Here's Some More From The Class War Of 1994!

A while back I posted a Hunt Saboteur Compilation CD Biting Back (Link’s probably dead. Mental note to myself; Re-Post It!) This tape was the precursor to that and features many of the bands on the CD, all recorded live once again at The Square in Harlow between 1991 and 1993. This was the sound of the Punk Rock Underground groove of the time, or ’crusty’ as the music press liked to call it. Back To The Planet and The Baggers ITA both appeared on the front cover of NME, the former enjoyed minor chart success. The Blaggers sank without a trace after singer Matty punched an NME journalist, who’d questioned him about his dubious past as an NF member, remember that The Blaggers were fervent Anti Racists, one of their tracks here is the explosive This Is Where It Ends, which deals with the racist murder of Roland Adams. Unfortunately that was not where it ended, sixteen years later people are still being murdered because of the colour of their skin. Not everyone on this tape took everything so seriously; you’ve got the Cowboy Killers giving Elvis’s Latest Flame a good seeing to, Watt Tyler riding Hawkwind’s Silver Machine and Snuff reminding us that Bran Flakes were tasty, and Leatherface celebrating their Geordie roots with Howay The Lads. Restoring a bit of seriousness there’s Scum Of Toytown and Citizen Fish, with their skanktastic ska vibes, plus there’s loads of other good shit. Anyway enough waffle here’s Side One of the tape, and there’s Side Two. Enjoy!

WAYS TO BEAT THE RECESSION #1

RAM-RAIDING!

“The worth of the state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.” - John Stuart Mill

“The state in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions. If they be willing faithfully to serve it, that satisfies.” - Oliver Cromwell.

From the ashes of the short lived and sharp suited South Londoners; The Sid Presley Experience, rose The Godfathers and The Unholy Trinity. Both bands maintained the style and sound of their former band, think Sid Vicious meeting Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix and that’s what you get, several of the 6 tracks on Rise To The Occasion , The Unholy Trinity’s only release are old Sid Presley numbers, including a cover of The Heartbreakers Take A Chance. The whole affair was recorded and mixed on a shoestring budget over a couple of days in April 1985. The end result is rough’n’raw just like a rock’n’roll record should be. The Godfathers Suck On This Chicago EP, doesn’t actually exist, it’s 4 live tracks; Those Days Are Over/ I’m Unsatisfied/When Am I Coming Down/Cold Turkey recorded in 1988 at The Cabaret Metro in Chicago that I culled from the b-sides of a couple of their singles and repackaged for the purpose of this post , more great rock’n’roll. Anyway here ya go with THE UNHOLY TRINITY and THE GODFATHERS. Enjoy!

"GOLD, YOU'RE(not)INDESTRUCTABLE"

The Olympics. One fiasco over, another about to begin. I mean it aint off to a good start, what with Scouting For Girls covering the Clash’s London Calling at the party outside Buckingham Palace, but then again London Callings apocalyptic vision of the future, is now the present, so perhaps it weren’t such a bad idea, should imagine the irony may well be lost on Scouting for Girls, as they felt the need to change some of the words, not that I watched it, my girlfriend told me. I did however watch Boris Johnson waving the Olympic Flag, willing him on to drop it, but alas not. So here we are, all of a sudden recession and repossession are forgotten about, it’s feel good Britain, didn’t we do well. WE! Excuse me, but I don’t remember running round the track, I don’t even remember watching anyone run round the track, so leave me out of it and don’t try and take my eye off the ball and pretend everything’s hunky dory just cos WE’ve won a few more gold medals than the German’s and Australian’s, still beats going to war with them I suppose just to show who’s the superior nation, and in 2012 WE’ll really show ’em. None of this computer generated opening ceremony, no a rock concert with Elton fucking John! I bet the people who had the homes bulldozed are gonna be pleased about that. Still it’s gonna provide a lasting legacy and re-generate East London, but hey is that what the Olympic committee wants, or do they want the games to be for the athletes, with a good infa-structure, cos after all shouldn’t that be who the games are for, not for nations to co-opt and claim individuals glory for their own. Our athletes should have done well, considering the amount of Lottery Funding they’ve received, often at the expense of other ’good causes’ How’s London gonna compete with Beijing, the most expensive games ever. The Government have already said that there’s no more money available…. but WE’ve done so well! I wonder if that’s it, they’re gonna try and make the people feel so good about OUR Olympic success that WE’re gonna say “Yes, we’ll gladly pay more tax so we can beat those Germans and Australians against” and then there’s the legacy; the legacy what is this fucking legacy they keep going on about? An athletes village that can be turned into social housing? Stadiums to fill with people watching what ever? Or a network of training facilities to train future athletes so WE can show just how Great Britain is! All this from the pockets of the people. This post aint meant to take away from the achievements of the individual athletes, it’s meant to piss on the parade of all the politicians grasping and grappling for a piece of others success to appropriate for their own ends. The legacy of the Beijing Olympics is that the world has seen just who is the most powerful nation in the world, both financially and physically. WE need to remember that, our leaders did, that’s why they said nothing about Human Rights and the press freedoms that didn’t happen as promised. A bit of a sham of a show really.

SOME SUNDAY SOUNDS.

No real surprises here, first up we’ve got that high priest of love, the sex god with a hard on, yes it’s ZODIAC MINDWARP and his LOVE REACTION, with his throbbing twelve inch beast of a single, Wild Child. Keeping the motor running it’s the JUNIOR MANSON SLAGS with their Plastic Smile EP, to round it all off there’s some sounds from the streets of 1981, with THE EXPLOITED and ANTI-PASTI and their rather ropey split single Don’t Let ‘Em Grind You Down, (2 live tracks from The Exploited and 2 Demos from Anit-Pasti) Neither bands finest hour, but an interesting item which spent Dec 1981 at the top of the industries Alternative Chart.

SOME NEWISH MUSIC FOR YER......

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM from New Jersey U.S.A. They’re like Bruce Springsteen meeting The Clash with a touch of Rancid style Street Punk and Social Distortion Rock’n’Roll thrown in and that’s about the size of it, except there’s a thin and slight pop edge to it all that makes it, and could take it away from the underground. These guys Rock with their toe tapping foot stomping.. Err!... anthems. It aint Country, it’s the sound from a country about to get rid of the cunt whose been running it! Songs of hope amongst the despair. Take a listen. What you’ve got here is' Their first single, Senor and The Queen and first album, Sink Or Swim If you wanna hear their new album The 59 Sound , the one that’s gonna take em overground and overboard then yer gonna have to go and buy it, if you like what you’ve heard that is.

THIS BAND ARE THE BOLLOCKS!

IS YOUR WASHROOM BREEDING NAZI'S?

It would appear that there’s a BNP supporter working where I’m working; judging by the graffiti that was in one of the staff toilets. I say was, but it’s still there. The letters BNP and a swastika have been scrawled in pen on the walls, but hey I’ve got a pen …you SCUM and BLOODY NASTY PEOPLE. Also on the wall, in the same pen and handwriting as the BNP supporter someone’s written ..I SUCK COCKS, and left a phone number 0723.….nah, best not. Me and my pen couldn’t be bothered to respond to that one. No further graffiti has appeared, but more worryingly this lot hasn’t been removed yet. Some people just take the piss! and accept any old shit!

2 FROM 2000

A new millennium. There was talk of people suffering ‘millennium madness’ with the uncertainty of what would the future hold for them. So, how are we all doing then? 8 years into what has become just total madness, not so much a brave new world, more a brutal new one. Both these 2 albums were released in 2000 and appear to have been dumped in the musical dustbin of history , well it’s time to empty it, so here ya go The Closer You Get by SIX BY SEVEN is an aural assault of sonic guitars, laid back almost psychedelic rhythms and foot to the floor garage rock, that sucks you in and spits you out amongst the grease; powerful stuff. The Clash meet My Bloody Valentine, post prog punk rock anyone? Learning To Let Go by TERRIS is a cathartic trip, a breakdown of a record; rejection, drugs and mental illness are all expressed in sheer poetry. The anguish and passion of vocalist Gavin Goodwin is unbelievable, this is for real with emotions laid bare over a post grunge, rave Brit pop groove, like Nirvana meeting the Stone Roses. Awesome stuff . Were both these albums products of some sort of ‘millennium madness’ who knows. Why not try ’em for size here for Six By Seven and there for Terris, or was it the other way round? Enjoy!

IT'S ALL MUSHROOMED!

Just when people thought it couldn’t get any worse; thanks to Russia’s sabre rattling with Georgia and America getting the OK to station missiles in Poland, now there’s the threat of nuclear war. (only got 5/10 in National Risk register) It’s about time Russia stopped trying to compete with America, and it’s about time that America stopped trying to take over the world, and the sooner Bush fucks off, the better. I mean get this; without any trace of irony he has told the Russians that “Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st Century” yeah right, unless it’s done by America , and then it's perfectly acceptable.

IVAN MEETS G.I JOE

The Georgia and Russia dispute. Why now all of a sudden , things have been on the boil in the region for quite some time, then BANG! It’s there all over the media, images of nation fighting nation and all the human suffering that goes with it. Since the ceasefire Russian troops haven’t actually pulled out, they’ve gone deeper into Georgian territory, what the fucks that all about? They stand by while innocent people are dragged from their cars made to take their shirts and shoes off, before being driven away by the local pro Russian militias in reprisal attacks. I know this because it was shown on one of the news channels, what the fuck is that all about? Those peoples possible last look at the world is gonna not only be down the barrel of a gun, but into the lens of a TV camera, exactly the same as in Bosnia, when the West stood by as the ethnic cleansing began, powerless, or so they said to do anything. Is history about to repeat itself? Western leaders give the rhetoric, but do nothing else. Yet they were quick enough to go to war the first time against Iraq when they invaded Kuwait, and as for the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, well the Western rhetoric against Russia’s actions is just a case of double standards; we can do what we like, but you can’t. Russia and America are just like a couple of bullies picking on easy targets and trying to show each other who’s the toughest. Is it a coincidence that it has been announced that Poland has agreed to let the US station missiles there; that can’t have gone down to well with Ivan, so has Russia used the whole Georgia issue to show the Americans how hard they are, or have the Americans used Georgia and it’s pro West stance to show the Russians how hard they are, and don’t mess, because were right next door to you in Poland? I dunno, especially now Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has spoken and said that it was covert American operations that ignited the whole conflict. What I do know is that almost a week ago when there were demonstrations in Georgia’s capital against what was going on I saw a news report and the camera scanned the crowd, and amongst the mass of national flags, there was a banner that said ‘Ivan Go Home’ (Ivan being a US nickname for the Russians during world war 2) and now the Americans are sending aid to the area, which appears to include flags as well as food, because the crowds are now waving the stars and stripes in the Russians faces. So just who is the aggressor? America for extending its influence around the globe, or Russia for showing the world what it can do when it feels threatened by this. If countries need to battle against each other to see who’s the best, why can’t they be content with sporting competitions like the Olympics, were innocent people don’t suffer; unless the games are held in China, where the denial of freedom of speech means deportation for those who speak out against the regime and its actions in Tibet, but that's a whole other rant.

THE DARK KNIFE

So the Governments National Risk Register is published, or as I like to call it the The Peoples Paranoia List, cos let’s face it, that’s what they want; a nation so scared that It’s people will do anything and believe anything that it’s Government tells them. Total control! How long before the ‘flu jab riots’, when the stock piles run out. It’s gonna happen; they’ve gone on about for too long, for it not to happen, isn’t that what AIDS was all about; to quote The Manic Street Preachers “…. Another Invented Disease” Think they wont do it, think again. What better way to reduce the demands for housing etc, people are already saying that we are too overcrowded. So there you have it the state can just let nature take its man made course and no one would be any the wiser. I’m not making you paranoid am I? It was just a thought!

THE WINNER TAKES IT OIL!

So one nation does battle with another, while the world watches. I aint talking the Olympic Games here, no it’s the Russia and Georgia conflict, and the gold at stake there is an oil pipeline, the only one that doesn’t pass through Russia or Iran on its way to the West. South Ossetia was the trigger; a small break away republic of Georgia, which is made up of ethnic Georgians and others who Russia has given passports to. Both sides say they are protecting their people, which is why they both ’invaded’ the area and neither wants to back down; so the bombs continue to fall all around. The fires of nationalism fuelled by the oil that passes through Georgia, on its way to European nations, which is why the area is of strategic value to countries like Britain, and why some claim the conflict is about Russia trying to take control of the area in order to increase our dependency on their fuel supplies. Western decadency and democracy equals death for not only the people of Georgia, but also those in the Niger Delta in West Africa were things are hotting up between Nigerian Government Forces, Oil Companies and the indigenous people, not that you hear much about that one in the media, probably something to do with the pro West values of Georgia and the fact that the West doesn’t give a shit about Africa anymore, not since the days of empire, that’s why they’re leaving it to the Chinese to invest in and exploit what resources are left there.

THE PADDINGTONS - First Comes First

These five ‘erberts from Hull, rode the crest of the gutter guitar gurus wave along with The Libertines a few years back, and then promptly disappeared off the radar for another few years. They resurfaced recently, playing several Love Music Hate Racism gigs, The Strummerville and Leftfield stages at this years Glastonbury, (they were introduced by Tony Benn on the Leftfield one), and they’ve just released a stonking new single Stand Down via Itunes looks like this great band are back and doing things on “their own terms” Anyway, here’s their debut album First Comes First. Released on Alan’Oasis’McGee’s Poptones label and produced by Owen’Oasis’Morris, it’s 30 minutes of “Punk pop tunes to die for” You know what to do if you wanna blast!

The Olympic Shames!

So the Olympic Games are almost here, and the Chinese regime is about to put on the biggest spectacle the world has seen; a relaxation in certain freedoms; which were part of the deal for hosting the games, along with cutting back on pollution. What happens when the games are over? Will any Chinese citizens who’ve spoken out against the regime to the worlds press face reprisals, will the games change the regimes attitude to human rights, freedoms and pollution, or will they carry on pumping shit into the air and treating the Tibetans like shit! While making money filling Western shelves with even more shit. Well if we didn’t buy it, then there’d be no need to make it, so there’d be less pollution, and if World leaders didn’t attend then they’d be sending a message to the regime that they still have a long way to go, before it’ll be truly accepted in the world as a ‘civilised ‘nation, but no! What happens is that we the British tax payer are gonna be footing the bill for a bunch of civil servants to go to the opening ceremony, as aids to people like Boris Johnson; who’s going along, cos yes that’s right in 2012, Britain (well London really) is gonna be hosting the games, and guess who’s gonna be paying?…. We fucking are! For what? To boost our standing in the world as a ’civilised’ nation?, one who’s government wants to lock people up for 42 days without trial, one that spies on it’s citizens while they drive about in their gas guzzling cars throwing rubbish out of the window, supporting the status quo, cos they’re to scared to lose the freedom that allows them to buy cheap Chinese goods. Then our government along with many other countries are too scared to speak out against the Chinese regime, in case they lose out on financial investment from Chinas emerging market force. Now that really is the fucking spectacle!

SCARS - The, Live, Demo and Peel EP

The Scars, from Edinburgh, one of Scotland’s first punk bands, formed in 1977 and split around 1982 by then they were just Scars. The fact that their first single the classic Adultery/Horrorshow wasn’t released until 1979 saw them labelled ‘post punk’ by the music media, they sounded like a poppier Gang of Four, yet on the cover of their only album Author, Author they looked like a punk Spandau Ballet, and on some numbers, they even sounded like one, check out Turn Me On from their second Peel session in 1981, it’s one of the 4 songs you can get if you click here, you also get Romance By Mail from a 1978 demo and 2 versions of Remember Me, a live one from Groningen in Holland and a Peel Session one. All great stuff. Franz Ferdinand Fuck Off!

WHAT A LOAD OF COCK 'N' BULL!

So The Northern Rock Bank announces hugh losses, then the government announces that some of the loan that they lent to Northern Rock is gonna be written off, not that they call it that, what they’ve done is change £3bn of ’the loan’ into equity to bolster the banks balance sheet. What a load of bollocks!!! From what I remember, the tax payer was gonna be footing the bill for ‘the loan’ So now let me get this right……taxpayers are gonna be paying the government back for a loan that they have given to the bank as equity, apparently it’s what shareholders at other banks have done during this economic/credit crisis, well good for them, but are they getting someone else to pick up the bill for the cost of their shares? and surely this means that if taxpayers are paying for ‘the loan‘, they are now shareholders in Northern Rock, and entitled to any profit that is made? It makes sense to me, but then what the fuck do I know!

They're all the same!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any music, so rather than go on about the state of things; increased prices for us, increased profits for them etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah, I’d stick up some music to take yer minds off the shit we have to live in. Here ya go……………………………….....

THE “Totally legendary” according to Henry Rollins, and who can argue with that. GUN CLUB took the Punk template and turned it into an altogether different beast, one that came from the swamp and played the blues. Their 1981 debut album Fire Of Love is a must have, but you can’t have that today, instead here's a live recording from Lyon, France in 1990. Six years later band leader Jeffery Lee Pierce died from a blood clot on the brain, another loss to the music world.

MERCENARY SKANK - The Best Band You've Never Heard

The 80’s. Thatcher’s free market economics seemed to unleash a free market of music. From yer anarcho punk, Oi, New Romantics, Goths, Rockabilly, Glam Rock, Post Punk and Power Ballads. You name it and everything was up for sale. How did Mercenary Skank fit into the picture? Well unfortunately they didn’t really, which was/is a real fucking shame and travesty, cos they were/are one of the great lost bands of that era/error. From Rhyl in North Wales to London, they came marching with a mission to blow the city away with their fire brand Rock’n’Roll. The mainstays of the band were Vocalist Scratch, and Guitarist Andrew Tunnicliffe, and they meant business with every song they wrote; Andrews music being inspired by Scratch’s poetry, if there was any justice their partnership would have been recognised as the Strummer/Jones of the 80’s. The band only released two 12” singles No More Dancing and Work Of Giants, both brilliant pieces of work, that defied any genres. I saw ’em live a couple of times, once with anarcho upstarts The Assassins and another time with Rock’n’Roll Glamsters The Dogs D’Amour, other bands like Sigue Sigue Sputnik and The Stone Roses found themselves opening for the skank and their live experimental chaos. The band recorded a couple of BBC Radio Sessions and a TV appearance for HTV’S Rock Solid, one of the radio sessions didn’t go down well with the producers, who were expecting a performance of the bands new, but never released single Ghosts; a slick, haunting , and brooding love song, but instead they got a track called Gulliver’s Thunder Machine; an uncompromising lyrical attack on state power , musically it’s a guitar wall of sound, (similar to some of Primal Screams Xterminator album, but 20 years earlier) Their TV appearance wasn’t without controversy either, with the band only being allowed to play one song due to Scratch causing a security alert by waving a replica 3.8 revolver on stage and the band being wasted on speed and whiskey. That was then and this is now, and just recently a shoe box of old Mercenary Skank recordings and memories surfaced on the South coast of England. A myspace page was set up and the past has now become the present. The songs are all there for you to download and enjoy, but just for a sample here’s four of the radio session tracks, including the afor mentioned Gulliver’s Thunder Machine, a beast of a song, which like the rest of ’em hasn’t dated one bit, they’re the most positive songs of hope and despair you’re gonna hear for a long time, they still sound fresh and relevant 20 years later. If Mercenary Skank were up for sale they could have been the skuzziest stadium rock band ever, but alas we got U2 instead, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again “It’s a funny old fucked up world” and it always has been! Will it continue to be? Well that’s up to us! In the mean time do yerself a favour click here for the Radio Sessions and take a trip to the Mercenary Skank myspace page for the singles and more unearthed, unreleased recordings. You wont regret it!

Gulliver’s Thunder Machine

Man on the news with petroleum eyes /Grins like a maniac whilst all around him fries / Down through the ages-tell you what I’ve seen /Total control with the Thunder Machine / Used it in Belfast, used it in Iran /Send thanks to the government man / Call out the riot squads to vent their spleen / And don’t forget to bring your Thunder Machines /We do it fast, we do it clean / Everybody runs from Gulliver’s Thunder Machine /New methods for the LAPD / Heard about them on the BBC /Imagine Dirty Harry in Soho Square /Blasting away without a care / We do it fast and a little bit obscene / Everybody runs from Gulliver’s Thunder Machine / Daily Mirrors keep reflecting The Sun / Telling people go and have some fun / White regimes keep the newsreels clean / No time to lose fetch the Thunder Machines / Last pit in the valley is closing down / Better cordon-off the whole damn town / Put all the trouble-makers behind a screen / And give them a blast of the Thunder Machine / Protect your home and the neighbouring hills / Cures all ailments, it cures all ills / Clears the air like nothing you’ve seen / No time to lose bring the Thunder Machines / We do it fast, we do it clean / Everybody runs from Gulliver’s Thunder Machine / We do it fast and a little bit obscene / Everybody runs from Gulliver’s Thunder Machine//