Absolutely storming set by one of the more underated bands of the era.
Recorded in the crowd at the Adams Arms pub, a stones throw away from the Post Office Tower, this was a great gig…
I absolutely adored the (sometimes) chaotic performances by this band, the lyrics were a match for The Mob in my opinion, and the vinyl output (one 12″ and two 7″ singles on three record labels) are among my favorites of the 1983 -1986 period.
All Flowers In The Dustbin material is available on this site (including the ‘lost’ LP that was never released) if you use the search function.
Flowers In The Dustbin featured Gerard on the vocals, Gerard today is working hard behind the scenes as the KYPP computer genius (you would not expect myself or Tony Puppy to know what the hell we are doing without some kind of guidance would you?). Gerard also uses the name George Berger for his various literary offerings, ‘The Story Of Crass’ being the most recent book, available via Omnibus Press, a well researched read indeed, and worthy of having on your shelves at home.
I used to write to Gerard a fair bit, and always looked forward to his replies which (like Andy Martin’s letters) were works of art. The amount of time spent on each letter written by Gerard (and Andy Martin) must have been a fair bit longer than my five minute scrawls that I had sent in the first place…Thanks to Gerard (and Andy Martin) for making ME write with a little more care. Sometimes little things are important too!
Flowers In The Dustbin website
jakoh
August 6, 2008 at 4:36 pmHi Nic,
good to hear from you again,
Cornwall – bah … its been bloody raining for the last week, which is probably why the hardcore fudge sales have fallen.
As far as I can remember there was a cover to the LP, by the way it was called ‘Shoot The Hostages’ … poor taste I know.
I believe it was a image of a plane and you guessed it some hostages, though I could be wrong 🙂
I will say hi to Jason for you – he is currently recording some Blake spoken tracks for me to play with as part of a project, should be interesting.
I just downloaded the track, though I have only listened to a bit, but will give it my full attention later on tonight, but from what I heard I’m going to ‘enjoy’ it – the older I get the better ‘noise’ becomes 🙂
Not sure which Welsh band it was but for some reason the name Dean Poole does ring a bell, was there someone in the band called Rhys (might be spelt wrong) as Im sure that was a name connected with whoever they where, he also organized a gig for the Rayzens in Wales if I remember.
2000 vids!!! pure heart ache, next time your having a clear out PLEASE drop me a line 🙂
later
Clinton
February 2, 2009 at 12:13 pmHere is the tracklist for v/a ‘SHOOT THE HOSTAGES’ LP (9 Danke records).
The LP has an oversized photocopied two piece sleeve stapled down the sides, with a couple of inserts. I seem to recall one insert having a list of bands that were intended for the LP, then an insert with the new list of bands. I also seem to recall the LP cutting out halfway through ‘we are the mysterons’ by Orinj & Yella Kurtain Raylz, and doesn’t have the last track on it at all.
1-Love & Romance by Limited Talent
2-CB Radio by Limited Talent
3-Flowers In The Garden by Limited Talent
4-Snail by Stomak Pumpz,
5-Traffic Lights by Stomak Pumpz
6-In Out In Out by Wa/ker
7-Spider Song by Wa/ker,
8-Seprate Laws by The Bored
9-My Mate Jack by The Bored
10-Schizoid by The Bored
11-Intelligent People by No Excuse,
12-Conflict by No Excuse
13-I Wish I had As Much Money As The Queen by Orinj & Yella Kurtain Raylz
14-We Are The Mysterons by Orinj & Yella Kurtain Raylz,
15-Man From The Garage by Orinj & Yella Kurtain Raylz.
I also read this information pertaining to this LP-how true it is I do not know, anyone shed some light on this?
“It came about because a young teenager named Shaun Fisher from
a local (Telford in the West MIdlands, UK) punk band called Orinj & Yella
Kurtain Raylz died sniffing glue. His friends from other local punk bands
got £1000 together with the help of the local council and put a tribute
album together in his memory, this all happened in or around about 1982. I’m
not sure if any of the bands became signed or famous but this album
obviously represents an insight into the un-sung punk scene of the time.”
Brian
February 22, 2009 at 5:01 pmHi folks, there is still an alternative scene of sorts in Telford. Currently a few of us are doing a 70’s punk covers band called ‘Guttersnipe’ named-checking the most famous Telford Fanzine. Please check us out.
Brian
February 22, 2009 at 5:02 pmOh yeah we have on bass The original bassist from ‘Johnny and the UXBs’ and then ‘No Excuse’
sarah bag
February 25, 2009 at 12:41 pmgreetings folks! sarah ex- Curse Of Eve / Telford punk scene (80’s stylee) here. amazing to find people discussing the Telford ‘scene’ all these years later! i have good memories of those times and those brave bands like FITD who dared to leave London ocasionally and came to visit us in our strange new town of roundabouts.
you’ll be thrilled to know that not only are there are survivors but that punk gigs still happen on a reasonably regular basis at The Haygate pub in Wellington (1st Friday of the month) thanks to Bic an ex- gutarist with several Telford bands. Jay has also been around and about lately and is working on a new zine. His comic drawing skills are as amazing as ever.
we all had a middle aged punks night out last summer and went to see Flux at the 1 in 12 in Bradford (i was the only one in the mosh pit tho!). myself and Kes (ex- Curse of Eve bassist) actually carried on with our own version of punk-as-she-is-spoke until last year in a couple of bands called Witchknot and Baba Yaga. you can check us out on that devils instrument myspace if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
anyway i have a load of old demos of Telford bands, plus zines, photos etc etc, which would be good to put into some sort of online scrapbook at some point when i have the time and energy…
anyway love to all you old punkers out there – hi Jako – tried to look you up when we were in Cornwall a while ago. Managed to find Sue (ex-Barstewards / Bags) who also lives down that way…we visit Telford quite a bit to visit friends / family and get a punk rock hit now we are living in the west of Wales!
luggy
February 27, 2009 at 4:33 pmHey Sarah, glad that you’re still out there. Always enjoyed trips up to Telford.
chris
March 1, 2009 at 7:50 pmNic, totally off topic but just so I didn’t forget. One of the daily wonders of Tokyo was walking into a restaurant to experience one of those “am i suffering from auditory hallucinations?” moments as “Human car” from the free 7″ with the first Ex album was playing. there’s apparently some compilation cd of dutch punk bands from 77-82 just come out though the staff couldnt help me further as it was playing off an ipod.
chris
March 1, 2009 at 7:51 pmah, here it is. must have just received a japanese release:
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Im-Sure-Were-Gonna-Make-It-Dutch-Punkrock-77-82/release/841074
the rest of the stuff i heard from it was pretty good too.
Nic
March 2, 2009 at 6:39 pmWhat a bizarre occurrence! Just about the LAST thing you’d expect to hear…
🙂
The CD has most of the classic Dutch bands on it: the Tits, Mollesters and Filth cuts are some of my favourites full stop…
bruno
March 3, 2009 at 5:38 pmHi guys
What fuckin nice news , i just read a message from jakoh about the famous shoot the hostage, fuckin hell man it’s been so long, im bruno one of the two french punks who use to live in telford (so nice to hear from you mate, and also from jay, fletch and all the mates from there).
Its still fuckin amazing.
STILL DONT HAVE A GOOD ENGLISH but nobody cares.
I saw jay and fletch in 1998 they were in france for the football championship.
Do you any news since jakho? What about sarah?
Last time i went to telford was in 1999 but many things have change
anyway mate keep in touch.
my mail
brunostudio@free.fr
wish to hear from you soon, my friends from telford.
Welcome to telford, your opportunity, welcome to telford it’s a place to be…..
CIAO CIAO
SEE YOU
Sue
March 17, 2009 at 7:17 pmSue from the Miserable Barstewards/The handbags here…also living in Cornwall but get to Telford occasionally!!
How weird to google the barstewards & find all this stuff…just had a read through & your memories are definately better than mine. Just gonna dig out some of the old stuff & see what i’ve got…i’m inspired!
Oh by the way think i’ve seen you jako down here in rainy cornwall…but like i said memory is bad so next time i’ll ask if it’s you!!
Pete
April 4, 2009 at 12:01 amGreetings
The Adams Arms gig was the one of the first gigs I went to upon moving to London in 1983. It was at this gig, and subsequent gigs that I met the crowd of people I spent the next 7 years hanging around with. We all moved on but I remember well the long wait between sets at this gig.
Regards
Pete
Jack
July 14, 2009 at 7:49 pmI believe Billy Bannister did some film stuff with Joe Strummer?
Anybody remember Mike Nolan the drummer from Limited Talent?
Dev
March 19, 2010 at 3:11 pmHello All, it’s Dev (ex Flowers, Tom’s Midnight Garden) posting for the first time.
A few names and memories from my halcyon days here – I’ll have to make more of an effort to get involved – just let me know if I drift off into aimless waffle though.
I know this thread is old now, but my request does bear some relevance…
… Sarah, Jako (or anyone!) – do you remember Jo… she used to live in Newport and was partly responsible for ‘The Sweet Fishy Sausages’. I lost touch with her around 1989/1990 and would really like to know how she is. One day the letters just stopped.
Heh, heh… I was reading the post about Hagar – hello Ruth… I was wondering if you knew if Cal was still about… I haven’t seen him since 1984… did you end up marrying him or anything? I saw Mitch helping out at the T.G. show at Heaven last year…. he must have started using anti-aging products pretty early on is all I can say!
… am I waffling yet?
OK.. I’m talking to myself too…
Will return another time!
xx
DavidM
March 19, 2010 at 7:19 pmHey Dev. Great to see you on here. Gerard, any news as to the planned new FITB full length?
Penguin • Post Author •
March 19, 2010 at 7:36 pmGerard is on his honeymoon after getting married mid week, good luck to him for the road ahead. So he may not reply to your question at his normal lightning fast speed DavidM.
Alright Dev, welcome aboard.
Ruth Hag
March 20, 2010 at 12:51 pmHey Dev, good to hear! memories memories… this site is doing my head in! I never married Cal tho for years it felt like it. He’s still around – Brighton way sources say (that’s called going over to the dark side for a Crystal Palace supporter!) I still remember him doing the artwork for ‘Freaks Run Wild’ – just think all those thousands of tiny dots on the back cover were painstakingly done by hand, ouch! A subsequent blast from the past, Steve, did some artwork for Blyth Power and I remember he used a dot transfer sheet – just rub down hard and thousands of dots appear. Technology eh? Yes, Mitch is disturbingly unscathed by the years, it is wholly unnatural.
ps. Happy Honeymoon Gerard.
Karen Amsden
March 20, 2010 at 6:20 pmFrom Hagar the Womb and just looking up to remind me of the good old days and looked up this bit as used to share a house with Si Barry. Feel old now
Dev
March 21, 2010 at 12:00 amHiya Ruth – big kiss xx – It’s saturday night and I’m here… what a saddo!
…yeah, Cal… just a year later and all those dots could have been rubbed off courtesy of the old ‘letraset’ stencil thingys that we bought from stationers back in the day. Another wonder of the 80’s and of course, all the ‘decent’ cassette releases had ’em… ahem. Well, I’ve always heard that Brighton could bring out the ‘dark’ side in a man… you only have to ask Gerard 🙂 BTW: Congratulations old chap!!
Penguin: Hello mate – muchachos respect for the time you put into this site 🙂
DavidM: Hi mate… get down here!
Karen A: “Barry, Barry, Barry Manilow…” hope you don’t feel so old now xxx
DavidM
March 21, 2010 at 3:32 pmDev I should be making it down to London for anarcho-punk/crust fest Scumfest May 28th/29th. Perhaps we could still do that visit to the British Museum.
Dev
March 21, 2010 at 4:11 pmThat sounds good David, I’ll pencil it in.
DavidM
March 21, 2010 at 9:03 pmCool Dev.
CosmoNaughty
October 16, 2010 at 9:00 pmI remember the early 80’s well, we drank (usually in the Miners Arms, Madeley), we sang (well and played and we’re generally artistic) at St Micks, it was supposed to be a local council run rehersal/ drop in centre for young people, I just remember it being just a hang out for the local punk scene, I only ever remember one person used to legitamately rent it , it was a percussionist and he’d just noodle about on his cymbals for an hour, other than that me and members of Limited Talant, Orinj n yella kurtin raylz and whoever was present would just jam mad shit, I didn’t even take drugs at the time but we’d just jam experimental gobeldegook for hours it would always sound a bit Can (at this time of my life I’d never heard them) a bit Virgin Prunes (I was a yet to be a fan, this was 81), we would literally jam for 6 hours on end.
on a slightly more permanant level than jamming, I had a stint of being singer in Shifnal band The Bored, my time was a little bit passed the ‘freedom one’ time, but I do sing on the track ” Riot Style” on Bullshit detector 2 (something that makes me howl nowadays, cos I can’t sing for fucking toffee).
I remember the Gemini Club, in fact it was The Bored during my time with them who got the first gig there.
and I remember Billy Bannister who’s also been mentioned in this thread, I should do, I lived with him for some time in our flat on Sutton Hill, The last thing I saw of Billy, he was the face of a campaign for : not wearing a hood in the mander centre, (Wolverhampton shopping precinct) back in my Telford days people knew me as Schweppes, a little later Sex Gang Children followers knew me as Telford, my real names Anton (but what’s in a name).
gerard
October 16, 2010 at 10:37 pmAnton! long time no see mate – good to see you posting here, hope all is well
shifnal punk
November 3, 2010 at 4:59 pmhey guys i remember the shoot the hostages album and i knew the guy who died, i would so love it if someone out there has an mp3 of this album would love to hear it again, my older sister had this and i loved the bands, yes telford was mad in the early 80s with the punk scene.
CosmoNaughty
November 7, 2010 at 10:51 pmI think it would be unlikely to find Shoot the Hostages as an Mp3, it’s the kind of album that would kind of slip through the net, saying that it was a good record.
Gerard last time I saw you was at Brighton free festival (wyde park) in 1995, I had a stint of playing bongos for Doo the Moog and we played @ that.
PUNKY-mitchell
December 12, 2010 at 10:38 pmHey there, I need some help as my bro Dean Mitchell… stage name Dean Latreen, was as many of you old punks know the lead guitarist in THE STONED RAYZENS, my brother fell on really hard times and lost everything including his marbles!! But now he is starting to piece his life back together and I would really appreciate if any of you have got any recordings of the Stoned Rayzens so I could copy or buy?? I would luv to surprise my bro and take him back down memory lane, if any of my brothers old punk friends want to get in touch with Dean drop me an e.mail at funkypunkymitch@hotmail.com thanks young punky.
Chris (Reg)
August 12, 2011 at 10:06 pmHi to all Telford/Newport punks…if any still breathing lol
Still got my copy of ‘Shoot the Hostages’ on vinyl inc cover and inserts if anyone still wants it will work on getting on MP3.
Chris (Reg) ex of Newport
Jason
August 25, 2011 at 7:36 pmHi, im a telford teen in a punk band who has an original copy of shoot the hostage and think its great that a load of local bands came together and created the record in memory of their friend. if anybody would like them MP3 tracks i have converted them all just email me at jasdudeman@hotmail.co.uk
Sean
November 5, 2011 at 10:54 pmAh.. the telford punks had a good scene going then, great gigs and J, Jako etc.. were all very friendly .. even if we did get the piss taken out of us from being from Shrewsbury
viva
February 25, 2012 at 9:52 pmi lent my copies of ichabodpoo to a girl at art college and they were never returned my brother gave jay a lift a few years ago and got a copy of his latest well then fanzine – new anarchy last i saw him was at the anti nazi march in london approx 1994 but trying to contact him
Gaz Doyle
June 18, 2012 at 9:23 pmi saw jay but a few months back, he is back living in wolvo painting and decorating, got his mobile if you email i can send it to you (if I ask him first)
Bass Man
September 7, 2012 at 10:34 pmRIP Mark Bullock (Alias Crabby. The Guitarist of the Bored) Mark passed away recently after having an aneurism.