Shaved Women / Fight War Not Wars / I Got A Bomb / Tired / G’s Song + short radio interview collage
(Search for some other rare Crass interviews / Rehearsals on this site)
Here’s a funny one…Bradley from my vintage scooter club, the Spinal Tap inspired named New Originals Scooter Club came to the meeting tonight armed with some early Crass singles (Cardboard cover Reality Asylum – like the one I uploaded on 01/01/08 not the poster sleeve, Honey Bane, Zounds) and a couple of pics. One of him on a visit to Margate 1978 (Brad is from North London, a THFC supporter), and one of Crass performing on one of the occasions that he saw them. Only thing is he can not remember this particular venue. He definitely saw them at Conway Hall and Acklam Hall and he remembers a couple more but not the venues, always with The Poison Girls in support cos he remembers a really old woman singing at the gigs he attended!
Your (the great KYPP public) starter for ten is where is this photo taken? He did not see Crass after 1979 – He is positive of that. It is definitely a London based Crass gig, he used to go to the Lyceum every Sunday night for the weekly punk shows and also the Music machine on a regular basis he remembers.
Your second question for extra points is what is the interview collage on the end of the Peel session?
It is really nice when a guy totally ‘normal’ comes up out of the blue and hands me these photos and tells stories of ‘the old days’ after hearing from other members of the Scooter Club of my involvement on this website…nice one Brad!
If anyone recognises the decor on the stage please leave comments…bigger picture here cos Brad would be pleased to know where this picture was taken. A look in his loft may bring out other pics etc, but that is for a later date.
Also I have uploaded Simons Wapping photos up in photo gallery under Wapping Autonamy Centre. Cheers Simon.
Penguin • Post Author •
March 12, 2008 at 12:22 amAnyone know this venue that Crass played at in 1978 or 1979? Iggs hair is a grown out skinhead at this stage by the look of it…Also what is the interview on the end of the peel session uploaded here?
tony b
April 6, 2008 at 12:40 amHow can i put this……
the crass picture was taken by me.
Ive only ever copied that pic for 2 people,so no idea how it has got here!
I made one copy in 1982 and a set in 1990. Other than that i gave a copy to Gee in 1990 for inclusion in Crass book which is still going on!!!
Its going to be in the forthcoming Crass book,along with the other photo i took that night…..(and my Feeding Banner which Rimbaud gave me in late 1978!)
All the best
Tony B
Penguin • Post Author •
April 6, 2008 at 6:26 amCheers Tony, I don’t know how Brad had it then, he has NOT been in and around the scene since 1979-80. I uploaded it (as I do the music and most of the photos on this site) because he came along and gave me the actual photo. And it looked like it is an original photo (not a copy), maybe he got it off someone, he certainly would not have got it off Gee. I gave her a few things actually for that book, whatever happened to the plans for that release? It has been a while.
Anyway, sorry for the mix up, but if someone asks me to put up some photos and says they are his, I assume it to be true. I assume by your moniker that you may have been in Lack Of Knowledge, would he have known of your band. He is from the same rough patch of North London, maybe he got it off someone you both know? Where was it taken anyway? I would like to know, looks like Iggs had a grown out skinhead at the time!
Terry
December 18, 2008 at 9:50 pmHi guys, I have a similar original in my scrap book, which I’ll now have to dish out of the loft. I’m almost certain it’s from the Pied Bull at Angel Islington. Whether my photo is the other one you took Tony I’m not sure, but I was under the impression one of my mates took it there and passed it to me – it certainly hasn’t been out of my scrap book since soon after the gig. On the same subject, I also have a letter from Steve Ignorant explaining why he wasn’t going to use The Defex track on Crass’s future album ‘Bullshit Detector’ due to the shit quality of the tape! And there’s more! The Defex possibly under the new guise of Sirius B played with Lack Of Knowledge in around 1980 at Howard Hall in Ponders End. Lack of Knowledge jumped onstage and did an impromptu performance, and if my memory serves, the place was raided by police while we were still playing. One day I’m gonna have to throw some of this stuff away!
Penguin • Post Author •
December 19, 2008 at 12:34 amDon’t throw your stuff away Terry, give it to me to upload on this site. Howard Hall is now a Wetherspoons pub. Just come home from seeing Brad tonight! Was Defex the band Brad was in? He mentioned London PX who have a gig flyer here
http://s208.photobucket.com/albums/bb227/killyourpetpuppy/Print%20material/?action=view¤t=graffxposter.jpg
Also some Lack Of Knowledge here
https://www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/?p=827
Tony B
December 20, 2008 at 7:45 pmAnytime i’m required to show the negatives of the Crass photo, i’m happy to oblige…proof will be conclusive when you see the picture of my mum and sister taken in a 70s council flat front room is the next pic on the negs!!
LOK gig was at SCOPE with Sirius B (now a mosque), the howard hall gig was the LOK impromtu one. It was Null & Voids gig, we played with them the next week at PE Youth club ended with them being chased away in thier car by the youth club regulars.
Two other great Howard Hall gigs: the first ever Mod Revival gig in February 1979 Purple Hearts, Back To Zero, The Scooters, Fixations. Packed with early mods(maximum speed types rather than parka clad casuals) and another amazing gig which had 4 bands i’d never heard of…a mod band from Romford called the Cobras and a superb punk band i’ve never heard anything more about since called Total Attack…I taped them but lost the tape…kind of like early 77 style Crass…
Trust me,that photo is mine…due to be in the Crass book along with the poster from the same gig…
BTW,it was me that put those gigs on at the SCOPE (Synix, Mob, Zounds, London PX..loads)
all the best.
Tony B
Terry
January 5, 2009 at 11:17 pmCheers for the info guys, amazing tool this Internet thingee. Yep indeed Mr Penguin Brad was in The Defex / Sirius B playing bass no less! Small world and all that. London PX used to frequent the George Robey opposite the Rainbow week days, some gigs we’d bunk in up the iron stairs and under the stage. Still got their single somewhere ‘Last Orders’ with ‘Steve Teeth’ on the cover. Whatever happened to him and his brother ‘Dennis Dum Dum’ who seemed to be a major part of squat life in Finsbury Park around 79-81. Geordie vocalist Cliff Hanger was a regular master of ceremonies for major pub antics like clappie and other punk games. I was knocked out one night outside there, a load of geordie footie fans were chanting at us across the main road, I was beered up and first in – and first out! Brad still insists I tripped on the kerb. I say he had an iron bar! Ho hum…
Mitchell
January 26, 2009 at 1:09 pmMitchell of London PX here. Ah! the good ol’ days – memories galore of the Robey. We played our last gig there too (in 82) before we made our comeback last year. I remember Brad and Terry and people such as boring Pete, Bobby Lydon from the Robey. As far i know, Steve Teeth and Dennis are still alive and living in Tottenham, I believe Dennis still wears a chain round his neck. One thing I heard in later years was that Spandau’s Martin Kemp was an early member of The Defex…any truth in that. We’re all still alive, although Cliff Hanger’s an old man now (51) and although he took part in or reunion rehearsal, it’s just 3 of us doing the PX thing. And Tony….if you see this…get in touch via the myspace..it’d be great to hear from you after all these years.
Stewart
January 26, 2009 at 9:52 pmHey, don’t know you Mitchell I don’t think, but I remember Steve Teeth and Dennis! Dennis is on the Huntingdon Street video uploaded on this site, or here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IABnsIDer-0 🙂
Terry
January 27, 2009 at 12:52 amMitchell, good to see you’re still about. I think I’ll let Brad explain the Martin Kemp thing cos he’s got a better memory than I have! Stewart, what an amazing piece of film – who filmed it? Good to see Dennis Dum Dum looking real dapper in it too. Sums up just what it was all about and some great music to accompany it. I noticed the music ran its course, even when the film ran out – good to see – a la John Peel I’d say!
Penguin • Post Author •
January 27, 2009 at 2:24 amTerry, if you are interested Stewart is the guy with the flat mohawk who later on puts on and wears the Angry Brigade symbol on his blazer. Killer look, you may well have passed each other at gigs without the knowledge in 78/79. It is a super bit of super 8 and it was Stewart that uploaded it onto You Tube.
https://www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/?p=823
This is the original post on this site if you would like to add further comments and read some of the history.
Terry
January 27, 2009 at 3:17 pmNice one Penguin, I’m sure we brushed shoulders on quite a few occasions… A few local gigs to jog a flagging memory: Crass (& Poison Girls?), Pied Bull, Islington. Kleenex and Spizz at The Rio, Dalston, Adam & The Ants (pre-prince charming!) at The Rochester Castle, Stoke Newington as well as X Ray Spex and Electric Chairs. The Ruts at The Pegasus, Newington Green. A bit larger but worth a mention: Black Slate at the Music Machine, Camden (far too many at this venue) as well as Iggy Pop/Dillinger and The Vibrators at the Rainbow to name but a few! Valid ramblings methinks… Mitchell, I checked your MySpace page, good to see you guys still strumming. Love the Swell Maps cover Midget Submarines, one of my all time faves, you didn’t fancy Read About Seymour then – still have the 7″! Worth mentioning, the Barrett track is quality in its simplicity – keep it up mate and let us know about future gigs, I’m hoping Brad will upload some Defex stuff here soon. T.
Penguin • Post Author •
January 27, 2009 at 4:04 pmHoping to see Brad sometime soon so anything you want uploaded (relevant records / tapes / flyers / photos), give him the stuff and I will upload it on this site.
baron von zubb
January 28, 2009 at 8:07 pmMaaan, folk wearing the AB symbol on their clothes.
Its so good.
Where has it all gone?
Kids of today…
Stewart
January 28, 2009 at 9:48 pm*winks at the Baron* I’m thinking of doing it again now, to be honest… Really. Things need stirring up… 🙂
brad
January 31, 2009 at 8:02 pmI thought I had better start getting involved seeing as the photo got the thing going. Martin Kemp was in an early version of the Defects with a mate of mine called Paul Bearsley, not me and Terrys Defex, we just took their name after they went their separate ways. We all used to rehearse together in a youth club in Covent Garden called The Basement around the corner from the Roxy, the veg market had just closed down and Covent Garden was run down, not the place it is now. In the basement they had a back room (studio) full of amps, drums and various instruments, the deal was that you hired the room for 50p an hour, Terry and I rehearsed and wrote most of the Defex songs there, with various drummers and singers, some who were just other kids from the youth club. I think we played there a couple times and Terry might have some recordings of the rehersals, these were rejected by Crass because of poor sound quality.
Phil McCavity
April 23, 2009 at 1:44 pmHi Everyone. I worked in the Hope & Anchor in Upper Street. I remember Dennis & Steve Teeth very well. Boring Pete was a great bloke, always pissed. I heard the Medina got knocked down and the Robey has been derelict for years. I really miss those days. I live in Dorchester now. Still single and on the sick. If anyone wants to organize a reunion please let me know. I would love to see everyone again. A few more names you might recall, Anna Rexia, Joan, Noss & Tom, Scottish Gordon, Rory the barman, Lorraine, Spit, Longshot, all from the Robey/Hope & Anchor. You can contact me at hawklord9@googlemail.com
john y
November 19, 2009 at 12:19 pmnice snap of a punk on margit beach!
john y
November 19, 2009 at 12:24 pmi should mention the sunshine rooms (where the subs, gen x and cock fuckin sparrer played) were just to the right. the antz played in dreamland in 78. all a year or 2 too early for me.
Penguin • Post Author •
June 4, 2010 at 1:20 amTerry’s Crass picture from the same gig (now remembered as The Pied Bull) heads up the post above and a seperate (and rare) Crass flyer is now also uploaded. Thanks Terry.
TB
April 3, 2014 at 8:33 pmOld thread i know,but question for you Terry if you get back on here…..
Did you know a bloke called Paul Weaver?
all the best
TB
Terry
April 3, 2014 at 10:46 pmHi Tony
No sorry the name doesn’t ring a bell although my memory is hit and miss at best fella ! I’ve only just found out Zounds played at Scopes back in the day and not long after our gig there… Sorry I missed that one, did you go ? Adam Ant @ The Apollo soon with some of the original band members no less – may see you there ?
Terry
mick
August 7, 2014 at 2:00 pmloved this thread, did the defex tapes turn up? would love to hear them (even if they weren’t good enough for Cr@ss ) haha
Tony
October 8, 2024 at 4:05 pmPenguin, Just had a wander around the internet and arrived here via ‘Total Attack’ 1979 Demo!
To clear up the confusion…….BOTH pics are from the Acklam Hall. Both taken by me. The only two pics of Crass i took that night. I also took 2/3 pics of The Wall(copies of which i have never given to anyone).
You’ll notice that apart from his spiky hair, Igs is wearing a pair of Seditionaries bondage trousers, which used to belong to Pen!
In the 2nd pic, the two people dancing were both from Walthamstow and lived round the corner from Small Wonder. The guy works for Waltham Forest Council now and i saw him, a few years back, at a Small Wonder related exhibition that i helped organise.
Here’s one for you: I recently had a viewing of some-previously unseen-professionally shot pix of Crass at the Roxy. A complete fluke. A NYC friend of a friend got in contact and said “Hey can you help identify some of these Punk bands?” He opened up a big folder and as i flicked through, I nearly fell off the chair!
It was the gig with Radiators From Space. Amazing shots of Crass in pre-Black clothing era. Hopefully he’ll use them for something one day.
Nice one Penguin.
Great Crass/Vauch exhibition on at the moment in New York btw!
Penguin • Post Author •
October 9, 2024 at 8:03 pmHiya Tony. Thank you for that comment. You really should get some of your memories and photographs into a book at some point! I go to most of Gee’s events when I can, NYC might be a step too far, but I would always imagine that her exhibitions wherever hosted would always be very good indeed. The Colchester one was amazing, and probably the best environment I have seen her work. I hope she is okay. I saw her at the Crass book launch a few months ago, not since though. I hope you are well. Are you staying in NYC at the moment?