Verbal Warning – Union Rowing Club, Nottingham, 22/01/83

Posted on February 3, 2008April 8, 2020 by Penguin

The gig performance by local Nottingham band Verbal Warning that Conflict deemed not acceptable for the gentle punkers ears to listen to is HERE

The band were a huge wind up though!

Verbal Warning got the plugs pulled by Conflict and with threats of violence toward the band from the audience, they quickly had it on their toes!

No tracklisting, thanks to Chris Low for the tape of this half gig (about 15 minutes).

Photographs from the performance courtesy of Miles ‘Rat Naplam’

32 comments

Nic
February 3, 2008 at 8:35 pm

Ah, another classic!
I was at this concert – and the vibe was definitely NOT in Verbal Warning’s favour: the general tone from the Conflict ‘camp’ was pretty negative, largely because of the bands song ‘Anarchy Ain’t the Answer’ which didn’t toe the party line (it was actually quite an incoherent rant, but the point was made regardless)…

Napalm Death played a couple of concerts with Verbal Warning, including one at the Recession Klub in Hackney later in 1983 (with Tony’s favourites The Apostles) which was a much tamer affair…

VW are still going, although without their lead singer (Dayve) who was responsible for most of the wind-ups…
Chris
February 3, 2008 at 9:49 pm

15 minutes of Genius.

This tape should be put into a time capsule marked “anarcho-punk and the ‘think for yourself’ ethos” 😉
Anok Jon
February 4, 2008 at 10:26 am

Absolutly love this! Cheers for putting this one up!
Nic
February 4, 2008 at 4:27 pm

Here’s a tracklist:
World Wars
Join the Army
Utopian Ideology (aka Anarchy Ain’t the Answer)
Club a Cub
Part Time Punks
Papers

You can hear me shouting “Anarchy ain’t the answer” just before ‘Utopian Ideology’: ah, me and my massive mouth…
🙂

I’d forgotten what a great sneer the singer Dayve had: he was great at getting a room riled…
“You can gob all you like, but we’re not getting off!”
“You should never let cunts like us wind you up…”
“Conflict, Crass – they’re only rock ‘n’ roll bands…”
“Big wind-up: achieved”

The punks in Nottingham were pretty good at being closed-minded: I remember seeing Rudimentary Peni there in late 1982, and all the punks slagged them off for being ‘straights’…where are all those ‘weirdos’ now?
Michael
February 4, 2008 at 6:23 pm

I’ve still got a copy of this classic tape which is called “Freedom of speech the truth hurts” and as well as the gig has some studio stuff as well. I went to that gig mentioned above at The Recession club in Hackney 83 Verbal Warning, Napalm Death and The Apostles !
Nic
February 4, 2008 at 6:56 pm

Michael – really? The Recession Klub concert?
That’s great…Napalm Death was mine (and Miles’) band: I was the vocalist…
Do you have any memories of it that you could share?

Miles played drums with The Apostles for (I think) 3 songs at the Recession Klub – certainly on ‘The Curse’ and ‘Innocent Bystander’…
I remember Dave doing a solo version of ‘Hey Man, You Look Pale’…

Dave was living on Brougham Road then – I think he had moved in there only quite recently…
Chris
February 4, 2008 at 7:04 pm

Pretty sure Dave moved to Brougham Road in 1982. He was certainly staying there when I joined the Apostles which was in summer 1983. I’ve got a mixing-desk recording of that Recession Club gig (tho sadly not the ND set) which I will pass on to Micky to post up here next time I see him. Sure i’ve also got a tape of the other gig the Apostles played at the Recession, with Nocturnal Emissions too. All clanking Little @ print-presses as backing tracks, vert early Test Dept! Great version of ‘Rediffusion Refugee’ though, if my memory serves me right.
Nic
February 4, 2008 at 7:07 pm

Ah right – in that case, Dave should have had a f*cking tidy up then: it was a shithole!
😉

Why weren’t you playing at the Recession gig, Chris?
Can you remember?
(My brain is slightly addled from all the chemical abuse its taken over the years…)
Chris
February 4, 2008 at 7:21 pm

haha! Andy could tell you…i was up in court that week for a bit of youthful foolishness and was well ‘grounded’! ‘chemical abuse’ came into the equation there too 🙂
Paul Warning
February 5, 2008 at 2:54 pm

Nostalga eh, this gig was the highlight of the Old Verbal Warning’s career, certainly a night to remember, the irony of getting kicked of stage by a load of anarchist because they didn’t agree with what we were saying never fails to raise a smile. Dave now lives in Ireland but comes over from time to time, and has seen the new Verbal Warning on a couple of occasions. You never know we might get a support gig with Conflict again, we might even relearn Anarchy Ain’t the Answer for that.
Nic
February 5, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Nice one, Paul..
I hope you’re well – and Dave too…

I saw VW 10 times back in the ‘old days’ – I must have been a sucker for punishment! 😉

How about putting up some of the old demos on the website? ‘Lady Isobel Barnet’ wouldn’t go amiss 😉

Nic
(ex-Napalm Death vocalist)
Michael
February 5, 2008 at 6:58 pm

hey Nic – I used to be in touch with Steve from Horsley,Derby who did the Terminal Illiteracy/My pet rabbits an anarchist zines. I used to get tapes off him (and a few off Miles) when I lived in Harlow. Steve told me about the gig so I went along. Its a long time ago but I seem to remember thinking that it was more like a warehouse/studio than a gig venue and there not being many people there. I bumped into Steve for a chat but can’t remember much more about the night though !!!! Sorry I cant remember more.
Michael
Nic
February 5, 2008 at 7:13 pm

Thanks Michael – Steve was a good man: he turned me on to some great stuff…and ‘My Pet Rabbit…’ was stupid but fun 😉
I still have a few copies of Terminal Illiteracy in a file…

Yeah, I remember that there was hardly anyone there (and that it resembled a rehearsal studio): not that it mattered much to me – I would shout and take my clothes off in an empty room!
Thaks for reminding me that Steve was there though – I’d forgotten that…

As we’re on the Great Quest for all things related to this period, I have to ask: do you have any of those tapes left?
Chris
February 5, 2008 at 7:30 pm

On THAT Subject, Nic, i unearthed The Holy Grail !! that tape we got off Steve Illiteracy of the early apostles rehearsal, plus flack, primal chaos, black flag & heretics…only i fuckin’ well went and recorded over half of the BEST EVER version (and recording) of ‘Anti-Christ’ DOH! Sure Micky will stick it all up soon, but would kill just to get another copy of that version.
Michael
February 5, 2008 at 9:07 pm

have got a few tapes still in a box somewhere as well as that Verbal Warning one (Freedom of speech the truth hurts – 25 tracks !) I’ll have a look over the next few days.
Any idea what happened to Steve ? i used to swap tapes – he always used to soap the stamps so they could be reused !!. Ive still got several of those fanzines as well -TI, Pet Rabbit, Dawning of a new era and a copy of Twisted Nerve (no 5 with a review of the above gig)
Nic
February 5, 2008 at 10:25 pm

That would be great, Michael – good on you…

I don’t know what happened to Steve – we lost touch at the end of 1983, and I haven’t heard anything of him since…
Soaping stamps: classic (and perfect for teenagers with no money!)…

I’ve got copies of all the fanzines you mentioned too: I was thinking of scanning in Miles’ article on the concert…
Have you got issue 1 of Dawning of a New Error? (I haven’t got it anymore)
Nic
February 5, 2008 at 10:26 pm

CHRIS!!! That is the best news – there’s some great stuff on that tape…
Looking forward to it…
Dave
February 5, 2008 at 11:27 pm

hello people, dave the old VW vocalist here.
so many memories coming back reading these blogs. the union gig, going to hackney recession club, new error zine…
steve( pet rabbit ) met him at an offspring gig in nottm a few years ago, he was still living in horsley then.
the thing i got wrong at the union was to slag conflict so early on in our set, i should have waited til the end, after we’d tortured them for 45 mins.
still have my treasured original napalm death demos.
time for bed
dayve
Nic
February 6, 2008 at 11:46 am

Great to see all is well with you, Dayve – have you got a contact?
Dave
February 6, 2008 at 7:45 pm

ello nic, contact yep no prob, but how do i get it to u in private, sites can get trawled and i get enough spam already
dave
Nic
February 6, 2008 at 9:10 pm

Nice one, Dave…
Send to here:
hextopus
at
yahoo.
co.
uk

Be really good to hear from you!

I saw Miles just before Christmas – he’s really well, living in Denmark where he and his partner run an Ashtanga yoga school…
PaulWarning
February 10, 2008 at 12:22 pm

Just dug out a demo of Lady Isabel Barnett, also found a rough studio demo of Anarchy ain’t the answer I’d forgotten I’d got but I haven’t a clue how to get them posted
dave
February 11, 2008 at 8:19 pm

re Lady Isobel Barnett

don’t do it Paul
Nic
February 12, 2008 at 9:41 am

hahaha – you know it makes sense Dave! 😉
Paul Warning
February 12, 2008 at 11:36 am

but it is the studio demo, and we didn’t write the words
dave
February 13, 2008 at 10:16 pm

the lyrics – we didn’t write ’em.

what a relief, but keep it in the archive paul
Dev
October 20, 2017 at 2:03 pm

Hi
I just googled “Dayve Nottingham” and it sent me here. Am I too late to join the party?

I wasn’t at this gig (but have the tape) and saw Verbal Warning several times. They were great for winding up the anarcho punks “Meat is murder on a leather jacket?”
I went down to Nottingham from Leeds often for gigs and slept on Dayves floor regularly. They had a good scene going; Dig and Dayve put on some great gigs and it was a meeting point for travelling bunkers. Last time I saw you Nic (and Miles) was in Dayves front room, eating toast the morning after a gig. Do you still have your poncho?

I still have loads of fanzines from back in the day and boxes of live tapes/demos including the Napalm Death first demo (punk is a rotten corpse?) and (I think ) a couple of comps that Miles did as well as lots of stuff from Dayve/Dig (skum dribblers practice tapes anyone?).

I lost touch with Dayve in 85/86 and remember missing his wedding trying to get to Stonehenge!

Cheers
Dev

beestonville@hotmail.com
dayve
October 31, 2017 at 11:19 am

No you’re not tooo late in my book Dev, i’ll email you 🙂
BLACK OPERATIONS
September 4, 2021 at 3:10 am

amazing recording! right up my street! thanks to one and all for sharing!

i know nic has listed some titles above but i was looking at the discogs listing of their ‘freedom of speech, the truth hurts…’ tape and the 6 live tracks on that recording certainly seem to correspond with the titles of the first 6 tracks of that tape too so i guess this can be considered an alternate tracklist! 12 or 13 years or so too late 🙂

1. Just Another War Song
2. Your Country Needs You
3. Utopian Ideology (Anarchy Ain’t The Answer)
4. See It’s Blood
5. Hardcore Punks
6. Mindless Violence Crazy Today

here’s the discogs listing :
https://www.discogs.com/Verbal-Warning-Freedom-Of-SpeechTruth-Hurts-23-Rock-N-Roll-Greats/release/17717002

thanks again for sharing this and as i’ve never commented before i’ll say thanks for everything else over the years too!

gillham
BLACK OPERATIONS
September 4, 2021 at 3:27 am

i should’ve probably read the listing’s release notes before i posted!

“Content may slightly differ per each individual cassette but all will contain the 1983 Union Club songs from a gig where Anarcho-punk headliners Conflict would not allow Verbal Warning to complete their set due to disagreeing with some of Verbal Warning’s lyrics/onstage comments (hence the title of the tape)
A1 to A6: Live Union Rowing Club 22/1/1983”

and the rest of the tape is :
A7: Studio Outtake
A8, A9: Practice 2/1/1982
A10, A11: 2nd Demo 15/12/1982
A12: Uncredited
B1, B2: 1st Demo 26/1/1982
B3 to B11: Live Sherwood 13/11/1982

if anyone has this tape and could share it that’d be fantastic!
Abbey Broughton
October 9, 2021 at 8:39 pm

Hi everyone here just found this by some random googling with my dad. my dad is Greg the other half of Steve and Greg from Terminal Illiteracy, pleasantly suprised to find people are still interested and can remember all this from so long ago. my dad has kept all his copies of TI and dawning of a new error and others that they printed.
mb
October 25, 2021 at 1:52 pm

All those zines Greg and Steve printed would be quite rare/collectable nowadays. The first issue of D.O.N.E fanzine is really hard to find now..
In the last issue of ‘Dawning of a New Error’ instead of reviewing the content of other fanzines they reviewed the editors, this was either by Dig or Dayve;
”Gregory with his recently up-graded smoothie image wouldn’t look out of place in a posh nightclub.. yes a real grade one Herbert, likes the Mob, hasn’t got a 3 foot mohican..” they were all friends back then so this was intended to be good natured etc, unlike their description of the staff of KYPP and ENIGMA zine who they didn’t seem to keen on.