping on. Stop the negative infighting, and enjoy the life we have. We are all brothers and sisters in our old punk and skinhead subcultures. Symond

The show will go on, and a pint of two will be drank in Tony’s name. Big respect will go out to Tony ifrom Bavaria, and across the Punk and Oi! world

Posted on October 13, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton, Big 6. 2016

Tickets for 2016 are available HERE

CONFIRMED ACTS

INFA RIOT Punk – Oi! 1982 Legends

ROUGH KUTZ

FECKIN EJITS

THE HACKLERS – SKA

GRADE 2

CROWN COURT

TEAR UP from Watford, A brand new young oi! act

Dekkertones a leading British Ska Tribute act, to get the party started

PISTONES (Finland)

SPECIAL GUESTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT THE EVENT

Facebook Event page

Bands and DJ’s wishing to perform, all info and enquiries, contact Symond at subcultz@gmail.com

Video made in 2013

The Great Skinhead Reunion, Brighton, www.subcultz.com
The Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton Every Year, the first weekend of June, Skinheads come from across the globe to Brighton seafront. for full event details go to www.subcultz.com
Posted by Skinhead Reunion Brighton on Saturday, 2 April 2016

FULL 3 DAYS EVENT, YOUR WRISTBAND IS VALID THROUGH OUT, YOU CAN USE IT FOR AS LITTLE, OR AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. THE EVENT WILL SELL OUT, AND THERE WILL BE NO ADVANCE DAY TICKETS AT A REDUCED DAILY RATE , IN ADVANCE.

The line-up maybe subject to change, as so many band members and dj’s are involved. Babies coming along, alcohol, world wars and famine can be unforeseen, but the Great Skinhead Reunion, is more about coming to Brighton to see all your friends and making some more, for 3 full days of mayhem.

SKINHEAD ONLY HOTELS .

Add to your experience, by getting a room in our Skinhead only hotels. Conveniently located, with a short walk to the venue, and no moaning neighbours to worry about. The rooms vary in size and cost, to fit your needs. all within an easy walk to the skinhead reunion venue. We have hotels exclusive to the Great Skinhead Reunion guests and bands. Party party !! please email subcultz@gmail.com with your requirements, to be booked into the Skinhead Hotels

For those on a low budget, its worth checking Hostels and campsites, but my advice, is to get in the reserved hotels, for a nice stress free, clean and comfortable holiday in Brighton.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Brighton is situated on the south coast of England, approximately one hour from London. London Gatwick is the nearest airport. There are regular direct trains and National Express buses. The next nearest is Heathrow, There are also direct trains from Luton Airport . Its advised not to fly to Stansted, as this is a long way, and you risk losing valuable drinking time

The nearest ferry port serving mainland Europe is Newhaven -Dieppe . Newhaven is about 20 min drive to Brighton. Dover is about 2 hours to Brighton

PARKING ZONES – one of the worst aspects of Brighton, is a lack of affordable parking. my advice is to use street parking on the suburbs of Brighton, its a reasonably safe place. a good bus service will take you into brighton centre (churchill square) and a short walk from there to the sea front. worth allowing the extra hours work, to save yourself serious parking charges

All Event Enquiries email Symond at subcultz@gmail.com. phone (uk) 07733096571

The Facebook community group Facebook group

Facebook page

Posted on October 5, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Stomper 98 Confirmed for The Great Skinhead Reunion, Brighton, England 2016

Stomper 98 are confirmed for the great skinhead reunion in Brighton England june 3-4-5th 2016. Brighton is seen as a birthplace of the skinhead subculture, with mods and rockers fighting on the beaches in 1964, by 1967 the skinhead had spread across the uk, a solid British working class subculture. Saturday afternoon saw mobs of skinheads fighting for their territory and team on the football terraces, by night, Stomping to Jamaican reggae, wearing the cutting new clothing of quality British design and cloth, handmade leather shoes and boots. After a dip came the rebirth, with the aggro Boot Boys and explosion of Punk Rock from 76, the Sham Army. 79 saw the 2tone revolution, bringing the Punk and Reggae sounds together. By 1980, the largest number of skinheads in history were on the streets of Britain. Then came a backlash against the middle class system, which had controlled the people for centuries, this music was known as Oi! Music. Direct action through music. As riots spread across the UK skinheads scared the government, an army of angry disenfranchised street kids, ready to Ruck. Margaret thatcher put a ban on oi music, clubs and pubs refused skinheads entry, record shops took the vinyl from the shelves. The SPG ( police) Attacked Skinheads across the country . But we refused to die. We went underground, created our own scene, our own clubs, promoted by fanzines and word of mouth. ‘skinheads, a way of life’ like martyrs through the centuries. a faith, which is stronger than any latest fashion. So by the mid 80’s Skinheads were popping up across the planet, fed by the media scare stories, of the anti Christ. By photographic images and books. But also by skinhead bands playing around the globe, for a few beers and a hot dog. Gone are the days of territorial violence and racial conflict. The political infighting designed to divide and destroy, thrown aside. What’s now, is a world wide community, living A skinhead way of life. Every year we celebrate the skinhead subculture, in all its positive eras. From 60’s ska to 21st century oi! And with that, We invite Selective bands each year to come represent their country and scene. We are very pleased to announce Stomper 98 from Germany will be performing at the Great Skinhead Reunion, Brighton, England for 2016. tickets are already 1/3 sold out for 2016, so dont miss out, on what is set to be a sell out event www.subcultz.com

Stomper 98 sind für die Great Skinhead Reunion in Brighton/England bestätigt, die vom 3.-5. Juni 2016 stattfindet.

Brighton gilt als eine der Geburtsstätte der Skinhead-Subkultur, denn im Jahr 1964 war es eben genau in Brighton, wo sich Mods und Rocker ihre ersten Schlachten an den Stränden und in den Straßen ablieferten. 1967 hatte sich die Skinhead-Bewegung bereits über das gesamte Vereinigte Königreich ausgebreitet und war fester Bestandteil der Subkultur der britischen Arbeiterklasse. Samstag nachmittags sah man Skinhead-Banden im Umfeld von Fußballspielen für ihre Städte und Vereine auf den Straßen kämpfen und nachts konnte man die Skinheads dann zu jamaikanischem Reggae tanzen sehen. Bei all dem achteten sie darauf stets smart gekleidet zu sein. So trugen sie qualitativ hochwertige Stoffe im typisch britischen Design, sowie handverarbeitete Lederschuhe und Stiefel.

Die Zeit verging und durch die Boot Boys und und den nicht mehr aufzuhaltenden Punk Rock erlebte dieser Kult eine Wiedergeburt im Jahr 1976. Drei Jahre später braucht der 2Tone zusammen, was zusammen gehört und kombinierte die Klänge von Punk und Reggae.

Es war in 1980, als man so viele Skinheads wie nie zuvor in den Straßen von Großbritannien finden konnte und als eine bestimmte Musikrichtung die Leute aus ihrem Mittelschicht-Winterschlaf reisen sollte. Diese Musik war bekannt unter folgendem Namen: Oi! Mit dieser Musik gingen viele Unruhen und Krawalle einher, sodass die Skinheads bei Staat und Polizei ein Gefühl der Angst verbreiteten. Margaret Thatcher verbot Oi! in Clubs und Kneipen, veranlasste gar ein Hausverbot für Skinheads und sorgte dafür, dass keine Oi!-Platten mehr in den Plattenläden zu finden waren. Die Polizei griff uns Skinheads scharf an, aber wir ließen unseren Kult nicht sterben! Die Bewegung verschwand zunehmend in den Untergrund. Wir betrieben unsere eigenen Clubs, veranstalteten eigene Konzerte, brachten eigene Fanzines heraus und lebten unseren “Way Of Life” abseits der Masse. Wir waren wie Märtyrer. Der Stolz auf diesen unseren Kult war und ist stärker als jeder Trend und wird überleben!

In den Medien verteufelt verbreitete sich der Skinhead-Kult über den ganzen Globus. Doch nicht nur den Medien gelang es Diesen Kult zu verbreiten, sondern auch Bands, die die wahren Werte dieser Subkultur in die Welt hinaus trugen.

Fernab von territorialen Auseinandersetzungen, jeglichem Rassismus und unzähligen Versuchen der Politik die Bewegung zu Spalten oder gar zu zerstören, lebt der Skinhead-Kult unbekümmert weiter wie eine weltweite Gemeinde am Rande der Gesellschaft.

Und genau deshalb feiern wir jedes Jahr unsere Subkultur in all ihren positiven Epochen. Vom Ska der 60er Jahre bis hin zum Oi! der heutigen Tage.

Jedes Jahr laden wir wohl ausgesuchte Bands ein, uns die Szene in ihrem jeweiligen Land zu präsentieren und wir freuen uns ganz besonders im Jahr 2016 die Band Stomper 98 https://www.facebook.com/Stomper98?fref=ts aus Göttingen/Deutschland in Brighton begrüßen zu dürfen.

Ein Drittel der Karten ist bereits verkauft und wir rechnen auch in 2016 wieder mit einer ausverkauften Great Skinhead Reunion.

www.subcultz.com

tickets here

Posted on August 12, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

The Story of Oi!

The Cockney Rejects’ 1980 performance at Birmingham’s Cedar Club remains unnoticed in the annals of rock history. It warrants no mention when music journalists compile the 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock, nor the 100 Craziest Gigs Ever, which seems like a terrible oversight. In fairness, no one is ever going to rank the show by the East End quartet – then enjoying chart success with a punk take on the West Ham terrace anthem I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles – alongside Jimi Hendrix at Monterey in terms of musical brilliance. Still, it has its own claim to historical import: by all accounts, it was the most violent gig in British history.

“I’d seen quite a bit on the terraces or outside football grounds, but this was carnage,” says Jeff Turner, today an immensely amiable decorator, then “Stinky” Turner, the Cockney Rejects’ teenage front man, cursed with what his former manager Garry Bushell tactfully describes as “a bit of a temper”. Turner continues: “There was a lot of people cut and hurt, I got cut, my brother [Rejects’ guitarist Micky Geggus] really got done bad, with an ashtray, the gear was decimated, there was people lying around on the floor. Carnage.”

The problem was football-related. “Most of the punk bands at the time, they had their ideals – the Clash, Career Opportunities, political stuff, fair play,” says Turner. “When I was a kid, my thought for punk rock was that it could put West Ham on the front pages.” To this end, the band – affiliated to the club’s hooligans in the Inter City Firm – had appeared on Top of the Pops in West Ham shirts. “After that, everybody wanted to fight us, but you couldn’t back down,” says Turner. “Once you were defeated, it would have opened the floodgates for everybody.”

So the Rejects and their party fought: “Twenty Cockneys against … well, not all 300 Brummies were trying to attack us, but I’d say we were trying to fight off 50 to 100 people.” In the aftermath, Micky Geggus was charged with GBH and affray, and the Cockney Rejects’ career as a live band was, in effect, over. An attempt to play Liverpool later that year ended after six songs “because there was 150 Scousers trying to kill us”, while a subsequent gig in Birmingham was aborted by the police: “The old bill got wind of it and escorted us on to the M6,” says Turner. “At the time, I was gutted, but now, I think, thank God for that. Someone could have died.”

Perhaps it’s unsurprising the gig has been swept under the carpet of musical history: after all, so has the genre the Cockney Rejects inadvertently inspired. Thirty years after Bushell – then a writer for the music paper Sounds, as well as the Rejects’ manager – coined the term “Oi!” to describe a third generation of punk-inspired working-class bands playing “harder music on every level, guitar driven, terrace choruses”, it remains largely reviled or ignored in Britain.

In the eyes of its remaining fans, Oi! is the “real thing”, the genuine sound of Britain’s streets in the late 70s, populated by artists Bushell championed when the rest of the music press concentrated on “bands who dropped literary references you wouldn’t have got if you didn’t have a masters’ degree and wrote pretentious lyrics”. Bands such as the Cockney Rejects, the Angelic Upstarts – Marxists from South Shields managed by a man Bushell colourfully describes as “a psychopath – his house had bars over all the windows because people had thrown firebombs through it” – Red Alert, Peter and the Test Tube Babies. It briefly stormed the charts. The Angelic Upstarts followed the Cockney Rejects onto Top of the Pops, while Splodgenessabounds made the Top 10 with the deathless Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please. But today, if the general public have heard of it at all, they tend to agree with the assessment once offered by journalist and broadcaster Stuart Maconie: “Punk’s stunted idiot half-brother, musically primitive and politically unsavoury, with its close links to far-right groups.” It is, asserts Bushell, “without a doubt, the most misunderstood genre in history”.

The problem isn’t really to do with the music, although protracted exposure to the oeuvre of Peter and the Test Tube Babies – home to Student Wankers, Up Yer Bum and Pick Your Nose (and Eat It) – could leave all but the hardiest soul pleading tearfully for a few literary references and pretentious lyrics. The problem is Oi!’s adoption by the far-right as its soundtrack of choice. It wasn’t the only part of street culture to attract the attentions of the National Front and the British Movement in the late 70s and early 80s. Losing out at the polling stations thanks to the rise of Margaret Thatcher, the NF had instigated a programme of “direct action”: it would attempt to kick its way into the headlines at football matches and gigs. Chart bands such as Sham 69, Madness and the Specials had concerts disrupted.In 1978, seig-heiling skinheads caused £7,500 worth of damage at a Sham 69 gig in London.

But it was to Oi! that the far-right was most attracted, not least because it attracted both football hooligans and the re-emergent skinhead movement – two groups the NF’s direct-action programme targeted for recruitment. “We played a gig in Camden, we saw these Nazi skinheads beating the shit out of these two punks,” remembers Turner. “They’d managed to wreck Sham 69’s career, but us with our following” – the ICF was then headed by Cass Pennant, whose parents were Jamaican – “we weren’t going to have it. We just went down and absolutely slaughtered them. We declared to them that if they ever set foot where we were again, we’d decimate them.” And so it proved. “Neo-nazis confronted the Rejects again at Barking station,” remembers Bushell. “They basically told them, ‘We’re going to come to your gigs, we’re going to do this and do that.’ The Rejects crew battered them all over the station. They didn’t come to the gigs after that.”

Bushell points out that there was “a Nazi subculture all the way through punk. Malcolm McLaren started it all with the swastikas, which thick people saw and thought, ‘Oh, they must be Nazis.’” There were white power punk bands, too – such as the Dentists and the Ventz, which were formed by the “Punk Front” division of the National Front, in lieu of real punk bands showing any interest in promoting white supremacy. It was a trick the NF would be forced to pull again when Oi! bands resisted their overtures – the party recruited a failed punk band from Blackpool called Skrewdriver and repositioned them as the musical voice of the neo-Nazi movement. “It was totally distinct from us,” says Bushell. “We had no overlap other than a mutual dislike for each other.”

Bushell’s latterday career as a gleeful provoker of the liberal left, writing for the Sun and the Daily Star, probably hasn’t done much to help public perceptions regarding Oi!’s political affiliations. When Oi! was at its height, however, he says he was a Trotskyist who did his best to infuse the movement with socialist principles. He organised Oi! conferences and debates, “trying to shape the movement, trying to stop the culture of violence, talking about doing unemployment benefits, working with the Right to Work campaign, prisoners’ rights gigs – I thought we could unite punk and social progress.” Not everyone was receptive: “Stinky Turner was at one debate, and he didn’t contribute much, apart from the classic line, ‘Oi! is working class, and if you’re not working class you’ll get a kick in the bollocks.’” He laughs. “Perfect! That was what the Rejects were all about.”

Trotskyist or not, Bushell also managed to exacerbate the problem, not least by masterminding the unfortunately titled 1981 compilation Strength Thru Oi!. “I didn’t know!” he protests. “I’d been active in politics for years and had never come across the phrase ‘strength through joy’ as a Nazi slogan.It was the title of a Skids EP.”

To compound matters, its cover featured a photograph of a skinhead who turned out to be the delectable-sounding Nicky Crane, who – nothing if not a multi-tasker – managed to combine life as a neo-Nazi activist with a secret career as a gay porn star. “I had a Christmas card on the wall, it had that image that was on the cover of Strength Thru Oi!, but washed out. I honestly, hand on my heart, thought it was a still from The Wanderers,” Bushell says. “It was only when the album came through for me to approve the artwork that I saw his tattoos. Of course, if I hadn’t been impatient, I would have said, right, fucking scrap this, let’s shoot something else entirely. Instead, we airbrushed the tattoos out. There were two mistakes there, both mine. Hands up.”

Much worse was to follow. A July 1981 Oi! gig featuring the 4-Skins and the Business in Southall – the scene of a racist murder in 1976 and the race riot that ended in the death of Blair Peach in 1979 – erupted into violent chaos: 110 people were hospitalised, and the venue, the Hambrough Tavern, was burned down after being petrol bombed. Depending on whose version of events you believe, it was either sparked by skinheads attacking Asians or Asian youths attacking gig-goers: either way, the Southall riot stopped Oi!’s commercial progress dead. The Cockney Rejects found that shops refused to stock their new album, The Power and the Glory: “I’d sung a song called Oi Oi Oi and all of a sudden there’s an Oi! movement and I didn’t really want anything to do with it,” says Turner. “This awful, awful shit happened in Southall, we were never there, and we got the rug pulled out from under our feet. I went from the TV screen to the labor exchange in 18 months.”

An inflammatory article in the Daily Mail exacerbated the situation further: “We never had an problems with Nazi activists at our gigs until after the Mail’s piece,” says Bushell. “Only then did we have people coming down, thinking it was going to be this rightwing thing, When they discovered it wasn’t, that’s when the trouble started. I was attacked at an Upstarts gig at the 100 Club by about 20 of them. I had a knife pulled on me at Charing Cross station.”

That should have been that, had it not been for Oi!’s curious afterlife in America. Steve Whale – who joined the Business after Southall and struggled on through the 80s, re positioning the band as “street punk” – unexpectedly found himself in possession of a US recording contract with Bad Religion’s label Epitaph, lauded by bands including Boston’s Irish-punk stars the Dropkick Murphys and the extraordinarily influential California band Rancid. Jeff Turner has just returned from a tour of Japan: “Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya. I haven’t got fortunes but I’m able to do that. That’s all I can ask for, it makes me happy.”

“I had Lars Freidricksen of Rancid come in and sit in the pub round the corner from my house, welling up, telling me if it wasn’t for Oi! he might have killed himself as a teenager,” says Garry Bushell. “I thought, ‘Fuck me, it’s really had an effect on these people.’ I’m not proud of the way Oi! was misunderstood, but I’m proud of the music, proud of what it started, proud of what it gave punk.”

In Britain, he concedes, the genre’s name is still blackened in most people’s eyes. “There were people in 1976 saying punk had to be a Nazi thing because of the swastikas. The difference is, those bands had rock journalists on their side. The Oi! bands only had me.” He laughs, a little ruefully. “I did me best.”

Posted on July 27, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Did Punk rock change the world

Punk not as important as former punk thinks

PUNK was far less important than ex-punk Tom Logan likes to think, it has emerged.

Historians have taken issue with claims made in the autobiography of former Septic Nipples drummer Logan, which include the assertion that punk “changed everything”.

History professor Mary Fisher said: “Clearly many areas of life were not affected by punk. The car industry, for example, did not start making Allegros covered in spit with an anarchy symbol Tippexed on the side.

“Mr Logan – or Johnny Piss, as he was known then – believes punk had some political significance. But it was followed by Thatcherism, which was all about buying your own house and making it look nice, which isn’t very punk.

“It’s also possible that if punk had not existed, grunge would have been invented sooner and we could have just listened to Nirvana and not pretended to like the Slits.”

However Logan defended the importance of punk, saying that without it he would not have a vast stock of underwhelming anecdotes.

Logan said: “I was at a party with Johnny Thunders and the Pistols at Siouxie Sioux’s house, and the Damned turned up without any booze, so Siouxie told them to fuck off and get some from the off licence, and some crisps.

“All that craziness was a long time ago though. Today I’m an IT consultant with a wife and two kids living in a semi in Leeds.

“But there’s no way that could have happened if it hadn’t been for punk.”

Posted on July 22, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Citizen Keyne. Ungreat Britain

Citizen Keyne. Ungreat Britain

Get your Copy Here

So, as I spend way to long on the internet, checking out bands, thinking about what to programme for my next event, I go through lots of bands. Some I avoid like the plague, some have just overplayed the curcuit and burned out. But some have a bit of mystery over them. Sometimes you hear the rumours and the slagging off, before you actually get to see them. Being the Twat I am, the more the bitching, the more I like to take a look.

When Citizen Keyne got in touch with me, my first thought was OI underdogs, is up my street, so I’ll give them a whirl. And what a pleasant surprise I found on putting on the first album, Ungreat Britain. I was expecting the same regurgitated Oi!, with loads of repetitive OI Guitar licks and a singer being ‘Very Hard’.

What I actually heard is a flashback to 1977 Punk Rock, but with a modern twist. Chavs , Boot sale Tales, is straight into 21^st Century United Kingdom of Methodone

I have to admit, too many years working in music, too many years of being a skinhead, has numbed my brain to so much. A song has to grab you by the bollocks and get those butterflies tickling your chest, that buzz in your neck that makes you want to pogo round the front room.

Most modern Oi bands will perhaps manage one strong track,or follow the same old done subject matter, of boots braces, tattoo’s and working class delusions. Now onto Floyds arse, this album is such an eclectic mix. With a definite punk rock sound, taking me right back to Micklefield estate in the summer of 78. But don’t write this band off as yet another copycat. Citizen Keyne have really brought in a modern sound, with lyrics dealing with todays issues. The love of lager down our necks. With reminders of early Sparrer, Sham, Buzzcocks, with a touch of Macc Lads thrown in for good measure. This really is a stand alone band, and a great first listen. Cant wait to unpack the next selection.

Posted on July 18, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Great Skinhead Northern Gathering, Sunderland. 9th – 10th Oct. Sunderland

BUY TICKETS 9-10th Oct 2015

Featuring Live bands Citizen Keyne, Skapones, Adverse society, Tear Up. Toxic. Anti Social

Full DJ line up for a second room, playing SKA, And all Skinhead related music

The Great Skinhead Northern Gathering 9th + 10th October In Sunderland. Our second year of our Autumn Gathering, as a celebration of the skinhead culture A full day of Dj’s in one room, and Live bands in another. A full line up to follow, watch this space. Ony £15 for the whole event. Cheap beer and rooms nearby. Friday will be wristbanded 7pm -3am bands and DJ’s. Saturday 10th noon -5pm free entry meet and greet. After 5pm it will be wristband only, Live bands and DJ’s The weekend wristband £15 is valid for both nights

DJ Coordinator is Sean Marshall

facebook event page, please share

Tickets Here

This is a family friendly event. Children are welcome until 9_9:30pm, but must be off the premises by then, by law so all are welcome, the venue is The Corner Flag. Central to the city center in a good location for local transport connections, trains, metro etc it’s the corner flag located at high street west, with plenty of fast food outlets and restaurants nearby, there will be something for everyone a good mix of Oi,ska,two tone a little bit of everything, a good size venue capable of holding this event, any bands wishing to play, Oi,Ska,Two Tone also any dj’s wishing to spin a few disks, should contact subcultz@gmail.com. www.subcultz.com If you missed last years then you have to come to this one, good music,good beer,with very good people

Posted on June 29, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Kings Road. London Punk Rock

The glory days of King’s Road

This picture shows a group of punks in the 1970s Kings Road, London — London Punks and Skinheads 1970’s Kings Road.

Proud Chelsea’s Sex, Drugstores and Rock & Roll: a History of the King’s Road is a new exhibition of photographs of King’s Road, Chelsea from the early days of the swinging 60s, right up to the end of the 80s. This picture shows a group of punks in the 1970s, when the road became a centre of punk culture.

Posted on June 17, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Great Skinhead Reunion documentary DVD

Great Skinhead reunion documentary DVD, coming soon,.For pre orders click HERE

preview clip

Posted on June 10, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Feckin Ejits Off the Feckin Head

The Feckin Ejits Album Off The Feckin Head, available HERE

Probably the best Punk / Oi! album that was never released, available now, on Subcultz records

Posted on May 25, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Punk Bands – Xtraverts

Xtr@verts biography; ‘Who sent the Boys’ ?

In late 1975 a massive shake up within the music industry was emerging and with this came a teenage driven musical revolution, soon to be known as PUNK ROCK.

If the ‘Kings Road London’ was the birthplace of punk then its younger brother the ‘London Road, High Wycombe’ was equally as important. The ‘Nags Head’ High Wycombe as a venue was every bit as important as the legendary ‘100 Club’ in Denmark Street, both were linked by one person and that was rock promoter Ron Watts. At the height of this revolution as Ron booked the likes of the ‘Sex Pistols’, ‘The Damned’, ‘The Clash’ and the ‘The Stranglers’ at both venues, teenagers in Buckinghamshire were being introduced to a major shift in youth culture many months before Punk erupted nationwide.

Mimicking its older London brother in every way in High Wycombe it seemed everybody under the age of 25 was becoming a punk rocker. Hippies had almost been eradicated and with turf wars between punks and teddy boys subsiding further combined with a revival of mod’s, rockers and skinheads the town’s local population was slowly having to accept this new ‘melting pot of anti- establishment’ youth culture.

Shortly after the now infamous Punk Festival of 1976 and the riotous Jubilee boat fiasco Ron Watts continued to book well known punk bands at Wycombe’s Town hall, it was always his policy to give local talent a chance to shine through. There was a vibrant local music scene emerging but with so much focus on London bands I believe there was one band that unfortunately went unnoticed.

………..this is the story of THE XTR@VERTS…………

As early as 1976, a good six months before ‘The Sex Pistols’ played the Nags Head, a group of mid-teens including Kris Jozajtis/guitar, Mark White/drums, Carlton Mounsher/bass, formed their own band ‘Deathwish’. Inspired by 60’s UK bands such as The Who, Small Faces and The Rolling Stones and later stateside offerings such as Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Velvet Underground and The New York Dolls.

‘Deathwish’ were soon playing their own brand of Punk Rock well before the term ‘Punk’ was even coined.

Their first gig caused a stir when a confused audience who had been expecting the usual hippie drivel turned violent and threw lit fireworks at them. The band had to be escorted from the venue by the police.

At Deathwish’s second gig an A&R rep from CBS came to check out the band following Ron Watts recommendation. Every bit as confused as the audience from the first gig, unfortunately he lacked the vision to sign them, but at least he didn’t throw anything at them, lit or otherwise !!! As fate would have it during the show an enigmatic youth with brightly coloured hair joined in singing with the band on stage, soon becoming lead vocalist, a certain Nigel Martin.

Nigel, influenced by ‘Roxy Music’ and ‘Bowie’ was always outrageously dressed, so Punk was a natural transition for him. Unfortunately High Wycombe didn’t have alot to offer fashion wise in the mid 70’s, except flares and platforms. There was a great Teddy boy shop called ‘Goddards’ which in fairness sold some great gear but that wasn’t enough, so he used to hang out at ‘SEX’, Malcolm McClaren’s shop at the top of the Kings Road with his punk mate ‘Marmite’, probably the first black punk with peroxide hair. (One time Marmite wore a transparent rubber jacket with goldfish swimming inside it..!!)

Nigel was photographed in Malcolm’s shop by ‘Honey’ magazine, standing out because he would get free crazy colour hairstyles at ‘Vidal Sassoon’s’ courtesy of Vivienne Westwood. Malcolm took the fee for the photoshoot and deducted half of the payment, explaining to Nigel that would cover his loss on the t-shirts which Nigel had previously been seen stealing !! At the same time ‘Vivienne Westwood’ had a market stall nearby and Nigel used to go there and get his clothes made to order.

Meanwhile with ‘Deathwish’ floundering, Nigel together with Mark Reilly/guitar and Tim Brick/drums had formed a band called ‘The Xtraverts’ with Kris Jozajtis filling in on bass, a job he swiftly passed on to Carlton Mounsher. With the line up complete and with a set of original songs plus a few covers they played the University circuit and London venues such as ‘The Roxy’, ‘The Vortex,’ ‘Hope and Anchor’ ‘Fulham Greyhound’ and ‘Global Village’, supporting ‘Johnny Kidd and the Pirates’ , ‘Gary Glitter and The Glitter Band’ and ‘Bernie Torme’. Further they were voted best new band in the Aylesbury ‘Friars’ poll.

Whilst at these gigs they rubbed shoulders with the up and coming soon to be punk icons, drinking with ‘Joe Strummer’, ‘Paul Weller’, wet toilet roll fights with ‘Billy Idol’, arguing with ‘Sid Vicious’ and pinching white label copies of ‘Anarchy in the UK’ from ‘Johnny Rotten’. Whilst at an Arsenal football game in early 1976 Nigel dressed up with brightly coloured spiky hair recalls seeing John Lydon later to become Johnny Rotten sporting long hippy hair and a black trenchcoat, one wonders who influenced who !!! These were remarkable times. Carlton also recalls being persuaded by Rat Scabies and Brian James of ‘The Damned’ to help them put just pressed copies of New Rose into their covers at Stiff Records. Although this meant he had one of the first copies of the UK’s first punk records , he still had to pay for it !!!

The band played around with new names and became ‘Nigel Martins Visage’ or ‘Mirage’, but with ‘Steve Strange’ having the same name finally agreed and settled on ‘THE XTR@VERTS’, a name which reflected their image and style. Soon they released their first vinyl single on Spike Records, ‘BLANK GENERATION’, b/w ‘A-LAD-INSANE’, there was a limited pressing of 500 and incidently these singles are now selling for over £175 on e-bay.

The band individually having strong creative drive, unfortunately disbanded the following year and moved in different directions with Carlton and Mark Reilly forming the ‘ Cathedrals’, later Reilly left to join ‘Blue rondo ala Turk’ and then formed and continues to have success with ‘Matt Bianco’. Carlton formed ‘The Ventilators’ later ‘The Vents’, and then ‘The Swamps’. Kris went on to join ‘The Folk Devils,’ whilst Tim did session work with ‘Japan’ and then moved into production.

Before leaving High Wycombe, Mark Reilly introduced Nigel to two young musicians ‘Mark Chapman’ and ‘Steve Westwood’, base and guitar players respectively, to continue with ‘The Xtr@verts’. Recruiting drummer ‘Andy Crawford’ they knuckled down and continued rehearsing and writing new material.

With a new line up, fresh and stronger than ever they hit the circuit running. Ron Watts gave the band many supports at the Town Hall where many well known acts were playing. First gig with the Jones Boys (aka Howard Jones) then support slots with ‘The Slits’ and ‘Creation Rebel’ and then headline gigs at the ‘White Swan’ Southall, the ‘Rainbow’ Finsbury Park and then ’Oranges and Lemons’ Oxford. Further concerts followed and a string of support gigs with the Damned’, ‘999’, ’Angelic Upstarts’, ‘The U.K. Subs, ‘The Vibrators’’ and ‘The Lurkers’.

The band went straight into the studio and during 1979 released two singles, the first was ‘POLICE STATE/DEMOLITION’ a double a) side, costs were shared with another local band ‘Plastic People’ with their song ‘Demolition’- released on Rising Sun records. The second release later in the year with the introduction of a new guitarist was ‘SPEED / 1984’.

The band with its new line up built up a very large following with in excess of 1000 people travelling to gigs far and wide, coaches filled with fans from all over the south of England would come and be a part of the Xtr@verts crew, especially when headlining their own gigs and with the support of ‘Rat Scabies’ drummer of the ‘Damned’ with a band he was managing ‘The Satellites’ played with the Xtr@verts on numerous occasions. Then there was the infamous ‘Oranges and Lemons’ gig in Oxford, The Clarenden, Fulham Greyhound, Hope’n’Anchor, plus many more memorable gigs in and around the home counties.

The Xtr@verts had a massive Punk and Skinhead following from as far as Birmingham to London and they would travel and support the band. The venues were packed with large chanting boisterous crowds and were more reminiscent of a Millwall -West Ham match than a concert.

At one gig in particular, 1980 at the Town Hall , High Wycombe, Rat Scabies even stood in and drummed for the band, and recently some 35 years later a recording of this electric gig has been discovered.

During late 1979, even after plays of both singles on ‘John Peel’s’ radio show, topping the N.M.E and SOUNDS charts, knocking ‘pretty vacant’ of the top of the independent charts also in the top 3 of the ‘Oi’ charts and a brief appearance on ‘20^th Century Box’ a ‘Janet Street Porter’ production with an interview by ‘Danny Baker’ on the subject of independent record labels and unsigned bands releasing and distributing their own records. Unfortunately the writing was on the wall.

Coupled with musical differences, changing line up and dissallusion with the punk ethos and the arrival of a new breed of Punk more commonly known as ‘Oi’ which had started causing violent confrontations and injecting absolute ch@os between fans at latter gigs, on the 31^st January

…………THE XTR@VERTS short life from 1976 to1980 was over……….

Reunions: album release and new line ups:

After the break up members went in different directions, Mark Chapman the totally flambouyant and outrageous base player became a top London DJ playing re mixes of 70’s disco classics in London Nightclubs becoming a promoter and entrepreneur, founder of ‘Car Wash’ and rubbing shoulders with new found friends ‘ Sigue Sigue Sputnik’.

Nigel played with a few local bands but moved into promoting rather than performing and opened the ‘Kat Klub’ under the flyover in the centre of town packing out the venue with bands like the U.K Subs, Crass, King Kurt, 999, the ‘Meteors’, ‘Angelic Upstarts’ and the ‘Vibrators’, keeping music live after the demise of the Town hall due to skinheads causing so much trouble at an ‘Adam Ant’ gig the venue was closed by the council.

During the next 10 years there was a handful of re union gigs, re hashing of old songs albeit very well received locally, during the mid eighties with the arrival of new guitarist Alistair Murray and drummer Steve McCormack ( who had been close friends with the band from day one) the Xtr@verts performed 3or 4 gigs with new image and style with a complete new set of songs.

After the release of a compilation Xtr@verts album, with songs and versions unheard of in the day, entitled ‘So Much Hate’ was released on ‘Detour’ records in the mid 90’s which has sold incredibly well worldwide, the Xtr@verts reformed once again and a launch gig was organised with the UK Subs….this was the last time the band were to play. A chapter in all the lives of the band members was finally put to sleep……….

Until now… 2014,

After the sad death of base player Mark Chapman and a chance meeting with long time friend and organiser of Brighton’s Skinhead Reunion Symond Lawes and with such a worldwide interest in past punk history and youth culture, the XTR@VERTS have reinvented themselves yet again and with a brand new and exciting line up are now in the process of recording a new album and rehearsing for a launch gig at the ‘100 Club’ (to be announced shortly).

The band’s new line up includes ;

NIGEL MARTIN Original ‘Xtr@verts’ and ‘Deathwish’ lead vocalist and front man.

CARLTON MOUNSHER Original Deathwish and Xtr@verts bassist now lead guitarist.

STEVE McCORMACK Later band member, having previously played with ‘Xtr@verts’ on many occasions, sang and recorded with his own band in the late 80’s early 90’s with his rocker outfit the ‘T-Birds’. Even supported ‘Screaming Lord Sutch !!’ Also appeared on Granada TV’s ‘Stars in their Eyes’ as ‘Billy Idol’ 1993/94 and has played drums with rockabilly bands home and abroad and is an accomplished Jazz singer.

NICK ‘BO’ CHAPMAN Also known as Joe Hope and brother of former base player Mark Chapman. Nick has played guitar for over 30 years, playing with local Folk Rock and Electronic bands throughout the 80’s to the present. ‘Were not the same were individuals’.

IAIN WOOSTER Iain has actively been playing in bands for the past 30 years, touring extensively through the 90’s UK and America, playing on albums for various artiste’s and an appearance with his band on the B.B.C’s ‘Eastenders’ during the 1990’s

The XTR@VERTS were a group that slipped through the media net and in their heyday were every bit as good as their contempories and although not up there with the flagship bands of the time they are credited and historically placed in the period that was punk rock. They appear in the top 100 punk bands of all time and have rubbed shoulders with many of the punk greats, perhaps now is the time to let people see what they missed or what might have been.

The Xtr@verts were one of Wycombe’s finest. So now let’s see what big brother’s little brother has to offer…….?????

‘Who Sent the Boys’. The story of the Xtraverts.

Biography written and researched by Steve McCormack. April 2014

Posted on May 24, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Bermondsey Joy Riders to perform the Great Skinhead Reunion, Brighton

Late additions to the Bill for The Great skinhead Reunion 2015 The Bermondsey Joy Riders

Claiming all the credentials of a bonafide ‘77 super group, The Bermondsey Joyriders is a band pooling the hard-won experience and history of three veteran punks. Founding membersGary Lammin (vocals / guitar) and Martin Stacey (bass) cut their teeth in the Joe Strummer-produced Little Roosters and Generation X precursors Chelsea respectively, whilst recent recruit Chris Musto (drums) is a sticksman of some credentials – having previously played with Johnny Thunders, Joe Strummer and Nico, to name but a few!

More than the sum of their impressive punk rock heritage however, The Bermondsey Joyriders have won praise for splicing those sounds from suburbs with raw blues and Lammin’s startling slide guitar – emerging with a sonic signature that is undeniably all their own. Given just 12 hours (!) in the studio to lay down their self-titled 2008 debut, they managed to produce a record which Classic Rock magazine’s Carol Clerk deemed to have “pulled off a really impudent mix of influences”, and which Guitarist magazine’s Charles Shaar Murray felt had achieved a “unique spin on punk-blues”.

Featuring Gary Lammin, writer of Runnin Riot and Chip on your shoulder, original member of Cock Sparrer. Check their website for full info on the band

Posted on April 8, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Peter ‘Test Tube’ Bywaters Deported from USA for impersonating Trump

British punk singer Peter Bywaters ‘deported from America for impersonating Donald Trump’

Posted on April 2, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

From Concrete Jungle Festival to X-ray Spex live at the Roundhouse

What was I thinking, the day I decided to get involved with punk rock. My youth was way behind me, long gone were the days when I thought we were going to change the world.

Posted on February 7, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Strength Thru Oi! Fitness Experiment

In 1981, Decca Records released Strength Thru Oi!, a compilation album featuring 22 bands associated with the Oi! offshoot of UK punk rock. The title was reportedly a play on Strength Through Joy, an early LP by the Scottish group the Skids, though some charged curator Gary Bushell with co-opting a popular Nazi slogan. Bushell denied the accusations, but either way, the record was meant to introduce Oi! as a style of music capable of invigorating listeners—fortifying their bodies, minds, and souls.

The title may have been tongue-in-cheek, but music and exercise have long gone hand-in-hand, and with that in mind, we asked three New York City fitness enthusiasts to experiment with an all-Oi! soundtrack during their workouts and help us answer the question of whether one truly can gain strength through Oi!

Our methods, it must be pointed out, were quasi-scientific at best, as this music is—and this is no knock—some of the absolute dumbest shit imaginable.

BACKGROUND (Edited by Subcultz)

In its original incarnation, British punk rock was deceptively simplistic. Genre figureheads the Clash and Sex Pistols were intelligent, self-aware 20-somethings who’d been to art school and attained a set of skills—squatting, figure drawing, discussing politics while drinking and speeding—that left them with few viable career options. Thanks to svengali managers like Malcolm McLaren and Bernie Rhodes, these and other unemployable dole collectors were able to form rock ‘n’ roll bands, and while the music was fast and loud—three-chord 50s rock played with all the anger and frustration you’d expect from underachieving young people—early punk anthems like “God Save the Queen” and “Career Opportunities” bristled with a covert idealism that belied the subculture’s nihilistic reputation.

As exciting and influential as it was, punk was artistically limiting, and by the late 70s, the music had run its course. The Sex Pistols broke up, the Clash branched out into classic styles like reggae and R&B, and other bands—the Damned, the Stranglers, etc.—plugged in synthesizers and joined the ranks of the emerging post-punk and new Wave groups. The music grew artsy and pretentious, and that led to the birth of Oi!—the only style of music whose name is always capitalized and followed with an exclamation point.

Influenced by groups like Sham 69. Angelic Upstarts and Cock Sparrer. 4Skins and Blitz made it real. Championed by members of the UK skinhead subculture—a movement emerged from the British council estates—Oi! is proudly working-class music. Its blunt, aggressive songs center on drinking, fighting, football , and, “Fuck Maggie thatcher, and her boys in Blue, A V’s up to the British class system. I’m not gonna waste my life working at your factory.” Musically, it was and is ’77-style punk stripped of all subtlety. Because the choruses sound like football chants, every song is an anthem, giving voice to the lives many young people were living in 1980’s Britain, Police harassment, and mass youth unemployment. Oi! gobs in the face of authority—the government, banks, the military, teachers, parents, people who don’t like Oi!—and that makes it adaptable and timeless. The music has permeated all corners of the globe, and “Oi! Oi! Oi!” sounds pretty much the same in any language.

In the USA Strength Thru Oi was used in experiments.

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

For the purposes of this study, we enlisted three individuals from different age groups with unique workout habits:

Kristen, a 32-year-old Pilates instructor, graduate student, and punk fan who hopes to make the synthesis of music and exercise an integral part of her practice once she becomes a doctor of physical therapy.

Spencer, a 28-year-old proponent of CrossFit—a popular exercise philosophy based on high-intensity interval training, weightlifting, and other extremely demanding exercises.

Francis, a 40-year-old runner, computer programmer, and member of the South Brooklyn Running Club.

All three were given an eight-song Oi! soundtrack composed of the following songs:

Cockney Rejects, “Bad Man”
Cock Sparrer, “Riot Squad”
The Business, “Suburban Rebels”
Red Alert, “We’ve Got the Power”
Blitz, “Fight to Live”
4 Skins, “One Law for Them”
Sham 69, “I Don’t Wanna”
The Templars, “New York”

The Oi! mix leans heavily on UK genre favorites from the late 70s and early 80s, though the final selection, “New York,” is a 1994 cut by the Templars, an American band formed in Long Island. “New York” was selected for geographical reasons, as we were interested in finding out whether (a) US Oi! songs stand up to their British antecedents and (b) whether an NYC-centric song might have added emotional resonance with our participants. (Note: None of the selections—and indeed, no aspects of this study—have anything to do with racist strains of the Oi! or skinhead subcultures. We like our punk rock dumb, not ignorant.)

Each participant was asked to rate each song on a scale from 1 to 10, as well as offer a score capturing Oi!’s overall usefulness as a workout aid. Through a series of follow-up questions, we were able to further analyze the athletes’ attitudes toward the music and garner their expert opinions regarding its pros and cons. Again, because we’re dealing with music that’s defiantly lugheaded and generally resistant to evolution, our methodology is extremely suspect and bound to provoke anger in real scientists and medical practitioners. It’s only marginally smarter than what a gang of drunken skins might sketch out on a barroom napkin after their ninth round of Guinness.

RESULTS

Assessing Oi!’s overall fitness benefits, our participants submitted scores of 8 (Kristen), 8 (Francis), and 4 (Spencer). That averages out to 6.3—a respectable number only Spencer would likely argue with.

“On the musical-taste front, I’ll caveat all of my below thoughts with the fact I acknowledge I have really eclectic (read: lame) taste in workout music,” Spencer says. “A random workout playlist is equally likely to contain Metallica, Eminem, Britney Spears, Beastie Boys, club music, classic rock anthems, 90s rock, and miscellaneous Top 40 from the last one to two years. It’s not inconceivable something from Les Mis sneaks in as well. Which is all to say (1) my girlfriend never lets me pick music, and (2) I seriously doubt I’m the general Oi! demographic.

“That said, I was excited to try working out to something new. And now that I have I can confidently say I do not enjoy working out to Oi! I seriously could not differentiate these songs while they were playing; it all sounded like a cat from the East End of London being beaten with a Stratocaster.”

Spencer cites the “cool accents” and fact that the music is “better than speed metal” as its major selling points. The cons, he says, are that it “does not provide the workout fuel of James Hetfield/Adam Levine.”

“Not liking it makes me feel like I’m yelling at kids to get off my lawn,” he says.

Relative to the other test subjects, Spencer’s preferred form of exercise involves arguably the most intense physical exertion, and his testimony would seem to refute the idea there is, in fact, strength to be derived through Oi! The music may, however, have benefits for people involved in activities like running, where a steady rhythmic pulse helps offset fatigue. Unfortunately, our findings suggest, the positive effects are negated when the music gets too fast, and any Oi! worth its salt is way the hell too fast.

“Overall, Oi! music has an aggressive upbeat beat that can give your mind something to stay focused on during an intense workout,” says Francis. “I found myself looking forward to the songs with more catchy hooks. The cons of Oi! music was that I found the tempo too fast for running, so it was hard to stay relatively in synch with the music. It felt like some of the songs were urging me to run faster than I could or wanted to during the workouts.”

Oi! might also be good for the core muscle groups, as Kristen has emerged from the experience “definitely inspired to create a Pilates punk playlist.”

“This genre has the ability to inspire energy and hard work which is great for a high abdominal endurance type of workout that is Pilates,” she says.

In terms of individual song scores, the Templars fared best, suggesting that hometown pride plays a role in enjoying Oi! This is not surprising, given the music’s association with packs of loutish London lads getting blitzed and head-butting one another at their local pubs and football stadiums. Oi! is tribalistic, and songs are pegged to specific cities and neighborhoods in a way that first-wave British punk wasn’t. All three athletes were asked to pick a favorite lyric, and Kristen’s comes via the Templars: “New York City is where we wanna be!”

“NYC is always a motivating factor,” she says.

Cockney Rejects and Cock Sparrer also proved popular among our participants, achieving average scores nearly as high as the Templars. Both “Bad Man” and “Riot Squad” have anthemic qualities that, while found in all eight selections, are arguably more pronounced, and that might explain the scoring.

The song-by-song ratings are below. The first number is the total score, followed by the average in parenthesis.

The Templars, “New York”: 24 (8)
Cockney Rejects, “Bad Man”: 22 (7.3)
Cock Sparrer, “Riot Squad”: 21 (7)
The Business, “Suburban Rebels”: 19 (6.3)
Red Alert, “We’ve Got the Power”: 16 (5.3)
Blitz, “Fight to Live”: 16 (5.3)
4 Skins, “One Law for Them”: 14 (4.6)
Sham 69, “I Don’t Wanna”: 13 (4.3)

“I liked Cock Sparrer’s ‘Riot Squad’ the best—I think because I found it had a catchy beat and interesting lyrics,” says Francis. “Also, the tempo wasn’t too out of synch with my running pace.”

CONCLUSIONS

Having crunched the numbers, taken a close look at the anecdotal responses, and consumed a six-pack Newcastle Brown Ale, we’re prepared to draw the following conclusions.

1. Oi! does not make you physically stronger—at least not in any way that might prove useful to hooligans looking to throw heavier objects through storefront windows or smash the jaws of street-fighting adversaries with fewer swings of their meaty fists. According to Spencer, “there wasn’t much of an energy boost for me from the music. My brain mostly seemed to tune it out after awhile. But, again acknowledging my terrible taste in music, I could easily see someone throwing down hard to this stuff. There’s clearly a ton of energy to the songs and some real anger and passion behind the lyrics, which I think could drive some solid gym time if a listener liked the sound of the music itself. And had any clue what the lyrics were.”

2. If you listen to Oi! while running or doing Pilates, you might slice your mile time or strengthen endurance in your legs, abs, hips, back, and arms. But after you take the lyrics to heart, go to the pub, and knock back a half-dozen pints of stout, you’ll likely undo whatever good you’ve done your body. That goes double if you get into a brawl on your way home, and if you’re really an Oi! fan, you will get into a brawl on your way home.

3. Oi! is far too boneheaded to warrant scientific study—even a half-assed one like this. This whole thing might have been a complete waste of time. Wanna fight?

Kenneth Partridge is not a scientist, but he plays one on the internet. Keep up with his research on Twitter – @kenpartridge

Posted on January 26, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Great Skinhead Reunion, Brighton, England 2015. Full line up details

This event is now done, but we are back for 2016 on 3-4-5th June on Brighton beach again, for The Great Skinhead Reunion big 6. we will be putting things together as we go, finding the very best bands on the scene, organising DJ’s, sorting out peoples tickets and hotels. To make the big 6 even bigger. Massive thanks to everyone who has supported the skinhead subculture, and the reunion. see you all soon.

Tickets for 2016 are available HERE

Bands and DJ’s wishing to perform, all info and enquiries, contact Symond at subcultz@gmail.com

Details below are the 2015, New bands will be performing for 2016.But i will leave this link up, to give you the idea, of what the reunion is all about

Video made in 2013

THE TICKETS ARE £40 EACH, WHICH IS FOR THE FULL 3 DAYS EVENT, YOUR WRISTBAND IS VALID THROUGH OUT, YOU CAN USE IT FOR AS LITTLE, OR AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. THE EVENT WILL SELL OUT, AND THERE WILL BE NO ADVANCE DAY TICKETS AT A REDUCED DAILY RATE , IN ADVANCE.

The line-up maybe subject to change, as so many band members and dj’s are involved. Babies coming along, alcohol, world wars and famine can be unforeseen, but the great skinhead reunion, is more about coming to Brighton to see all your friends and making some more, for 3 full days of mayhem.

DISCOUNTED HOTEL RATES QUOTE REFERENCE SUB001 When making a booking Hotel rooms, of all sizes. 3 hotels available to fit your requirements email Ed at info@granvillehotel.co.uk or phone 0044 1273 326302. You must quote the reference SUB001 to get your rooms. The rooms vary in size and cost, to fit your needs. all within an easy walk to the skinhead reunion venue. These hotels are exclusive to the Great Skinhead Reunion guests and bands. So no public to worry about. party party !!

YOU CAN NOT BOOK THESE HOTEL ROOMS VIA THE HOTEL WEBSITE, YOU NEED TO CONTACT THEM DIRECTLY, AND GIVE THE CODE, AND SAY YOU ARE ATTENDING THE SKINHEAD REUNION

For those on a low budget, its worth checking Hostels and campsites, but my advice, is to get in the reserved hotels, for a nice stress free holiday in Brighton

PARKING ZONES – one of the worst aspects of Brighton, is a lack of affordable parking. my advice is to use street parking on the suburbs of brighton, its a reasonably safe place. a good bus service will take you into brighton centre (churchill square) and a short walk from there to the sea front. worth allowing the extra hours work, to save yourself serious parking charges

All Event Enquiries email Symond at subcultz@gmail.com. phone (uk) 07733096571

The Facebook community group Facebook group

Facebook page

Brighton can lay claim to being a big part of the birth of Skinheads. During the Mods and Rockers battles of the 1960’s when London lads would descend on the South Coast for bank holidays to Peacock and cause ‘Bovver’ the term Skinhead was born, to describe the short haired Mods.

Becoming probably the biggest and longest standing of all the youth fashion subcultures, Skinhead has matured and now become a worldwide community. Distinctly recognized by almost military shaven head, boots and braces. The real skinhead is a working class product of the British council estate ‘salt of the earth character’ fiercely proud of his identity,with an obsession for clothing, style and music, equaled only with his love of beer.

On the first weekend of every June, since 2011, Brighton has seen an ever increasing number of Skinheads and their lovely Skinhead Girls invade Brighton. Boots, Braces, pristine clothing and a cheeky smile. Attracting scene members from right across the globe, to Madeira Drive, overlooking the beach. A full three days of Skinhead related entertainment is laid on. DJ’s playing hyper rare vinyl, from the early days of Jamaican Ska, through to modern day Street Punk and Oi. Live bands hit the stage of the Volks bar each night. With various aftershows happening until the early hours, to keep the party buzzing.

Acts appearing so far booked

Peter and The Test Tube Babies

Make no mistake! Peter And The Test Tube babies have written some of the best punk songs ever. In the early ’80s they stood out, above all other bands to emerge, with their tales of the hazards of being young punks in Brighton – “Banned From The Pubs”, “Intensive care”, “Run Like hell”, the list goes on…all had the Test Tubes hallmark, combining personal experiences, real cool tunes and, most important of all, maintaining a great sense of humour.

At the time, their gigs were fun filled events with electrifying tunes and plenty of entertainment. Harmless humour of those early gigs was captured on their debut album, “Pissed And Proud“. From those early gems, the Test Tubes just got better and better. The next crop of songs, “Jinx”, “Blown Out Again” and “September” all featured on “The Mating Sounds Of South American Frogs“, which stayed at number one for four months at the top of the independent charts. A US tour followed, climaxing with a 4,000 capacity sell out show at the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium.

The Test Tubes first US domestic release, “href=”http://www.testtubebabies.co.uk/discography/discography04.htm”>Soberphobia“, is probably one of their finest moments. The use of keyboards and sax on some tracks may not have been what people expected but it worked a treat. The much sought after CDs “Cringe” and “The $Hit Factory” again proved the Test Tubes unpredictability in the early ’90s.

The mid ’90s saw the release of “Supermodels” and the departure from the band of Trapper and Ogs (bass and drums), excellent musicians. The band brought in fresh blood, the young and dynamic Rum and AD on bass and drums respectively. To promote the Supermodels album the band then went on a 25 date tour of Germany, Holland and Switzerland.

On their 20th anniversary in 1998 the band flew to Germany to record the “Alien Pubduction” album, their first with AD and Rum. The band also undertook a massive US and Canadian tour that lasted five weeks, lots of UK gigs and of course the annual German Christmas tour.

Rum quit in 1999 due to the punishing tour schedule. Paul ‘H’ Henrickson, known to the band and a Brighton stalwart, took over on bass. The band hit the road with renewed vigour touring repeatedly throughout the UK, Germany, Ireland, USA, France and making an impact on the summer festival circuits. Early in 2001, after years of taking punk to the masses, the pressure took its toll and A.D. left the band. Harp playing Christophe from Paris took over on the drums, beating other hopefuls to the job in hard fought auditions. The band were soon back on the road touring all over the world including a visit to The Shetland Islands!

Drums rolled again in 2003 as Christophe yielded the role to Dave ‘Caveman Dave’ O’Brien. Christophe joined Peter and Del in the studio to aid with their creation of vibrant Test Tube material for the twenty first century.

In 2005, after a seven year hiatus, the band released “A Foot Full of Bullets“, recorded at Ford Lane Studios, Ford, West Sussex. The album was definitely worth the long wait demonstrating a familiar core sound matched with smart self assurance gained from decades of experience. Storming on with characteristic vigour, the Test Tubes gained praise as “the best band of the weekend” (Lars Friedrickson) at the WASTED festival before closing the year with the annual German Xmas Tour 2005.

A remix of “A Foot Full of Bullets” was produced with contributions from Campino (Die Toten Hosen) and Olga (The Toy Dolls) at the start of 2006. “For a Few Bullets More” was released in August. Not long after, web master Dr Nigel announced he was bowing out of the band’s website after years of valued service. The band are all indebted to Nigel and wish him all the best. Creating a new web presence took the band through to the next big tour date…The band flew down under in September to play Australia and New Zealand for the first time.

The Test Tubes remain one of the best punk bands to come out of Europe. Appearing on the first Oi! albums in the early 80’s, The Test tubes have remained a favourite for many of us, ever since. See them live at the Great Skinhead Reunion

Rough Kutz (SKA)

The Rough Kutz where formed by Hazza (Hammond organ), Brigga (vocals) and Rat (guitar) in 1994. The band changed the band line-up over the years, the current line-up consists of four other members; Mucka (vocals), Tony (bass), Sean (lead guitar) and yatesy(drums). The first studio album, A Bit O’ Rough was released in 1998 on Antwerp-based ska label Skanky ‘Lil Records. After this release the band began touring Europe. They released second album Welcome to our World in 2002 and, in 2006, followed with Another Week Another War. On this album Roddy Radiation from The Specials played guest lead guitar.[1] In 2006, they also performed a European tour with Radiation on guitar.in 2010 the Rough Kutz released their fourth album gangsters playground on Rk records.in 2012 the Rough Kutz recorded a version of the specials song Rude Boys Outa Jail, for the specialized charity album in aid of the teenage cancer trust.they performed live at the cd launch gig in the home of Two tone records, Coventry.

The Crack. Although they are best remembered as being members of the Oi! punk movement, the Crack were actually closer to the musical stylings of punk popsters 999 and mod rockers the Chords than any of their Oi! brethren (the Business, Cockney Rejects, etc.). On the musical scene since 1982, often compared to Slade, in their musical sound. They won a national televised battle of the bands, probably one of the only skinhead bands to have gained any positive recognition on British Televisions history. the Crack didn’t release this debut album until 1989. Like many bands of the era, as the main skinhead culture nose dived in the UK. The Crack, together with Argy Bargy and Cock Sparrer fought the hard times in Europe, to bridge the gap, and keep the flame burning, taking Skinhead and Oi music worldwide.

Franky Flame. A legend of the Skinhead culture. Franky will be there for his one man Cockney Joanna ‘Pie n Mash’ knees up

In the scene for many years,with his band superyob, Franky plays a traditional london dancehall version of oi tunes, making a great sing a long, beer filled malarkey

Last Seen Laughing (Denmark)

For a long time now Aarhus has been Denmarks Oi! capitol and Last Seen Laughing is another band in that tradition, which we are proud to belong to!

Last Seen Laughing is a 3 piece band, with members who all come from OI/Punk/Hardcore musical backgrounds. We’ve all played in various bands over the last approx. 20-30 years. We have played together about 4 years and had our debut in our hometown of Aarhus, Denmark in Dec. 2008.

The Line-up is:

Steen – Bass, Chorus : Frontman, leadsinger & guitarist in legendary Danish punk band The Zero Point still goin’ strong since 1979. Drummer in Hardcore outfit War of Destruction.

JP – Drums, Chorus : Drummer in Oi! band The Hoolies. Singer in Oi! Band The Outfit. Drummer in 80’s punk band Dayli Kaos and 90’s punk band deFuldeprofeter (The Drunken Prophets).

Kres – Guitar, leadvocal : Guitarplayer in 90’s Hardcore band Toe Tag, bassplayer in 90’s Hardcore band Tiny Toons. Guitar in 90’s punk band deFuldeprofeter and Guitar in The Hoolies and The Outfit.

After The Outfit decided to call it a day, Kres as being the main idea holder of the band, had tons of unused material, decided to start on his own along with brother JP on Bass. Back then we called ourselves The Jutland Muster. Jutland being the part of Denmark where we live. After about 8 months JP couldn’t find the extra time to play music, but Kres kept on with various bass players and drummers (very hard to find musicians that want to play or know oi music in Denmark). It was always kept as a 3 piece band to keep it minimalistic, aggressive and tight. After approx. 2 years of practicing and creating songs JP decided to join back in and took over the drums. 3 months later in late 2008 we hi-jacked Steen to play bass and Last Seen Laughing was born.

In late 2009 we went into the studio to record a demo with 3-4 songs, but ended up with recording 9 songs! We sent out the material to different labels and negotiated with especially one of them. Things dragged on and time went by and we played more and more shows both at home and abroad, and we kept on writing more material until we by the end of 2010 was ready to hit the studio again. This time we recorded 5 songs. 1 song was for a local comp which hasen’t been released yet and the 4 remaining songs was together with the 9 previously recorded songs was going to be our debut album. Suddenly we were contacted by Randale Records in Germany, who had received our 9 song cd earlier, and they wanted to do an album with us. We seized the opportunity and accepted their offer after a bit of negotiating with both them and the other label we had talked to earlier. That resulted in our debut album being released in June 2011. The vast majority of people who have heard it are very pleased with it and reviews of the album are all in all very positive.

Then later that year we landed ourselves a part of a christmas comp. That song brought about the idea of a split christmas Ep together with fellow hometown band The Guv’nors. It’s a picture Ep in the shape of a christmas tree. It has to be the ugliest record you’ve ever seen!!!

We recorded material for the next album & an EP in 2012. The EP containing a teaser from the new album and a song that’s solely on this release. It was available from Randale Records on dec. 20’th 2012. It sparked the interest for the new album to come and the response was really good. The plan was that the new album should be released a couple of months later but due to circumstances it was delayed untill October 2013. The titel of our second album is “As true as it gets” and it’s also released by Randale Records. The impact of this album has really lifted the band to a new level and made our name more well known.

Last Seen Laughing is inspirered by the second wave of Oi! from the 80’s as well as the Oi! Revival of the 90’s. We take bits and pieces from many different bands and mix it into our own sound. The style is aggressive, minimalistic and catchy!
Last Seen Laughing has already made quite an impact on the scene in Denmark especially with the song ”Tæsk” (translates Beating or more precise ”to get your head kicked in”), which is somewhat of a hit or anthem in the underground. These last couple of years has also seen a very fast growing interest for Last Seen Laughing from abroad and we’ve already been to England, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and Germany to play gigs. So far Last Seen Laughing has played a lot of concerts in Europe and we still have more to come.
The future for Last Seen Laughing looks remarkably bright if you look upon the bands history so far!

The Dodgy Few (Ireland)

A new young band from The heart of Ireland. The amazing vocal talents of female vocalist, Shannon Doyle, Playing their own original Reggae /Ska songs. already kicking up a storm, right across the ska scene in Ireland and the UK. We are very excited to see what they can pull off infront of a full house of skinhead veterans, at Brighton.

Gerry Lane (Guitar),

Ciaran White(Drums)

Alan Daly (Bass)

Robbie Collins: Trumpet

Andy Mullan: Saxophone.

Skinheads from across the pond, Minneapolis, USA

Degeneration is Oi! with a capital “O!” These boys have been having a laugh and having their say for 20 years. The band formed in 1994 in Minneapolis, where the music scene was not to favorable for a bunch of skins to be shining out. But they carried on, despite the negative press skinheads were having at the time. The band storms the stage and play unrelenting music, with scorching guitars, heavy bass, and growling vocals. They know what they what needs to be done and then proceed to get it done.

The boys released their first single “Blind.” in 96. They played hundreds of gigs and then put out “Oi! For the Kids”, where they had their first success. They quickly followed that up with a new drummer, who’s still here today, and 2 more 7”s. “Boots and Braces-Studs & Chains” and the “Young Life EP”. Going from strength to strength, they put out their first cd “Carry The Torch”.

Moving forward, always staying true to their Oi! roots the band, continued on. They recorded a few songs for compilations, and things slowed down. They stepped away from the stage and raised some families. Never forgetting the music they love, they knew it was time to let the world know that they were still standing tall!

Their new LP “Standing Tall” will be released on 11/11/15 and they will be coming to Europe for the first time to play both old and new songs. What a better place for a bunch of skinheads to hear them then at the Great Skinhead Reunion!

Degeneration is

Jason is Lead GuitarGreg on DrumsPhil “Ox” on BassMe VocalsChris “Joker” Rhythm GuitarOi OI Music

SKAbretta, is a 6 piece band that takes you through the years of SKA and Reggae from the early Blue Beat sounds of Prince Buster to the 80’s revival, covering everything in between. Created in mid 2012 they have quickly become a local favourite as there blend of old and new styles caters for every taste whether your in to 2-tone or the more traditional Trojan groove you are in for a night to remember.

In less then a year Skabretta have gone from playing local boozers and clubs to playing venues such as the 12 bar Club in Denmark Street, Folkstone SKAfest and the iconic 100 Club on Oxford Street. With a packed diary and gigs coming in up and down the country, they will be coming to a town near you soon.

Our DJ’s are selected like a fine wine, from around the world of skinheads. Each DJ has a strong history. They all come and play the best music you are ever likely to hear, and most run their own nights elsewhere. so please support these guys and girls, who are the backbone, of the Skinhead Reunion and the scene overall

Gary Olas, The Upsetter

Olas has been hosting our Friday nights since the first Reunion.Old school vinyl sound system playing the best in all types of reggae with gigs all over the world. This is also runs the OLAS BOSS REGGAE RADIO SHOW. Twice a week OLAS BOSS does two internet radio shows, Wednesday at 7pm until 9pm playing the very best in roots and dub reggae across all time dates. The later Wednesday, from 9pm till midnight, show is boss reggae/rocksteady/ska – two tone at ten for fifteen minutes – then at 11pm, the world famous Dabble Under the Duvet. An hour of the finest old school lovers rock. All genres of reggae are covered over the two shows. You can also listen again at any time. the radio site iswww.channelradio.co.uk. OLAS BOSS REGGAE RADIO SHOW.

Barry ‘Bmore Mcvowty’

From the Wycombe skinheads, been active in the skinhead scene since 1979. One of the very best DJ’s, with a wide knowledge of eclectic music. Dont miss Bmore performing as he spins. And dont be surprised with what hits the decks, Bmore plays from the soul!

Skavoovie

SkavooVie! .. Infectious SKA Beats and Killer Diller Rocksteady rhythms. WHERE? Currently enjoying a monthly residency at Upstairs at the Mez, 4th Saturday of the month. Serious SKA choons on original 45’s from the vinyl vaults of Blue Beat, Studio One, Dr. Bird, Top Deck, Treasure Isle and many more…Scorchers!!!

A regular and key player in Brighton, with a record collection, most DJ’s would die for.

Weekend tickets are available at www.subcultz.com

Lee Evans. Has been around the London scene, longer than red buses. From the Wycombe Skinheads, Lee was a well known face DJ’ing around London in the 80’s with bands like the Riffs and Hotknives, Desmond Dekker and Laural Aitkin shows, to his credit. Now running regular DRC nights

Martin Long..I’d like to welcome Martin Long from Portsmouth, to our list of guest DJ’s at the Great Skinhead Reunion 5. Martin has been a long term skinhead and very active in the skinhead and scooter scene for many years, and its a pleasure to have him play for us in 2015

Rob ‘Double Barrell’ Powell. Is active on the London circuit and Carnaby Street skins, and Elephants head meet ups of the modern day. And his only fools and scooters events. Playing a cross section of skinhead related tunes

Fuxy AKA The Hungarian’s Boss Sounds

Active on the Dublin scene, Live and direct from Hungary.

Playing, punk, Oi! and Boss sounds

Skashack Toast, will be back in residence for 2015, playing his saturday setS

Posted on January 21, 2015March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Feckin Ejits OTFH Album CD

Feckin Ejits Album. The first 100 people to order,and pay for their copy, can send their photo and have your image, a friends, old or new, put onto the sleeve. to be forever enshrined with the Feckin Ejits. Probably the greatest band of the 1980’s, that never made it to vinyl. (the pub got in the way of the giro) place your order now. Due for release by Subcultz in the Spring 2015, with a world tour in the offing. OTFH

Support the Feckin Ejits

Posted on December 22, 2014March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

How the Music Industry can stop the extinction of British Venues

A few years ago, i flew over to USA to see friends in California. But also, to go see one of my friends bands, called Cock Sparrer. As we drove down from LA to The Great American Music hall in San Fransisco, listening to the car radio, it really struck me, how important British music is to the world. Here i was heading down to a sell out show, by an obscure punk band, in the cool capital of the world. The average British person, would have never heard of this band.

Everywhere you go, you will find it playing. its not only The Rolling Stones, Beatles and Elton John, or Oasis, but Punk Rock, Indie, 70’s, 80’s and every other decade of popular music. The same in Argentina, Brazil, Scandinavia, all across western Europe and beyond. Gone are the days that Britain is known for military, or railways. Whatever Governments have come and gone, British music has found its way to every corner of the Globe. A major export, not only for financial benefit, but for British cultural benefit. The welcome you get as a British person, in so many countries, is due to the love affair many nations have to our, British Music. Many of those music fans making a pilgrimage to the UK, to see where it all began.

But before it reaches those places, it is a seed in a kids garage, then a local pub. if they get lucky, they step up to the next town or city, playing their songs, working, promoting, and slogging away. One in a thousand, then get a bit of radio play, a larger gig, a record deal. One in 20.000 get BBC acknowledgment. A hard , hard career to follow. With no support from the UK Government. There are many reasons why live music, is in such a bad state. No more Top of the pops, no financial support, a lack of imagination with record labels. But the extremely high price of beer, is killing pubs at a rapid rate. Every town, is being raped, of the grass roots venues. Venues being sold off for development, for a fast profit.

Symond Lawes.

Independent venues are more than just places to see bands – they’re at the heart of their communities. But if the music industry doesn’t step in soon, we’ll be writing even more obituaries for these vital outposts of culture

What makes a great venue? From the perspective of musicians, it’s when owners realise that good customer service is at the core of everything they do. Give the musicians the basics so they are able to do their job. That includes a comfortable and warm backstage room, plenty of time for a sound check, a respectful crew and a good sound system. Most of these things can be achieved with common sense more than money. But can owners of venues really raise the bar if all they offer is a fridge stuffed with Red Bull? Sadly the lack of resources is keeping standards too low for independent music venues in the UK, compared with, say, the rest of Europe.

Often, venues don’t feel like an artist’s home any more. They’re treated as normal, independent businesses rather than being valued as centres of culture in their communities. Venue owners are often former musicians and they are passionate about live music. But even the best of them are forced into dark alleys to survive, making compromises and potentially killing their passion for the music as it’s dragged down into the shit with them.

Last week, I was a panelist at Venues Day, a conference that was organised by the Music Venue Trust and Independent Venue Week about the future of independent music venues in the UK. I was asked to represent the point of view of the artist, discussing what makes a good venue great.

Mindofalion Live and raw in 2014. The grass roots of music, which becomes a worldwide export

Madame Jojo’s
Placards outside Madame Jojo’s nightclub in London. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
The event took place at the Purcell Room, in London. It was the first time I’d taken part in a conference. Venue owners from all around the UK had filled the room, and someone had told me the participants were “very angry”. I had no idea what to expect, although I knew very well that many small, independent music venues have been in crisis for a long time.

I got involved with the issue the day my favourite venue in London, the Luminaire, shut down in 2009. That day, I lost more than just a place to see live music – I lost my second home. As I walked into the Purcell Room, it was even more clear to me that the owners of such venues need help. They need money, and they need it now, or more of the hundreds of venues that are essential to the culture of the UK and the music business in particular, will follow the fate of Madame Jojo’s and the Buffalo Bar in London, which are each soon to become extinct.

“This has to be addressed at the very top of Government, Live music venues are the training ground for one of Britain’s largest exports, and Icon of pride, which excludes, no class, age or race“

The disastrous financial situation of independent music venues has direct consequences for everyone, including musicians. Take branding. No artist should have to play with a Jack Daniel’s logo on the stage if they don’t want to, or a Vodafone sticker on their monitors if they don’t want to. Artists should not become vehicles for advertising if that’s not how they choose to run their business. Don’t get me wrong, I am not 100% against branding; I understand the need to raise money. But the stage is a sacred place, and if a venue makes a deal with a beer company, it should not involve the musicians.

Let’s take another example: during Venues Day, many owners acknowledged that club nights are how they’re able to survive these days, which means they book two events in one night. Who can blame them? They need money. But what does it mean for the artists? Well, it means that even if they sell out a show, the promoter might book a club night to start after you finish. They eject you, your crew and your fans at 10pm, then a DJ comes in and a whole new crowd invades the premises. Instead of playing at 10pm, your show needs to start at 8.30, which means support bands have to play at a painful 7.30pm. Obviously, there is no time after the gig to sell your merch or to meet your audience. Not only does it kill the band’s small chance of making extra money, but it also kills guitar music. Who wants to see rock’n’roll at 8.30 at night?

Another iconic Music venue, the 12 Bar, on Denmark Street, London. Right in the heart of Britains world famous Tin Pan Alley. Been handed the death sentence, at the end of 2014, by Westminster council, In favour of commercial short term property speculators.

It is urgent that we find solutions to finance independent music venues which respect the spirit of live music and musicians. Artists are their customers, too, and we know that branding and club nights are not enough to keep some of our venues afloat.

How can we achieve this? One solution became apparent during the conference, where owners were joined by promoters and booking agents. Let’s do the maths: the venue owners need money and the large agents need to make a healthy profit. Got it? The last panel of the day, entitled What’s Next?, was supposed to address solutions available to venue owners. I took the mic to suggest that the industry itself should fund small venues. Agents, big promoters and venue groups should reinvest part of their annual profits into small venues. This is an idea my friend Andy Inglis, who used to co-run the Luminaire, has been talking about for years. After all, they belong to the same industry, don’t they? Just because small venues are the grassroots of the industry, that doesn’t have to mean they can’t benefit from the profits the others make.

I was surprised by the audience’s lack of response. The Music Venue Trust cautiously expressed its intention to create a charity system to support small independent venues, but I didn’t get the feeling it would pick up the funding idea and make it a priority. From what I understood, the two main ideas taken from the day were the need for tax cuts for small venues and an online resource for venues to share ideas and advice. Although it is important to begin with a couple of rallying points and get recognition from government, I still believe that music industry support is essential for the survival of independent venues.

At this point in the conference, I didn’t get a sense of much anger or desperation in the room. I could only assume people were too scared to speak up. Or maybe I’m totally wrong and most venues don’t want funding to come from the industry. I believe the idea is more popular among professionals than we think, but maybe it demands a bigger effort – or someone, a hero, to fight for it.

Next January, The band Savages and I will settle in New York City for three weeks to play a series of club shows. Sold out all nine shows in just one hour, which has never happened to us so fast before. Could this become a new model? Audiences love to see live music in small venues. Let’s hope they survive before we realise how much we needed them.

Find more information about Venues Day 2014, the speakers and partners on venues-day.com

Posted on December 18, 2014March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Immortal Machinery

“Immortal Machinery were formed in the winter of 2013, fuelled by a desire to make dark, melodic and uncompromising music. The trio first met at a gig in central London in 2011, and spent the next two years jamming, experimenting and doing occasional bits of session work. After taking up writing his own songs, guitarist and vocalist Steph K soon became absorbed with the menacing sounds of Danzig, Type O Negative and the Misfits. Fused with bassist Mat G’s jazz sensibilities and drummer Tom S’s hard-hitting grooves, they soon found themselves making their own brand of sinister rock’n’roll. They are due to release their first album At the End of Time on 27th February 2015 – its lead single is set to feature an appearance from one of thrash metal’s Big 4 lead guitarists. Until then, they can be reached on Facebook and on twitter with @immrtlmchnry Their early demo work

Supported by the newly-started record label Roxeavy Music, Immortal Machinery continue to perform up and down the country. They also host their own self-promoted gigs in London, with the aim of promoting other underground bands who share their ethos. If you are interested in playing at one of their shows, send a private message to their facebook page or email immortalmachinery@gmail.com“

Posted on September 28, 2014March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Jenny Woo

Bootgirl Power – By Jenny Woo

When I was thirteen years old, I was miserable. I had acne, I had only hand-me-down clothing from my older sister (who was 3 sizes smaller than me), I had no friends, and worst of all, I felt like I didnt belong in any crowd. I was exposed to pictures, music videos, and songs from major mainstream pop stars, and I just could not relate. I had no idea what they were singing about. The supposed universal topics of broken hearts, dancing, and the expression of teenage sexuality all seemed like distant and irrelevant subjects to me. I knew that I would never look like them, I would never live their lifestyle, and more importantly, I knew I never wanted to be like them. I felt lost, different, and profoundly alone. Then, one day, my life changed forever.

I was in junior high, eating alone in front of my locker as was my usual routine, when I came across an old fanzine lying on the floor of my school hallway. One of the other students in the school had probably been reading it and accidently left it behind. Having nothing better to do, I started flipping pages. My eyes caught an image that I had never seen before in my life a woman with spiked up blue hair, studs all over her black leather jacket, and wailing on a guitar. It was a picture of Bekki Bondage, and that was my first exposure to women in punk rock. I decided then and there that instead of unsuccessfully trying to fit in all the time, I would do my best to stand out. I was inspired by Bekki outrageousness, her energy, her unfaltering self-confidence, and I made it my own mission to find that sense of passion and assurance in myself. I ripped the picture out of the magazine and pasted it into my locker as a reminder, and I’ve still got the photo after all these years.

Going punk was one of the most liberating experiences of my life. Instead of trying to squeeze myself into whatever teenage girl fashion there was at the time, I cut my own path and made my own clothes. I found that by creating my own aesthetic, I avoided a lot of the societal pressure placed on adolescent girls to look and act a certain way. Instead of focusing on my body image, I embraced the fact that I was a unique person with a multi-dimensional world view and personality. Through bands such as The Wednesday Night Heroes, Cock Sparrer, and Riot 99 I learned to triumph the values of authenticity, independence, and critical thinking, and I have no doubt that this subculture helped me create the strong sense of self that I have today. Punk rock is a potent medicine that I would prescribe to any young woman going through a crisis of confidence.

However, as the years went by I found myself getting more and more interested in oi! music, and eventually cropped in as a skinhead. I still loved punk, but I no longer felt the need to spike my hair out in a million different directions in order to show the world that I was different. I already felt the difference on the inside, and I wanted to find a subculture whose values incorporated not only the importance of being distinct, but also a sense of community, a sense of self-pride, and a sense of loyalty. I love the fact that oi! music is still working-class DIY music, but I also love the fact that behind its

Posted on September 27, 2014March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Great Skinhead Reunion 2011

Posted on September 27, 2014March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

The Great Skinhead Reunion Brighton 2012

Posted on September 11, 2014March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Sex Pistols, Too fat to reform

John Lydon told an Oxford audience that all religion is “vile, poisonous and idiotic” and spoke of his exposure to paedophile priests as a young boy.

The former Sex Pistols and current PiL front man was speaking to an audience of around 300 at Oxford University’s Sheldonian theatre on Monday evening (December 8). It was his final public appearance to promote his 2014 autobiography, Anger Is An Energy.

During the talk, the punk icon took a swipe at Mick Jagger for his “embarrassing” performance at Glastonbury last year. Discussing his musical future, Lydon said he’d give up music “only if I got bored with it, and as long as there’s human being in the world, I’m not going to get bored”.

When interlocutor David Freeman asked if there was an age limit on performing, he replied: “No, only if you’re Mick Jagger. Did anybody see last year’s Glastonbury? I mean come on Mick… it’s not about age here, its about the show off bullshit… I wanted the Stones to give us the juice, the stuff that really put them there in the first place.”

He added: “But no, it’s Mick in ladies’ tights and his testicles are frocked and he’s running around like a speed freak and then there’s the band looking incredibly embarrassed and wearing the awful, I call them Tommy Hilfiger kind of colours, like Cliff Richard-on-holiday wear. And if I turn into that… then you’re all welcome.”

Asked about a possible future for the Sex Pistols however, Lydon replied, “Oh no, that’s finished. I mean have you seen us? I mean We’ve all put on weight but Mr Jones here [guitarist Steve Jones] is coming it at 500 pounds! And I did the butter advert!”

On a more serious note, Lydon also said in his talk that he was put off singing because of his mistrust of priests. “My early childhood, as far as singing goes, was spent deliberately not knowing how to sing, because I was raised a Catholic, and yeah, those priests were at it. So what you would do is everything in your heart and soul not to be co-opted into the choir because that meant the priests had direct access to you. And once that happened to you there weren’t nothing you could tell your mum and dad, because it would be mortal sin to accuse a priest of any wrong doing.”

He continued: “All religion to me is vile and poisonous and idiotic. They spend all their time trying to make you believe things that can’t possibly be true. Sounds a lot like the Tory party.”

The punk icon also lashed out at Simon Cowell and Bob Geldof, calling Cowell “our worst enemy” and saying Geldof was “open to corruption”.

The appearance was Lydon’s last in promotion of the book. The message of the autobiography, he told the audience, is that “self pity is for arseholes”.

Posted on November 18, 2013February 29, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Xtraverts

The Xtraverts formed in 1976 at the outbreak of the punk movement. Creating music in a garage belonging to the guitarist Mark Reilly (Matt Bianco).

Playing classic venues such as the Roxy, Clarendon, the Greyhound and all over Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire they created a massive following from all over the country with gigs selling out nationwide. The Xtraverts appealed to the skinhead and punks alike and garnered a reputation for clashing with the local hooligans, while often a deterrent, it was also a draw to those fans wanting to revel in the atmosphere and feel part of the Xtraverts Crew.

The Xtraverts played with many the bands of the time, such as 999, The Vibrators, The Damned, Visage, The Satellites, UK Subs, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and many more. They also were part of the emerging punk scene playing alongside bands The Lurkers, The Slits, The Banshees, in 77-79, were regulars in the crowd and sometimes onstage at the Roxy

They released three singles in their early career, Blank Generation, Police State and Speed, which are now highly collectable records (especially the limited edition “puke” pressing of Police State). Their first album “So Much Hate” was released on Detour Records in 1978, and is still available in digital format today.

Their unique sound also appealed to a more mainstream audience, with appearances on John Peel’s radio show, a TV feature with Danny Baker and a show called Twentieth Century Box with Janet Street Porter looking at the impact of independent bands and labels on the popular music scene.

Over the years, many of the band members ended up in prison, however through quick changes and substitutions, the band carried on regardless. The death knoll for the band finally tolled however when singer Nigel Martin was imprisoned in 1980, the band finally naturally grew to a close. Without its front man and driving force, the musical direction faltered and the band members went their separate ways.

Over their relatively short career, the band had underground success with the single “Police State” and were Number 1 in both the Sounds and NME independent charts. While the band was enjoying its indie success former member Mark Reilly was topping the National mainstream charts with “Get out of your Lazy Bed” with his new band Matt Bianco. The Xtraverts past and present were enjoying a heyday that dominated across the music scene.

The band often made the alternative and oi! charts in sounds magazine in the early 80’s, and picked up a huge following, but circumstances and perhaps major labels not picking them up, like contemporaries, the Clash and Sex Pistols, the world never got to see the band.

30 years later,and after the death of bass player Mark Chapman, the Xtraverts, After meeting up with an old mate Symond Lawes, Manager of X-ray Spex and Concrete Jungle promotions, have decided to release some of their material, at the moment busily digging through the loft and remastering, what will always be pure Punk Rock. There may possibly be a one off gig, sometime in 2014…… Watch this space

“The Xtraverts were such a major influence on my life. Of all the Punk shows i have attended over the last 10 years, i have always thought, i would just so love to see the Xtraverts up on that stage. Lets hope that dream comes true, and the world get to hear such classic tracks”

Symond lawes

The Xtraverts are back, punk never dies!

Mark P. StreetWize magazine 2013

all enquiries subcultz@gmail.com

Posted on September 13, 2013February 29, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

OI Music

Wikipedia version of Oi!

Oi! is a subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths (sometimes called herberts).

The Oi! movement was partly a response to the perception that many participants in the early punk rock scene were, in the words of The Business guitarist Steve Kent, “trendy university people using long words, trying to be artistic…and losing touch”. André Schlesinger, singer of The Press, said, “Oi shares many similarities with folk music, besides its often simple musical structure; quaint in some respects and crude in others, not to mention brutally honest, it usually tells a story based in truth.”

History

Oi! became a recognized genre in the latter part of the 1970s, emerging after the perceived commercialization ofpunk rock, and before the soon-to-dominate hardcore punk sound. It fused the sounds of early punk bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, The Clash, and The Jam with influences from 1960s British rock bands such asThe Rolling Stones, the Small Faces, and The Who, football chants, pub rock bands such as Dr. Feelgood, Eddie and the Hot Rods, and The 101ers, and glam rock bands such as Slade and Sweet. First generation Oi! bands such as Sham 69 and Cock Sparrer were around for years before the word Oi! was used retrospectively to describe their style of music.

In 1980, writing in Sounds magazine, rock journalist Garry Bushell labelled the movement Oi!, taking the name from the garbled “Oi!” that Stinky Turner of Cockney Rejects used to introduce the band’s songs. The word is an old Cockney expression, meaning hey or hello. In addition to Cockney Rejects, other bands to be explicitly labeled Oi! in the early days of the genre included Angelic Upstarts, The 4-Skins, The Business, Blitz, The Blood, and Combat 84.

The prevalent ideology of the original Oi! movement was a rough brand of working-class rebellion. Lyrical topics included unemployment, workers’ rights, harassment by police and other authorities, and oppression by the government. Oi! songs also covered less-political topics such as street violence, football, sex, and alcohol. Although Oi! has come to be considered mainly a skinhead-oriented genre, the first Oi! bands were composed mostly of punk rockers and people who fit neither the skinhead nor punk label.

After the Oi! movement lost momentum in the United Kingdom, Oi! scenes formed in continental Europe, North America, and Asia. Soon, especially in the United States, the Oi! phenomenon mirrored the hardcore punk scene of the early 1980s, with Oi!-influenced bands such as Agnostic Front, Iron Cross, Anti Heros. Later American punk bands such as Rancid and Dropkick Murphys have credited Oi! as a source of inspiration. In the mid-1990s, there was a revival of interest in Oi! music in the UK, leading to older Oi! bands receiving more recognition. In the 2000s, many of the original UK Oi! bands reunited to perform and/or record. The song T.N.T. by hard rock bandAC/DC features the interjection at the start and in various parts throughout the song.

Association with far extremist politics

Strength Thru Oi!, with its notorious image of British Movement activist and felon Nicky Crane

Some fans of Oi! were involved in white nationalist organisations such as the National Front (NF) and the British Movement (BM), leading some critics to identify the Oi! scene in general as racist. However, none of the bands associated with the original Oi! scene promoted racism in their lyrics. Some Oi! bands, such as the Angelic Upstarts,The Burial, and The Oppressed were associated with left wing politicsand anti-racism. The white power skinhead movement had developed its own music genre called Rock Against Communism, which had musical similarities to Oi!, but was not connected to the Oi! scene. Timothy S. Brown identifies a deeper connection: Oi!, he writes “played an important symbolic role in the politicization of the skinhead subculture. By providing, for the first time, a musical focus for skinhead identity that was ‘white’—that is, that had nothing to do with the West Indian immigrant presence and little obvious connection with black musical roots—Oi! provided a musical focus for new visions of skinhead identity [and] a point of entry for a new brand of right-wing rock music.”

Rightly or wrongly,The mainstream media especially associated Oi! with far right politics following a concert by The Business, The 4-Skins, and The Last Resort on 4 July 1981 at the Hambrough Tavern in Southall. Local Asian youths threw Molotov cocktails and other objects, mistakenly believing that the concert was a neo-Nazi event, partly because some audience members had written National Front slogans around the area. Although some of the skinheads were NF or BM supporters, among the 500 or so concert-goers were also left-wing skinheads, black skinheads, punk rockers, rockabillies, and non-affiliated youths. Five hours of rioting left 120 people injured—including 60 police officers—and the tavern burnt down. In the aftermath, many Oi! bands condemned racism and fascism.

These denials, however, were met with cynicism from some quarters because of the Strength Thru Oi!compilation album, released in May 1981. Not only was its title a play on a Nazi slogan—”Strength Through Joy“—but the cover featured Nicky Crane, a skinhead BM activist who was serving a four-year sentence for racist violence. Critic Garry Bushell, who was responsible for compiling the album, insists its title was a pun on The Skids‘ album Strength Through Joy, and that he had been unaware of the Nazi connotations. He also denied knowing the identity of the skinhead on the album’s cover until it was exposed by the Daily Mail two months later. Bushell, a socialist at the time, noted the irony of being branded a far right activist by a newspaper that “had once supported Oswald Mosley‘s Blackshirts, Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia, and appeasement with Hitler right up to the outbreak of World War Two.”

Another subsequent source for the popular association between Oi! and a racist or far-right creed was the bandSkrewdriver. Lead singer Ian Stuart Donaldson was recruited by the National Front—which had failed to enlist any actual Oi! bands—and reconstituted Skrewdriver as a white power skinhead act. While the band shared visual and musical attributes with Oi!, Bushell asserts, “It was totally distinct from us. We had no overlap other than a mutual dislike for each other.” Donaldson and Crane would later go on to found a magazine, Blood and Honour, and a street-orientated ‘skinhead’ club of the same name that arranged concerts for Skrewdriver and other racist bands such as No Remorse. Demonstrating the ongoing conflation of Oi! with the white power skinhead movement by some observers, the Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations refers to these groups as “‘white noise’ and ‘oi’ racist bands”.

List of Oi! bands

Posted on August 13, 2013February 29, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Agent Bulldogg (Swedish Oi!))

Agent Bulldogg Started rehearsing in Thomas bedroom (much to his parents’ enjoyment) back in March 1986 after about half a year or so of talking about it, recruiting members and getting hold of equipment through various ways. After another year of learning, and a move to the legendary – in Täby anyway – Vita Huset (The White House) for rehearsals we played our first gig in the early summer of 1987. We played a couple of more gigs that year and also recorded a demo before original bass player Micke were replaced by Jens in early 1988. That line-up continued to play any gigs we could get, and also managed to record some songs who found their way onto a compilation album as well as recording our debut album – “Livsstil” (A Way of Life) – in 1990.

It wasn’t actually released until 1992 (on our own label) and by then Jens had left the band only to be replaced by Jarl. With this line up we played in Germany, Finland and Austria and also recorded our second album “Ett Tusen Glas” (One Thousand Glasses) – again on our own label – together with the new member Johan on saxophone and keyboards. When we released it 1995, Jarl had left and was replaced by Olof. We continued doing gigs, in Norway for instance, before original guitarist Andreas – more known as Bogh – decided that enough was enough and left. A friend of a friend’s friend then joined briefly, but that didn’t quite work out so Daniel stepped in for a while. However Olof moved to Switzerland and original drummer Magnus became both disillusioned and pre-occupied with his new job so he decided to leave as well. Olof stepped in to do some studio work and together with some help from a couple of other friends two tracks for the compilation album Brewed In Sweden were recorded and released 2002.

Thomas and Johan continued to write a couple of songs but with no other members available it started to fizzle out. However the band never officially broke up, so when a friend asked if we could play a couple of songs for his 40th birthday, Thomas and ex-bass player Jens teamed up with 3 members of Antipati to do so.

We got a few more offers of doing gigs so it just felt natural to continue with that line-up, although Reidar decide to leave due to other commitments a couple of years later.

Since then the band has played in Belgium, England, France, Germany, Poland and Spain as well as some festivals and other various gigs in Sweden, and also released a split 7″ with The Templars, contributed to a four band split (with Gimp Fist, Sandals and Booze & Glory) and released a new EP “Vi Är Tillbaks” (We Are Back…) on tour own label – as always. The current line-up is: Thomas (vocals), Johan (guitar), Robert (guitar), Jens (bass) and Thobbe (drums)

Agent Bulldogg are special guest at The Great Skinhead Reunion, and we will be all be helping them to celebrate Swedens national day, in Brighton, England June 6th -8th 2014

Posted on August 7, 2013January 29, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Mods and Rockers, Brighton Beach Riot 1964

Scores of youths have been given prison sentences following a Whitsun weekend of violent clashes between gangs of Mods and Rockers at a number of resorts on the south coast of England.Yesterday two youths were taken to hospital with knife wounds and 51 were arrested in Margate after hundreds of teenagers converged on the town for the holiday weekend.
Dr George Simpson, chairman of Margate magistrates, jailed four young men and imposed fines totalling £1,900 on 36 people.
Three offenders were jailed for three months each and five more sent to detention centres for up to six months.

Obscenities

In Brighton, two youths were jailed for three months and others were fined.

More than 1,000 teenagers were involved in skirmishes on the beach and the promenade last night.

They threw deckchairs around, broke them up to make bonfires, shouted obscenities at each other and at passers-by, jostled holidaymakers and terrified elderly residents.

At about 1300 BST Mods and Rockers gathered at the Palace Pier chanting and jeering at each other and threw stones when police tried to disperse them.

The teenagers staged a mass sit-down on the promenade when police, using horses and dogs, tried to move them on.

In Margate, there were running battles between police and up to 400 youths on the beach early yesterday morning. Bottles were thrown and two officers were slightly hurt.

Later, on the high street, around 40 young men smashed council flat windows and vandalised a pub and a hardware shop.

Last night, hundreds of young men and girls were still wandering around the resort long after the last train had left.

Police stepped in to prevent further violence and dispersed about 30 youths in leather jackets who marched up the promenade shouting “Up the Rockers!”

There were further clashes at Bournemouth and Clacton.

From the early to mid-1960s young, mainly working class, Britons with cash to spend joined one of two youth movements.The Mods wore designer suits protected by Parka jackets and were often armed with coshes and flick-knives. They rode Vespa or Lambretta scooters bedecked with mirrors and mascots and listened to Ska music and The Who.Rockers rode motorbikes – often at 100mph with no crash helmets – wore leathers and listened to the likes of Elvis and Gene Vincent.Inevitably the two gangs clashed. The 1964 Whitsun weekend violence in Brighton was famously dramatised in the film Quadrophenia (1979).In August that year police had to be flown into the Sussex resort of Hastings to break up fights between the two gangs.

But two years later, most Mods had turned their attentions to the burgeoning, more laid-back, hippie culture. While the harder working class Mods created the Skinhead Subculture

Posted on August 3, 2013January 29, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Punk Rock Promoter Ron Watts

RON

RON WATTS PUNK PROMOTER
Friday 17th November 2006, 30 years since Punk detonated, and I had the pleasure of sharing a few drinks with Ron Watts in my home. Ron promoted many of the early bands, and organised the now legendary Punk Festival at the 100 Club on the 20th and 21st September, 1976. Ron’s just published a great book which documents those heady and (for those lucky enough to have been there) exciting times. I switched on the tape recorder, put some wine on the table and off we went, talking about our mutually favourite subject. Music! I hope people will find this interview as interesting as I did, he’s a top bloke with some great memories. Rob Maddison, Tamworth, 19th November 2006. 100 Watts, a life in Music. Written by Ron Watts and forward by Glen Matlock. ISBN 0-9543884-4-5. Available from Heroes Publishing, the Internet (it’s on Amazon) or even a bookshop!
RM) Ron, firstly, why did you write the book? Ron) I was approached by the publishers, who said “would you be interested in writing your life story”. I thought about it, for about two days, and then thought yeah. Yes, I’d do that, you know what I mean.RM) How on earth did you remember everything? Ron) Most of it was in the house, still. I just had to find all the old diaries and booking sheets and things, and it jogged my memory, you know. RM) You kept all that stuff, then Ron? Ron) Well, yes, I suppose you would, really, wouldn’t you. To be honest, I sold some stuff off at auction, about 10 years ago, when I was skint. One thing was the Sex Pistols contract from the Punk Festival, which was handwritten by Malcolm McClaren.RM) Who bought it? Ron) I think it was the Hard Rock Café in Central London, to put up on the wall.RM) When’s your next promotion Ron? Ron) Well, I haven’t been promoting for a while, but it’s in my blood, and people are expressing an interest in me doing something. I’ve got 2 venues lined up for the new year, look here for news, come February. We’ve venues in Oxford Street and High Wycombe, but can’t say too much at this point!! These gigs are to be known as Ron’s part 1 and 2…RM) Who are you promoting? Ron) What I did in 1977. RM) What, new “Punk” bands, such as The View etc? Ron) No. Same bands I did in ’77. Same bands in the same place. Some of them are reforming, I’ve been on the bone mate!!RM) Who are you still in touch with from those days, Ron? Ron) Virtually everybody. People from the Sex Pistols, met some of the Clash quite recently, Damned I’m still in touch with, no end of people. RM) Glen Matlock wrote the forward to the book and is obviously a decent bloke. Ron) Glen is a nice bloke, and definitely part of the Pistols, but is his own man.RM) Did you ban Punk? Ron) No. Punk was banned around me, and while it was banned at one venue, I still considered doing it at another, the Nags Head in High Wycombe. At the first opportunity for it to go back into the 100 Club it went back in. It’s a false supposition to suggest I banned it. It was banned because the police and Oxford Street traders association objected to Punks standing in queues outside their shops waiting to get into the club. At this time Oxford Street was the premier shopping street in Europe. I’d be getting complaints, so would go out into the street and try and get people to move out of shop doorways etc, but as soon as I went back in the club they’d be back in there. And of course there’d been some real bad violence. When a girl loses her eye that’s a pretty serious thing. You have to remember that I didn’t own the club, I just promoted there. Simple as. RM) Did Sid Vicious throw the glass that injured the girl’s eye? Ron) Well, I presume so, the barman saw him do it. He didn’t know Sid from Adam, but he pointed him (Sid) out and told me it was him that threw it. I don’t think Sid meant to hurt anybody, except the Damned! If it had caught Captain Sensible on the head he’d have liked that! Funnily enough I was down at the 100 Club a couple of weeks ago, and Michelle Brigandage, who took some of the photos in the book, was telling me that she was actually sat with the girl who lost her eye. Apparently she was an art student from South London, never wanted any publicity and was broken hearted, as anyone would be who lost an eye, especially at that age. She was only 19 at the time. Michelle was sat with her when it happened, she was her mate, and it’s the first time I’ve had a real chat about it. She said herself that though she accepts that it was Sid who threw the glass, he hadn’t intended to do that. But at the same time, he had thrown the glass with malice, and might’ve done even worse damage to someone else, you never know. So in one sense, he’s exonerated to a degree, and in another sense he’s still a malicious Pratt. RM) Was there any collusion to get Sid off by discrediting the barman’s story? Ron) No, but so many people went down with him, to the police station, and said he didn’t do it that the CPS probably thought 250 against 1 and dropped it.RM) Were you surprised by Sid’s eventual demise? Ron) No. You know, his mother, Ann Beverley moved up to Swadlincote, near here. She got some money from Sid’s estate, and the Pistols gave her some money. She got a cheap house and a few bob in the bank, and when she’d run through that she topped herself. As for Nancy, the police weren’t looking for anybody else, but we don’t know, do we.RM) Ron, how proud are you of your role in Punk, and could it have happened without the 100 Club? Ron) Yeah, it would’ve happened anyway. It might have happened in a different way, but I suppose the traumatic birth it got, and the big hand it got via the Punk festival etc helped, otherwise it might have taken a bit longer. RM) Could it have started in any other city other than London? Ron) I think it needed London. It gave it the credibility. It might have happened somewhere else, and it might have been more interesting if it had happened, say, in Liverpool or Newcastle or somewhere, but it would have taken longer to be accepted, and London would have taken longer to accept it.RM) I suppose the Pistols, who catalyzed the movement were a London band, and people like Paul Weller, Pete Shelley etc always say the seeing that band is what galvanised them. Ron) Yes. They were the catalyst. We needed to have them in the Capital, playing in the middle of the Capital. It was always going to be a shortcut for them, you know. So yes, it would have still happened elsewhere, but in a different way. RM) Whose idea was the 1976 Punk Festival at the 100 Club? Ron) Mine. My idea, yeah. I approached Mclaren, as I knew that I needed the Pistols to headline it. And the Damned, they said that they wanted to do it, and The Clash agreed immediately, then we had to cast around to find some more. The Manchester bands were got down by Malcolm (Mclaren). Siouxsie approached me direct, although it wasn’t much of a band. Then, the Stinky Toys were volunteered by Mclaren, although I’d never heard of ‘em, and hardly anyone’s heard of ‘em since! Never mind, they got on eventually on the second night!RM) I read in the book that the Grande Piano on the stage got used like a climbing frame. Were you actually liable for damages if things got broken? Ron) The piano wasn’t going to get moved off the stage. It always stays there. Thing is, you’ve got to remember that it was a running, 7 nights a week club, for Jazz and Blues mainly, and the piano was a part of all that. The owners of the club left me to it for my nights, very seldom that they were there, even. If the place had been wrecked, it would’ve been down to me, I’d have had to pay for all the damage, you know.RM) Punk 77’s owner wondered if you thought the Banshees sounded as bad as he thought they did?! Ron) Well, in ’76 they weren’t really a band, you can’t comment. What they were doing was performance art, just getting up onto the stage and doing something off the top of their heads. They didn’t know any songs, and it sounded like it. It was weak, it was weedy. Sid just about tapped the drums. Siouxsie was doing the Lords Prayer and stuff like that. You couldn’t say it was a gig, or a rehearsed act, it was just people, getting up and trying to do something. I let them do it, you know, I might have done something like that at their age. I don’t think Siouxsie really lived up to her reputation, if you like. Well, not initially. RM) I didn’t like them, but the Banshees went on to become very skilled, musically. Ron) Yes. By then she’d recruited some good blokes. She’s been living in France for a long time now, I don’t see her.

Posted on April 22, 2013February 29, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Skeletone Records shop, Rochester NH, USA

Hello everybody!! We have a record & clothing store in Rochester NH that sells a wide variety of Punk, Oi! & Ska records & clothing. If you are not from the area we do have an online store we have just started up www.skele-tone.com or you can find us on facebook Skeletone Records add us as a friend we do mail order for anything you cant find on our website!!! If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them here or email us asskele_tone@hotmail.com.We hope you like the store we work very hard to support the scene. Cheers!!!

Posted on April 22, 2013January 29, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Skeletone Records shop, Rochester NH, USA

Posted on March 15, 2013February 29, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

Insta-Fest Punk Festival, Los Angeles, Cancelled due to paranoia about Skinhead element

Old Firm Casuals

News broke this morning that The Echo has cancelled what was to be the first installment of an event called Insta-Fest, to take place March 30. The punk rock festival, sponsored by Insta-Press Clothing, Durty Mick Records and others, was slated to feature a who’s who of international punk and oi bands, including Old Firm Casuals (featuring Lars Frederiksen of Rancid), Pressure Point from Sacramento and Toughskins, from L.A.

Top 20 Greatest L.A. Punk Albums

Durty Mick announced the cancellation this morning via Facebook, alleging that, after the Echo management caught wind that the festivities would feature “the skinhead element” it decided to pull the plug.

Instafest Cancelled

As we’ve previously written, the skinhead scene in Los Angeles is non-racist and overwhelmingly Latino. Neither it nor any of the bands scheduled have any connection to Nazi elements, whose members are referred to as “boneheads.”

In their statement (which you can read in full below) Durty Mick Records took issue with the cancellation and The Echo’s management. “Their lack of communication and unprofessionalism is beyond words,” it says. (A representative from the Echo did not immediately return a request for comment; we will update this post when they do.)

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands

Insta-Fest certainly would not have been the first time skinheads have performed at the Echo. In November, reggae legend Roy Ellis performed there, while in June The Gaylads played to a packed house as well.

Still, the boots and braces crowd won’t want for something to do on March 30. Skamania!is presenting rocksteady legend Errol Dunkley at Los Globos.

Durty Mick Records statement:

After 6 months of planning, unfortunately Insta Fest will be cancelled.

The Echo at the last minute realized that some of the bands playing Insta Fest had band members and fans they referred to as “the skinhead element” and they do not want those types in their establishment. They now have decided to cancel this show two weeks before it was meant to happen. Their lack of communication and unprofessionalism is beyond words.

I would like to thank all the bands and people who have stuck by my side and helped me relocate after our first venue cancellation. Their tireless efforts to promote this event and to make sure it was going to be a success is immeasurable. However, sometimes things are not meant to be. I will be contacting everyone who purchased tickets via Durty Mick Records individually.

Posted on March 7, 2013March 1, 2020 by Toria — Leave a comment

A View With Nu – #3

WEDNESDAY 13 + SUPPORT @ CONCORDE 2, 6TH MARCH 2013.

Leaving my abode at 6:30 and wheeling down Brighton seafront in, I just couldn’t sit still. The drizzling rain and icy cold didn’t stop me from hurtling down towards the venue, eager to see a band that I had been awaiting their return to the Sussex since Oct 2012. Upon my arrival I met up with a close friend of mine [Captain Morgan] whom has loved WEDNESDAY 13 since the age of 11, including many other blood hungry fans lurking around outside including the usual drunken weirdos! So, after I’d gotten myself the usual I was ready to hear some good n loud stuff from the first support ORESTEA, a five-piece, South East UK Rock band, continuing their ‘uplifting energetic musical approach’. I was somewhat a little surprised as to lovely the vocals were, powerful, empowering and inspiration were my first immediate thoughts. Although the structure of the band is a little to soft and basic for my taste, I felt the front-girl (Lisa Avon), presented us with a great show! Their most well-known songs are their self-release debut EP, ‘Shadows Of Yesterday’, and their 2010 release ‘Your Own Mistake’ – Official Video here – www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8jyhGx93fQ, Twitter : www.twitter.com/orestea, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/oresteaband~

When the first support band had ended, I headed off to get some air, another drink and chat with others about 2013’s future line-up of gigs and festivals. Although the second support of the night wasn’t far behind so myself and my fellow head-thumpers (Rowan and Captain Morgan) made our way to the crowd gathering by the stage to get a good view. As the music started, there was a series of loud cheers from the barriers in front of the stage noting that SISTER, ‘The sleaze/punk influenced metal outfit’ from Stockholm in Sweden, slowing mooched out in front. Their incredibly Gothic Ramone-like style was almost overwhelming as the screamed loudly at their hyper gathering. I was very impressed by the overall enthusiasm of the band and how the guitarist’s (Lestat) riffs were super fast! The drumming by (Cari) was making everyone around me thrash which in history of gigs, is always a good sign, but the backing vocals from all the members, including main vocalist (Jamie), really was the bath-bomb in the bloodbath! Some of my most liked tracks of the night included, ‘Too Bad for You’ and ‘The Unlucky Majority’. SISTER’s YouTube Channel : https://www.youtube.com/sisterofficial, Twitter : https://twitter.com/SISTER_official, Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/sisterband~

Even though I was psychically exhausted from waving my arms around, me and my friends were really pumped for seeing highlight of the evening ..WEDNESDAY 13. After I relaxed in my chair for a few minutes, the intro music (Death Arise) to The Dixie Dead, (WEDNESDAY 13’s new album), crept up slowly onto the audience, making us all scream in horrific passion. For those who don’t know this band very well, or have heard of them, I can tell you now, they are really amazing live and put on a terrifically terrorizing show! Their music genres between horror punk and psychobilly rock, which personally are my favorite sounds to rave around to at home, muahahaha!! So they began the insanity with ‘Blood Sucker’ motherfucker! My favorite song fro The Dixie Dead ‘Get your Grave on’ was played after and I must admit I went a little fan-girly when half-way through the show they played ‘I Love To Say Fuck’, after all it is my 4th ‘most played’ song on Itunes! Then, after a few other tracks (of which I was too pissed to remember), ‘I Walked With A Zombie’ was played and Wednesday 13 sang it brilliantly! It made the crowd go wild, front and back of the crowd, creating a small mosh for a few minutes.. was tempting to drive into hehe! After my frantic headbanging and spinning in my chair, the gig came to a gory/sweaty end, if which I almost fainted driving outside. All in all, a pretty fun frightening night and I definetly hope to see WEDNESDAY 13 again in the near future! ALSO I RECOMMEND SEEING THEM AT A VENUE NEAR YOU!!! Here are the tour dates for March 2013 starting from yesterday : The Fleece – Bristol [Thursday 7th March] TONIGHT! More dates here – http://wednesday-13.com/?page_id=2~ Come back soon guys!

Article By Naomi McAdam

Posted on February 26, 2013January 29, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

British Pub Rock or Coffee Chains, your choice!

Can the UK’s ‘toilet circuit’ of small music venues survive?

From Punk Rock,Ian Dury, The Police, U2, Madness, Coldplay to PJ Harvey, Amy Winehouse, and countless other big British rock acts started out playing tiny pubs and clubs around the UK. But with many of these venues closing, who will keep the rock’n’roll dream alive?

Will another coffee shop bring in £ billions, tourists, radio play and record sales worldwide, that so many British bands have done for the UK. Small pub curcuit is the first step to a carreer, and artform, that british people hold so dearly to their hearts. The Government war on pubs and alcahol consumption will have its casualties, and British music is suffering severely. Every person that comes to the UK to see a band will bring on average around £500 to the British economy. The translates to £millions every year. Bands didnt start their career, at Wembley arena. Are we going to hand over the entire music industry to 5 minute kareoke singers and make Simon Cowell a bit richer

The Bull and Gate in Kentish Town in north London. Its closure is partly due to the city’s music scene migrating eastward. Outside the capital, things are even tougher. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The Bull and Gate in Kentish Town in north London is, in music-business vernacular, a “toilet venue”, where the stage can just about accommodate a four-piece band, and the dressing room contains a solitary grubby mirror. But the term does this place a real disservice, both in terms of the ornate Victorian splendour of the main bar, and in the roll call of names who have played in the 150-capacity back room – among them, Madness, The Clash Coldplay, Pulp, PJ Harvey, Muse, Blur and the Manic Street Preachers.

After three decades of hosting gigs here, the landlord and landlady are selling up and retiring. The Bull and Gate has been bought by the brewery and pub company Young’s, who are apparently set on turning it into a gastropub (“We don’t feel that having a live music offering at the pub alongside our plans to serve food is viable,” went one company statement). The venue’s current music promoters, a four-person outfit called Club Fandango, will stage their last show on 4 May, which will be preceded by a special run of gigs, likely to feature notable alumni of the Bull and Gate, to be titled Play Your Respects. And that will be that: yet another small music venue shutting its doors, adding to a list of closures that extends across the country, and threatens one of British popular culture’s most inspired inventions: the so-called “toilet circuit”, on which no end of hugely successful musicians have taken their first decisive steps.

In London, as with most matters reducible to hard cash, things are not as bad as elsewhere: here, the story is partly about decline, but also a migration of venues to the east of the city, as ongoing gentrification pushes live music out of its old north London stamping grounds. But beyond the M25, things look grim. The national Barfly chain, which had venues in Brighton, Birmingham, Cambridge and Cardiff, closed most of them between 2008 and 2010. Such famous places as Leeds’s Duchess of York, Newport’s TJs and Leicester’s Princess Charlotte have either been converted to new uses or left to fall into disrepair.

Others are surviving, but struggling: the people in charge of the renowned Hull Adelphi have expressed serious doubts about its future, and venues such as the Tunbridge Wells Forum are now staffed by volunteers. Four or five years ago, the music business clung to the idea that even if sales of CDs were being squeezed, people’s appetite for ticketed live events looked to be increasing. That may hold true for bigger venues, but at the bottom of the live hierarchy, a new rule seems to hold sway: if people now expect to get their music for nothing, they increasingly think that the same ought to apply to watching new bands, no matter how promising they might be.

Twenty or so years ago, when I was a young music writer, I spent most of my evenings in these places, keeping myself going on lager and cigarettes, watching endless bands and occasionally finding music worth evangelising about. It’s a life I still miss, when I used to keep the company of some of the people whose drive and enthusiasm still keep the milieu around small venues alive today – people such as Simon Williams, the one-time staff writer at the New Musical Express who went on to found esteemed independent record label Fierce Panda, before also extending his activities into gig promotion and eventually rooting Club Fandango at the Bull and Gate.

Sitting in an alcove in the pub’s main room, Williams and his business partner Andy Macleod briefly rhapsodise about triumphant Bull and Gate moments (when Coldplay played here in April 1999, says Williams, the queue extended down Kentish Town Road, and they were “just too good”). They also talk me through the events of the last few years: their attempts to buy the Bull and Gate to use as a venue and company HQ, and a quest to secure sponsorship which included a pitch to the makers of an iconic energy drink built on the rebranding of the place as the Red Bull and Gate: “We said to them, ‘You can just paint it, like you do with Formula 1 cars – it’s the greatest tag-line of all time.'”

They have now found a new venue in Dalston, but the imminent closure of the Bull and Gate evidently still hurts. “It’ll be appalling when it actually goes,” says Williams. “I’ve been coming here since 1986, when I was doing a fanzine. That’s a long time. We’re absurdly romantic about this place, and absurdly loyal.”

“Once it becomes a gastropub, that’s final, isn’t it?” says Macleod. “That 33 years of musical heritage just disappears. It’ll all feel really sad.”

coldplay at the Bull and Gate in London in April 1999 by sarah lee

Coldplay on stage at the Bull and Gate in London in April 1999, the night they signed their record deal. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the GuardianThe squeeze affecting small venues, they tell me, is down to a tangle of factors: among them, the transformation of urban neighbourhoods such as Kentish Town, the rise of free gigs where the band get a cut of the bar takings, and a music industry that now gets involved with up-and-coming acts at an absurdly early stage. “There’s no money in new bands, we all know that,” says Williams. “But now, with the hyper-speed of things in the music industry, you get in touch with a band who might be doing their first gig, and it’ll be, ‘Talk to our manager, who’s got to talk to the lawyer and the agent.'”

Purely to be seen to be doing their job, they tell me, a band’s representatives might now demand a guaranteed fee of anything up to £75. When the costs of a night at the Bull & Gate come in at least £200 before any musicians have been paid, that threatens the whole viability of the enterprise, not least when every promoter fears the turnout music industry lore knows as “two men and a dog”.

Tonight’s bands draw a combined crowd of around 40. First on are an unremarkable-looking quartet called Civil Love, who play a surprisingly accomplished version of the melodic genre some call power-pop. Next are Evil Alien, a part-electronic band from Birmingham who have driven down to play their first London show, pulling in talent scouts from record companies and a smattering of curious booking agents. Last, bless them, are a White Stripes-esque duo called I Like the GoGo, who send me running from the room with their somewhat irreverent treatment of the Dexys Midnight Runners’ song Geno.

Back at the bar, I talk to the Bull and Gate’s landlord, 70-year-old Pat Lynskey, who speaks with the wry detachment of a man who has seen a few generations of musicians and drinkers come and go, and will soon be spending his first summer in over three decades well away from beer taps and time bells. “I think in the last five years, technology has not been good to us,” he says. “Prior to that, people had to come and see what was on, and they’d stay for the night. Now, they can check everything on their phone before they leave. And if they don’t like it, they won’t come.”

History records that the Manic Street Preachers played at the Bull and Gate on 17 October 1990, when they had just put out an almost-ignored record titled New Art Riot, and were trying desperately to get the attention of the weekly music papers, and again on 17 July of the same year, in even less auspicious circumstances.

“We were on after this really weird folk band, who were Russian or Ukrainian, I think,” says their bass player and lyric writer Nicky Wire. “We walked on stage, and the first thing I said was, ‘Fuck me – no wonder so many Russians kill themselves’, to a very bemused audience. We did about five or six songs. It was a bit of a thrill to play there, because it was always on [1980s and 90s TV staples] Rapido and Snub TV. It did feel like a really good gig to do.”

He recalls the shabbiness of the kind of places the Manics once played, but also the romance they embodied. “There was definitely a ragged glory to it. You felt you were treading the boards of heroes, because nearly everyone we loved had done the same thing.” He mentions vividly remembered gigs at the Leeds Duchess of York, the long-gone Buzz Club in Aldershot, and Southampton Joiners, where the boss of the Columbia record label paid the band a visit, and their career-securing contract was thereby confirmed.

The 200-capacity Joiners is now battling to survive, which leads me to pay a visit the night after my trip to Kentish Town. Having never been there before, I’m thrilled to find a toilet venue par excellence: a bar whose furnishings extend to two apparently paleolithic sofas, a disused subterranean dressing room – flood-damaged, it seems – covered in graffiti left by visiting musicians (“Razorlight – I want to torture you slowly and let you die in a lot of pain”), and an abiding sense of everything being held together by simple goodwill.

“The chances of us closing are massive,” says the venue’s manager, the imposing but genial Patrick Muldowney. “Every Monday morning, we see what bills we can pay – and some weeks, we don’t have enough money, simple as that.” Recent benefit concerts by the Vaccines (toilet circuit graduates who will soon play the 20,000-capacity O2 arena in London) and the singer-songwriter Frank Turner have brought in much-needed funds. But times are unendingly tough: whereas he could once depend on even local bands drawing in at least 30 paying customers, Muldowney says the figure is now closer to 10. “It’s a two-thirds drop-off,” he says, with a grimace. “So it’s massive.”

As in London, Southampton now sees regular free gigs in standard-issue bars and pubs that are financed by sales of drinks, something made easier by a recent legislative change that got rid of any need for an official music license for venues that hold up to 200 people. For the Joiners, that kind of event is pretty much impossible: it has an over-14 license for its music room (an integral part, says Muldowney, of its ethos), and a much more thrifty culture. “The difference between us and a pub is that 50% of our crowd won’t buy a drink all evening,” he says; the Joiners’ head band booker, Ricky Bates, also points out that whereas lesser venues will offer little better than a “karaoke PA”, the Joiners prides itself on an estimable sound system, but it needs a paid engineer to work it.

Tonight’s headliners are the History of Apple Pie, who play indie-rock built on a mixture of sweetness and noise, and are at the end of a 19-date tour punctuated by nights spent at Travelodges and the odd recuperative stay at parents’ houses scattered around the country. Before them, I watch a local trio called Imperatrix, who are bedevilled by colds and flu, and by the fact that their drummer learned their songs a mere 12 hours before. They deliver a performance full of very familiar ingredients: brief flashes of promise, gauche repartee and the sense that with enough visits to venues like this, they might just discover who they actually are.

On my way out, I’m given a Joiners T-shirt, covered in an A-to-Z of the bands who have played here – from the Arctic Monkeys to the Zutons. Next to the door is a list of forthcoming attractions, featuring names that instantly convey the mixture of bravado and creativity that often courses around places like this: the Dead Lay Waiting, Our Lost Infantry, Burglars of the Heart. And a potent thought once again hits home: what a profound pity it would be if the toilet circuit was allowed to rot away – leaving endless free music and ad hoc gigs, but no dependable means via which musicians can been transported away from their home turf, towards something bigger.

“It gets under your skin, doesn’t it?” says Muldowney, by way of a goodbye. “You fall in love with places like this.” Counting in a steady stream of people at the door, he looks firmly in his element, though he views the future with an uneasy mixture of hope and uncertainty. “I’m an eternal optimist,” he says. “We’ll certainly be here in a year.”

UK toilet circuit landmarks past and present

1 Leicester Charlotte (formerly Princess Charlotte; capacity: 200)

Hosted Oasis, the Libertines, Muse et al, but closed in March 2010, to be developed into student flats.

2 Newport TJs (capacity: 350)

A legendary venue where, in December 1991, Kurt Cobain is said to have proposed to Courtney Love. Closed in 2010, and has fallen into disrepair.

3 Cardiff Barfly (capacity: 200)

Part of a chain of small venues that hit the buffers between 2008 and 2010. Hosted future US stars Kings of Leon on their first UK tour.

4 Leeds Duchess of York (capacity: 200 officially, 300 on a good night)

Put on gigs in its cramped back room by such future stars as Nirvana, Coldplay and Pulp. Now a branch of menswear giant Hugo Boss.

5 Manchester Roadhouse (capacity: 200)

Still in business. The entire membership of future Mercury Prize-winners Elbow have worked here; singer Guy Garvey was once the barman.

6 Hull Adelphi (capacity: 200)

In a former housing terrace. Has struggled to survive, but will, with luck, celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2014.

7 Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (capacity: 300)

A survivor, and one-time platform for such future stars as Florence and the Machine and the Killers. Famously where Creation records boss Alan McGee first saw Oasis in May 1993.

8 Southampton Joiners (capacity: 150)

Now fighting the prospect of closure; current indie stars the Vaccines recently played a benefit show. Local legend claims that Jimi Hendrix played here en route to the Isle of Wight festival in 1970.

9 Oxford Jericho Tavern (capacity: 180)

A heartwarming story: after a spell as part of the student-oriented pub chain Scream, reopened as a music venue in 2005. It was once a home from home for Radiohead.

10 Tunbridge Wells Forum (capacity: 250)

The toilet venue that was once a (public) toilet. Still in business, 20 years old, and staffed by volunteers.

11 London Kentish Town Bull & Gate (capacity: 150)

One of the most renowned toilet venues, and now set for closure. Has hosted Madness, Blur, Manic Street Preachers, Muse, Coldplay and hundreds more. Set to become – why, of course – a gastropub.

Posted on September 20, 2012January 29, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

The Del Strangefish Radio show

Del from Peter and the Test Tube Babies takes the radio airwaves by storm

http://www.mixcloud.com/delstrangefish/del-strangefish-show-2/

Posted on April 26, 2012January 29, 2020 by admin — Leave a comment

Natasha Thompson – Singer/guitarist/songwriter

Natasha Thompson – Singer/guitarist/songwriter
(Founder of the Oi! band Bleach Battalion.)

Natasha is currently (2012) touring solo with an all-acoustic Oi! / Street Rock’n’Roll set including Bleach Battalion tunes and old school Skinhead & American classics.

Booking: bleachbattalion@gmail.com