Did fanzines destroy the Mob?
When I became ‘manager’ of All the Madmen record label, a small ceremony took place where was given a large carrier-bag full of ‘Letters to the Mob’. Amongst these letters, to which I did my best to reply, was the following, to which I did not reply.
AL Puppy
Please note Question 29.
From Daz Russell of Caution fanzine circa 1983
1. Why do you always say that the individual are more important than The Mob?
2. Are you pleased with the lp?
3.Tell us about the ‘Youth’ single?
4. How many gigs have you done? How do you feel about doing them? Do you ever get any trouble at them? How do you deal with it?
5.How come you did ‘Is God a Man’ at one of your gigs? Do you do any other covers?
6. What is ‘Roger’ about?
7.Why did you put ‘Witch Hunt’ on the lp?
8.What and who is ‘All the Madmen Records’?
9.In what way are you associated with Flowers in the Dustbin? What other bands are on ‘All the Madmen’ and do you gig with.
10. Have you ever been abroad to do gigs?
11.Are you a punk? Are you a punk band? What do you think of punk at the moment?
12. What is your definition of anarchy?
13.What are the songs about?
14. Which songs go down better live?
15. Why is there such a lot of old stuff on the lp?
16. Why are your records all rather expensive?
17. Would you go on Top of the Pops?
18.What is ‘Raised in a Prison” based on?
19.Have you been in the studio much? Do you enjoy studio or live working?
20.Is The Mob a money making venture? Do you work in any job? What are your views on work?
21.Have you any plans for gigs/records in the immediate future?
22.What would you do in the four minutes before a nuclear war?
23.What do you think of the current alternative scene?
24.What would you do if you were Prime Minister?
25.What do you think of all the ‘punk’ record compilations there are now?
26. What tapes are available? Do you have any live, practice or demos which are unreleased?
27.What do you think of the music press?Have you been in any? What do you read? Do you like fanzines?
28. What do you think of politics?
29.Is it true you have split up?
30.What is for the future?
31. Anything else you would like to add?
Penguin
February 11, 2008 at 10:16 pmAhh, Daz Russell…remember him from going to the odd gig in Spark Hill Birmingham, The Mermaid I think it was called…
john
February 11, 2008 at 10:26 pmsame daz russell that puts on those expensive weekender ‘punk’ festivals in Blackpool perhaps??
16. Why are your records all rather expensive?
Penguin
February 11, 2008 at 10:46 pmQ 22 – what would you do in 4 minutes before a nuclear war?
A – Finish this questionaire
On a serious note, this guy was involved in a lot of tape swapping, he had quite a big collection. He got bad rep for not paying bands in the mid to late 1980’s though. Think Conflict and Deviated Instinct at different times had trouble with him, possibly a load more bands. Think he started to promote raves in the late 1980’s. Nic will know probably.
alistairliv • Post Author •
February 11, 2008 at 11:13 pmQuick check and yes, Daz Russell put on ยฃ75 weekender punk festivals in Blackpool – as ‘Wasted Festivals’ -see http://www.punkfestival.co.uk/
but from another mention, looks as if now packed it in.
Tony Puppy
February 12, 2008 at 12:43 amJohn Robb has played at most of these punk weekenders – will have a story or too to tell. As will Charlie Harper. Maybe we should round these types up for an interview.
Charlie Harper was a visitor to the James Street Squat. Every time I hear the UK Subs, “Live In A Car” I think of him sitting on the mouldy, filthy carpet in James St in his old raincoat looking very happy.
Penguin
February 12, 2008 at 1:44 amCharlie Harper, is that the bloke who is several years younger than you Tony? Like your kid brother or something?
Nic
February 12, 2008 at 10:00 amhahaha, classic comment Penguin!
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Yes, Daz Russell was the promoter of many gigs at the Mermaid in Birmingham (now an Indian restaurant) from 1985 to early 1988…
He would sometimes have organised 3 or 4 gigs a week, and brought a broad selection of bands to Birmingham (from ‘anarcho punk’ and thrash to psychedelic and indie)…
He was also very much a supporter of and help to Napalm Death in late 1985 and through 1986 (mainly by lorganising many gigs for us, and occasionally buying us a drink as payment ๐ )…
As time went on through 1986, he did indeed have problems with bands over payments: I genuinely don’t think it was quite as Manichean as people painted it at the time…although I am sure that these things did happen…
He started with good intentions (coming out of the ‘anarcho punk’ scene), and then gradually became wrapped up in the ‘business’ at which point his intentions became somewhat altered due to a process of osmosis (and – let’s face it – he wouldn’t be the first person that has happened to from the ‘anarcho punk’ scene)…
He also started to drink heavily (he had been teetotal before and consistently berated me for my ‘laissez faire’ attitude towards alcohol and chemicals), and hang around with some nefarious types who are driven predominantly by money (one of whom had a big hand in a recent manifestation of ‘anarcho punk’ in London)…
When the Mermaid closed (it was essentially condemned), he continued to promote Punk concerts and also moved into general promotion, before beginning to organise the ‘Holidays in the Sun’/’Wasted’ (and now ‘Rebellion’) festivals which are such a hit with balding, beer bellied old men desperately re-living their youth (rather than desperately re-living their youth via messageboards…ermmm…ahem!)…;)
I haven’t seen him for about 28 years now though (moving in different circles – and I don’t go to nostalgic Punk concerts)…although I did send him a sarky email a little while back about how excited I was that the singer of The Fits was doing a ‘solo acoutsic show’ at one of his festivals…
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Apart from being a rabid fan of Crass and related bands, Daz R was absoultely ga-ga for all the manifestations of the ‘Floating Anarchy’ axis: he had a massive collection of Here and Now / Fuck Off Wreckords / Street level vinyl and cassettes…
and he turned me on to Chrome in 1985 for which I will be eternally grateful…
The Mermaid itself has a great deal of resonances for me: I first went there in 1982 to see Toxic Shock / Nightingales / Ted Chippington, and later went to see great concerts by people like Spacemen 3 and World Domination Enterprises. I saw Whitehouse play there in 1983 – a very intense concert (as was the 1986 appearance by Swans)…
Chris
February 12, 2008 at 10:35 amIf anyone IS in contact with Daz, please ask him to get in touch with me as i’d like to borrow my large Crass archive (photos, posters, letters, flyers…basically everything I had) which I gave him in 1985 and would like to copy some of for the ‘Bullshit Crass’ book as well as this site.
Chris (AWOL & enjoying some very un-anarcho Fashion Week bacchanalia)
john
February 12, 2008 at 10:42 amthe last memory i have of Blackpool is being chased down the sea front road by around 300 Burnley F.C. hooligans chanting we hate the punks some 20+ years ago.they’d probably catch me these days as i am a balding, beer bellied old man who cant run for toffee ha
Nic
February 12, 2008 at 11:05 amI have an email address for Daz R: I’ll drop it over to you…
I’m not sure if he will be helpful, but you never know…
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I thought you were quiet, Chris…
Just for the record: have you been wearing your Margiela Trench Coat for the festivities?
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alistairliv • Post Author •
February 12, 2008 at 11:21 amTickets for Wasted Festivals were available from 14 Prior St Hereford HR4 9LB
There is a D. Russell in Hereford phone book at 25 Brunel Court HR4 9JA with a phone number.
sean
February 12, 2008 at 11:29 amRE; charlie harper-slendid bloke,always stood me and alien a drink down the 100 club where he was ALWAYS propping up the bar and grinning as though it was all his fault and he loved it.Still hard at it in venues shoebox size and up.Whos gonna ask him about this biz?
also,Nic,dont be coy,tell us who the london type who perverted your poor brummie boy is!Its all right,Im in cornwall so my totally underserved aledged prediliction to violence is unlikely come into play.And Im sure everyone else here is too grown up to hold a grudge.A good snigger and a bit of surrepticious pointing cant hurt tho
Chris
February 12, 2008 at 1:25 pmNic, Drinks are for buying – clothes for for blagging. Rest assured i shall have inveigled some new threads by the end of the week ๐
PS: unearthed ‘Anti-Social’ the other day – Criminal CLASSIC middle-page spread !!
Nic
February 12, 2008 at 2:50 pmYes! I was rummaging around the other day and found a picture from the Coventry Evening Telegraph of a ‘Troops Out of Ireland’ rally in Coventry in March 1980, which includes me (aged 11!) at the front watching them play live in the open air…
What a doss…
I have copies of all of the issues of ‘Antisocial’ somewhere – I just can’t find the folder which I put them all in…it’s somewhere in the house, but where I do not know…hmmm….
Could we put drinks on the blagging list as well? It wouldn’t hurt…
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I too am a sucker for threads, as is ma femme…
Nic
February 12, 2008 at 2:53 pmSean – it’s another Brummie (rather than someone from ‘that London’), but it would be remiss to mention his name…
He was one of the promoters involved in the recent ‘Feeding of the 5000’ thing…
Suffice to say, he is a dobber…
Carl
February 12, 2008 at 3:55 pmI think that the punk festival is on in Blackpool again this year, Im sure I have seen it advertised. The ticket prices are not amusing though. The problem that I have with it is that there may be , I dunno, 15 bands on in a day and only want to see 1 or 2. I refuse to pay that money and after a gap of 25 years be confronted with Abrasive Wheels again !!!!
Nic
February 12, 2008 at 5:05 pmCome on, Carl – the ‘Wheels have saved a place for you when the Punks go marching in (and when the skins go as well actually): it’d be churlish not to take it up…
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john
February 12, 2008 at 10:58 pmnic,excuse the ignorance but never heard the word manichean before.
was it used in an abrasive wheels song? ๐
Carl
February 13, 2008 at 10:22 amSorry Nic, you are course correct !!………I will now put my 20 hole Docs on , and go off stomping round the room to the mighty ‘Wheels…
I really should stop being a cynical 40+ year old arse lol !
Nic
February 13, 2008 at 11:14 amI think the ‘Wheels used the term ‘Manichean’ on their album…
I’d have to check though…
If you weren’t just being sarky (and you can never tell here ๐ ) – the Manichaes were a religious sect who originated in Persia around the 3rd century A.D. Their beliefs are much more detailed than I could elaborate here, but one key element of their cosmogony was a distinct separation between light and darkness / good and evil…In later times, this unwavering belief in distinct separations (rather than the ‘grey areas’ which develop when we look at the complexity of every event or issue) came to be used as an adjective to describe a view of an event, situation or idea which is perhaps too simplistic and undermines itself by refusing to acknowledge the complexity of a situation…
I suppose this is quite pertinent to the ongoing musings on ‘anarcho punk’ and anarchism in general here at KYPP because of the dualitic nature of the Manichaes viewpoint…
keith
February 13, 2008 at 7:30 pmif anyone does manage too track down daz russell try and find out if he still
has his amazing bootleg collection of the mob (about 70-200 recordings) i was gonna trade with him during the late 80s but he sent me a letter saying he was gonna tape over all his cassette recordings with his record collection i remember sending him a letter asking him not too do it but got no reply wot so ever.
so if anyone does get hold of him he has slabs of history on them tapes and they deserve to be heard and circulated he also had tons of crass,conflict,dirt,faction,the system,etc etc rant over thanx
keith
john
February 14, 2008 at 10:51 amthanks for clearing that up nic,really hadnt heard the term Manichean before,there y’go you learn something new here everyday.
back to these rebellion festies,just got given a flyer for this years, infact there is one in blackpool and one in vienna, so looks like he’s going into global domination this year.
some bands playing had mentions/posts here at kypp including rubella ballet, riotsquad(not sure if the sa band?) the cravats, disrupters, M.D.C. subhumans. no mention of the ‘wheels’ though(damn!)
headlining for the blackpool weekend is old glam rock band ‘the sweet’, last year apparently was slade, next year gary glitter? actually maybe not.
Nic
February 14, 2008 at 11:32 amI imagine it would be the Riot Squad from Mansfield rather than the South Africans with the ATM conection…
Chris
February 14, 2008 at 2:41 pmIMO if folk want to go to these big punk festivals that’s up to them and if anyone thinks the ticket cost is too high, well, no one’s forcing them to pay. nothing to get snidey about. It’s just a bit of fun
Nic
February 14, 2008 at 2:50 pmTotally disagree on every count, Chris…
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john
February 14, 2008 at 6:17 pmtrue,no one is being forced to go or not to go.each to their own etc .i just think live music (not just punk) should be accessable to as many people as possible and the 85 quid ticket price doesnt really allow that.
Chris
February 14, 2008 at 8:16 pmI couldn’t care less about it either way. I wouldn’t want to go to see any of those bands, but if some folk do and they think the ticket price justifies that it’s up to them and well wanky to get on one’s high horse about it. it’s still less than half the price that glastonbury or reading is, not that i’d wanna go there as a paying punter either. I paid around that for two tickets for Prince cos i couldn’t blag any and had a friend over who really wanted to see him. Plus, having seen him before he puts on a great show so no complaints there. Folks just get all precious about it cos it’s ‘punk bands’ but IMO if the bands want to play at that rate it just shows how ‘committed’ they ever were , rather than reflecting on those who’d want to go and see them, of whom i would only question their taste in music. I’d understand it if Crass suddenly decided to reform and play a gig at 85 bar a head but as for those reformed punk bands on the ‘punk vaudeville circuit’ they’re just entertainers and it’s just rock’n’ roll at the end of the day. just a bit of fun.
Chris
February 14, 2008 at 8:17 pmover to you, Nic…
Nic
February 14, 2008 at 9:50 pmI DO care about it…but I don’t feel it’s worth expending the energy on explaining why here…probably better to expend that energy elsewhere…
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alistairliv • Post Author •
February 14, 2008 at 11:55 pmSince I am on an Illuminatus trip to Mu Mu land… sure one of the slogans from the books was ‘Communication is only possible between equals’.
A big part of what turned me on to punk was the attempt to break down/ break up the audience/ performer divide. The ‘anyone can do it’ attitude. Punk was not something given, it was made up, invented, created ‘by punks for punks’ as the KYPP tag line read.
There was no barrier to participation. The contradictions were always there, but every time a barrier, a wall, a fence got put up, a bunch of punks would tear it down again.
Had the rock star (spectacular commodity) attitude been accepted, then none of the music here would exist.There would be just silence. There would have been no fanzines, no KYPP. No knit your own mohair jumpers, no diy anarchy, just people standing in line waiting to pay to be entertained.
The spectacle become a perfect seamless web, buying back in free time what we make in work time.
The interesting question for me (not having been at any kinda music event since I left London 11 years ago) is – are there still alternatives? Is there still a choice – can you walk past the big name event and find something different/ new/ challenging going on else where?
john
February 15, 2008 at 12:22 amnot sure if it is new/challenging but there are still regular diy gigs being put on for free or affordable here in manchester by a new generation of punks,there are also regular free parties with sound systems providing new sounds to dance to,also occassional squatted spaces known as ‘autonomous artists’ where folk can turn up and express themselves in a number of different ways,paint, graffitti,music,communication etc all things creative welcome even barndancing.all for next to nothing if not free.
john
February 15, 2008 at 12:32 amits known as ‘random artists ‘ not autonomous artists,my mistake.
some further stuff here http://www.randomartists.org/
john
February 15, 2008 at 12:36 amand this is the manchester site for it http://www.forbiddenartsmanchester.org.uk/art.htm