ALTERNATIVE TV and VICTIMS OF THE PESTILENCE - Live @ Bowes Lyon House, Stevenage 14/6/1981

Mark Perry’s got to be one of my favourite figures from the punk era. From ATV to The Door and Window via The Good Missionaries, you were always guaranteed no guarantees as to what his musical output would be, which to me is the true spirit of punk; pushing the boundaries and breaking down the barriers of convention. Mark reformed ATV in 1981 with original members Alex Fergusson and Dennis Burns and released the album Strange Kicks on IRS records, one of my favourite ATV albums, a dubby, punky, poppy delight. It was this album they were promoting when they visited Stevenage in the summer of 1981. My most vivid memory of the gig was the sight of ATV in bright Hawaiian shirts, possibly a reaction to the black leather and army clobber that seemed to be the choice of fashion for the punks at the time, or just because the weather was nice. The bands set was a colourful one, mainly drawing from the Strange Kicks album, with Love Lies Limp and Action Time and Vision thrown in for good measure. First band on the bill were local heroes Victims of The Pestilence with their pronto lo-fi punk racket. They had some great little tunes that had impressed Gene October from Chelsea so much he personally invited them to play at the gig this recording is from. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get hold of the Chelsea set, so it’s just Alternative TV and Victims of The Pestilence. For best results turn the bass down a tad. I had it a bit too high when converting to digital. Apart from that these are two great recordings. (You even get Alternative TV’S sound check) Enjoy! and thanx to Simon.H for the tape. The Victims of The Pestilence recording goes out to Brutha Bloggers, H and Longy with their Cactus Mouth Informer and Punk Friction, cos they enjoyed the singles.

STEVENAGE CALLING #1

Hey Ho Lets Go ! right then here's the first of the Stevenage Calling posts, I will be adding bits to this one and further years gigs in future posts, so keep on reading.

1980 It’s a Brand New Age. - UK Subs

‘My god is Rock’n’Roll it’s an obscure power that can change your life.’
- Lou Reed

Jan 1980 FILTHY HABITZ / OPTIONAL X-TRAS / CHRONIC GENERATION
This is were it all started, on a Thursday upstairs at Bowes Lyon House, with two Punk bands from Stevenage and one from Hitchin, promoted by local fanzine V-Sign. Prior to this after the punk explosion, bands had played at Hitchin College SCRITTI POLLITI and ACME SEWAGE COMPANY (6/7/79) and The Leys Youth Club in Letchworth, CRISIS. The Leys also promoted several free gigs as part of the Weird Tales/Fuck Off Records tours.

???? PATRICK FITZGERALD / THE REEKERS
East end Punk poet, supported by local garage punks The Reekers, who did actually practice in their parents garage, when it wasn’t full up with the T-Shirts they produced for bands.

???? CHRONIC GENERATION / ORANGE DISASTER

???? THE PACK

???? ATHLETICO SPIZZ 80 / OPTIONAL XTRAS
Where’s Captain Kirk ?, whose Spizz ?

???? DANGEROUS GIRLS / CARDIAC ARREST

??? THE NIGHTINGALES / JANET AND THE JOHNS
The sight of a piano on stage was just too much for some people. The Nightingales lead singer Robert Lloyd had previously been in Birmingham punk band THE PREFECTS.

Sept 18th CRASS / POISON GIRLS / THE SNIPERS / ANNIE ANXIETY
Violent atmosphere, a skinhead was glassed by the singer of CONFLICT for harassing his girlfriend. Steve Ignorant, Crass’s lead singer jumped over the heads of the crowd to help out. A fight at Stevenage train station after the gig resulted in arrests being made, one being ROB NEWMAN, who recounts the events on his live video.
Uncompromising anarcho collective, less rock’n’roll more party political. A whole underground movement developed around their political and musical stance. Parallels can be drawn with the 1970’s free festivals. The atmosphere at gigs was intense, a fanaticism, verging on fascist. Not helped by Crass dressing in a military style ‘uniform’. Crass’s Politics were open to constant criticism, but politicised a generation.

Oct 16th UK DECAY
1st visit by UK Decay, always a popular band when they visited Stevenage. They had a distinctive sound, Spon their guitarist only had five strings on his.
UK Decay’s take on first wave punk (check out Siouxsie and the Banshees and Adam and the Ants.) would later mutate into what became known as GOTH, The photo on the front cover of their Black Cat e.p provides testement to this.

Nov 8th THEATRE OF HATE / OPTIONAL XTRAS
The return of Kirk Brandon and his new band. Boy George paid a visit, along with UK Decay, Theatre of Hate broadened Punks appeal, some called it positive or post punk.

Dec 12th THE EPILEPTICS / THE ERATICS / THE SINYX
An Essex Punx showcase of sorts.

1981

Jan 4th UK DECAY / WAXWORK DUMMIES / THE STATICS / PNEUMANIA

Jan 18th THEATRE OF HATE

Jan 31st WASTED YOUTH / BLAK FILTAIRE / THE GOOD BLOKES
Drugged up Velvet Underground, Lou Reed stylee. Eastend lads Wasted Youth, The Good Blokes were fronted by Simon Kelly who had previously sung for original local punks THE BLEACH BOYS.

Feb 15th MANUFACTURED ROMANCE / THE ABDABS / CHRON GEN
According to SNOTRAG fanzine ‘Manufactured Romance created a bit of a stir with their danceable, jumpable punk.’

March 8th UK DECAY

March 29th CHELSEA

April 5th BLEACH BOYS / SLAUGHTER HOUSE 5 / THE ABDABS
Re-formed Bleach Boys return for a night of 77 Anarchy.

April 12th THEATRE OF HATE

April 26th MANUFACTURED ROMANCE

May 3rd THE GREAT ROCK ‘N‘ ROLL SWINDLE (FILM SHOWING)

May 10th THE STRAPS / VICTIMS OF THE PESTILENCE / FALSE CONCERN

May 17th DISCHARGE / SUBHUMANS / THE MOB
Only the Subhumans second gig outside their native Wiltshire and their first with a ‘name’ band, big PA and a crowd of over 100. To right, the gig was rammed. Leather, studs and soapy spikes. This is probably my all time fave gig at Bowes, 3 of the best bands from the anarcho/squat and street punk scenes. Hugh crowd. Top gig

May 30th FLUX OF PINK INDIANS / HORNSEY AT WAR / VINYL AND THE EMULSIONS / CHAOS

June 7th ANTI PASTI

June 14th CHELSEA / ALTERNATIVE T.V / VICTIMS OF THE PESTILENCE
Punks Not Dead as two stalwarts; Gene October and Mark Perry front new line-ups of old bands.

June 28th THE ADICTS / WAXWORK DUMMIES

July 12th SPLODGENESSABOUNDS

July 18th NEW ROMANTIC NIGHT

Sept 19th THE WALL

Sept 27th UROPA HULA

Oct 4th VICE SQUAD / ERAZERHEAD / DEAD LOSS / THE SOLUTION

Oct 18th BASKING SHARKS

Oct 21st NAKED LUNCH

Nov 8th THE EXPLOITED / INFA RIOT
Hundreds of skinheads, red doc martins and green flight jackets.

Nov 19th UK SUBS

Nov 15th ETERNAL SCREAM

Nov 22nd THE PARTISANS

Nov 25th CUDDLY TOYS

Nov 29th BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

Dec 13th THE EXCITERS

Dec 19th CHRON GEN

1982

Jan 24th ZOUNDZ / NULL AND VOID /SPECIAL DUTIES / THE ERATICS
‘Null and Void played to a rather empty hall, The Eratics songs collapsed half the way through, Special Duties played fast raw punk. Local band Dead Loss played one song before Zounds came on. Zounds played a really good set and managed to get everyone dancing.’ This is how local fanzine Subversive Society described the gig.

Feb 7th JOHN COOPER CLARKE / DEATH IN JUNE / VERTICAL HOLD
The gig was filmed by the BBC, for a documentary on John Cooper Clarke, who ‘had recently drifted to Stevenage to take drugs’, so the sleeve notes to ‘And Here is The Young Man’ a compilation of tracks produced by the legendary Martin Hannett. John did his bit for the local music scene by doing the gig for free.

Feb 21st SUBHUMANS

Feb ?? THE OUTCASTS
The Outcasts were due to play but pulled out due to recent death of drummer in road traffic accident.

April 18th DISCHARGE / ANTI SECT / THE WAR GAME (FILM)

May 5th ERAZERHEAD / ACTIFED / DRESDEN FUN
Incidents with drunken followers of the the east ends answer to the Ramones and Lurkers.

May 16th G.B.H / DEAD MANS SHADOW / PARAMEDIC SQUAD

June 26th FLUX OF PINK INDIANS / SHATTER / ASSASSINS OF HOPE / THE SYSTEM / THE DESTRUCTORS
Interview with Allen Adams(Bass Player of The Destructors) on www.punkoiuk.co.uk Q. What is the highlight and what is the lowest point in the bands history? The GBH tour "attacked by rats" (with Abrasive Wheels and The Blitz) and Stevenage Bowes Lyon House with Flux of Pink Indians are the highpoints. The lowest point was the bands break up in Cambridge (24/09/83).
In Ian Glaspers excellent book Burning Britain The History of UK Punk 1980-1984 Gizz the bands guitarist, who later joined THE PRODIGY, also recalls this night. "We supported Flux of Pink Indians at the Stevenage Bowes Lyon House....when we played the whole hall explodedinto life. The bands came out and danced to us too. That was a moment when the hairs went up on the back of my neck. Flux were really cooking and the whole night was magical."

June 6th PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES / THE BURGLARS / ABH
Keep Britain Untidy

Sept 19th THE ADICTS / NEWTOWN NEUROTICS / STATE ENEMIES

Oct 3rd UK DECAY / SEX GANG CHILDREN / FIELDS OF FLAME

Oct 17th SCREAMING DEAD / BRIGANDAGE / THE VERDICT / UXB

Oct 31st DISORDER / AMEBIX / CHRONIC OUTBURSTS
West Country punk, scummy and scussy. The dying fly disorder and fans.

Nov 28th POISON GIRLS / RUBELLA BALLET / RIOT/CLONE

Dec 12th THE METEORS / 4 MINUTE WARNING
Wrecking Crew, psycho Billy, no really psycho.