Assassins Of Hope – Demo Tape Featuring Andy Martin – 1983

Posted on July 24, 2010November 9, 2014 by Penguin

In The Lab / The News At Ten / Automatic Image / Fascist In The High Street / The Fearful Darkness (original tape)

In The Lab / The News At Ten / Automatic Image / Fascist In The High Street / The Fearful Darkness (digitally remastered version)

A great quality tape lent to me by Chris Low from the seemingly bottomless pit that is his tape archive, the photographs are from the personal collection of Chris Low and Mikey P.

Recorded after the departure of Chantelle, Jozie and Peat Protest, this session recorded at Recession Studios featured Andy Martin of The Apostles on vocals and lead guitar. Ivan strummed along, Leon plucked the bass and Mike thrashed the skins.

After this recording The Assassins Of Hope shortened the band name to simply The Assassins.

Text below supplied by Andy Martin, the original tape recording was kindly digitally remastered by Luc Tran of UNIT. Thanks to both of them.

The Assassins Of Hope? The simple fact is that I have absolutely no memory of ever recording anything with that group, my presence on this recording is stranger still as Ivan was the only member of the band who didn’t utterly detest me!

Quite how I was enlisted to help the band record these five tracks is a profound mystery to me. There was no love lost between us; Leon in particular made his opinion of me public in various fanzines – I suspect his socialist political beliefs were offended since I never disguised my own fascist sympathies at the time, despite being stridently opposed to racism; this was probably the only common factor in our political ideals. Stating all that, Leon was first person I ever met who was totally into The Jam, it was he who introduced me to the works of that band.

This tape sounds like it was recorded on a decent quality portastudio yet I have no recollection of the actual session. I can’t tell you exactly where it was recorded although it would most likely have been at Recessions Studios, Ponsford Road in Hackney, on one of those better quality cassette portastudio devices.

“Come back Chantelle, all is forgiven” is a reference to one of the original singers in the group – she absolutely loathed and despised me while I held her in nothing but complete contempt. I have never been able to tolerate communists and I found the company of wealthy, spoiled teenagers profoundly irritating. Since these people were both communists and from wealthy privileged families then contretemps were inevitable. Why are so few working class people drawn to maxism? Perhaps because communism has little of real substance to offer us, whereas the sons and daughters of the rich can afford to indulge their political fantasies.

To be fair, they must have found my own working class consciousness little more than prejudice (or even jealously) and after all, we cannot be held responsible for the social circumstances into which we are born. I never had any problems with Ivan, however, so I assume I wasn’t a complete bigot.

My guitar playing on this session isn’t quite so abysmal although I still sing like a strangled parakeet.

The final two tracks will be oddly familiar to anyone who has heard the sixth Apostles album ‘The Other Operation’. I used the bass guitar lines, guitar chords and melodies for the track ‘A World We Never Made’.

Thanks Penguin for getting these recordings to me, apologies that my memory on the studio session is somewhat hazy.

The debut cassette release ‘Slowmotion Suicide’ is available to listen to on the site HERE

A live performance recorded at Centro Iberico is available to listen to on this site HERE

79 comments

Graham Burnett
July 25, 2010 at 1:24 am

Interesting, I too recall Chantelle & Josie, who seemed to take against me for no logical reason that I was ever aware of, and used to launch into a tirade of verbal abuse against me whenever I showed my face at the old Wapping Anarchist Centre, even though I’d never done them any harm at all and didn’t even really know who they were, despite that I’d always given AOH positive coverage and promotion in New Crimes fanzine. I found that quite hurtful, and this probably contributed more than anything else to the quite negative feelings I retrospectively have about the old @ Centre. Nowadays of course I’m more aware of concepts and techniques such as non-violent communication so would be better able to deal with such situations and understand that things that were nothing to do with me were being projected onto me. Was going to say more but it was probably enough to type it then delete it! KYPP, our own personal free therapy service!
Graham Burnett
July 25, 2010 at 1:30 am

Andy, on the other hand, is a total darling and I’d love to spend an afternoon in your company again, so sorry that I’ve been lax in keeping up our ongoing dialogues over the years, suffice to say that I’ve always rated you if not always agreed with or understood you, and I’ve always valued the respect you’ve given me, believe it or not I didn’t even know what ‘situationsim’ was until you gently explained it to me in a letter back in 1981 via ‘enigma’ fanzine…
Chris L
July 25, 2010 at 3:28 am

Andy, again, I am surprised by your account above as I only ever remember you enthusing about The Assassins, in person and in writing; not to mention the final issue of ‘Scum’ fanzine being a collaboration between yourself, Larry, Mike & Leon.

Similarily, I don’t recall ever seeing anything other than positivity and praise for you and The Apostles espressed in any AOH interviews. Don’t actually recall seeing any interviews after they changed their name to The Assassins, but if hostilities were vented then, I stand corrected.

I remember Mike & Leon always being great company and very friendly, and them visiting you and you taking me to visit them on a number of occassion. Very sorry to hear if relations soured between you, I had no idea. Ditto Chantelle. Bumped into Mike at the Anarchist Bookfair last year and he was sending you his regards. Think he plays in a band called REFUSE ALL Now?

I remember the recording of this well as I was present at it, and, yes, it was recorded at Recession Studios – recorded & mixed all in one day, I may add!!! And on the same gear and mixing desk as the 2nd Apostles single which was recorded there only a few months later. Great to hear it again, the memories come flooding back. Happy days.

And Nic, the first time I met you you were wearing one of those yellow Assassins T-Shirts Andy’s wearing in the top pic. Would go well with your ‘Lofty’ shorts 😉

Graham, interesting, sad, but not surprising what you say about receiving the verbal abuse. So many folk were just trying to make a name for themselves back then and being aggressive is such an easy, school playground style way to try to establish one’s self/ego. I know I did it myself to a cringeworthy degree. And needless to say, you were probably too mature and well adjusted to recognise what, as you rightly see now was probably more a matter of projection than personal attack.
Chris L
July 26, 2010 at 12:45 am

This demo was recorded in late July 1983. Ivan doesn’t feature on it at all.

Mike, drummer with The Assassins and brother of Leon, drummed on the Apostles 6th demo, Swimmers In The Sea of Life. It was me who replaced him on “caveman talkie-bowls” (thanks, Nic) duties.

In 1982, and well before the release of the first Apostles EP, there was talk of a split single with the Assassins, as I think was mentioned in either one of Nic’s zines, or @ Propaganda. One of The Apostles tracks was going to have been ‘Burn The Witch’. Can’t for the life of me remember any other details. Perhaps someone else can?

Just for the record, like.
gabe
July 26, 2010 at 6:00 am

wow this is fucking great i like so much more than the first demo thanks to andy on giving you this classic demo
leon
July 27, 2010 at 6:59 pm

Hello Andy, Chris and Graham ( and also Gabe )
Thanks to Penguin for making this tape available to an unsuspecting public. You lucky people .Thanks Chris for passing it along as I had wanted to hear this recording for years. All us Assassins seem to lose everything from the past.
I am sorry that Andy has such negative memories of AOH. We all liked The Apostles. I certainly have good memories of playing gigs with them at Wapping and the Centro and visiting Andy in Foulden Road and later in Hackney. I haven’t a great memory but I don’t think I slagged you off in fanzines Andy .
I remember you being very happy to put in a disclaimer in Scum 5 disassociating myself and Larry fron the Screwdriver advert but that’s all.
Anyway I prepare to stand corrected but it is all ancient history now really.
If I remember correctly Andy you were really keen to record with the remnants of The Assassins of Hope. God knows why.
All the “songs” were AOH material that we had played live but never recorded (Except In The Lab nee Victims which was on the Slowmotion Suicide tape) In The Lab was originally called Victims (lyrics by Josie)
News At Ten was originally entitled Shades Of Grey (lyrics by Chantal I think)
Automatic Image was previously called Killers (Josie lyrics I think)
Fascist In The High Street was originally Nuremberg Revisited (Peat Protest lyrics inspired by gigs we played at Skunx / Blue Coat Boy)
Fearful darkness was strangely originally called Fearful Darkness (lyrics by Peat again)
Musically this recording is a bit dodgy but I’m glad we did it. Thanks to Luc Tran for the digital remastering which has improved it by turning up Andys guitar and thus hopefully distracting the listener (there will probably only be one) from a few blunders by the rhythm section.

Oh Chris it was me (Leon) you met after the Anarchist Bookfair last year. It was good to see you again. I think I saw you previously at John (don’t mention The A…… ) get together in Islington but was feeling a bit quiet and so didn’t really mix or mingle that night.
Graham apologies if AOH were unpleasant to you back in those 2nd Dark Ages. We were a bit vitriolic at times and all members of the band could have acted with a touch more decorum on occasion.
Chris L
July 28, 2010 at 2:46 pm

Great to hear from you Leon and my sincerest apologies for mixing your name up with your brother’s. Realised my mistake shortly after posting. Hope you’re well and hope to catch up sometime in the near future.
Warmest regards, Chris
leon
July 28, 2010 at 5:44 pm

Cheers Chris No worries about mixing my name with my brother. Are you in London these days? Leon
Graham Burnett
July 28, 2010 at 6:59 pm

Hey Leon, you and the other folks in AoH were fine with me, as I recall we all used to chat away back in the day, I esp used to get on with Pe@t Protest! it was just Josie and Chanetelle who seemed to take an instant dislike to me, no idea why…
leon
July 28, 2010 at 7:13 pm

Hello Graham Yes , I do remember you and Peat getting on well .Are you in contact with him ? I know he left a few messages on another KYPP thing connected to AOH . I saw him last year a couple of times and he is doing well. No idea why Chantal and Josie appeared to have a problem with you. Maybe they will see this and get in contact? Are you still involved in writing and music?
Graham Burnett
July 30, 2010 at 6:00 pm

All water under the bridge now Leon, just seeing this post brought it all up again briefly. Haven’t kept in touch with Pe@t but have seen his name on this forum from time to time. I’m still busy writing and running permaculture courses see http://www.spiralseed.co.uk and http://www.grahamburnett.net cheers for now!
leon
July 30, 2010 at 6:25 pm

Blimey you are a very busy person Graham.I am sure the rest of the band i am currently in ( Refuse /All ) would be interested in your books etc . I will pass on the info. All the band are now Vegan apart from me who is still just veggie . I have tried a few times to go vegan but as yet not stayed the course.
Cheers
Chantal AOH
July 31, 2010 at 2:51 pm

This is all soo interesting! Sorry Graham if me and Josie were unpleasant, you probably had the wrong hair or summit? As I remember the whole scene was bitchin but not in a good way. On that subject, just to put the record straight, … my falling out with Andy Martin had nothing to do with neither my priviledged background or my communist beliefs but to do with a piece of homophobic propaganda titled ‘Kill or Cure’ which I took offence to at the time.
Thanks though Andy. Hope you are well and still writing fiction xxx
Graham Burnett
July 31, 2010 at 6:44 pm

Hi Chantelle, Thanks for getting in touch, I guess we were all alot younger then and have all moved on which can only be a good thing. At least I HAD hair back then – not like nowadays… Hope alls well in your world, take care, Graham
Palmer
July 31, 2010 at 7:03 pm

Wow….i feel kinda privileged that i got on with Chantell and Josie despite my poor working class upbringing!!!!
Graham Burnett
August 1, 2010 at 12:59 pm

Hi Leon, yeah that would be great if your band were interested in my books – the punk spirit is still the same in what I’m doing even if the message and media have changed! Will do a goggle search for Refuse/All – the name does sound familiar… cheers Graham
John no last name
August 2, 2010 at 5:00 am

Hi Chantal, great to see you on here and also great to see you are still as refreshingly honest now as you were back then. Glad someone’s memory is still spot on.
Brian
August 11, 2010 at 2:11 pm

Good to hear more old AOH stuff after all these years.

Leon don’t suppose you’d remember me at all, used to live in Leytonstone and typed up some literature for you and Neil back around ’82 and turned up to some demo recordings at the Allen Gordon rehearsal rooms.

Don’t suppose you’d still have a copy of a demo you did under the name of Swine in the mid-80s? My mate from school, Lawrence played guitar on it.

Cheers,

Brian
leon
August 11, 2010 at 2:39 pm

Hello Brian
Did you once play in Reprisal?
If so I do remember you. Good to hear from you and I hope you are well.
Neal aka Ivan Oxo is in England this week ( he now lives in Japan )
I do have demos by Swine i think ( we did 2 ) The first was called Roadhog and the 2nd Set It Free both with Lol ( Lawrence ) playing guitar and doing the main vocals. Steve previously with Axe Grinder also played guitar on Set It Free.
Are you still in London ?
Cheers
Leon
Brian
August 11, 2010 at 3:12 pm

Leon, what a good memory you’ve got for ‘band’ names. Yes it was Reprisal and we just ponced around the Allan Gorden rehearsal rooms for one day and that was it! 🙂 My girlfriend at the time, Dora was doing the shreiking. This would have been early ’82.

Yes, Roadhog was the one I really remembered licking at the time. Would love a copy if there’s any chance, as my old tape has long since snapped.

Do you still see or hear from Lol?

So Neil’s in Japan these days, there’s a turn-up.

Heard the sad news about Dan last year I think from JohnA via this site.

Live out in a village near Saffron Walden these days, but still pop down to Leytonstone to see me mum.
leon
August 11, 2010 at 3:42 pm

Some things stick in my head Brian. I remember Dora also, i think she went to my sisters school?
Yes I still see Lol regularly.
I will hunt out a copy of Roadhog for you and maybe we could meet up some time you are coming to Leytonstone? I live in Mile End.
Yes it was bad news about Dan. I was in bands with him also. He was a good friend and a decent chap.
Do you have any photos of the early 80s ? Gigs, down the Pub in Wanstead / Leytonstone etc?
Brian
August 12, 2010 at 4:52 pm

It’s a shame I don’t have any photos of that time really. Would really enjoy seeing pictures from Wapping and the Centro Iberico again.

Also it would be great to be able to look back at Flux of Pink Indians etc at the Red Lion, Leytonstone in ’81, quite possibly my favourite gig ever. 🙂

Will try and get down to E11 soon, in the meantime say hello to Lol for me.
Brian
August 12, 2010 at 5:05 pm

Just looked up Axe Grinder and didn’t realise the Steve you were talking about, went to school with him too! And also remember knocking about with Trev from that band too.

Say hello to Steve too, would love to see them again.

Cheers,

Brian
Nic
August 13, 2010 at 8:36 am

Brian – there are lots of pictures of Wapping, the Centro and general monkey business in the KYPP photo albums (access them via the ‘photo archive’ button at the top left of the menu on this page)…
leon
August 13, 2010 at 10:59 am

HI Brian I will of course say hello to Lol and Steve for you . May be we can all get together down Leytonstone as Steve lives in Leyton and Lol is not far away ? Enjoy the Wapping and Centro pics ( thanks to Nic )
Hello to John . I hope all is groovy with you. Ever considered changing your name to No first name No last name and doubling the enigma factor ? If you fancy flying in from L.A to produce the next Refuse / All opus you are very welcome . We would buy you a pint and everything. I bet you don’t get offers as good as that every day ?
Hello Palmer. Hope all is well with you.
Hello Chantal. Met Otis with Oz just before they went to France . It was nice to meet him .
Brian
August 13, 2010 at 12:15 pm

Yep, will try and get down to Leytonstone for a beer at some point soon.

Brian
Chantal AOH
August 13, 2010 at 5:02 pm

Thanks John xxxx
Chantal AOH
August 13, 2010 at 10:14 pm

Sos Leon didn’t see you there! Oz and Otis are both good blokes but not interested in the ol punk rock? I tried to bring them up proper what can you do?
leon
August 14, 2010 at 10:00 am

Oh well Chantal I think Otis must have been born 15 years after punk, so if he got into punk it would be equivalent to me getting into Joe Loss and his orchestra when I was young. Damn that’s where my life went wrong .
Yes Ozzy is brilliant. Couldn’t ask for a better nephew.
As you may have seen Ivan is in town . He goes back to Japan on Tuesday. Any message for Mr Oxo ?
Chantal AOH
August 14, 2010 at 8:18 pm

Ivan Oxo is our friend? I found a brill pic of Ivan on Photo bucket – Centro Iberico – wearing a beige Harrington jacket with what looks like a packet of photo copying paper under his arm? So Punk Rock!!
leon
August 15, 2010 at 11:53 am

Yes Ivan Oxo is our friend. I will pass your message on today when I see him. He is still the same as he always was but he really can’t remember a thing of the early 80’s or AOH . I think he has erased it from his memory.
Beige Harrington and photo copying paper – – – only Ivan could have carried off that sartorial combo .
derek r
December 2, 2010 at 4:36 am

hi chantal,,leon and mike, it’s derek from glasgow,we were all good friends back in the 80s.I lived in east ham 84 till 85 .
i’ve stayed in portsmouth for the last 3 1/2 years, and spent 10 years in edinburgh prior to moving here.
i find this website very interesting,i pop in now and then and spend a few hours reading stuff and recognise a few names here and there.

nowadays i still listen to punk music, go on long cycle trips, and i’ve travelled a lot abroad.
leon
December 24, 2010 at 11:44 am

Hello Derek
Really good to hear from you. I hope you are well.
I remember you visiting our house in Mile End a few times about 85 i think. Thie was when Mike lived downstairs with Chantal.
So you are in Portsmouth now? I am hoping to get down to Portsmouth next year to visit a friend so if you fancy meeting up for a drink or something ? I’m still doing music, in a band called Refuse/All .

Have a good Xmas and New Year
Cheers
Leon