Rehearsal 1 inc ‘Dressed To Kill’ and ‘Rock And Roll’
Rehearsal 2 mainly JFB playing guitar
Indebted to Jon From Bromley for the lend of these cassettes from his private vault! Also thanks to Jon for the photographs of Ruth and Karen wailing away at the Centro Iberico which head this post. Thanks also to Steph Hagar for the photographs below. The photograph of Steph just above this text is from Ruth’s personal collection…Confused? You will be… Many thanks also must go out to Jon From Bromley for the third time for the text he composed specifically for this post which is written out below.
These recordings were made in the summer of 1982, about a year or so before ‘The Word Of The Womb’ 12” was released. The tracks were recorded at Xntrix studios which was based in the basement of the Poison Girls’ Leyton house. The tracks were engineered by Pete Fender.
The Hagar The Womb line up at the time was Ruth & Karen on vocals, Janet on guitar, Steph on bass, Chris from Cold War on drums, and myself, Jon From Bromley, on lead guitar.
We recorded all the songs using two 4-track machines in tandem and the idea was to release a cassette album on Mortarhate Records. In the end, the band were not totally happy with the recordings and they were all shelved with re-recording sessions planned for September 1983 at Heart And Soul Studios to be engineered again by Pete Fender.
One track from the Xntrix Studio sessions did get an official release – ‘For The Ferryman’ turned up on the ‘Who? What? Why? When? Where?’ compilation LP released on Mortarhate Records in the mid 1980’s.
Also recorded during these sessions was a cover version of Gary Glitter’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ which the band used to play live. This track featured everyone who happened to be in Xntrix Studios at the time on vocals – Colin Conflict, various members of Rubella Ballet, Poison Girls and all of Hagar The Womb. The musical backing on this track was Jon From Bromley on guitar and bass with Chris performing the drumming and percussion parts.
During the time between the two recording sessions at Xntix and Heart And Soul Steph left the band and was replaced by Mitch from Flack. I was also just about to leave and I was eventually replaced by Paul from Cold War.
The ‘Word Of The Womb’ 12″ that was recorded at the Heart And Soul Studio sessions was released late on in 1983 on Mortarhate Records.
JFB
jon (ex-from bromley)
June 24, 2009 at 11:03 pmblimey – i have no recollection at all of the dodgy acoustic guitar stuff… probably best forgotten!
pretty sure i have somewhere a recording of the rehearsals of Idolization and M.I.F (men in frocks, later renamed to something else)… will have to track that one down.
D.F.
June 25, 2009 at 1:17 amGreat! I can’t wait to download this later on tonight. “Dressed to Kill” has to be one my favorite songs of the anarchopunk era.
Loved the Anarchist-bear-riding-giraffe cover art too. Playful as the sound.
Thanks!
Nick Hydra
November 15, 2010 at 6:47 pmJust found this – ‘Break the Silence’ cassette. I haven’t downloaded it yet, but looks interesting.
Several Hagar tracks including one called ‘Indochina’ which I’ve never heard of. Any ideas?
http://burning-britain.blogspot.com/2008/09/va-198x-break-silence-tape.html
ruth hag
November 17, 2010 at 4:04 pmnever heard of it either – maybe an inspired misspelling?
AL Puppy
September 15, 2011 at 7:03 pmHagar the Womb re-release ‘A brighter shade of black’ out soon.
This from Rough Trade.
http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=343527
hagar the womb is for many, the missing piece of the uk anarcho punk scene. formed in 1981, hagar the womb was not a typical example of that scene, for they refused to conform to the dress codes and dour seriousness of their peers.
what first started as a sextet sporting three female vocalists, soon experienced a healthy bit of turnover. circulating through at least a dozen band members, hagar the womb was often identified by bright coloured artwork and outfits, as well as bringing an original and upbeat sound to an otherwise homogenous scene. a week after their inception, they were sharing a bill with the mob and zounds.
hagar the womb would go on to play with the likes of the apostles, poison girls and rubella ballet before breaking up in 1985.
‘a brighter shade of black’ puts together both of their 12″ ep’s ‘word of the womb’ and ‘funnery in the nunnery’ as well as a common compilation favourite called ‘for the ferrymen.’ the latter recorded by poison girls sometimes bassist, pete fender in the poison girl’s own x-n-trix studios. reissued for the first time and limited to 1000 copies.
AL Puppy
September 22, 2011 at 9:01 amExcited whoops from southwest Scotland- A Brighter Shade of Black by Hagar the Womb arrived today. Totally confused me at first when postman gave me package – thought it was a calendar…then ancient memories of Small Wonder Mail order kicked in – it was a 12 inch vinyl record….
Will write a review once I have played it a few times.
Ian B
October 16, 2011 at 3:02 pmThanks for putting this up, I was v.fond of Hagar “back then” but never heard this (it’s great btw). Sadly, I don’t think you’d be able to get away with this kind of enthusiastic, shambolic excellence nowadays, everybody’s too bloody cynical (bands included!). God bless John Peel for getting Hagar onto national radio, the session they did for him is an absolute corker…
…which reminds me, does anybody have a decent copy of Rubella Ballet’s Peel session?
Trunt
October 17, 2011 at 12:44 pm@Ian B. I have a cdr of RB’s peel sessions 83/84. Drop me an email and I’ll send you one. trunt at btopenworld.com Obviously the at is @ cheers.
Nick Hydra
February 9, 2012 at 5:51 pmThe last track on the x-ntrix download is ‘By Force’