S*M*A*S*H T*H*E D*E*M*O*S - A R*E*P*O*S*T

Here's a repost request, nice'n'timely as there's a film due to be released about S*M*A*S*H and their fellow partners in the new wave of the new wave scene; These Animal Men.  More details about the FLAWED IS BEAUTIFUL DVD can be found here

“This is the sound of the suburbs” Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire to be exact “a satellite of London.” Local lads S*M*A*S*H’s flame shone brightly for a couple of years, when they went from ’local band’ status to darlings of the music biz, thanks to the music press sponsored pre Brit Pop;
New Wave of The New Wave, which was basically a load of bands with the attitude, style and sound of bands from between 77-79 lumped together by the NME and Melody Maker, S*M*A*S*H along with These Animal Men were the best of the bunch.
Like the Stone Roses on PCP was how S*M*A*S*H were described by the NME in 1994. On this their first demo recorded in 1990 when they were called Smash At The Blues they sounded more like The Stone Roses without the PCP. With their second demo, (not sure if it is actually their second demo, but it’s the second one in this post) an MC5 aural assault had started to creep into their songs, and they were just S*M*A*S*H. By the time of their 1993 Self Abused demo the PCP had kicked in and thanks to favourable reviews in fanzines, local radio station and a review in the NME the band were on their way, and what a great fucking band they were ,touring tirelessly up and down, and across the country with cheap gigs, cheap merchandise and their own fanzine; Petal Buzz, which helped to spread the word and build them a large and loyal following. Two independently released singles in 1993 received rave reviews and sold out endorsements from The Jesus and Marychain, Joe Strummer, New Statesman and The Guardian soon followed as did a Top Of The Pops appearance and a record deal with Virgin subsidiary Hi-Rise which saw the 2 singles re-released as a mini-album before their debut album Self Abused hit the streets in Sept 1994. More gigs followed including support slots with The Ramones, The Cramps and Corrosion of Conformity.
Sadly S*M*A*S*H disappeared from the radar in 1996. They did start playing again in 2003 and released a second album Icon in 2007, which I don’t think is a patch on their debut, the PCP seemed to have worn off, saying that though, it’s a ton better than a lot of the shite that’s been about over the last few years. Maybe S*M*A*S*H were a band of a moment and that moment may well have past, who knows, because I saw ’em live again at Club 85 in Hitchin a few years back, and they were still on the ball.

The above text is from the original post but the links to the demos are new.  Enjoy'n'Destroy!

NIKKI SUDDEN - Egyptian Roads (*A MPFREE Re-Post.*)

CLICK HERE TO HEAR!

TERROR TALK.

Still no official conformation that the Russian passenger plane downed over Egypt was blown from the sky by ISIS, but I'm pretty sure that it was, but no one dares think what the Russians response, reaction and retaliation will be. The French have already started bombing Syria as a result of the spectacularly staged multiple attacks in Paris last Fri 13^th November.

Coincidently the previous day Western 'Hellfire' missiles had killed IS poster boy executioner Jihad John. All this shit will not end well, unless something radical is done like talking rather than killing for example.

Western leaders haven't minded talking to despots like Ghadafi and Saddam in the past, when it has come to business deals. Lets sit down and talk business with IS and see what it is that they want! Because more bombs = more bodies = more bombs = more bodies.

Why isn't the supply of weapons to IS stopped, the West and Russia know where they've come from, cos they built 'em and sold 'em to IS.

The more the terror the more of our civil liberties will be eroded in the name of freedom by the means of fear. Just in whose interest is it to continue the cycle of violence....Not in my name!

No surprise that media reports one of Paris attackers had entered Europe as a migrant from Syria, a reason for more fences across Fortress Europe for the Far Right to hide behind while spreading islamaphobia and creating more tension and violence. The writing is on the wall!

The world we are moving towards unless something is done is one that our so called leaders have built and engineered for us to live in. A world of Total War! and Total Control! with One Total New World Order.

CITIZENS ACROSS THE WORLD NEED TO UNITE AND STAND TOGETHER AGAINST BOTH THE TERROR OF ISIS AND STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM!
  

RANDOM RAMBLINGS AND RANTINGS.

Vintage badges but the message is still the same thirty years later. Why are our government buying new nuclear missiles that we can't afford with money that could be spent better elsewhere when we haven't even used the old ones? Or are UKPlc just upgrading their household appliances with our money ready for making us live in fear of massive retaliation or mutually assured destruction from a multitude of possible targets with the possibility of it becoming the new cold war, but just a little bit hotter. We've already got a new Berlin Wall, this time it's made of razor wire and it's meant to keep out the war refugees. Those that have ignored the past are condemning us to repeat it, got the badges!

Credit where credit is due....Yeah the House of Lords is an unelected body of political cronies put there by whatever political power wants them there depending on what they have to offer financially and ideologically. Now their paymasters scream it's a constitutional crisis because they have stood up against the Robin Hood in reverse Working Tax Credit cuts that robs the poor to give to the rich. Don't suppose it would have been an issue if nothing had been said, it would all have been perfectly democratic to make a section of society less well off in order to save money on the Welfare State, sounds well unfair to these ears. Yeah the minimum working/living/existing wage is due to rise....in three years time, but what where the people affected by these proposed changes supposed to do in that gap when they would be worse off? Live on fresh air, numb themselves with prescription drugs or turn to crime?

Anyway lets not get too excited about the altruism of the ermine clad, because they represent themselves and their interests which include businesses, both big and small, who are gonna be effected by the future increase in workers wages, it is in their interest to maintain their profits, which at present is controlled by low pay, zero hours contracts and Welfare Payments....Get The picture?

Unelected bodies making decisions on behalf of the people, well that's democracy for ya.

A Chinese Takeaway....Human Rights sacrificed at the church of consumption as Britain continues to deal with regimes that are backwards thinking with how they treat their people, should this concern us, well yes; it's about morals versus money and once again another government takes the shilling and turns it's head away

Cheap Chinese Steel flooding the European markets over the last few years has forced the closure of several British Steel companies resulting in collateral damage i.e. job losses, still at least those made redundant can get Welfare Benefits....or work with the Chinese building a new British nuclear power station.

Chinese Nuclear Power and Russian Gas, nice to see UKPlc's energy supplies are in safe hands!

At least we've got our friends the Americans to help us out should things get a bit sticky.

Our leaders shake hands with Saudi Sheiks because they want their cash, and all the while the same money funds the terrorism we are waging war against, the same terrorists we created by at first doing business with countries like Iraq and Libya and then turning against them when they demand more from the oil and arms business deals. 

We then sit back and watch the Russians bomb targets in Syria that a pose President Assad, the very forces that the West supports, and then do nothing about the collateral damage; Refugees, that are crossing the European borders. This is the only exit strategy.

A full English Breakfast cancer on a plate if you believe what they are telling us, another scare story believe it all and yer gonna spend too much time dying and not enough of it living! Talking of Bacon....and believing do we really care that Prime Minister David Cameron might have stuck his cock in a dead pigs mouth? It just makes him a perverted cunt rather than just a cunt! “There will be no cuts to Working Tax Credits.” make that a lying perverted cunt!!

SAFETY IN NUMBERS!

RED SKY IN THE MORNING....A SOCIALIST WARNING!

A Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn is a “threat to national security.” So says Prime Sinister David Cameron. Sounds like the words of a scared man trying to scare the rest of the people into a state of insecurity and a fear of Britain being run by a Left Wing Government.

The more dirt that is dug and mud that is thrown, the more I am convinced that 'they' are scared and fear the possibility of a real and revolutionary Socialist Government in the future. It looks like the war of attrition is getting closer to victory. It might not be a party that is led by Jeremy Corbyn, and it might not be in five years time, but it will happen!

Corbyn has been rebutted for wanting to print more money to help build a healthy infrastructure for the country by those that thought it was fine for Cameron to create more cash to bail out the bankers. He also wants to nationalise the railways and energy companies this is seen as a bad thing by those that bailed out their banker friends by nationalising The Royal Bank of Scotland. Yes Jeremy Corbyn has shared stages/platforms with militant extremists both Catholics and Muslims, this talking is seen as a bad thing, yet killing them with drones is good. Corbyns election as Labour leader will highlight a lot more political contradictions and differences, it might not fuck the system but it will give it a good kick up the arse!

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

At last something that makes sense....

The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party; because for many years in British politics they have not been the party of opposition!

SOME THOUGHTS'N'VIEWS ON RECENT NEWS.

Images of a dead child washed up on the beach of our safe European home stirs the slumbering mass into compassion that wasn't there before the picture was published by the papers. Weren't the images of children being squeezed through railway carriage windows enough? This child is just one of many that have died, the rest have remained unseen....out of sight and out of mind. It would appear that words are not enough for people; they have to see it to believe it.

Immigration, Migration are different issues, as are refugees. Lets not forget that our wonderful Western democracies are ultimately responsible for these crisis's. The media mixes and mashes the terminology in headlines until it has become one whole thing....A FUCKIN' MESS! that no one wants to clear up even though their wars and interventions have made it. They can't even work together and make a start, they just start adding more to the mess by talking about Christians versus Muslims, IS infiltrating those trying to find asylum in the madhouse that they think is a 'better life' If we are not careful this mess will leave a stain Free movement will become even more restricted as borders are shut and the barbed wire goes up around Fortress Europe. Let history be the judge, at this point in time....guilty. I mean British police are now arresting people trying to go to Syria.

Media led politics has seen British Prime Sinister David Cameron take a complete U Turn on the 'refugee crisis' before the picture was published in the papers he was adamant Britain would not be accepting refugees, after the picture he 'opened the doors' to 'the swarm'

Some people have spoken out about how we should welcome the refugees, others are speaking out as to why we should not take any....There aren't enough houses or jobs etc put “Britain First” they say....Fuck 'em that's what I say....refugees, immigrants and migrants are Britain’s future. The knuckle dragging Right Wing are gonna cause fear and panic amongst the ordinary people. Britain has seen a rise of islamaphobic attacks.

Empathy....understanding, or lack of it. People really should stop and think....What if something happened in Britain and they had to flee in fear of their life....It couldn't happen here could it? Well if people believe what the likes of the EDL, Britain First and UKIP....Yes it could, because all the Muslims seeking asylum want us to live under Sharia Law and chop the heads of Christians. Britain was built by immigrants, migrants and refugees, they were our past and should be part of our future. Whose to say that the young Syrian boy kicking around a football might not score the winning goal for England in a future World Cup final.

It's good that Bob Geldof is going to open his home(s) to Syrian refugees, otherwise he'd probably release a charity fund raising single! Spare rooms for Syrians, one way to sort out the 'Bedroom Tax'....People with extra rooms can stay in their property as long as they house a refugee.

Every nation across the world that committed and supported the war on terror should take a proportion of refugees from places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, there is enough room in countries like the USA and Australia for example and it will be a damning enditment at the sort of society Britain has become if we stand by and do as little as possible. World War Two guilt has seen refugees welcomed with open arms in Germany, while some countries like Hungary can't wait to get rid of them, and all the while America says and does nothing, while continuing to bomb Syria. A global coalition is needed, including Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, but they need to tread carefully though what with Syria being friendly with Russia.  The world is a big place, there's room for everyone.

It has also come to light that David Cameron has illegally used RAF Drones to take out a couple of British Jhiadists in Syria, under the premise that they were planning an attack on British streets. Cameron mentioned the recent VJ celebration/remembrance day, as having been a possible target although it wasn't until days after the parade that Cameron OK'd their assassination????!!!! This is a disturbing use and abuse of political power, as the House of Commons were not consulted and as yet no evidence has been seen, plus surely if you wanted to stop an attack you'd have taken them out before the possible target event took place.

Refugees from Syria are fleeing their country because of war, as some sort of solution David Cameron is talking about Britain dropping more bombs (not that they aren't already supporting the continued US Bombing of the area.) I can't see this ending well for anyone, least of all the innocent people of Syria.

Talk not bombs! Britain’s past terrorist problem....the IRA is/has been resolved through talks and mediation not through guns and bombs. Labour leadership Jeremy Corbyn knows that talking is the way forward having shared a platform/stage with militants. This fact has been used to try and smear his campaign, when really it is the only way forward....you can't bomb an ideology, but you can talk to one and try and reach some common ground.

Unless there are some short term solutions and long term measures put in place that show compassion and humanity have progressed as much as science and technology has we will enter a new dark age.
  

CHELSEA - Live @ Bowes Lyon House, Stevenage 29/3/81) *MPFREE DOWNLOAD*

For no reason other than I've been listening to their new album Saturday Night Sunday Morning a lot recently, I'm gonna post a copy of a gig that Chelsea did way back in March of the year 1981, (Sunday 29^th to be exact, as the ticket to yer right testifies) at Bowes Lyon House, Stevenage. In 1981 Chelsea were one of the few survivors from the class of 76 still knocking about, they were on the road promoting their soon to be released single Rockin' Horse. It was a new line up from the days of their self titled debut and Alternative Hits era after both James Stevenson and Chris Bashford upped and left Gene without a Guitarist and Drummer. New members were recruited, including Guitarist and songwriter Nic Austin and Chelsea were back in action with some top toe tapping Rock'n'Roll tunes that would become the Evacuate album.

In the 1980's Chelsea had been accepted by a new generation of UK Punk Rockers, and the band toured with Anti-Pasti, Anti-Nowhere League and Chron Gen. Gene was always proud of his punk rock roots, and lets face it without his input despite what history doesn't tell you, in the early days several doors into the music industry might not have been kicked in. By the end of 1982 Chelsea fell apart and Gene pursued a solo career, until 1983 when he got Chelsea back together with a line up that featured several “Stevenage Hooligans” who attended the gig in March 1981 (Guitarist Jon Thurlow, Drummer Geoff Sewell and Bassist Pete Dimmock, were playing in a local band called Optional Xtras, before Jon and Pete left and joined Chron Gen.) Geoff had played drums for Chelsea on the single Stand Out prior to Jon and Pete joining after the split of Chron Gen in 1982. This line up were captured on the Live and Well album. (recorded at The Lyceum in Oct 1983 when Chelsea supported Johnny Thunders.) Jon left soon after, but Geoff and Pete from the Stevenage connection remained and featured on the next couple of studio albums: Original Sinners and Rocks Off, in places both were rather strange Rock'n'Roll affairs; a blissed out and druggy Punk'n'Blues rhythm, not yer standard Chelsea fodder but still good stuff. Neither of them were well received by the music press, Original Sinners has never been released on CD, although there is a planned re-release of Rocks Off. 1989 saw the release of Underwraps, probably Chelseas weakest album, despite the help of Willy from Glam Poppers The Grip and the appearance of ex Clash Drummer Topper Headon on one track, but something was missing.

By the early 1990's Nic Austin was back in the line up along with Mat Sargent on Bass and Chelsea returned to form releasing a couple of cracking albums in quick succession; The Alternative and Traitors Gate. (Both are due to be re-released soon on CD and vinyl)  The classic Chelsea line-up (James Stevenson, Dave Martin, Geoff Myles, Chris Bashford and Gene) re-united in 1999 for the Social Chaos Punk Rock package tour across America, captured on another live Chelsea album; the in yer face and hostile Metallic F.O.

In 2005 minus Myles and Martin Chelsea released a new studio album, Faster, Cheaper, Louder and Better Looking, a great fist in the air pumping and powerful collection of new numbers that saw Chelsea move up a gear, one in which they have continued to the present day; their latest album is a classic,  due to the strength of the latest line up that unites Nic Austin and James Stevenson into an awesome twin guitar attack, alongside a solid rhythm section and Gene's passionate vocal delivery of songs that say something. Saturday Night Sunday Morning, check it out now! Until then rewind back to Stevenage 1981 and check out this piece of aural punk rawk history. The Sound quality is OK....it is what it is.... 

Thanx to whoever it was that originally passed the files my way, sorry my mind has gone blank and I can't remember yer name, but it might have been Harry The Bastard, or it might not have been.

SCUM OF TOYTOWN.

Another re-post request, this time it's for the prog ska punk grooves of Stevenages finest....SCUM OF TOYTOWN.  I've collected the Fight Truth Decay (Tape), the live recording from Bowes Lyon House, Stevenage in 1982 and the legendary TimK PupSlop re-mixes and put them in one handy zip file, and here it is.  Scum of Toytown's new album Cells is out now on Ruin Nation Records.

THE HEARTBREAKERS - Live @ CBGB'S (7th Sept 1975)

Here's a re-post by request which catches The original Heartbreakers avec Richard Hell alive and live at CBGB'S in the fall of 1975 This incarnation of the band was a short lived affair with Johnny Thunders not wanting to play second fiddle to Richard Hell.  Hell attempted to take over the 'breakers, but Johnny left taking Walter Lure and Jerry Nolan with him,  Billy Rath replaced Hell and the rest is history. Talking of history anyone with a passing interest in Rock'n'Roll really should check out the film Looking For Johnny (The Legend of Johnny Thunders) which is what it says on the can....a film that searches for some sort of truth amongst the myths in the life of one of the most enduring Rock'n'Rollers ever to pick up a six string.

The other week a celebrity lion called Cecil was shot dead by a big game hunter, (or should that be cunter) this was wrong, but so is killing any animal for sport/game, not just one that has been given a name and humanized. The amount of global media coverage was rather disproportionate if you ask me, considering what else is going on in the world, it's what they are not telling us about that I care about when they run these sort of stories, and now 'national treasure' Cilla Black has died, well surprise, surprise....I don't give a shit! Still it gives the media something else to focus on, rather than the 'migrants crisis' in Calais. Ironically many of those that want to come to Britain do so because they feel it is the least Racist country in Europe, yeah....but for how much longer? What with Prime Sinister David Cameron dehumanizing them by referring to them as a “swarm” and the Right Wing press stirring it up with stories about 'soft touch UK' Some peoples humanity and compassion would appear only apply to dead celebrities, either animal or human.

REVIEWS....RETURN!

THE SWINDELLS Are full on fast, frantic and feral. Oaf Rock is a collection of Thirteen tracks with no airs and graces on offer just plain simple honest Punk Rawk fun but not dumb! Well played, well produced and well 'ard. Think Infa Riot/The Lurkers/Blitz/Ramones.    “Driven by anger, but with no ambition or agenda.” their words not mine. Go check 'em out!

THE MONTECRISTOS, Neal X former Sigue Sigue Sputnik guitarist's new band have a sexy, sleazy and swampy Rock'nRoll sound, with a brass section that bleeds and blends between the guitar licks'n'twangs. The two stripped back and naked Sputnik numbers on their debut album Born To Rock'n'Roll sound more 21^st Century Rock'n'Roll than the originals.  Saturday Night Sunday Morning, CHELSEA's latest album is a masterpiece, I dunno what it is but these old timers are sounding fresher than ever, and just as passionate, there's a real feeling and emotion in Genes vocals, and James Stevenson’s guitar sings on theses songs Nic Austin has returned to the ranks with a clutch of storming tunes. He's been a busy fella recently, as his own band CHURCH OF EON have released their first album All Our Tomorrows. They have a big post punk 80's sound to them. Swirling keyboards, crashing guitars....these are big songs that could fill stadiums. Nic's not the only Chelsea member whose been playing away; James Stevenson along with fellow Rock'n'Roll whores Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols/Rich Kids/Iggy Pop/Johnny Thunders/Primal Scream/The Faces) Clem Burke (Blondie/Ramones), Garry Twinn (Twenty Flight Rockers) have been playing together for a while now, going under the name THE INTERNATIONAL SWINGERS Whatever Works Now their debut album is out.... now, and if you like any of the bands named above then you really need to check it out. Twelve toe tapping tracks of top notch Rock'n'Roll where amongst the love, lust and leather you'll find a splash of social and political comment. In this day and age to open an album with the line “I had a crazy dream about Afghanistan, grooving round a cave with the Taliban.” is pure class. Opening track FBI is a view of US Foreign policy from behind black sunglasses, Gun Control is possibly the best song written about American Gun laws, and Honeys Room might be about a fix or a fuck. Whatever Works Now is a self assured Rock'n'Roll statement, everything you'd expect from those involved.

  

RANTINGS / WRITINGS....RETURN!

Silence is golden! Silence speaks volumes! Not so much ranting for a while now. Why?....Why not! Seen it all before, said it all before. Ten years of this shit!

I may have tuned out, but I haven't turned off, so it's time to flick through the note pad and make sense of the scribblings I've jotted down over the last few months and weeks. So hey ho lets go see where this shit takes us.

Post election blues. Total CONtrol. A undemocratic mandate first past the post....we lose. The British people had a chance to 'change the system' when they voted for or against Electoral Reform in 2011 and the alternative vote method was rejected by the public. Stoopid fools....probably the same fuckers moaning that UKIP didn't get a fair share of seats in parliament in relation to the total votes they received, alternatively perhaps the system wasn't for changing. Fooled again by the powers that we let be. If voting changed anything.... blah, blah, blah.

No opposition, No Labour New Labour. Left wing leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn is in the lead....The Labour Party are set to factionalise over this. Some believe a shift to the left will make Labour unelectable at next election, others feel the party is moving away from it's original ideals....is moving, has moved thanks to cunts like Blair. Power for powers sake, easily corrupted and co-opted. Some in the Labour Party are talking about a split, why bother just fuck off and join the Conservatives, cos that's all you really are, because the Labour Party should be a left wing party. Career politicians whose only values are power and money, means the red flag no longer flies, and I sneer at the traitors and cowards. I'd rather the Labour Party didn't run the country, they need be an effective opposition representing the downtrodden underclasses and workers, otherwise we are all Tories now!

Apparently anyone can pay £3 and become a supporter of the Labour Party which entitles them to vote in leadership election. This idea was brought in by previous Labour leadership in order to balance out the block union vote. The ultimate irony is that Militant Lefties and Communists are signing up to back Jeremy Corbyn, as to are Daily Telegraph readers, because they know that with a real left wing leader the Labour Party will be unelectable, or will they? Maybe now, but what about in 10 years time when the Tories have brought the people to their knees through cuts after cuts? The people will be crying out and there will be no one listening!

Since the election we've seen changes in laws about workers striking, MP's have seen their wages rise, and Fox Hunting laws may be repealed. No surprises there, but hey changes in the Welfare system will make Britain a fairer society.... by cutting the benefits from the poor and needy! How the fuck does that work? It doesn't, it's bollocks, just the same as using Tax payers money to repair both The Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace....Let them crumble into dust! and as for the opposition, well before the infighting the Labour Party opposed none of the Conservative Welfare policies, and now they're to busy opposing their own party policies to care. Left with no opposition and we will end up living under a dictatorship, if we aint already!

Politics of revenge. Islamic State (If they haven't already been re-branded) gun down Brit tourists in Tunisia and the media call for total war on I.S and their terrorism. But hey correct me if I'm wrong but aren't we still at war with terror and have been since 9/11 and all that has happened is more terror and death, The West has toppled dictators across the middle East and left nothing but a political and military vacuum in the place of leaders that had kept control of their countries. IS are worse than Saddam, Ghadaffi etc. Choose your terror....take aim fire!

10 years ago 52 people killed in a terrorist attack on London by Islamic Extremists.

15 years ago Al Qaeda flew planes into tall buildings in New York killing 3,000.

20 years ago under the eyes of the world media and UN peace keepers 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in Strebenista. Radicalization starts somewhere! and you can't destroy a state of mind with drones and laser guided missiles, they just create more innocent corpses propaganda and fodder to feed the extremists mind. Violence breeds violence, so what do we do? Forgive and forget or bomb the fuck out of 'em. A week before the recent Tunisia Terror attack. A Far Right White supremacist crazy guns down nine people in an American church. A day later the victims families forgive the killer.

Politics of Risk. People start to worry about holidaying in places like Tunisia they are scared of being gunned down or blown up, or to visit places like London in case they are beheaded in the street, but....they could go to somewhere like Thorpe Park and get maimed in an accident on a roller-coaster. Can't let their kids play outside in case there are paedophile in the park, best let 'em play in their rooms on violent video games or get groomed and radicalised on-line.

End of the world apocalypse....A Media driven fear factor. A world on the edge. A safe Edwardian Repo Wimpy house on Instability Street. Living life through a lens were others misery and misfortune becomes home and mobile entertainment. It's all going down the you tube as every one buys a second-hand life in 24/7 instant time. Let them eat fried chicken shop takeaways!

The following are un-cut'n'pasted snippets from the clipboard :

Allah is a c**t / Jesus is a c**t / Jehovah is a c**t / Bhudda is a c**t / Religion is Bollocks!

They want us to live in fear of something. Total fear....Total control!

SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon has been described as the most dangerous woman in Britain, a few years ago it was Myra Hindley.

Workers jobs are cut, because the bosses fucked up. Public servants serve themselves to surplus stock from the shelves.

Football... The beautiful game has turned ugly with FIFA bribes and migrant workers lives.

People are dying as they try to get to Britain from places like Syria, while there are others who are leaving Britain and going to Syria where they are prepared to die. Immigration / migration the West has created the problem and now offers no solution except further misery and pain for the fleeing populations from the warzones the West created!

If Britain is such a caring society, then why are we spending a fortune on agency staff from overseas to work for the NHS? Or is it that British nurses feel they are underpaid, unrewarded and totally over run and could earn more working abroad!

Army Fitness Training Regimes....Keep fit the military way....Tough and hard. How and why people do this on a Sunday morning is beyond me. They obviously haven't worked hard enough during the week, are sadists or have been total brainwashed by The States Health propaganda....you need to eat your Army greens! It's a growth trade!

A Greek surrender....a government sell out, or just bullied by the big boys. In the birth place of democracy the people voted No! To austerity, yet the latest bailout brings more austerity through pension and tax reforms and less freedom with a reduction in Trade Union laws for the Greek people. How does that work? It doesn't, no wonder many Greeks are still angry!
  

Untitled.

From Srebrenica to Tavistock Square the stench of death still hangs in the air.

It blows across the sand from Basara to a tourist beach in Tunisia.

Extremists travel from near and far to take a ride in an explosive ladend car.

Terrorism is nothing new, the media tells us lone wolfs are after me and you.

The war on terror has not been won, it's just brought more suicide bombs.

CAN'T PAY AND WONT PAY YOUR WAY....The Mouse has Roared.

Just say "Yes" to the people of Greece for standing up in democratic defiance to deference by saying "No" to the IMF loan sharks and the larger EU lion states.... A one size Europe does not fit all!!  

FLESH FOR LULU....Nick Marsh R.I.P

This post is in memory of Nick Marsh, formerly the Vocalist/Guitarist of Flesh For Lulu, and more recently a member of The Urban Voodoo Machine, who died recently. I had many a good time at Flesh For Lulu gigs back in the day, thanks for that Nick.

This live recording of Flesh For Lulu is from The Markthalle in Hamburg at the end of 1985, and the photo was taken at Bowes Lyon House, Stevenage earlier on in the same year. Thanx to the original uploaders of the music and pic, and Rest In Peace Nick Marsh.

CHARGE 69 - Much More Than Music (*A REVIEW*)

For over Twenty years Charge 69 have been France's premier purveyors of Punk Rock. Their latest album Much More Than Music is a best of with a difference. Ten original Charge 69 songs revisited and sung in English by a tasty selection of punk rock heroes; TV Smith (The Adverts), Matt Dangerfield (The Boys) Beki Bondage (Vice Squad), Colin (GBH), Greg (The Outcasts), Charlie Harper (UK Subs), Micky Fitz (The Business), Campino (Die Toten Hosen) Roger Miret (Agnostic Front) and Arturo Bassick (The Lurkers)

Each track is a punch in the face that floors the listener, these are killer blows from a pounding and pummelling rhythm section, and for anyone left standing razor sharp guitar riffs slash you in two. The guest vocalists inject their own passion into Charge 69's already potent punk rock mix.  

Powerful, polished and well produced stuff, catchy and tuneful, a frantic action packed adrenalin soaked street punk riot that is indeed much more than music. No self respecting Punk'n'Roller should be without a copy of this album. Available soon from the good people at Time And Matter Recordings.

ENEMIES OF PROMISE - Heroes and Villains - (*A REVIEW*)

Following quickly on from their debut six track mini album, Please Enjoy Your Punk Rock Responsibility, Enemies of Promise unleash the follow up; Heroes and Villains.  Ten tracks of tuneful, thoughtful catchy polemic. This is blood red stuff, the machine gun drum beats, crunching and chugging guitars get your feet taping. Songs about labour exploitation, war, the abuse of power, right wing politics and the media get yer fist raised and yer heart pumping.

One day all things will change so long as there are decent folk like Enemies of Promise picking up guitars, writing pure and passionate political songs and singing them from the roof tops. Heroes and Villains is a perfectly timed musical head shot straight between the eyes soundtrack to the present political post election climate in this (dis)United Kingdom.

I haven't heard anything as politically charged as this since the Red Wedge, Anarcho Punk times of Thatcher's Eighties. Thirty five later and nothing much has changed, if anything at both a local and global level things have got worse.  

Enemies of Promise are a voice of sanity amongst the shouting of our political leaders and the silence of mainstream musicians in a time when there's a lot to be said and needs to be said about the state our society.   Check out Enemies of Promise here and hear what they've got to say with their Post Punk Rock Sixties Stained Pop'n'Roll music.

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH....BLURGH, BLURGH, BLURGH....ELECTION FEVER IS MAKING ME SICK!

Two weeks before the Great British Vote Off, and I thought it was about time I spewed a few snippets of thoughts your way, stuff that's been floating around my head over the last few weeks. Some of them are Election related some of them are more general.

Don't spend your life thinking, comparing or judging it against what others have or have not got. Dissatisfaction guaranteed!

Bad news and dodgy deals buried under under the wreckage of a plane crash, as the media bleed tears from the readers and viewers eyes as they watch another hyper real spectacle.

Migrants drown escaping from conflicts that Europe and America caused, then walked away from. Changes in EU policies to the way The Mediterranean Sea has been policed have made these human tragedies more commonplace, and I wouldn't put it past the powers that we let be to be complicit in the whole people smuggling business, what better way to control the numbers, sink a few boats because the dead and drowned don't need asylum.

Politicians will fight for votes with propaganda and lies....We'll do this, we've done that, we'll continue to do this, they'll do that. For the many or for the few. For the old or for the new. For the rich or for the poor. Here they come knocking on the door with their promises and lies.

What is it in our society about sex and children? If they've not been abused by Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris or Cyril Smith. Their parents have dressed them like mini drug dealers and prostitutes, now twelve year olds are freely able to access porn on the internet. A younger generation to sexed up to fuck the system, they're only heading in one direction.

Only in a dying Democracy could some politicians talk about making it compulsory for Young People between 18-24 to vote. Perhaps in the future we'll see people fighting and campaigning for the right not to vote. Then it's possible that the balance of power in this dis-united kingdom could be in the hands of the Scottish Nationalist Party, who no one can vote for unless they live in Scotland, and the SNP want to break away from English rule, or as the media are saying want to“Destroy the United Kingdom.”

If there is another coalition once again it will be an unelected government, showing once again that we are living in a dying democracy, where the buggering of boys is covered up by an establishment intent on protecting other prominent paedos; our justice system is just as corrupt as our political and economic ones, where the desires of the haves are all met and satisfied, while the have nots are brainwashed into desiring things they don't really need but, have to have. One law for one, one for the other.

Casting aside our Democratic Deficit for a moment, on May the 8^th the citizens of Britain will wake to a new government, that if political pundits and their polls are to be believed will be neither red nor blue, but a rainbow colour. Old style left'n'right politics are dead; people are slowly starting to wake from their slumber and are seeing that 'traditional politics' have failed them on every level. Voters are turning to the smaller single issue parties, unfortunately this has seen a rise in support for the likes of UKIP, but in a 'Democracy' we have to tolerate their divisive, derisive and populist opinions about immigration. Nigel Farages bullshit, his so called honesty is just lies that people who are still half asleep believe to be true, but these people could awaken a Right Wing Beast if the Conservatives needed the support of UKIP in order to govern the country for another five years. Welcome to ConUK plc, so long as you are English.

Democrazy rules! If the SNP want to destroy the UK, which is what people fear about a Labour SNP coalition then fuck knows what a Tory UKIP coalition are gonna do; with their promises of referendums on Britain’s EU membership, because in order to trade with other nations you need to have something to sell them, and there is nothing Made In Britain anymore. Britain wouldn't survive in isolation we need Europe, yeah maybe some of the Brussels Dictates need to be looked at, but fundamentally just as people need to work together so do nations, but it needs to be about co-operation not competition if we cant see that then we are mad in Britain.

GANG WAR! - A MPFree Download!

Johnny Thunders and Wayne Kramers short lived Gang War fell apart on the New York streets a few months after these four tracks were recorded in May 1980 at Max's Kansas City. They find the Thunders and Kramer partnership in fine form, sometimes this wasn't always the case. On paper it was an inspired connection (New York Dolls + MC5) the reality however proved different and the struggle between Thunders the entertainer and Kramer the musician on top of disputes over the dollar became too much and it all ended too soon leaving very little behind in the way of a musical legacy bar several live recordings, (the best of which is Jungle Records GANG WAR!) much of the studio stuff remains officially unreleased. (Now there's a project for Easy Action or Jungle Records.... The complete Gang War collection.) which is criminal, because the stuff I've heard is the real Rock'n'Roll deal, as are the four tracks here. Thanx to the original uploader.

FS1E - The Drones (*A REVIEW*)

Should politics and music mix? Yes most definitely, Music Is Revolution!

In a right and just world The Drones would be a summer number one single.... mind you in a right and just world this righteous soundscape of a song might never have been written.

FS1E's new single is an address to a nation in distress and a response/reaction to the English we are better than them, with our rose tinted nostalgia glasses mentality It is a soothing and scathing public service announcement with... scratchy guitars a looping bass line and rattling drums. It hums, buzzes and floats around your head, and the chorus is a killer: “Send in the drones So the boys can stay home You think your living in Rome you should act like a Roman. Send in the drones go blow up some homes Then you think they'll leave us alone You must be joking.” There is something special going on here, and you really should jump aboard the FS1E ride....It's pop music but not as you know it....Yet!

NIKKI SUDDEN - The Last Bandit in The World.

Here's another chance to get hold of a copy of a scare vinyl only, and no longer available on the free market Nikki Sudden album, The Last Bandits in The World (Side One) + (Side Two) Enjoy! Nikki may have been gone for nine years now, but his music lives on and so does his memory, especially when you've got the Easy Action Records stall selling new previously unreleased stuff. Check out last years Fred Beethoven album, it rocks like only Nikki rocks, and the two solo acoustic ones The Copenhagen Affair and Christmas Day Blues both find him in fine melancholy minstrel mood and mode. Great stuff.... Nikki Lives!

the DeRELLAS - Rock'n'RollerCoaster EP (*A REVIEW*)

The DeRellas new EP is what it says on the tin.... A Rock'n'Rollercoaster trip....1...2...3 tracks of thrills, spills and Heartbreakers gitaaargh licks bleeding all over the garage floor. Hey, Ho, Lets Go! The DeRellas hurtle head long straight at yer on the manic riot rampage ride that is the opening track Rock'n'Rollercoaster. Next up is the fully loaded gunslinging growl, swagger and stomp of She's A Pistol, before the short ride ends with the woah, woah oh! swamp Ruts skuzz of Day Of The Dead....Slam! Bam! this is right between the eyes 100% Proof Punk'n'Roll....Pogo yerself aboard the ride over at their website or facebook page, and hold on tight!

THE NOVEMBER FIVE - A Little Knowledge (*A REVIEW*)

Three years on since their dynamite debut album If You Are Satisfied You Are Dead The November Five are all fired up with their explosive new single. A Little Knowledge b/w Hot Cell

These are two punchy power packed tunes that crunch, chop and crash their way into your cranium, enormous and epic, emotive and essential. This is life affirming Rock'n'Roll, a wake up call to the mediocre and mundane.  The band are currently working on their second album, due for release later this year and on the strength of this single it should be a good 'un! Get the new single and past products over at The November Five Website.

CONTINENTAL LIAISON - Update From The Machine / CONTINENTAL LIAISON - Update From The Machine / CONTINENTAL LIAISON - Update From The Machine / CONTINENTAL LIAISON - Update From The Machine /

Continental Liaison have been busy since I last put digits to keyboard and wrote about them.

UPDATE#1 The Future Tape has been released by boutique US label Exotic Aquatic, it is a 6 Track mini-album available on very limited cassette with download or as download only. All formats available from Continental Liaison's Bandcamp page. Cassette available in US from Aquatic Exotic.

UPDATE#2 Live at Red Rose records is a 5 track live recording compiled from a couple of gigs in Boscombe and when they supported Sigue Sigue Sputnik at The Railway in Winchester last October. Available from Continental Liaison's website.

A SYNOPSIS Musically out of time, but in perfect tune with post millennium Britain. Continental Liaisons have got something unique going on. Drawing from a vast and varied selection of influences they have created a 21^st Century lo-fi techno garage Rock'n'Roll machine. They are armed and dangerous with a box of beats, a guitar, that fuzzes and phases as the hypnotic and robotic throb of the keyboards pulse around your brain.... like Depeche Mode on Dexedrine. Brilliant Stuff! Don't Ignore The Machine! 

*MPFREE DOWNLOAD* I Wanna Be Your Dog (Live @ Red Rose Records) click here if you want a blast from the Continental Liaison machine!  "LIFE CAN BE A WORK OF ART."

"BEAM ME UP SCOTTY I WANT TO GET OFF!"

I am no apologist for the evils that IS, ISIS, ISAL or whatever this Islamic State have been branded and re-branded as, but....Maybe there is some possible truth behind statements that British Secret Services have helped to radicalise people like poster boy 'Jihad John' who just like the three school girls that recently ran off to Syria to become butchers brides was on the radar of MI5, alongside the killers of Lee Rigby and the 7/7 London bombers, and pretty much anyone linked to acts of Islamic Terror against Britain since 9/11 and the subsequent war on an unseen force. Terror is not an object, it is a feeling, and the only thing we really have to fear is fear itself. There is only fear and terror if people believe there is, and thanks to the state and the media these feelings have been created and consumed by people. Fear keeps the people unfree, and that's the way the powers we let be like it. It has all been created; every suicide bomber and every head that rolls is a consequence of not only Western Governments war on terror but also their past involvement supporting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in their fight against the Russians in Afghanistan during the 1980's to the more recent alliance with Islamic State in their struggle against the Syrian state. Without believers propaganda would not spread. Imagine if there was nothing to fear and no terror, without these fostered feelings who knows what sort of a world we would be living in today....Think about it!

TAXLOSS LOVERS.

The Conservatives say nothing about what they are going to do about the fat cat cash addicted tax avoiders and evaders, but announce that if the obese, alcoholics and junkies don't get treatment for their illnesses then they will get their benefits cut.

The Labour Party have an idea what to do about the Tax Crims; they're gonna target those at the bottom of the business money pile, the ones doing cash in hand work, yeah they may be evading paying their taxes but they are only doing what the big guys are doing, but in a small way. It's all relative, and the amount any small businesses avoid paying is small change compared to how much the corporate conglomerates and multi millionaires have short changed UK plc by.

Money talks and bullshit walks because the powers that we let be and their cash concealing cronies are contemptuous c**t's!

LUDDITES OF THE WORLD UNITE! aka PEOPLE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE EXCEPT THEIR PHONES!

Smart phones aint that smart when they are dumbing people down with apps that take away the power of people to think for themselves, except when deciding what app to use and for what purpose. People need to wise up and apply themselves to thinking for themselves, it was the difference between humans and machines, but in this era or should I say error of total technology I'm not so sure, I mean you can get apps that enable you to talk to your phone and it will answer you back. People have become slaves to the machine and the tricknology of modern life which controls and confines them in the name of progress. The futures not bright, the future's gonna be dark as presently people are being turned stupid and they don't even see it happening in front of their eyes, because they are to busy staring at the screens of their phones!