Re-release on Riot City of the debut 7″ single from 1981 by Leeds based punkers Abrasive Wheels. I was nowhere near ‘punk’ enough to be able to get the original. Oh well…never mind, stuck this on because I could not handle putting up ‘Army Life’ by The Exploited (due to the more famous B-Side) much to Chris’s annoyance no doubt, ye ken?
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
carl
February 8, 2008 at 10:01 amThis lot have to take the award for the worst band that I ever saw. Sometime in 1982, you know it was one of those moments in life where you feel cheated out of an hour of your life…and by the end of it, you lose the will to live…
Luckily I never came across them again
Nic
February 8, 2008 at 10:40 amTheir shining moment was the song ‘When the Punks Go Marching In’…
A tear comes to my eye whenever I hear the heartwarming comraderie of the verse that goes “When the skins (Oh, when the skins), Oh when the skins go marching in!”…I’ve got a lump in my throat as I think of it…
My simple adage (harsh but time has proved its efficacy):
Punks + Football Scarves + Moustaches = ruggish…
😉
carl
February 8, 2008 at 11:13 amYou are right, simply thuggish, and The Exploited still make me cringe to this day. Just missing the point.
The thing that irked me at the time was that to the world at large, this was what “punk ” was, when there were loads of bands that were doing something on a more intelligent levels that were lumped in with rubbish like this.
Tim
February 8, 2008 at 11:50 amI bought this when it came out and liked it. I also got the LP but suspect by that time I’d worked out that it was a bit too much of a cartoon image of what Punk music was, or at least had the potential to be.
That said I think the Skin thing was genuine enough and doesn’t automatically have to be seen as entirely negative. Many bands brought into the Punks and Skins together and circa 80/81 aged 15 or 16 I certainly had friends in both subcultures, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.
It all sounds shockingly naive now but at the other end of the extreme there was the smirking self righteousness of stuff like Rival Tribal and Bottle Oi, I’m not sure if that was ultimately any better?
sean
February 8, 2008 at 11:59 amBlitz,now there was a band with good moustaches,punx&skins unite and fight!But not each other this time!Oi!
carl
February 8, 2008 at 12:17 pmTim, I think you are right with the mention of “cartoon image”. Also there was good and bad with everything…The Crass “APF”…Is that right ? brigade were equally off up a blind alley and just as bad as the Oi brigade.
There were tons of blind alleys and loads of gullible people to wander off up them.
Chris
February 8, 2008 at 1:43 pmFiner details of the ‘Punks + Football Scarves + Moustaches’ look should be a) one member of the band should have badly streaked hair in a vague mullett or ‘Brian Tilsley cut’, one should be wearing a pair of black/white trainers and – tho not mandatory – one of the leather jacksts worn by a member should be one of those ones with the the criss-crossed padding on the shoulders. badges worn should always include at least one of the following a) crass b) PIL c) DKs or variations there-of.
Listening to that Abrasive Wheels song I am very disappointed to hear the introduction is NOT backed with ‘military’ snare drumming, as inclusion of an army/conscription themed song in your set with said introduction is as obligatory as getting a synth player in/growing your hair long and denying you were ever a ‘punk band’ after your 3rd single.
Chris
February 8, 2008 at 2:07 pmOH, yea, you should also come from somewhere noone has ever heard of in their fuckin’ lives before, preferably in Derbyshire, Sheffield or a town where the local industry is making bricks or paper-weights or something. And names should always end in either ‘Y’ or ‘O’ – ‘Macky’; ‘Macko’ etc.
What else…..?
carl
February 8, 2008 at 2:20 pmThere is always to be the claim that you are “doing it for the kidz”, never sure what “doing”it was…mainly stomping up and down loudly. And in every fanzine that you were in, you would thank Garry Bushell for all his help !
Chris
February 8, 2008 at 2:31 pmYes!! Spot on! plus you must also always thank your local pub; “all the punx & skinz at the Blind Ox”. If you have a collage of small photos on the back of your single sleeve (presented in faux-kodak ‘contact print’ size for added effect) one should also include a photo taken outside the pub of, well, basically ten folk with leather jackets, football scarves and bumfluff ‘taches holding pints aloft and/or giving V-signs 😉
Chris
February 8, 2008 at 3:35 pmAdditionally, at least one member of the band should have some ‘hardness’ credential, which will win extra ‘Bushell points’ such as having been in the army, a spell in borstal, a boxer or karate instructor. Likewise, one member may have some ‘dubious’ profession or extra carricular activity – which you are prudent enough not to advertise – such working as a butcher’s apprentice or, if Scottish, membership of the local loyalist flute band (NB: Along with a military themed song, your set should also contain a politically non-committal song about Ireland. Entitled; “Ireland”)
Gabbo
February 8, 2008 at 5:00 pmCan you see him in the night?
Scope him through a rifle site
Soldier, soldier, on the street
With his hair cut, short and neat
Another mum cries for her son
Shot the soldier, with a gun
Politicians just don’t care
IRA just stand and stare
If you’re from the working class
Choose a factory or Belfast
Dying in this insane war
What the hell are we living for
Nic
February 8, 2008 at 5:06 pmThis thread has made me chuckle – it is spot on…
🙂
However, I was thinking about this kind of thing the other day and about how people used to say “Oh no, not ANOTHER anti-war song”…
On the other hand, many of the bands like Abrasive Wheels probably had friends and family who had signed up in the army to escape the lack of hope spreading out before them, and for whom – as a result – the Irish war was very pertinent…
I think the prevalence of these kind of “Squaddie walking on the street, Squaddie – can you feel the heat?” lyrics is precisely because this was a very real topic for many people, and something which touched their lives…
Parksy
February 8, 2008 at 5:09 pmTechnology -drives you insane
Technology – rapes your brain
Daleks are new working class
Call this progress? Its a farce
They talk about the computer
Say its the thing of the future
But I’m not blind I see your lies
Technology we must despise
The war widow grieves at the bottom of the pile
Hypothermia steals her smile
But you are too busy computing data
Compassion? You must really hate her
Put our details on floppy disc
War games become a real risk
School computer, crush the youth
Never calculates the truth
Technology now digs our grave
To microchip we become a slave
Burns our eyes til we go blind
Computer reich destroys mankind
(c) 1982
Chris
February 8, 2008 at 6:02 pmNic, that is a very good and I would imagine very true point. I hadn’t ever thought of that, tho I do know a few punks who were from small towns in Scotland for whom what you are saying did indeed become a reality.
but on a lighter note…
Gabby: liked the rhyming couplet from the song you quoted of ‘street’ and ‘neat’. Oi bands took this to a mantra level, generally utilising variations on the lines: ‘skinhead standing on the street’,’doctor martens on his feet’,’No1 crop, short and neat’ and …errr…something about being ‘the elite’ 😉
alistairliv
February 8, 2008 at 6:17 pmBack in 1996, Min (Zos Kia) told me the road protestors at Newbury reminded her of squaddies. Min was brought up in Farnham where there were lots of squaddies. I think what she meant was the emphasis on physical/ direct action and living rough/ surviving in the woods amongst the road protestors. And the wearing of ex-army clothes.
Was there something similar going on in the more ‘laddish’ side of punk?
We are still at it – are there any women posting here?
We can sound like the previous generation of grumpy old men going on about their days in National Service or ‘what I did in the war’.
Nuzz
February 8, 2008 at 8:08 pmDid I read right somewhere, sometime; that The Business went round for a cup of tea with Crass, or was it lager with Steve?
Chris
February 8, 2008 at 8:43 pmEither way, I’m off down the pub now to meet my mates, Spuddo and Noggsy. Chaotic Distemper & Subversion UK are playing tonight…that’s as long as it doesn’t kick off with the Milltown skins. 🙂
john
February 8, 2008 at 9:17 pmi witnessed ‘the blitz’ and their efforts of uniting punks and skins at a gig at the mayflower club in manchester when they decided to bring a coach load of their friends /followers down from the derbyshire hills,it wasnt long before these people were roaming the hall and giving anyone who they bumped into a lesson in oi oi unity with boots and fists.dont seen to remember the band trying to say or do anything to calm it down or stop it either.nearley every ‘punk’ gig at the time in manchester was the same,maybe the worse being when crass played,think j.porter writes about this on the blythe power website as he was then playing drums for zounds who supported them.
markdc
February 9, 2008 at 2:03 aminteresting choice and a band still touring and making fine music
in 1982 i wrote to the wheels they never wrote back
i wrote to the mob – mark wrote back with insight care badges and lyrics
and that mi friend is punk rock
Nic
February 9, 2008 at 1:12 pmAll the talk of ‘unity’ between Punks and Skins generally rang hollow – the ‘unity’ did exist but only along the sectarian lines of local gangs…
It rings as hollow as the talk of ‘unity between black and white’ in the Two Tone scene. From my experience going to school in Coventry during Two Tone (1979/1980), all that ‘unity’ meant was a load of black and white kids (united together in Pork Pie hats and Mod Parkas) beating the shit out of anyone who looked different and wasn’t part of their gang (Punks, Hippies, etc)…I still can’t really listen to Two Tone bands without memories of legging it through Coventry Precinct chased by about 30 kids after school…
I’ve got the Chaotic Distemper ‘Herberts for Life’ demo tape, Chris (the one with a picture of the band standing against a brick wall on it – 2 spikeys in studded leathers, 2 boneheads in bleached jeans and braces): want to do a trade?
john
February 9, 2008 at 10:41 pmand it wasnt always just skins attacking punks at gigs,there were punks attacking punks just cos of coming from different areas.
the first time i saw discharge in manchester they were supporting the uk subs at the old Tony Wilson owned factory/russell club.
a lot of punks came up from stoke and there was one hell of a nasty battle,pint pots in heads and blood all over.
two sets of punks on either side of the venue,one chanting ‘discharge’ the other ‘manchester na na na’ it was more like being at a football match than a ‘punk’ gig.
i can always remember the late tony wilson up on stage in his dickie bow and tuxedo appealing for calm,he said something along the lines of ‘you all believe in what crass are saying dont you? so lets stop all the fighting’.
this was actually the last gig at the factory under wilsons management i think cos it changed hands soon after,no wonder!
Nuzz
February 10, 2008 at 8:31 pmHarry from Abrasive Wheels went on to play with a band called THE VAYNES, who were far better than the Abrasive Wheels, they were neither punks or skins, but Iggy/Thunders stlye rock’n’roll. Just thought I’d share that with you. Bye.
Dick
February 19, 2008 at 6:15 pmThere was one of those Gumbypunk/Oi singles by Blitz that still tickles me – ‘Razors In The Night’; after three minutes of thrashing around and repeatedly warning that ‘you better watch out for the razors in the night’ the track fades out and a sinister Manc voice menacingly intones, ‘think about it…’
Possibly a concrete metaphor for the counter-intuitive…
Carl
February 19, 2008 at 8:57 pmAre we still going on about the mighty Wheels………lol !