UK SUBS - Work In Progress *A Review*

How the fuck does Charlie Harper do it? After over 30 years with the UK Subs and they turn out an album that brings the past into the future but making it something of the present. Work In Progress is their 23rd release, and it certainly isn’t a work in progress, it’s the fully finished article, a noughties punk rock classic , that will not only please die hard fans, but has the potential to win over a new bunch of subversive yoof! Classic Subs Guitar sound, with a twist in places, sing along anthemic choruses, and tunes more catchy than a dose of winter flu. What a way to start the new year….a dose of good old honest rock’n’roll.
If you’d like a more detailed track by track review, take a trip to Time and Matter the best on-line resource for all things UK Subs. Thanx to the guys there for passing on the album for me to review.
Song samples are now available to listen to at Amazon, where it’ll also be available to download from Jan 10th. But far better to buy an actual physical CD copy from the good folk at Captain Oi. Last year it was The Vibrators Under The Radar, this year it’s the UK Subs. I hope we don’t have to wait a year to hear Charlie and Knox’s Urban Dogs acoustic album.

THE MATTLESS BOYS - 2 Track Promo (Download)

This lot are no new guitars in town. Remember The Boys? First Time, Brickfield Nights and all those other gems. They used to have a guitarist by the name of Matt Dangerfield, well he doesn’t play on this record so it’s…. The Mattless Boys, with 13 tracks of pure perfect power pop punk’n’roll, that only The Boys could produce. Hard choice to choose a couple of tracks for yer, I’m not gonna post the whole album, cos I really think you should go and buy it. I left the decision up to the shuffle mode on my CD player, and here’s what it’s chosen for ya! Enjoy!

This is the time 4....

Hope everyone’s had/having some good old festive fun’n’frolics celebrating/remembering in whatever way you do. It’s round this time of year people prepare lists of their Top Tens of…music/books/events etc, or makes predictions for the 4th coming year.
I’m typing this with a fuzzy head, a furry mouth and flatulent stomach (The price paid for excessive over indulgence.) So I might forget a few things I've meant to say. Here we go then. Musically here’s a few things that did it for me. The Vibrators - Under The Radar / The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang / Manic Street Preachers - Post Cards From A Young Man / Batusis 4 track EP // New favourite old bands: The Derellas and Electric River. As for books didn’t read anything new, but I’ve just started to read Cheetah Chrome’s book A Dead Boys Tale, which is great stuff so far, Does that count? Whatever! Any way what else got the juices flowing and the blood boiling ?
Young people getting more militant; Student Riots, boycotting and barricading Vodaphone and Top Shop stores. Hit ‘em were it hurts! Their pockets, their profits. I’m hearing business isn’t happy, getting worried about the peoples spending. In the form of snow, nature has kept punters away from the shops, and the Bank Holiday sales are on a Sunday which means shops can’t open longer than is allowed; Thank God for that! I mean how much more shit do people need? Even if it is reduced shit! It’s only reduced for a reason, cos it was shit in the first place and people didn’t buy it first time around, cos it was too fucking expensive for starters. Never mind out with the old and in with the new. OUT WITH ALL OF IT!!!
The Coalition Government, could either make or break Britain. Hopefully it’ll do both. MP’s Expenses, at last more people found out what a bunch of greedy lying bastards our politicians really are. Gulf Oil spill, a total lack of responsibility by anyone. We are bleeding the earth dry! The continued presences of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it won’t be another Vietnam, how many years has it been now? And is the world a safer place? No, but a lot of innocent lives are still being lost.
The Mediaisation of Britain, everything reported live and direct from the final moments of a killers life to a fire extinguisher being launched from the roof of Tory HQ. Total bombardment….Buy this, Buy that, This is wrong, That’s right. DON’T BUY ANY OF IT! Make yer own mind up. It’s about being objective, and objecting. Vince Cable was right to declare war on Rupert Murdoch; too much power in one organisations hands. The Daily Telegraph in their expose of Lib Dem MP’s show just what the papers will do to get a story, in this case a non news story; I mean lets face it….did/does anyone really believe that the Tories and Lib Dems were gonna be happy bed fellows? All the paper has done is create suspicion for MP’s when speaking to their constituents, where by they wont tell the people how they really feel, or was that The Daily Telegraphs aim when they sent out their under cover reporters to snare Vince Cable and a few others?
The sportification of Britain. The Queens started the ball rolling in her bullshit broadcast to the nation, I mean what does she do that’s so sporting? Rides horses, yeah and she can’t even be bothered to sit on them properly; she has to ride side saddle, still more chance of her falling off and injuring herself I suppose. Expect a lot more stuff about sport in the run up to the 2012 London Olympics. Reduction in civil liberties in a bid by the state to control and suppress any civil disobedience. More differences of opinion between LibCon bed fellas, but I say lets stick with this bunch of c**ts cos they’re no worse or better than the lot trying to oppose them. I fear that despite the inactivity over recent months of the BNP who I understand are bankrupt, (well we knew they were morally now it appears they’re financially short,) that there will be a Far Right backlash.
The ‘Big Society’ would be all well and good, if we weren’t having to pay the price for their ‘New Society’ that was created over the past 30 years and started to collapse a few years ago when money became uncontrolled and out of control, when individual freedom resulted in irresponsibility and actions became protected by Human Rights and Political Correctness, leaving us in a free society where people are led to fear to mention Jesus and Christmas in case they offend other religions. What a load of bollocks! All religion offends me.
Predictions for 2011.…I PREDICT A RIOT! Cos when the c**t’s and their cuts really kick in there’s gonna be a hell of a lot of pissed off people in England green an often unpleasant lands , and I’m hoping they’re not gonna sit back and take it, forget Keeping Calm and Carrying On. GET ANGRY! STAY ANGRY and do something! The only order we need in 2011 is some disorder!
We can’t turn back the hands of time, but in the future we can either hold them up in surrender or clench them in defiance. Is it a time for New Years resolutions, or a New Years revolution. How about we resolve to be more revolting!!
I was also gonna thank various people for being out there, but thought nah! Cos I’m bound to forget someone, so thanx to everyone who‘s followed this here blog over the year or years, especially those who know who they are! Here’s to 2011 Remember it doesn’t have to be what it will be, It can be whatever we want it to be. WE HAVE THE POWER!! to change their will! We JUST need to DO IT!

"The recipe for living is lost in memory."

Essential Ephemera #8

A Manic Street Preachers advert for their Little Baby Nothing single.

ANOK 4U

We need to change, and free ourselves from the way they want us to be / If we don’t then nothing will ever change // The truth is they don’t like people knowing the(ir) truth / The more we know the less they can lie / The secret is knowing the(ir) secrets / The truth is out there // Anarchy has no boundaries / The selfish individualism that has prevailed over British society for the last 30 years is just state sanctioned Max Stirner ideology. / The(ir) Big Society prescription is just Peter Kropotkin state sponsored Mutual Aid / Anarchy has no boundaries, It’s every where; Left Right and Centre / But that’s their Anarchy not mine! / I don’t need to be told how to live my life / Or is it like French thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed, that some people need to be “forced to be free.”

WAYNE KRAMER - Acoustic in August 2010

Here’s some Punk Rawk Urban Blues from Brother Wayne Kramer, who recorded these four acoustic tracks for The Daytrotter Sessions. There’s a reworking of the MC5’s "High School," "No Easy Way Out" is from the 1997 solo release The Return of Citizen Wayne, and "Bad Seed" comes from his 1995 album The Hard Stuff and there‘s also a cover of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song." Great stuff! Check it out here!

OH sNOw! HERE WE GO AGAIN!!

Blankets of snow cover parts of Britain. Blanket media coverage. Whiteout! Chaos! Stay inside unless it’s essential to go out! This is the third year we’ve had this Extreme weather! and for the third year the country can’t handle it. Cancelled air flights, train and road delays, no post for Christmas, the economy loses money. Mother Nature 3 Mankind 0

JOHNNY THUNDERS - 'A White Christmas' Live @ The Peppermint Lounge N.Y.C (25/12/1981)

Here’s a double dose of NPW favourite: Johnny Thunders. First up there’s a scan of a short article from a 1994 Record Collector by Nina Antonia, the author of In Cold Blood, the definitive biography on Johnny. Secondly here’s a recording of Johnny at The Peppermint Lounge in New Yawk City on Dec 25th 1981, when Johnny filled in for The Damned, who were due to play, but couldn’t get visas.
According to Kris Needs in his book on The New York Dolls Trash! “1981 saw Johnny at rock bottom, spending most of the year in New York doing drug money club gigs.” I dunno if this was one of those gigs, but bands get paid and Johnny did drugs, as for rock bottom, well he certainly rocked, at 2am in the morning in front of a small crowd. Enjoy!
Thanx go out to Chatterboxers Mrs Bobbins for the recording and Mindless for the info.

It's Been A Long Time

Well it’s been over a week since the last post. I’ve noticed that over the recent months the number of posts has declined, and also their irregularity, the quality well, the quality control department has always been a bit loose over the time that this blogs been going, which I only realised the other day is 4 years A lots happened in that time, a lot’s been said, at times I’ve started to feel like a stuck record going round and round clicking, at other times it’s felt like the DJ’s dropped something else into the mix. but hey nothing stays still, times change, to quote Karl Marx “All that is solid melts into the air” The times we Brits are living in now, are interesting to say the least. This LibCon coalition that are running the country or should that be ruining it, I dunno? Are doing what the have to do to preserve their capitalist system CLICK, CLICK, CLICK! Out of the choices the electorate were presented with, I felt that a coalition would be good for the country, I mean look what New Labour did to it in 13 years increased social mobility, but also increased the gap between the rich and poor. What about the Conservatives, last time they were in power; 3million unemployed, Miners Strike, Free Market economics that made some rich and others poor. CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. But hey….The students are revolting and doing a fine job of smashing it up, that’s if it is the students, cos quite frankly I’m surprised at how stupid the students were to think that the Liberals were any different to Labour or the Conservatives, they’re all the same! Lying, cheating and corrupt!, just in different doses. I wonder what concessions and compromises had to be done to get the Liberals to go against their pledge of no student tuition fees. Power to the protesters who take to the streets to voice their disgust, but lets not get hooked on single issues, it needs to be one big issue! Their system sucks. Kapitalism Kills! CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. Still despite their naivety now there’s a new generation whose eyes have been opened to the truth about our wonderful Capitalist Democracy. Camilla and Charles car gets a new paint job…Yes! Ha, Ha, Ha…. legitimate target? Too right! It also turns out the guy swinging from the Cenotaph flag at the recent protest was the poor underprivileged son of Pink Floyds David Gilmour; these are very ‘middle class’ revolts, but what the hell at least they’re revolting, But then I think fuck ‘em, if the revolting students come from wealthy backgrounds, then why shouldn’t they have to pay, because after all they’re gonna take the top dollar jobs on account of their university education. But what’s poor and what’s rich, to some £25.000 a year is poor, CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. Gilmour’s son has now apologised for his actions, which is just the same as the Lib Dems going back on their pledge, if yer gonna do something then have the decency to stand by your principles, and don’t blame it on the LSD, that’s Gilmour JNR not Liberal politicians, hey here’s a thought perhaps The Liberal Party compromised on tuition fees, in return for a change in Drugs Policy that would see the liberalisation of cannabis? Then again maybe not. Here’s another thought; Charles and Camilla how comes they were in the position to be ‘attacked by anarchists’ because they were allowed to be, in order for Secret Services and the Police to justify more resources for security and defence, to change the parameters of policing, if the S.A.S are already on the streets of London in case of terrorist attacks in the run up to Christmas as stories in the press have suggested then, where were they cos it could easy have been Al-Quieda and I don’t think a stick from a placard and a pot of paint would have been their weapons of choice. The media also reported that the disorder might be damaging the image of Britain, Fuck Off! Plenty of our European neighbours see demos turn violent, they turn the water cannons on the protesters and in America the people surrounding the Royal Car would have been shot. If as a senior Police chief said the ‘rules of the game have changed’ then it wont be long before the equipment used by the police changes. That’s if we believe the media reports, who themselves will be complicit in what ever the state does during our ’trouble torn times’
I’m not a big fan of Bob Crowe and his Union politics, but I did hear him on the radio the other day refusing to condem the violence at the student demos. I thought good move Bob; cos he knows that one day soon the police are gonna be dealing with grown men/women, not teenagers or young people on the streets. I wanna see the streets full of people regardless of age, or class, just pissed off people Smashing it!
Anyway what else is there to say about anything that’s happened recently….Oh yeah
Tesco’s have come under criticism for selling a pole dancing kit that’s aimed at the pre teen market.
About time to. I’ve always thought that young people are becoming sexualised at to young an age. Now it appear that the powers that be have started to question the appropriateness of clothing and goods aimed at pre teens. I blame the Spice Girls and those that sold and promoted girl power as some sort of ideology of doing what they really really wanted. Well I tell you what they wanted what they really really wanted was peoples money, without any thought of the consequences that their would have on society in the long term. Binge drinking, underage pregnancies further consequences of this girl power; be like the lads more like. Still…. I blame the parents for buying into the shit, that a new generation of kids are gonna have to live in. Talking of shit, get this….
The Smiths are reunited, well Morrissey and Marr have spoken out and agreed about their disgust at David Cameron saying they were his favourite band! Why? What’s the problem? Freedom of choice and all that if Cameron likes The Smiths, he likes The Smiths, there must have been something in their dour gloom that he liked, and yes it may be an embarrassment to the band but hey you can’t forbid someone for liking your music, thought this was a free country, or perhaps Marr and Morrissey were taking the piss. I wonder who Nick Cleggs favourite band are? I know he chose Life on Mars by David Bowie as a Desert Island Disc, but maybe he should have chosen Five Years instead.... “We've got five years, stuck on my eyes / Five years, what a surprise / We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot /Five years, that's all we've got.”

THROBBING GRISTLE - The Second Annual Report (1991 CD)

This is one to scare the neighbours, the children, the wife/girlfriend, or anyone coum to think of it. Possibly the Punkiest group that emerged from 1977 without actually being labelled punk Throbbing Gristle were Industrial Music For Industrial people. The parallels between themselves and the Sex Pistols were similar, from the name which is Yorkshire slang for an erect penis, to the outrage they provoked a couple of months before the Pistols Grundy incident, when after their debut performance at the ICA at an exhibition called Prostitution. Questions asked in Parliament with one Tory MP declaring “These people are the wreckers of civilisation.” Throbbing Gristle were not yer average Rock’n’Roll band. They explored the dark side of the human psyche, masochistic sex, serial murderers and fascism, to the extreme. Musically they were ’anti music’ there were no songs, melody or groove, this was white noise at it’s darkest; Music From The Death Factory. I got this CD (a re-release of their 1977 debut) from a mate of mine (Mark Astronaut) for a few quid a few years ago, he’d bought it from Welwyn Garden City Library of all places when they were selling some of their CD’s. The thought that Throbbing Gristle could have been next to Take That in the Popular section makes me chuckle. Anyway if you wanna ‘enjoy’ some sonic mayhem here you go.

Posted in memory of former Throbbing Gristle member Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson, who died last week.

The Writing's On The Wall*

*and on the police van!

RIOT ON!

So students take to the streets of London again and cause some more chaos at another demo against the cuts. This time they are joined by ‘school children’ Where were the parents? They should have been there with them, it’s not just about the cuts! We need to be doing whatever we can to fight the cu*ts!! I wanna see the police on the same side as the students, united alongside the tube workers and whoever else has had enough of it all. Spread the word, Smash it up! By whatever means necessary! Our leaders need to know that their big society isn’t happy.
To be honest I don’t really give a shit if fees rise for ‘middle class’ kids. I’m fed up of hearing about people who think they’re ’poor’ because the earn less than £25,000 a year, Fuck me! I earn half that, I’ve never earned anything like that amount during my ’working life’, so I don’t care that people earning over £44,000 pounds don’t get child benefit, these people have had it too good for too long, these are the people that got richer under New Labour, while the poor got poorer, and now they’re reaping what they’ve sown and they don’t like it, and neither do their kids, I blame the parents, after saying that, at least their doing something about it. STAY ANGRY AND CARRY ON!

VIVE LE ROCK! (A Compilation CD)

This great 14 track compilation came free with the first issue of music mag Vive Le Rock, and a right little stonker it is to! Starts on a bit of a low point with Adam Ant’s Vive Le Rock, but there are some standout tracks from Electric River and Marky Ramones Blitzkrieg. New tunes from Spear Of Destiny and Killing Joke show there’s still life in the old dogs, I dunno about Vice Squad though the words: past, sell, by and date spring to mind, unlike former Meteors front man P.Paul Fenech who still sounds as psychotic as he did 20+ years ago but relevant to the now. The Urban Voodoo Machine are what the tin says they are, and jolly good fun it is. Department S who I never much cared for turn in a top tune, and Andy J Gallagher could be one to watch. The Creepshow, Volbeat and The Zero Point tracks do nothing for me except making me reach for the fast forward button where GoldBlade round off the proceedings in righteous fashion. Anyway don’t take my words for it check 'em all out here. As for the mag….Well, the first issue was a jolly good read features/articles/interviews on/with The Ramones, Manic Street Preachers, The Ruts, Motorhead, Killing Joke, Crass, The Pogues, The Sweet plus loads of other stuff, the whole thing is like a cross between Mojo and Kerrang, cover price of £4.99 seems a bit steep, but all in all I reckon it’s quite good value, especially with the freebie CD.

FUCK THE(IR) ROYAL WEDDING and FUCK THE(IR) SYSTEM! (some thoughts)

Just when it couldn’t get any worse ….We’re gonna be subjected to a bullshit Royal Wedding that’s gonna be used as some propaganda about national pride, just when Britain’s status on the world stage is being questioned.
But they’re good for the economy people cry, Great!!!!! Britain used to produce things, it had industries; steel, coal, car, now what, a family of parasites? That have the tourists flocking to the country with their bulging wallets ready to spend spend spend in our rip off economy
Ching, ching, ching…….I can hear the sound of the tills, the cheap made in China tat, souvenir shit! All presented on a celebratory porcelain platter. Everyone’s a winner while our government continues to pay lip service to China’s human rights record, except the losers that buy it. Talking of human rights it’s good to see Burma have released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, now that would be a coalition: The Military autocracy and the pro-democracy movement.
Just how much is this gonna cost the tax payer? The happy couple have said they’re gonna be aware of the economic times when planning the big day, they’re using a second hand ring. I read figures (if they’re to be believed) that security was gonna be £20million, well lets get our moneys worth and take to the streets not in celebration, but in protest against it all, fuck fighting the cuts, lets just fight the c**ts!
I heard someone on the radio saying that it’s just what the country needs to boost it’s morale. Well my moral was boosted the other week when the students smashed their way into Tory HQ and started kicking off. I’m just waiting for the biggest moral boost of them all….when Thatcher dies! We used to have an economy before greedy and selfish politicians and people of all parties and political persuasion fucked it up in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The politicians, The Unions, The Bosses and The People are all guilty, future generations are left with the shit that the past created.
Tory Party advisor and one of Thatcher’s old guard Lord Young made some rather insensitive comments recently about people never having it so good and that this recession isn’t that bad. On one level he’s totally wrong; people are losing their jobs, food and clothing prices are rising. On another level (and I’m sure this wasn’t what he meant) he’s right; people never have had it so good, with their flash cars, TV’s HiFi’s etc with instant credit even those on low incomes have been able to buy into lifestyles above their means. Being rich aint about piles of money and consumer commodities what about self fulfilment instead of self indulgence? Once yer basic needs are met; food, clothing and shelter, the rest is just surplus, but it’s the surplus that makes the profits for the corporations, it’s the surplus that keeps people chained and shackled. We’ve been brainwashed over the centuries to want and demand more. The irony is that if people had led simpler lives in the past and the present then perhaps things wouldn’t have seemed so bad, but they didn’t and don’t, so things have and do. People should have been more austere in the past and not so ostentatious.
Progress means we can’t go back, but just how much further can we go? How much faster must our broadband connection be before Richard’dicky’Branson finally realises that he’s got enough fuckin’ money.
I don’t give a shit if the future Royal came from humble stock, because social mobility aint about what you know, it’s about who you know, it’s another illusion to give those at the bottom of the pile hope that they may reach the top of the pile.

Is there anything that arsehole Tony Blair wont do for some cash? What a fuckin’ Shit!

ELECTRIC RIVER - The Myspace Demos

From Canterbury in Kent the garden of England here’s a blast of some Ballsy, Brassy and Bolshy Punk’n’Roll from ELECTRIC RIVER A band with a message, and some passion and power you don’t hear much of these days, well I don’t. Reminds me of Rancid, The Clash, The Blaggers ITA, but with a flavour and soul of it’s own. I’m hoping to hear a lot more from these guys, but in the mean time here's 4 Tracks I pilfered from their Myspace page. Enjoy! Or Destroy! If you enjoy, then why not check out their web page. If you Destroy….still enjoy!

DEPRESSION / RECESSION / REPRESSION

I was listening to the Radio this morning, and the presenter was saying that today was ‘officially’ the most depressing day of the year, what with the clocks going back and the days becoming shorter, they were also saying about Christmas and the economic downturn adding to the pressure….Personally I’ve had more depressing days than today, and I reckon by Christmas so will a lot more people….unofficially that is! I mean this shit is just getting worse….Footballers sip champagne while the fans make do with cheap lager, the unemployed are stigmatized as scroungers, while tax dodging celebrities are seen as role models by people. If they ever make the unemployed work for their ‘benefits’ then the undeserving celebrities should be made to contribute towards say The Arts, Sport etc, these areas are gonna see major government cut backs, so why not let those that profited (Footballers, Pop Stars etc)put something back into ‘the system’ seems fair, after all it’s the people that made them who they are. It was good to see that unhappy fans gathered outside Wayne Rooney’s mansion when his temper tantrum over how much he was worth kicked off. It’s also nice to see people demonstrating against Vodaphone and their creative methods of paying taxes. It was good to hear that people gathered together in a disused building to dance the night away and then throw bottles at the police who tried to stop people entering the ‘illegal rave’ seeds are starting to grow, even Al Qaeda have appeared again with some bombs on planes, did they ever go away, do they really exist apart from in the minds of the US and British intelligence? Coincidence or conspiracy? that a few days before the bombs were discovered on the cargo planes British Airport authorities were calling for security at airports to be relaxed. If there is a war on terror, then as in all wars the first casualty is the truth; their propaganda kills it, I mean if people hadn’t been blinded by all the fear that’s been created would they be taking off their shoes as they check in their luggage through the new hi-tech scanner, that has made the manufacturer a nice sum of money, would they accept that the police should be carrying guns and have a battery of anti-terror laws at their disposal, and as for some police units getting trained by the SAS….no one seems to think this isn’t what should be happening in a ’healthy democracy’ The fact that people seem to accept this shit on a day to day basis is depressing!

A WEEK IN SOUTH WALES; Another Day....Another Bay.

AGENT BLUE - Children's Children (2005 CD Single)

“What will you tell your children’s children / When they ask where has their world gone / What will you tell your children’s children / When statues fall around them / When they taste the fear in the air / You thought you had the answers / Now many questions raised //”
Children’s children is a great little rousing anthem of a tune. The band AGENT BLUE had about 7 minutes of fame in the early noughties. Sounded like Killing Joke meeting The Clash at an indie/rock disco, they reminded me of Compulsion another band short changed out of their 15minutes. The other 2 tracks aren’t as compelling, verging towards nu-metal territory with a poppy undertone, but non the less well worth a click of yer mouse, and a lot more interesting than most of the passionless dross that you hear now, that says nothing and does nothing. Check ‘em out here.

Angry Austerity

So Cameron and Clegg have got their choppers out, and pissed all over the people!, well some of the people….It’s all about the cu*ts! People knew it was coming. Redifining the theatre of war to justify military spending it’s all about cyber war. Reduction in policing leaves the way open to a private security force , people building their own schools, for their children. Back in 79 Thatcher rolled back the economic state, in 2011 Cameron with a little help from his friend Clegg is continuing with the Conservative tradition of ’rolling back the state’ this time its about the social state and its relationship with the people.
The last CONservative to impliment extreme policies was Thatcher, and look at how that reshaped the social fabric; Individualised private property and greed became good. Her legacy is the mess we are standing in, well not all of it cos those New Labour fuckers had thirteen years of power in which to make sure that they were ‘all right Jack’ their system allowed and enabled people to ‘live on benefits’ fueled the fires of Islamaphobia by a continued presence in Afghanistan, and a failed immigratrion policy, an obsession with peoples rights and not their responsibility The media divide public opinion and shape the attitudes of ignorance fuelling the fires they have lit. How will the cu*ts shape the future years and what sort of a mess will we be standing in in say 2023, who knows? We can only look to the past to see the future. What I do know is that if people aren’t happy then they can take a leaf from our European Bruthas and Sisters book, and go for some direct action on the streets, or they can stay at home keeping calm and carrying on. The choice is theirs!

TYPICAL GIRL

Ari Up R.I.P

THE VIBRATORS - Live @ The Marquee 1977

Here’s a blast of The Vibrators live and at breakneck speed on their UK Offensive tour. Recorded during the summer of 1977 at The Marquee Club in London. This isn’t a full recording of the gig. I recently missed out on a copy by 20 pence and 20 seconds on ebay. Anyone got a copy they could send us a link to? Anyway, here are the 15 tracks that came on a second disc with the 2001 CBS Records 25 Years Of Pure Mania The Best Of The Vibrators, this collection in itself is 10 years old. Timeless stuff. Now where’s that link to the live shit gone?

So the BBC’s Political/Historical whore Andrew Marr isn’t impressed with bloggers. Well
I think I’m quite adequate at ranting, as for them being “abusive“…. fuck off you twat!

SOME IDEAS FOR FUTURE POSTINGS:

Chilean miners rescued into the media glare Hollywood is calling. The rescue live and direct, watching 33 men come out of a hole. For Fucks sake, here’s to the next episode of Sky TV’s new series Watching Paint Dry
They don’t teach kids history today, cos they don’t want them to learn about the past, because those that control the past, control the present and the future.
London 2012 Olympic ticket prices! Affordable, yeah right at £50 a throw!
Football’s just another business, owners just buy and sell with no passion commitment to the game, just to the profits.
Private fire fighters to stop London burning when fire fighters strike over bully boy tactics of threats of the sack if they don’t comply with managements proposed changes in shift workings.

Less is More!

So every ones up in arms about the Child Benefit cuts, well anyone who’s earning over £44,000 a year who’s got kids, who aint gonna get no more benefit. The same people that no doubt look down on and condemn the benefit scroungers, are now claiming that they need their child benefit and rely on it! What on £44,000 a year? They’ve become just as dependent on State Benefits as the ‘scroungers and spongers’ they’re all as bad as each other.
Values….their Values Are Trash. It’s all about the money. Judged not by who are what you are, but what you have and what you own. Living lifestyles that aren’t their own, aspiring to be better than the person next door. Fools….fooled by the gloss and sparkle.
Values….their Values Are Trash. It’s all about the money. Judged not by who are what you are, but what you have and what you own. Living lifestyles that aren’t their own, aspiring to be better than the person next door. Fools….fooled by the gloss and sparkle.
They talk about the undeserving poor, what about the undeserving rich? The landlords who charge high rents that the benefit system pays for. The media moguls that print the propaganda, the millionaire politicians, the heads of companies that pollute the earth that exploit the workers to produce the goods that the people buy, the advertisers that entice us, the list goes on and on., the footballers and pop/rock stars whose lives they sell to the people. Fame/Celebrity with The big house, the flash car etc
If I was earning £44,000 a year, Mrs Wolf would be able to give up her job, we’d get no child benefit and….we’d still be better off financially than we are now!
What else of our leaders been up to? Well they got the head of Top Shit, Phillip ’tax avoidance’ Green in to advice them on how the government could save money !?1? The there’s the increase in Higher Education Fees debacle, were by only the wealthy will be able to afford to send their children to University. The Labour Party can’t even oppose the idea, cos they’re the ones that introduced the fees in the first place, and as for The Liberals who apposed all fees, well compromises are made in coalitions, why do you think there are stories/proposals going around about prisoners being given a choice of 5 different meals? The bottom line is….Politicians….they’re all the fucking same!
lets try and forget the politicians and their parties, lets look neither left nor right or to the centre, lets look at what is RIGHT. Is it right that while people work for a pittance others receive the same amount of money for doing nothing? Is it right that some are rewarded for their irresponsibility while others pay for being responsible? Is it right that someone earning £100,000 a year receives a universal benefit that someone earning £10,000 a year receives? Is it right that further education can be for just those who can afford it.? RIGHTS or RIOTS!
Rights can be very subjective, What I think is right, the middle class family not gettinhg Child Benefit will think it’s wrong, so it’s often hard to get any objective opinions from people. The best way to be objective is just to OBJECT to it all.
The only way to achieve a just fair and free society is to destroy the greedy and envious society we have become i.e. the economic base, the free market. The freedom of choice has left us prisoners were there is no choice other than to serve a life sentence as slaves to the free market capitalist economic system. We need to break free from it’s shackles then smash it up! We have more than enough of what we need, people have become fat on a diet of consumer materialism, which has left them starved of any ideological or moral subsidence.

Essential ephemera #7

In the light of the possible closure of London’s legendary 100 Club due to lack of money. Here are a couple of flyers from the summer of 1984 for up and coming gigs there, and also a thought…. How about the New Rock gentry; people like John Lydon put their hands in their pockets and donate some of their cash to the cause, (the butter ads must have paid alright,) The Gallagher bruthas must have a few quid, then there’s the old guard, The Rolling Stones….all have played down the stairs and on the stage, with the fucking great concrete pillar in front of it! A great little venue, went to a good few gigs there it would be a shame to see it go. SAVE THE 100 CLUB!

The HEAVY METAL KIDS are UNCONTROLLABLE!

Cheers to the brilliantly named Ollie Stench over at Frequency 7 blogspot for posting the video and putting me on to the new Heavy Metal Kids single Uncontrollable. It’s a stonking slab of funtime Rock’n’Roll, just what the doctor ordered in these times of manufactured music from the X Factor and Indie Rock NME wannabes. This is an honest sing along guitarslinging anthem. A tonic to the trouble torn times that are coming on down the hignway at us. But how can the un-replace frontman Gary Holton be replaced? He can’t! So why not get former Eastender’s actor John ‘Nasty Nick’ Altman to camp it up instead. Genius, Cheers doctor! For the love of Dot Cotton and Gary Holton I urge everyone to spend 79p at Itunes and get this tune to the top of the charts. I know times are hard, but hey lets start getting UNCONTROLLABLE!

Don't read this!

For hundreds of years we’ve had the printed word, now we’ve got ebooks; cold clinical gadgets that can store a lifetimes worth of literature. Why? Because they can! But just because they can doesn’t mean they have to, but they do, because they want our money and there’s always some sucker ready to part with their cash for some piece of shit that they think’s gonna improve their life. I mean some of these things have displays which give the feel that you’re reading a real book. What!!!! If you want the feel of a real book, why not buy a real book? Here’s hoping these ebooks don’t last a hundred weeks.

MENACE - Live in Wolverhampton 1978

Menace came from the Sex Pistols school of Punk Rock, literally: A couple of the band went to the same school as John Lydon. The band released 5 singles between 1977 - 79, each one a slab of second wave shouty shouty street punk rock: at the time Sniffin’ Glue proclaimed “they’re the best punk rock band in England” dunno about that, but they certainly wrote a catchy tune. G.L.C was an anti establishment rant written as a reaction to the Tory run Greater London Council banning ‘Punk Gigs’ with it’s catchy chorus of “GLC, GLC…. You’re full of shit” I Need Nothing was recorded in 1977, and produced by John Cale from The Velvet Underground, but only released in 1979, by then the band had run it’s course. Anyway here’s a great little aural artefact, recorded at The Lord Raglan in Wolverhampton on 31st Oct 1978. Enjoy! Thanx to original uploader over at Punk Torrents.

NATIONAL POETRY DAY

As today's National Poetry Day, here are some lines from an untitled unfinished work in progress of mine:

The me generation, go fuck yer self.
You’re messing around with my mental health.
Self indulgent gratification.
A social disease that’s killing a nation.!

The modern world leaves me cold.
Everything’s obsolete before it’s old.
Pre packaged to throw away.
Everything in a state of decay.

JOHNNY THUNDERS - Live @ Folkets Park, Sweden 19/6/83

This is a great Thunders bootleg: an FM Broadcast from Sweden in the summer of 1983, another ‘Camden Town Classic’ 3 for a fiver I think they were back in the day. The same gig was also released on vinyl as Cosa Nostra Never Sleeps, £10 - £12 from Kensington Market, as money was tight I went for the tapes. On this one Johnny’s on great musical form; tight, together and thunderous, the quality is mighty fine. Highly recommended! L.A.M.F

"You wont get me, cos I'm part of The Union"

So then, the Labour party have a new leader Red Ed Miliband if we believe the media, he maybe left of New Labour, the Unions may have helped vote him in, but they are supposed to be the party in opposition, so there’s no point having a leader going down the New Labour New Tory road is there? I see his brother David’s now fucking off from the party like some sore loser, maan I wonder what life was like in the Miliband house when they were kids, he’s obviously a man with conviction and a believe in politics, probably land some top dollar job in Europe or America and carry on the New Labour tradition of lining your own pockets.
So what’s the future going to be for the Labour Party? Well there’ll be no future if they go too far to the left, because the country has gone too far to the middle, to a place of capitalist complacency were anything too radical will be met by distain in the media and distrust by the people who’ll be reminded of past conflicts between Left and Right. A healthy democracy needs a healthy opposition, and there’s gonna be nothing healthy about a watered down form of Socialism, the same as there’s nothing healthy about this coalition of posh boys and their Big Society that threatens to leave the less well off even worse off, what Labour would have done about the mess they made no-one knows, the LibConCo have asked them, but they have said nothing.
Sill at least there’s the Trade Unions to stand up for the workers, not that many of the workers are paid up Union members, only about a ¼ of the present workforce. Union membership is ½ of what it was in the 1970’s, back when the Unions had real power and the ability to call it’s workers out in long drawn out Industrial action. What’s changed, well Thatcher for one with her anti-union stance, and the workers themselves who bought into the whole free market global capitalist system, where no one wants to risk losing what they’ve worked and borrowed so hard to get; the mortgage, the car and luxury goods. One of the reasons industrial action now consists of one day strikes is because the trade union no longer have the funds for strike pay, No but they’ve got the money to pay their leaders £200,000 salaries and buy expensive properties for them to live in. Is this what the Tolpuddle Martyrs fought and were deported to Australia for?
People like Bob Crowe of the RMT and Derek Simpson of UNITE are no ragged trousered philanthropists, more like designer clothed narrcasists. Power corrupts, these people are no better than the fiddling politicians or the wanker bankers with their bonuses. Do we need these people to tell us what to do, where to do it and when to to it. Let’s just do it….
The only people there are to stand up for the people are the people. I’m all for people taking to the streets and protesting, it needs to happen, but….How about we take it to the streets were people like Bob Crowe live and picket his house and smash up their neighbourhoods. General strike, what about a General Sickie, encourage all the workers to ring in sick on the same day…. “Sorry, can’t come in today…. I’M SICK OF IT ALL”

DR FEELGOOD - Down By The Jetty

Today’s musical offering was inspired after watching an episode of Channel 4 TV’s This Is England 86, the sequel to Shane Meadows film This Is England. During one of the scenes Dr Feelgoods All Through The City was used as the incidental music. What a tune! Quite what the relevance to 1986 was I’m not sure, cos it’s a track off their debut album Down By The Jetty, which was release in 1975. Down By The jetty was a hugh influence on the evolving ‘Punk Scene’ in both London and New York. Punk wasn’t born in a vacuum. In London bands like the Feelgoods and Eddie and The Hot Rods were already reacting to the pomp and prog of the stadiums by stripping it down and taking it to the pubs, where the future Punk musicians were absorbing this sound alongside their love of The New York Dolls, Iggy and MC5. Over in New York, the reverse was taking place bands where bands like Television, The Heartbreakers had been introduced to Dr Feelgood through imports of Down By The Jetty. So there you have it….Punk wasn’t invented by the Brits or The Yanks, it just happened to happen. The time was right, and it had to happen, so it did. I must get round to watching the Feelgoods film Oil City Confidential, it was on way too late for me when it was on BBC’s Channel 3 a few weeks ago, only amphetemine sulphate would have kept me awake at that time of night, and those days, and nights are over for me. Anyway if you wanna take a trip Down By The Jetty, you know what to do.

I’d like to point out that I wasn’t able to rip my old tape of the album, it had gone all wobbly wobbly, so I used a copy I acquired off the net, from the rather fine and nifty Skamanchakett blogspot to be exact, well worth a visit if you wanna get hold of the rest of Dr Feelgoods albums, which are posted there along with a ton of other good shit!

Osama Bin Real IRA

Waiting for the attack. It will happen, they’ll make sure of that; the shadowy figures of our State and it’s Secret Services. The dark forces creating the fear and maintain the order, gives them a reason to control the(ir)order of things.
A ring of steel and concrete; barricades and road blocks were built around City of London after the IRA blasts at Canary Warf, Bishops Gate etc in the 90’s, which basically means that all those financial institutes of power can be secured at anytime of their choosing. Would people have allowed this to happen without the fear? It’s interseting IF we believe what we are being told that the ‘real’ IRA, (so that lot in the 70’s bombing pubs in Birmingham etc weren’t real?) have said that they’re gonna target financial institutes in a campaign on the mainland, what’s this got to do with the age old religious divisions that originally fueled ‘the troubles’ ?
Sectarian violence in Northern Ireland has never really ended, it’s just not being reported about, in the same way that for instance we haven’t heard much about Osama Bin Laden recently. Sectarian violence in Northern Ireland has never really ended, it’s just not being reported about, in the same way that for instance we haven’t heard much about Osama Bin Laden recently. Bring it on. Bomb the Banks, media centres etc. Semite solutions to the economic crisis.
The real threat and terror come not from outside forces, but from those inside our corridors of power.
It’s not what’s in the news people need to worry about, its what’s not in the news that should concern us.

Carri On Some Product

The only notes that count when it comes to turning musical rebellion into money are the ones that come in wads. Sex Pistols perfume and The Clash baseball boots. This stinks and whoever sanctioned and licensed these products needs a good kick in the head!

Essential ephemera #6

A couple of pieces of Nikki Sudden related ephemera for yer. I went to both of these gigs, hazy memories though. The one at The Sir George Robey was in 1987, I think , and the band were late turning up and went on late. Roland S Howard was on guitar for both these gigs, which gave a taut tense sound to the tunes. The Sir George Robey was a pub right next to Finsbury Park Station, bands played in the small backroom. It was a right toilet of a venue, literally because the mens toilets had a habit of overflowing and flooding. Camden Palace on the other hand was a bit of a flash nite club in err…Camden of all places, where the bands used to come on late sandwiched in between the disco. I remember when Nikki played the dance floor was full before and after, but during his set people drifted off to the bars to drink and look cool, leaving only a scattering of people to witness what would be Roland’s last gig with Nikki’s French Revolution band, in 1988 if memory serves me correctly, I maybe wrong though.

I guess someone didn't like the driver of this car!

MANIC STREET PREACHERS - Live In 1995 + 1996

Another day, another Manic Street Preachers post. This ones from a bootleg CD released on MSP Records Thanx once again to Chris, who picked it up for me in a Charity Shop, for a bargain price of 50p. The two gigs on it are a couple of first for The Manics. The one from 1995 was their first gig without Richey, when they supported The Stone Roses at Wembley Arena. The one from 1996 was their first headline show since Ritchie did the off, recorded as part of the BBC Radio 1 Sound City gigs in Leeds. I’ve had to upload the disc as two files due to the size of them, but both fit snugly on to one disc. Click here for the Wembley one, or there for the Leeds one, or was it the other way around? I dunno, but either way, enjoy!