Mark Perry – The Godfather of all things DIY, starting with Sniffin Glue fanzine early 1976, releasing countless singles and tapes on various labels including Deptford Fun City / Deleted / N.B Records / Cherry Red / Unnormality Records / 100 Things To Do Records / Fuck Off and various other Street Level labels.
In 1978 when being a ‘punk’ meant seeing The Clash once a year in Town for £3.50 and wearing a leather jacket a la The Clash, Mark Perry realised that the bands / individuals that were actually trying to do things were actually hidden away in the (then) much despised Hippy / Stonehenge / Free Festival scene.
He soon tuned into the Latimer Road / Holland Park squatting scene, and hung around with the band Here And Now and also Street Level Studios where he recorded a lot of material, A.T.V. went on ‘free tours’ around the country in small clubs and fields. Mark Perry had records released all over the place in different guises and band names, most of them avant garde with a distinct lack of fuzz guitar, many of the records selling fuck all in the shops.
Music papers, and the original ATV fan base did not know what to do, or how to approach Mark Perry’s new direction. Some up and coming bands were influenced by this new direction including most obviously The Mob and Zounds, but most audiences were left bemused. This is a tape of the last ATV show when the band had been ‘experimental’ for some time. Most of the audience hated it, more Throbbing Gristle free form than The Lurkers!
The band changed thier name so THAT audience will not then come to gigs expecting ‘How Much Longer’ to be played night after night.
The Good Missionaries was decided on, and the band played out of way places including Centro Iberico, years before the ‘Anarcho Punk’ bands that made this venue infamous knew where this broken up old school full of elderly Spainish anti Franco refugees was situated. Ironically though the recording above was actually done at the Lyceum, when they supported The Pop Group.
Some of the bands he was involved with other than ATV and The Good Missionaries were The Door And The Window / The Reflections / Blue Midnight plus his solo work. 70% of the output is great, 30% is pants. But at least he was trying to be an individual, and trying to get honest work out there.
A lot of people will not like this cassette, but I think it is worth adding to the downloads because it is a crossover period from the time that is never documented, when street punks were getting away from high priced London Marquee / Lyceum gigs with the bouncers and VAT reciepts, and trying something a little more community minded in free festivals and of course cheaply recorded singles and LP’s that were sold cheaply, around the same time Crass started to continue this tradition.
You can find lots of books on The Clash, none on this period. Best try Alistair’s Site for a few snippets and more info
http://greengalloway.blogspot.com/search?q=atv
Michael
December 9, 2007 at 9:32 pmgreat !!!!!!!!!!
I’ve been trying to get this for years. My original copy was lent to a friend who never returned it. ATV/Good Missionaries one of the best bands to come out of punk.
Michael
Nuzz
December 9, 2007 at 9:34 pmA truly great post penguin. Too right michael.
irishdave
December 10, 2007 at 11:45 amAnyone who doesn’t like this recording should probably not claim to like music, full stop.
Justin Sane
December 11, 2007 at 6:31 pmI have a question:
Years ago I played “our life, our world” by the Mob to an aging hippy teacher of mine. He smiled, searched for a tape and played the exact same riff back from an old Cream tape. I went into a brief depression, then realised that without influences, music would never develop. However, in my teenage angst, I never remembered the title of the Cream track. For a starter of ten points… what was that track?
alistairliv
December 11, 2007 at 8:56 pmAaaargggh My ears hurt. I have just listened to all 23 tracks on a ‘Best of’ (Ultimate) Cream cd. Most are awful. First time round I could not hear any Mob at all. Then I listened to Our Life Our World again and thought possibly a bit ‘Tales of Brave Ulyssesish’. Nah, not that. Then I tried White Room and – it is almost, but not quite – the Mob riff has a ‘tiddly bit’ towards the end which isn’t in the Cream/White Room one.
But White Room was recorded for their 1968 album Wheels of Fire and released as a single in 1969 – bit early for the Mobbers I’d have thought. However Live Cream Vol. 2 (which has a version of White Room on it)was released in 1972 so may have been heard.
And lyrically – well compare
Our life our world, mapped out in scars etc
with
In the white room with black curtains near the station.
Blackroof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings.
Silver horses ran down moonbeams in your dark eyes.
Dawnlight smiles on you leaving, my contentment.
Nuzz
December 13, 2007 at 9:02 pmYears ago I had to suffer a Van Morrison album, cos some one wanted to play us the words to one of his that were pretty close to “Cry Of The Morning”
Justin Sane
December 14, 2007 at 6:12 pmAlistairliv is without doubt the winner of the 10 points. Thanks! A pint is in the post. I haven’t checked out your referenced track yet, but it will be interesting when I do. (It’s chaos at home this week! No time!)
Have you noticed other influences of the Anarcho’s? Zounds’ “This Land” works betteer than Woody Guthrie’s original (a bit too Hillbilly for me). Blyth Power’s “Folsom Prison” does justice to the sprirt of Johnny Cash’s (original?), though I don’t want to knock Johnny Cash: his prison concerts are reallly interesting and some of his material consisting of covers like “Hurt” are outstanding. As for Cream though… ZZZZZZZZZZZZ
gerard
December 15, 2007 at 12:31 amMoving Hearts actually Nuzz:
No time for Love
You call it the law, we call it apartheid, internment, conscription, partition and silence.
It’s the law that they make to keep you and me where they think we belong.
The hide behind steel and bullet-proof glass, machine guns and spies,
And tell us who suffer the tear gas and the torture that we’re in the wrong.
No time for love if they come in the morning,
No time to show tears or for fears in the morning,
No time for goodbye, no time to ask why,
And the sound of the siren’s the cry of the morning.
They suffered the torture they rotted in cells, went crazy, wrote letters and died.
The limits of pain they endured – the loneliness got them instead.
And the courts gave them justice as justice is given by well-mannered thugs.
Sometimes they fought for the will to survive but more times they just wished they were dead.
They took away Sacco, Vanzetti, Connolly and Pearce in their time.
They came for Newton and Seal, Bobby Sands and some of his friends.
In Boston, Chicago, Saigon, Santiago, Warsaw and Belfast,
And places that never make headlines, the list never ends.
No time for love if they come in the morning,
No time to show tears or for fears in the morning,
No time for goodbye, no time to ask why,
And the sound of the siren’s the cry of the morning.
The boys in blue are only a few of the everyday cops on the beat,
The C.I.D., Branchmen, informers and spies do their jobs just as well;
Behind them the men who tap phones, take photos, program computers and files,
And the man who tells them when to come and take you to your cell.
No time for love if they come in the morning,
No time to show tears or for fears in the morning,
No time for goodbye, no time to ask why,
And the sound of the siren’s the cry of the morning.
All of you people who give to your sisters and brothers the will to fight on,
They say you can get used to a war, that doesn’t mean that the war isn’t on.
The fish need the sea to survive, just like your people need you.
And the death squad can only get through to them if first they can get through to you.
No time for love if they come in the morning,
No time to show tears or for fears in the morning,
No time for goodbye, no time to ask why,
And the sound of the siren’s the cry of the morning.
Chris
December 18, 2007 at 11:07 pmAlways thought the cover of The Mob LP was also really like an old Gilbert & George piece called ‘living with fear’.
Mark P asked me to join ATV as drummer a while back but alas it never happened. Could have been my entry into the Punk Rock Hall of Fame Family Tree type thang 🙁
Always meant to ask him, what for me has been the great ATV enigma: why he put out ‘Love Lies Limp’ as the flexi with the last issue of Sniffin’ Glue instead of ‘How Much Longer?’ which surely would have been the ultimate, poignant statement on what punk had become by then…
Dave Sez
March 27, 2011 at 4:17 pmNice one, penguin! For your info, most of the Street Level Studios/Fuck Off Records output is available at Nick Allison’s marvellous site Die Or DIY, devoted to UK DIY output: http://dieordiy.blogspot.com. The link for Back To Sing For Free Again Soon (FUCK OFF 1) is down there, but available here: http://legalisevimto.blogspot.com/. A megapost indexing valid links to many out-of-print or unofficial Here & Now recordings (including those from killyourpetpuppy) is here: http://knowyourconjurer.blogspot.com/2010/12/here-now-megapost-by-dave-sez-go-get.html. Cheers, Dave Sez.
Nick Allison
March 28, 2011 at 4:28 pmMany thanks for these kind words Mr Dave Sez. I can return the favour by heartily recommending your site http://knowyourconjurer.blogspot.com/
,right up my alley that, especially the prog and kraut stuff. Cheers, Nick of http://dieordiy.blogspot.com/ . PS love Kill Your Pet Puppy too (How does he find the time to write soooo much text?) Respect.
Dave Sez
March 30, 2011 at 10:52 amIf I can abuse Penguin’s hospitality to just drop a word to Nick Allison – thanks for all the fantastic rarities, my friend – I tried to leave a comment on your site to point you to the H&N megapost at Edo’s site knowyourconjurer, but for some reason, it wouldn’t open the comments form. No problem now that you’ve found the H&N post thanks to Penguin. Go check the comments to Edo’s recent post of Amon Duul for a nice surprise … cheers, Dave Sez.
Dave Sez
March 30, 2011 at 4:10 pmAnd one that penguin and nick might have missed:
“”what happens when we sing a song?” – the door and the window, david toop, mark perry, nag and the casual labourers
i always thought these recordings were part of the street level universe, but obviously they are not, being recorded live at the LMC (london musicians collective) probably in 1979 and distributed for free or at prime costs under the licence of copyleft. every body in fact was encouraged to copy and to share these recordings. this very friendly anarchistic tradition shall be continued here. this is what you get: the door and the window were bendle, nag, giblet, mark perry, david toop and brass (including roddy disorder and some not named); nag was nag with david toop and giblet; the casual labourers were bendle, sue, dave morgan, tony clough and ashleigh marsh; mark perry was mark perry with dennis burns, dave george and sam transmitter. the sound quality changes from weird to awful. great.”
part one: (mp3/192kbps/43mb)
the door and the window – pokerville
nag – in the road / oh bondage up yours
the casual labourers – eanna is returning / out of control / something from nothing
part two: (mp3/192kbps/43mb)
mark perry – death looks down / sound of music / sorrow cried blood
the door and the window – lust / swinga
http://spurensicherung.blogspot.com/2007/09/door-and-window-david-toop-mark-perry.html
Thanks to RVD, cheers, Dave Sez.