Thanks to Andy Thorley for sending this for uploading. An absolutely scorching set of poems set to crowd ambiance and sometimes to a basic drum beat, strip and tear down the traditions of ‘the band’ and like D & V (search this site for material by D & V) the message really does get through with minimal distractions. Released a single on Crass Records around 1982 also featured on the LP ‘Bullshit Detector 1’ on the same label. Pretty sure that was all, comment if I am mistaken. Live pic by Trunt. Blood and guts shot from the Andy T 7″ single release on Crass Records.
On a trivial note does anyone know what that bear on the bottom left of Trunts photo was doing at a gig in the North East of England, and more importantly did the bear pay to get in?
Trunt
February 10, 2008 at 12:34 amThanks Penguin and Andy for sticking the photo up, (taken at the Sunderland Bunker), on such a brilliant site. The bear in questions looks like Brendan McGhee the drummer of Psycho Faction. Now I know why he has a skinhead these days, and no he didn’t pay to get in as Psycho Faction were playing along with the System and Flux of Pink Indians, brilliant gig, I remember it well. Andy from the System now plays guitar in Kanada Kommando, who funnly enough play a few Crisis covers check out their Myspace site. Cheers Trunt
Martin C
February 11, 2008 at 12:11 pmSorry to keep hitting you with picture questions, but where the hell did you find the sheep executioner one???
John Eden
February 11, 2008 at 2:47 pmIt’s from the Andy T single on Crass records, I think?
Penguin • Post Author •
February 11, 2008 at 7:02 pmThe photo was taken at Dial House, features from left to right Phil Free, Steve Igs hanging and Annie Anxiety. Was the inside cover of the 7″ single on Crass as written in the post itself!
Nic
February 11, 2008 at 7:54 pmAlways nice to see Phil’s bell-end again…
😉
Tony Puppy
February 12, 2008 at 12:38 amAnd Annie’s excuse me. If Andy is T42 then I’ve put in the photobucket print material album one of his/their flyers, ‘March March’. If he’s not T42, then…..excuse me!
gerard
February 12, 2008 at 10:04 amI think T42 was a chap called Simon. It deffo wasn’t Andy (at least not this one)
Andy T
February 12, 2008 at 12:19 pmThe Andy involved in T42 was Andy Palmer, not me. The other guy, whose name escapes me at the moment, is back up at Dial House.
I’ve still got a set of photos from that cover session somewhere, there is a funny one of Steve after we let him down.
Martin C
February 12, 2008 at 12:44 pmOk, so I should have read the post. Sorry, I skimmed through it because I heard one side of the 7″ once and it was crap
Martin C
February 12, 2008 at 12:49 pmI’ve just realised Andy T is reading this, sorry
Nic
February 12, 2008 at 2:44 pmhahah, classic!
🙂
Anok Jon
February 13, 2008 at 5:29 amCrap? Hopefully it is sarcasm, Andy T “Weary…’ 7″ on crass is by far one of my favorite releases on Crass, along with the D&V lp, Hit parade ‘plastic culture’ 12″ and the snipers 7”, all are very original “Think outside of the box” type releases!
Martin C
February 13, 2008 at 1:33 pmWell, if it’s any consolation, I’m the only person in Britain who enjoyed the Annie Anxiety 7″, allegedly…
simon
February 13, 2008 at 3:03 pmNo you’re not alone Martin, I liked that 7″ too, but her recordings didn’t do her live performances justice. Saw her a good few times supporting the likes of Crass and Poison Girls, I really liked her stage presence, performance and sound back then.
A lot of people didn’t know what to make of her live sets, especially in the early days when the audience was sometimes a mixed bag of punks, skins, hippies, anarchists etc. I remember people laughing at her on stage, but it didn’t seem to phase her at all. I used to have a live tape from around ’79, been hunting for it but sadly haven’t been able to find it, gutted.
Martin C
February 13, 2008 at 6:23 pmI can imagine – I saw her at the New Cross Venue in ’94, don’t know what you thought of her On U phase but she was great, really hypnotic stuff. She was dead nice too, we met her and her manager and she pulled out a miraculous medal of the Virgin Mary. I kind of put my foot in it by asking if she was going to make a new record soon, when apparently that gig was part of the tour to promote it.
alistairliv
February 13, 2008 at 9:13 pmBarbed Wire Halo? Bit difficult to listen to at moment, Callum busy balancing boxes on the radiator whilst listening to ‘clubland’ dance music station on tv…
but Annie A was brilliant, loved her music / performances. Only person out of ‘Crass stable’ I remember having conversation with (apart from Andy P when he was a Black Sheep).
Nic
February 14, 2008 at 11:01 amI really liked ‘Barbed Wire Halo’: the backing of tapes and rhythms create a very atmopsheric bedrock for Annie’s distinctive voice…
The fragmented start of ‘Hello Horror’ forms a continuum with the exploration of the voice in 1960’s tape-based composition, and anticipates the interest in ‘glitch’ decades later…There is something of the flavour of Tom Waits in the vocal sections as well…
‘Cyanide Tears’ has a hint of early Birthday Party in the vocal delivery…and it always seemed rather erotic to me…
I like the ‘Soul Possession’ album as well which consolidates the connection with the On U Sound axis, and have a hard funk edge reminiscent of concurrent melding of forms by 23 Skidoo and SPK…
There are some great pieces on there – ‘Third Gear’ and ‘Burnt Offering’ particularly…
On a personal level, I was generally very interested in the ‘poets’ who performed at concerts and released cassettes…
Their approach seemed like a wonderful way to avoid the ‘demands’ of music (such as having the money to buy equipment, and then learning a set of rules for the playing of that equipment), and to focus on the key element: self-expression…
Nothing less costly than a voice…and paper and pen weren’t too expensive either…
🙂
Add in the concept of the voice as the ‘primal noise-maker’, and it’s all there…
Andy T’s contributions to ‘Bullshit Detector – Volume 1’ were inspiring, particularly as I had been recording ‘ambient’ sounds with a tape recorder for a couple of years, and his pieces on the album helped consolidate my own perception that ‘environmental’ and ‘non-musical’ sounds could be used as source material for musical compositions…
Penguin • Post Author •
February 14, 2008 at 11:06 amMr Thorley, if you find those photos and want them on the site then send them to me or Tony if you wish…
John Serpico
December 12, 2008 at 11:37 pmI must admit it’s been a few years since I last listened to ‘Weary of the Flesh’ but I don’t recall Andy T ever sounding quite so desperate and angry on that record as he does here on this recording. It’s quite startling, actually. To me, this captures the atmosphere of what a Crass gig was like far better than actual live recordings of Crass themselves. I would urge everyone to take a listen if they have not already done so.
Graham Burnett
December 12, 2008 at 11:58 pmI remember the Old Queens Head in Stockwell, a real shit-hole… made the George Robey look like the Ritz Hotel or somesuch…