Breaking Glass / Campbell Building Squatters – Please read the comments…


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Sniper Heretic at the Hope And Anchor in front of Phil Daniels

Bob Short at the Music Machine with the immortal words that actually made the cut, “Bollocks. Piss off. Bollocks.”

Si Heretic auditioning

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103 comments
  1. john
    john
    February 19, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    sorry chris,should have asked any other picnics than the edinburgh one?

  2. Chris
    Chris
    February 19, 2008 at 7:05 pm

    no, it was a half hour feature on the edinburgh punks picnics. had deek of oi polloi on plus some wee punk girl he was trying to get off with and some other punk girl who i think he got on to hedge his bets ๐Ÿ˜‰ a bit of a disappointing turn out as he could have got along some of the other organisers who would certainly have been more engaging and eloquent. think the only live footage that got used was of a band called ‘the gin goblins’ who featured big john of the exploited on guitar. they were chosen as they simply looked the most ‘mental’ and punky of all the bands we had film footage of.
    there was also a full 3 hour documentary done on the edinburgh 1993 ‘european city of punk’ festival which i’ve got, plus another one i’ve just remembered on Hackney ‘chaos week’ which was a similar thing.

  3. john
    john
    February 20, 2008 at 10:31 am

    found this vid of oi polloi playing at the picnic on crummond island.at high tide you could walk to the island but was cutoff when tide came back in.was this the one where you did the filming chris?

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IYjAGoYz2to

  4. danmac
    danmac
    February 20, 2008 at 11:52 am

    ‘too much future’ is a german language film released last year which is part of a wider project documenting punk in east germany that has included a book (en/de), exhibitions and a very good website here – http://www.toomuchfuture.de . see what happens when the state really does give a fuck…

  5. Penguin
    Penguin
    February 21, 2008 at 1:01 am

    Mark Mob remembers some scenes in the Quadrophenia film 1979:

    Pengs,
    On the subject of Quadrophenia at one stage the mods are going up Goldhawk Road and they pass Biersons van on the left. Bierson was an Android Of Mu and Curtis’s girl. The baths where Jimmy meets his rocker mate are where me, Curtis and Josef would go when we lived at 8 Woodstock Grove just off Sheperds Bush roundabout. we watched it when it first came out at the pictures on Sheperds Bush green and it was quite surreal as it was all happening around us in a parallel though current (the van) universe.
    The bus we used for weird tales tour with Zounds and the Androids and the Astronauts was later turned into a beautiful home by Tim who was the driver and all round dead handy guy to know for weird tales and beyond and one time partner of Cosmic (Android). It was later destroyed in a fire in Galena Road W6.
    The same bus a green goddess was then turned into the famous “mutoid waste” skull bus as featured in countless photos readily available, retaining what was left after the fire. Hence many random threads hit each other in West London and beyond.
    JB who worked with Kif Kif and the 012 wrote and sang the beautiful “looking for you” and organised loads of gigs at the Acklam Hall. This was the London we first moved to.
    I love this sort of shit as well but am lousy at writing it down.
    Mark

  6. Wildebeest
    Wildebeest
    February 21, 2008 at 4:11 am

    Speaking of people that we knew that were in films… Stanley Kubrick was deathly afraid to fly, and so all of his films were made in England. So when he was making ‘Full Metal Jacket’ he brought tons of sand and palm trees and set them up in Wapping a mere stones throw away from, well you all know where. Then he needed a bunch of extras to look like American soldiers and when none of the casting agencies in town could produce enough, they drove over to the Kings Rd, Carnaby street etc and picked up bus loads of Skinheads. Someone that wasn’t a skinhead but had the right haircut was Mark the ex-guitarist from Youth in Asia who ended up working for a few days as a paid extra on the film.

  7. john
    john
    February 21, 2008 at 10:58 am

    talking of Quadrophenia it is on itv4 tonight @ 10 after the spurs game i think if anyone is interested?
    i think derek jarmans film jubilee is being shown in the next few weeks as well.
    i watched the documentarey called derek the other night and there was a few seconds when there was a shot of a pile of old punk zines,sticking up out of them was a certain ripped and torn.

  8. simon
    simon
    February 21, 2008 at 11:25 am

    Did some myself a year ago, late November/December. ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ is out in March, got the lovely Natalie Portman in, as well as Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana. Stepson and I got some extra work for a few days up at Dover Castle, we were peasants (surprise, surprise!) did a couple of scenes involving Natalie and Jim Broadbent getting… don’t want to spoil the plot now!!

    Good fun, lots of interesting people and great to see behind the scenes. There was the early start, ridiculous costume, extreme cold and mud and the hanging around for hours to deal with, ok you get paid but don’t think I could do that for a living, like some brave souls!

  9. Nic
    Nic
    February 21, 2008 at 2:52 pm

    Thanks danmac for the heads up – ‘Too Much Future’ looks great: I love the still of the band playing inside the clear plastic while other people paint and spray on it…

    I am definitely interested in this ‘oral history’ Mark (as are others, I’m sure) – that period around 1978 to 1980 seems somewhat under reported… I was too young for the ‘Free Tours’ (I went along to one in Coventry and was turned away as I was 11), but I remember the advert in NME vividly (the one with Androids, Mob, Mu, etc and the tour dates)…

    I think that Channel 4 are showing a season of Derek Jarman films to co-incide with the release of the new documentary on Jarman by Isaac Julien (which – as John says – was shown on 4 the other night, folowed by ‘Blue’) and the events around the release of that…

  10. john
    john
    March 26, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    anyone seen the film ‘terminal city ricochet’?it stars amongst others jello biafra.
    have been looking around the net for the soundtrack to it that has a load of bands from alternative tenctacles.anyone know where it could be found in blogland?
    havent been able to track down the punk documentaries except maybe the one chris talks of that he interveiwed folk for.
    its from a torrent site and due to my crap net speed am unable to dl it.
    if anyone does its here http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3299834/Edinburgh_-_European_City_of_Punk_1995
    also the ‘made in huddersfield nic mentions can be dl from here
    http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3282342/Made_In_Huddersfield_Punk_Doc___amp__4_Skins_BBC_TV_1981_SVCD

  11. pip
    pip
    April 11, 2008 at 7:36 am

    Tv discussion on punk on ‘Brass Tacts’ mid-1978. Had Buzzcocks, the Worst, Cooper-Clarke so could have been a Granada effort.

  12. Nic
    Nic
    April 11, 2008 at 8:59 am

    I didn’t know about this Pip so I had a little look around…

    Apparently the ‘Brass Tacks’ piece was from August 6 1977 at the BBC Manchester studios…
    It featured Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks), Odgie (the Worst), John Peel, Steve Shy (the editor of Shytalk fanzine, barman at The Ranch, and manager of The Worst), and Pastor John Cooper who had apparently ‘banned’ Punk in Caerphilly (the poor youth of Caerphilly! ๐Ÿ™‚ )…

    I found that someone has it on DVD-r, so I might see if I can get hold of a copy…

    Thanks for the info…
    ๐Ÿ™‚

  13. Sam
    Sam
    May 3, 2008 at 5:49 am

    Si from The Heretics is the bass player in the Breaking Glass audition scene. Me and him got drunk at lunch when they were filming and you can see him fall against the fake canvas backdrop, which ripples gently.
    There is a Tales of the Unexpected with (as I remember it) a shrink and a punky secretary. Anyway, the infamous Campbell Buildings is shown being demolished. I remember applauding heartily when I first saw this.

  14. Val
    Val
    May 9, 2008 at 1:12 pm

    Apart from crowd scenes in various ‘pop’ videos – Southern Death Cult, Spear of Destiny, Bow Wow Wow (?!?), I’m briefly in Rude Boy – camera pans along us queueing up outside the Glasgow Apollo – but never been able to watch that bit without fingers firmly covering eyes, as I can remember what I was wearing!

  15. Val
    Val
    May 9, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    Also meant to say – went to see Jubilee at the Glasgow Odeon as a school-girl, in a double bill with Keneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising – blimey – talk about a seminal, life-changing moment!

  16. Carl
    Carl
    May 9, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Val…what did being in a crowd scene constitute…”mooching around looking bored” or dancing and jumping or what ??

  17. Nic
    Nic
    May 9, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    I would imagine it involved ‘acting casual’ rather than ‘having a total bloody doss’ or being ‘mad for it’…

  18. Val
    Val
    May 10, 2008 at 7:17 pm

    Sad to say I can’t really remember – probably skulking around at the back by the bar to be honest. Although I have a hideously clear recollection of drunkenly haranguing various Southern Death Culties plus Mick Jones – oh god – about David Essex and the film Stardust – I’m going to go and have a lie down now…

  19. Stewart
    Stewart
    May 31, 2008 at 1:25 am

    I think they must have cast anyone they could find with coloured hair as extras in Breaking Glass! We were there too! We had to run up to Hazel O’Connor as she “left the building” after “the gig” and ask for her autograph! Degrading, I know, but they DID pay good money for us! (Hey, We Are All Prostitutes… *winks*). I only have two real memories of the filming though: 1. Someone, I think it might have been Sue, asking Hazel O’Connor what she put in her hair – and she told us it was KY Jelly! 2. It was really, really cold that day and believe it or not we took it in turns to warm our hands on a heated toilet seat they had in the bogs. Oh yeah, and 3. We nicked all the food from the catering van lol
    I never saw myself in the film, but others have sworn they’ve seen me. Suppose I’ll have to get a copy of the DVD and go through it frame by frame. Not that I’m a narcissist or anything, obviously…

  20. Phil
    Phil
    May 31, 2008 at 12:35 pm

    How did everyone get up so early in the morning for those Breaking Glass shoots?…Maybe u stayed up all night.

  21. Phil
    Phil
    May 31, 2008 at 12:44 pm

    Val Hi!> For me, i think it was a Pink Flamingos and Eraserhead double at the Scala when it was still in Warren St.
    Guess they where punk movies too.

  22. Stewart
    Stewart
    May 31, 2008 at 5:46 pm

    Apropos of nothing much and certainly not this thread, isn’t this worldywideywebby thing wonderful?!?!

  23. Val
    Val
    May 31, 2008 at 10:16 pm

    Phil! Hi to you too! I’ve seen a few of your comments around the place so have picked up a bit of the story of your last 25 yrs! Lots of virtual love to you, if you ever come back to this strand… The scala played a big part in my life education… brilliant place! Particularly the all-nighters. Attack of the Killer Rabbits is one of many films I know I saw there but can barely remember – all I remember of it is the line ‘Run! There’s a herd of killer rabbits on the loose!’ – a line that one day I hope to be able to slip casually into a conversation – oh look there I just have.

    Stewart – been loving your footage/pics/comments and was thinking how come I don’t know you? And now I’m really confused, cos I also was part of the ‘autograph hunting’ filming for Breaking Glass! There were only about 10 of us, wasn’t there? I think Tony, Brett and I went from our house – it was filming in Cricklewood which wasn’t far from us anyway. I remember it being really cold – and remember back to that heated toilet seat with great fondness! And we had to get our hair and clothes toned down in make-up, cos we were too extreme for them?

  24. Jah Pork Pie
    Jah Pork Pie
    May 31, 2008 at 10:38 pm

    I used to love the all-nighters at the Scala too. The Golden Turkeys were the ones for me: Plan 9 from Outer Space, Glen Or Glenda and all that stuff. The 60s sex films (UP! etc), the Cronenbourg nights.

    I only went once when it was at Goodge Street (with Bob and Ruth) but went quite regularly until about ’84 at Kings Cross. My finest memory is of trying to make out what it said on the screen at the beginning of the nite once after a few beers. Eventually, my mate pointed out through the near-impenetrable fog of dope smoke coming up from the crash-out zone with no seats at the front that it said “We Would Like To Remind Patrons That The Scala Is A No-Smoking Cinema”. Lovely!

    I also remember going up there after a very big night on the piss in about ’82 with a couple of friends. We’d been at the Holsten all night and had smuggled a bottle of Scotch and a bottle of Vodka in with us. Over the next half hour I tanned more than my fair share of both to be honest. Then it was time to go to the bog. Bad move. I tripped and half-fell half-rolled right the way from the top of the cinema to the crash-out zone at the bottom. Dazed and still pissed, I just lay there until somebody at the bottom started poking me and saying to their mate “D’you think he’s dead?”. “Dunno”, the other one said, “Offer him some of this spliff”.

    I deff remember Bob being talking about having done his bit in Breaking Glass, btw.

    And Pink Flamingos was at least as disgusting as anything I ever got up to as a punk. What a movie!

  25. luggy
    luggy
    May 31, 2008 at 10:48 pm

    Remember coming out of an all night John Walters there and being shocked when I came out in the morning at how normal everything was. Think I expected everyone to be eating dogshit off of the pavement!

  26. Jah Pork Pie
    Jah Pork Pie
    May 31, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    Tell you what though luggy: if you as a punk in London were shocked by that film, can you imagine what it was like in little cinemas in the midwest? I’ll bet there were actual fatalities among the good God-fearing farming types! John Walters has been a really subversive man over many years – a nod here, a wink there, and the more people start to get his references, the subtler he gets!

  27. Jah Pork Pie
    Jah Pork Pie
    May 31, 2008 at 11:03 pm

    @Stewart-> “Apropos of nothing much and certainly not this thread, isnโ€™t this worldywideywebby thing wonderful?”

    Certainly is! I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve told all these stories about me and lots of the people on here over the years, to people I’ve met since. I’m sure half the time they thought that the stories were too far-fetched to be true. I never thought I’d get back in touch with you all. And all because I saw a program on TV a few weeks back with a guy who looked just like Bob Short. I said to my partner “that looks just like Bob” and told her I’d have a look on the net for a pic of him. And here you all are!

    Fan-fucking-tastic ๐Ÿ™‚

  28. Nic
    Nic
    June 1, 2008 at 2:10 am

    Val – was the “rabbits” film called ‘Night of the lepus’?
    (My diary says that BBC2 showed it in 1978)

    Later in the 80’s (1984 – 1988 time), we used to use the all-nighters at the Scala as a dosshouse for after gigs…

  29. Phil
    Phil
    June 1, 2008 at 8:30 am

    Can anyone remember a strange little film about an opiate eating mini flying saucer that fed off nu romantics as they shot junk and had orgasams?

  30. Nic
    Nic
    June 1, 2008 at 11:35 am

    Yes, Phil – it’s called ‘Liquid Sky’ (1982): I had a (very badly degraded bootleg) copy of it in the 1980’s when I was heavily involved in the video-trading ‘scene’, but I believe it has come out on DVD now…

  31. Nic
    Nic
    June 1, 2008 at 11:36 am

    Funnily enough, just last week I consigned all of my video collection to the council tip – over 2000 films…

  32. Phil
    Phil
    June 1, 2008 at 12:07 pm

    you needed to be pretty gone just to be able to sit through all those Warhol
    epics.

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