CEASE AND RESIST – SONIC SUBVERSION AND ANARCHO PUNK IN THE UK – OPTIMO MUSIC / BEST B4 1984 – IMAGES FROM THE ANARCHO PUNK UNDERGROUND – LOWTHARIO PRESS

I hope these pages I have curated from the boxes of fanzines and flyers I avidly collected between 1980 and 1984 reflect the vibrancy of the unique and empowering movement we now know as anarcho punk in all its glorious diversity. 

From the deranged looking, hastily assembled and barely legible cut up and scrawled pages of Cobalt Hate and Coming Attack to Gee Vaucher’s artistic and beautifully presented graphic agit-prop magazine The International Anthem; From the vegetarian recipes for recent meat-free converts in New Crimes and Oi Polloi’s early Skinhead Havoc to the recipes for Molotov cocktails in ‘The Militant Anarchist Punk’ zine Pigs For Slaughter and guide to squatting on The Apostles’ first EP cover; From testimony from gay punks to the inclusive liberation the scene offered to the caustic critique of punk tribalism in the embryonic Napalm Death’s iconoclastic anthem, ‘Punk Is A Rotting Corpse’, It can all be found within these facsimile pages. The images are presented in a vague thematic order illustrating the preponderant concerns of the scene in this nascent period when fears of an escalating arms race were a primary concern and perhaps surprisingly veganism barely existed within the anarcho punk milieu. I have tried to avoid the obvious images, posted all over the internet and, in more recent times, commercially reproduced on T-shirts and posters and sold by opportunists on Ebay. Though, lamentably, I expect there will be all the more appearing once this collection is published!

I have fond memories of the fanzine Guilty of What? I published three issues of over the years 1982-1983, during which time I was aged twelve, going-on thirteen. The name was inspired by two sources: a badge I had picked up following Sid Vicious’ arrest for murdering his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen and the title of an article I had read about the Persons Unknown trial of an Anarchist cell arrested on bomb making charges. In hindsight, this could be seen as an unconscious attempt to synthesise Anarchism and Punk as, truth be known, I’d never even considered this at the time. Similarly, I only discovered recently that one of the very first ever uses of the genre term ‘Anarcho Punk’ in print was a review of my final issue in the excellent Sunderland ‘zine, Acts of Defiance.

All three editions of Guilty of What? were assembled solely by myself at home using my mum’s typewriter, scissors, glue stick, the mandatory WH Smiths blue plastic stencil and any Letraset I could steal from the local art shop. My father got the first issue copied at his work. Issues two and three were printed by the bassist of my first band, Toxic Noise, who was working on a YOP Scheme (early 1980s Government ‘Work Opportunities Programme’) at a printing company in Stirling and was able to duplicate my zine on the side, which at ‘mates rates’. He also printed Twisted Nerve #5 by Miles [Ratledge] the similarly aged original Napalm Death drummer, who I’d become friends with through the DIY cassette and fanzine trading scene.

As I produced my zines years before I could legally drink, and was still at school, and living with my parents, all my pocket money plus everything I made from the sales of my zine and the cassettes I put out on my tape label went straight back into fanzine production, buying records and going to gigs. Needless to say, postal costs were heavily subsidised by the time-honoured ‘punk post’, i.e. applying Sellotape or a coating of soap to postage stamps so the franking mark could be erased and they could be reused, often repeatedly.

Like everyone involved with anarcho punk at the time, I’d have said I did it “to get the message across”; all issues had articles on the mandatory anarcho punk topics: Nuclear disarmament, apartheid, vivisection, fox hunting, etc. Being active and campaigning against these ills seemed just as important as the music at the time. The reality is probably a cross between that and writing a zine simply being a fun thing to do and having some sort of precocious creative urge within me that it satisfied. There was the ‘fan’ angle too – providing a legitimate reason to write to and sometimes meet the bands and musicians I was a ‘fan’ of Crass, Flux, Discharge, The Alternative, Omega Tribe, DIRT, Poison Girls, etc. ‘Fandom’, per se, being much maligned within anarcho punk culture.

Access and response were the major factors that determined content. Access in what bands I could successfully make contact with and response as in how, and if, they responded when I wrote to them with questions or attempted to conduct a telephone interview. Some were successful, Crass always responded to postal interviews with detailed, in-depth answers, whilst others, memorably with Discharge, The Wall and Anti-Pasti, were pitifully terse. I also covered local Scottish bands such as Stirling punk heroes, The Fakes and Dunfermline peace punks, The Alternative.

Also, as I soon discovered, producing a zine allowed me to blag free stuff (posters, records etc.) and once I discovered tape-trading became an avenue for the reciprocal exchange of tapes of my early bands (Distraught, Political Asylum) and others throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Every week letters, tapes and other fanzines, often in native languages I couldn’t comprehend and from places I’d never heard of, would drop through the family letterbox. And every night I’d spend responding to them and copying tapes to dispatch in return.

There were various reasons I stopped producing zines: Guilty of What? It became very much an ‘anarcho-punk’ zine and by late 1983 the scene was beginning to change into something I was moving away from, mostly due to the influence of the ‘hardcore’ scene from America and ‘thrash’ sound from Scandinavia both of which held little appeal for me. I always thought when Crass split in 1984 anarcho-punk lost much of its direction and became more about the music rather than the ideas which, like the visuals, were the elements I found most the engaging.

But maybe that was just me? I was only thirteen at the time…

THE ‘CEASE AND RESIST’ ALBUM AND ‘BEST B4 1984’ BOOK LAUNCH PARTY – MICKEY PENGUIN

Helgi’s in Hackney was the venue chosen to hold the launch party for the album; ‘Cease And Resist – Sonic Subversion And Anarcho Punk In The UK 1979 -1986’ and the launch party for the book; ‘Best B4 1984 – Fanzine And Flyer Images From The Anarcho Punk Underground’.

Both the album and book projects had been put together by the unstoppable force that is Chris Low, as was the organising of this launch party at Helgi’s.

The launch party was a resounding success, and as far as I know, no guests were seriously injured walking around the area to the rear of the venue. The venue was very dark, front and back, but especially around the rear of the venue, where the room was that we would eventually be seated and standing in. The rear of the venue had several steps to trip over, and a set of stairs leading to the depths of the building to wobble down backwards! Those that survived a trip down those stairs leading to the toilets, almost met their maker walking back up them again, what with the loose handrail!

Helgi’s is an ‘occult’ rock bar with ‘unique & esoteric décor’, reminiscent of the ‘Ghost Train’ rides at the fairgrounds that I would have gone on as a pre-teen. Maybe injury and near death experiences for patrons are the Helgi’s bar’s standard policy, and expected as all being part of the experience!

It was an amazing venue, quite small but utterly amazing.

Nick Hydra and Dani Mejia (Less Than Human) DJ’d the bar. Both of their strictly vinyl punk and gothic sets were also ‘piped’ to the rear of the venue, so other patrons who were not necessarily in the tiny bar area, could hear the music. Nick and Dani both played great sets. 

Chris Low run around in a blind panic from 6pm. Chris’ hectic state remained for pretty much the whole of the night, although he was, of course, courteous and approachable to all in the venue.

Tony D turned up as a ‘pound shop Adam Ant’ after a visit to the hospital earlier that afternoon, for a small operation on the bridge of his nose. The black strip plaster across his nose could have at least been a white strip plaster, he missed a trick there!

Tony and the other speakers, Nic, Dani, Rebecca, Chris and also Zillah (from the audience) spoke to the audience which filled the room, and I do mean really filled the room, relaying interesting individual experiences regarding their time in and around the anarcho punk scene. 

Donna patiently worked the stall, actually very patiently worked the stall, learning from a member of staff how to process hi-tech digital cashless transactions in super quick time!

GRAHAM BURNETT – NEW CRIMES FANZINE 

Many fine folk and old faces attended, some folk who were from bands of those days, some who were fanzine writers of those days, some who, like me, were just eager punters of those days handing over small amounts of money to record store owners and to folk sitting behind desks at various gig venues.

I knew many of the fine folk there, and met other folks that I knew by name but had never actually met. John Eden springs to mind. I met an old friend Tania, who I had not seen for over thirty years, so that was special. 

Books and records were sold to some of the fine folk in attendance, the bar staff were pleasant and were busy throughout, the toilets were, well, special, and things were good.

Well done to all involved.

And thank you Chris for giving me the album and book.

Rebecca Binns: Has written the first ever monograph on the work of the artist and designer, Gee Vaucher, titled Gee Vaucher: Beyond Punk, Feminism, and the Avant-Garde (MUP, 2022), which evolved from her PHD research (LCC, 2019). She works as a lecturer on critical theory for design and illustration.

Nicholas Bullen: Founding member and original Vocalist with Napalm Death who started off as an anarcho punk band and enjoyed their first vinyl release in 1984 on the Crass Records compilation, Bullshit Detector volume 3 in addition to publishing a number of fanzines whilst still at school. Nick currently works in sound art and plays with Rainbow Grave.

Chris Low: Chris became involved with the anarcho scene before even reaching his teens, publishing a fanzine and drumming for seminal acts including The Apostles, Part One, Oi Polloi and Political Asylum. A co-compiler of the compilation album with Twitch of Optimo who he met through starting a DJ career at the same Edinburgh club, Chris has remained engaged with the punk scene through his internationally exhibited photography work and writing.

Tony Drayton AKA ‘Tony D’: Moved from his native town Cumbernauld in Scotland to London at the explosion of the original punk movement, starting his first fanzine Ripped and Torn in 1976 before launching the more ‘anarcho focussed’ Kill Your Pet Puppy fanzine which ran from 1979 to 1984 and becoming involved with the early ‘80s London Anarchy Centres. An anthology of his first fanzine was recently published by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. Tony will open proceedings by exploring punk’s evolution from 1976 into the anarcho movement this evening celebrates.

Matthew Worley: Coming from an anarcho punk background Matthew has gone on to become a professor of modern history at the University of Reading and co-founder of the Subcultures Network. He has had several books published on the topics of punk, fanzines, and associated culture in addition to collaborating with Steve Ignorant on his most recent autobiography and the collection: References – Lyrics and Stories.

Guest DJs who joined Chris Low in previewing the complete album and spinning a selection of choice anarcho tunes from past and present over the night were Nick Hydra (Punk Rock Youth Club/Solus) and Dani Mejia (Less Than Human/Wraith) who was also one of the speakers on the night.

INTRODUCTION TO THE CEASE AND RESIST LAUNCH PARTY – TONY D