The Mob / All The Madmen Records Official Site

The Mob / All The Madmen Records official facebook page: Read reams of relevant text in this Info section, view hundreds of period photographs in the Photos section, listen to some of the relevant records and tapes via KYPP in the Links / Wall section.

INTRODUCTION TO THE MOB

Mark Wilson was the main writer, vocalist and guitarist with Curtis Youe on bass guitar and backing vocals. Graham Fallows played the drums from the bands foundation in 1978 until late 1980, then Adie Tompkins and Tim Hutton were also tried out, until eventually Josef Porter from Zounds joined up until the group disbanded in late 1983. Wilf (sadly no longer with us) though not a member of the band was always present with some of the best artwork of the time. The pages on Myspace and Facebook are the nearest thing to having an official site for The Mob on the world wide web.
Another site worth checking out is Kill Your Pet Puppy who have always had a very healthy relationship with the band, two interesting Mob posts are on this website and are linked to below:

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=4250 - The Mob ATM records post

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=4057 - The Mob Crass records post

All the records released on the All The Madmen record label are uploaded onto the Kill Your Pet Puppy blog and they may be listened to via the links on the HISTORY OF ALL THE MADMEN RECORDS - 1978 - 1986 text half way down this info page.

Mickey Penguin x




THE HISTORY OF THE MOB

The Mob formed in a village near Yeovil in Somerset, England, around the beginning of 1978. The band at this time consisted of Mark (guitar, vocals and songwriter), Graham (drums), and Curtis (bass and backing vocals). All of the members of The Mob had previously been in a band called Magnum Force while at school together…

The Mob played local halls and did not go too far out of the west country region during this early time in the band’s history.

A lot of the early gigs were attended by local meatheads, and there was quite a bit of hostility shown from some members of the audience towards the band and their friends, which sometimes ended in violence. This aggression was common all over England during and after punks ‘heyday’ specifically in small towns and villages. The Mob blagged a slot on the 1978 Stonehenge free festival, a festival which the band supported and had attended before the punk explosion of 1977. The Mob performed at this free festival throughout the following years until the band’s breakup in 1983.

The following year in 1979, the band’s gigs opened up quite a bit, the band went on the road with Here and Now who drew a different audience than the ‘bored youngsters’ that would cause trouble in youth clubs in and around Yeovil. The band also experienced playing their first European gigs with Here And Now. Both these bands performed together in Holland towards the end of 1979 which was useful for The Mob as they got to know the members, and the hangers on, of the free festival scene. The Mob performed for a second year at the Stonehenge free festival during the summer solstice.

At this time there was a small explosion of various like minded individuals in the local area who had started bands and began to organise their gigs with The Mob. Some of the friends included Geoff, who had the original All The Madmen fanzine based at his parents house, where most of the friends would hang out without too much grief from Geoff’s parents.

The record label name, soon to be born, was a continuation of the fanzine name. The fanzine was dying down a bit by 1979-80. The members of The Mob, Debbie (who went on to form My Bloody Valentine in the mid 1980’s) and Christine from The Bikini Mutants were also regular friends and visitors to Geoff’s parents house along with Wilf who supplied the artwork for a lot of the releases on the All The Madmen record label and all The Mob’s vinyl output in particular.

The Androids Of Mu were also close to The Mob at this time.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=4250

The band’s first single ‘Crying Again’ 7″ was recorded in the winter of 1979 at Crypt Studios in Stevenage, by Here And Now’s soundman, and resident Street Level Studios engineer, Grant Showbiz.

The record was released on Geoff’s All The Madmen record label, with the help of Max who saved up a fair bit of cash to put the single out in the early months of 1980.

The next single, the ’Witch Hunt’ 7″ was recorded in the summer of 1980 at Spaceward in Cambridge, and had a much bigger impact, reaching further out via the network of fanzines growing up in the rise of Crass and bands of that scene. Also John Peel played it a bit, and therefore this single was just about everybody’s first experience of The Mob specifially if you were outside the band’s immediate local area.

At the start of ‘Witch Hunt’, there is a blood-curdling scream, this scream was used on the ansa-phone message when ringing up Geoff’s house in Larkhill Road from then on!

More local gigs followed, also a small ‘free’ tour in the vein of what Here And Now were promoting a year earlier. This tour was called Weird Tales and included The Mob, The Astronauts, Zounds, Andriods Of Mu plus any local bands that happened to be in the area the tour had got to that day. The band’s got paid by passing around a hat during the gigs…

A few tracks still exist on tape of this era, mostly on Kif Kif’s cassette label Fuck Off tape label, ’Tribute To Bert Weeden’ and a little later on ‘Folk In Hell’ being two of them worth listening to.

The band played the Stonehenge free festival in 1980, unfortunately this was the year when some trouble brewed up during the day from some violent biker gangs who did not have the patience to listen to ‘punk’ music and specifically Crass who were to play there set later on in the evening. The Snipers and The Mob got off lightly, but when The Epileptics (soon to be renamed Flux Of Pink Indians) were performing the trouble started and many people were hurt in the clashes. Zounds, Poison Girls and Crass did not even get to perform as the promoters and the sound guy, Grant Showbiz, could not guarantee the safety of these bands or the punks who had come to see them perform. Ironically both Crass and Poison Girls successfully played this same festival the year before in 1979 with no trouble whatsoever. The difference between both years, according to Mark Mob, was that hundreds of 'Kings Road' fashion punks turned up in 1980. This is what seemed to upset the biker gangs.

In the beginning of 1981, Mark and Curtis moved up to London into the squats of Brougham Road, Graham had decided to stay in Yeovil so the band were in need of a new drummer. After previously trying out Adie (from Null And Void) and a guy called Tim Hutton (from Zounds), they recruited fellow Brougham Road resident Josef Porter (from Zounds, Null And Void and Entire Cosmos).

On the back of the popularity of the ‘Witch Hunt’ single, and with the new drummer in place, the band got together to record some tracks to be released on cassette format. The tape was recorded in Josef’s bedroom in Brougham Road, Hackney and was eventually entitled ‘Ching’. This very basic bedroom recording was sold at gigs and through mailorder to people writing to the band.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=4057

The Mob caught the attention of Penny Rimbaud, drummer and writer for the seminal anarcho-punk band Crass, who recruited them for a recording of a single on Crass Records.

‘No Doves Fly Here’ 7″ is not quite like anything else the Mob ever recorded. This is partly because of the tune’s violently slow pace and vivid anti-war lyrics. It’s also due to the production tweaks added later by Rimbaud at Southern Studios in North London, including his famous sound clips and a very prominent synth track that the band hadn’t expected. At the time when the soon to be released record was sent to The Mob, the sound effects annoyed the band members to various degrees. There are test pressings of the original drum and bass version around, which sounds decent enough, but I think what Penny tried to do does add emotion to the tracks, and the tracks sound better for the tweaking. That is just my view though, and I must add, I also like and respect Penny very much!

The intense power of the song, combined with Crass’ better distribution via Rough Trade, ensured this release to be in the top 5 of the then independent charts for several weeks.

The Mob played a Streetlevel music festival in 1982 at a playground on Hampstead Heath, this performance was witnessed by Min and several other notible Kill Your Pet Puppy collective members. The first time the band and the fanzine contributors had crossed paths.

The band also performed at the infamous ZigZag squat gig in December 1982, along with some of the best in the anarcho-punk scene including Omega Tribe, Faction, D. I. R. T, Null And Void, Lack Of Knowledge, The Apostles, Conflict, Poison Girls, D & V, and Crass themselves. This gig was partly organised by members of the Kill Your Pet Puppy collective.

In the autumn of 1982, The Mob recorded some tracks at Spaceward with the financial help of Kill Your Pet Puppy collective members, Alistair Livingston and Mick Lugworm. The product was released by All the Madmen records early on in the spring of 1983 with the backing of Geoff Travis of Rough Trade, who saw the potential in dealing with this band / label for his organisation.

The ‘Let The Tribe Increase’ album was a milestone for The Mob, and for the anarcho scene that the band had been lumped into against their wishes. The band never wanted any labels pushed onto them, although the band members had respect for all the individuals that they crossed paths with, bands, writers, activists etc. The album is considered a ‘classic’ by many 1000’s of people around the world, and rightly so.

The release came with stunning artwork from Wilf (borrowed if we are to be polite, from Alternative TV’s second album ‘Vibing Up The Senile Man’ – The ATV album nobody liked, because the tracks were not fast and did not have enough fuzz boxes on them) and a huge poster…

The original artwork by Wilf that was considered would have been too expensive to print so the band went for the cheaper two colour option instead.

The album hit the top 3 in the independent charts with the help of the fanzine writers and the music weeklies of the time which in no small way was down to Alistair Livingston and Tony D from Kill Your Pet Puppy fanzine pushing the album whenever and wherever they could, including getting a cover and centre spread of Punk Lives magazine which had quite a large circulation at the time. Also The Mob who had previously been playing to such colourful audiences at the Wapping Autonomy Centre, the Centro Iberico, Meanwhile Gardens and a host of other ‘off the circuit’ venues throughout the last couple of years helped to push the record.

Furthermore bands like Blood And Roses, Sex Gang Children, Southern Death Cult and Brigandage were getting positive publicity at the time, and The Mob were generally regarded as a similar sort of band attitude wise, esp in the better fanzines like Kill Your Pet Puppy and Vague, as well as the music weeklies like the N. M. E.

The final Mob release was the ‘Mirror Breaks’ 7″, again recorded at Spaceward and released in the summer of 1983. Musically it was one of the prettier songs that the band had attempted, but with the same feel and some of the best lyrics of any Mob song in the set at the time.

This last single was selling very well, as was the album, what better time to knock it all on the head, and get something else done than during the pinnacle of the band…!

Mark Mob decided a couple of months after a European tour in the winter of 1983, to put down his guitar, put his teepee in the truck, and roam around the countryside, originally with the Peace Convoy, then settling at Pooh Corner for several years, later still settling down near Bath with his family.

The Mob bowing out at the top of the band’s popularity was a sensible thing to have done, and the band’s legacy is greater for it.

In 1984 Josef and Curtis continued performing together with Blyth Power until those old friends split up late 1986.

Josef carried on Blyth Power for many years with different line ups, and they still play a few times a year. Curtis has settled in Wales and has became a chef. He hopes to own his own restaurant sometime in the future. Josef is now in charge of testing models (airfix toys not girls) for a magazine. Josef’s ‘dream’ job. Mark has a van parts business, buying and selling scrap metal. He spends a fair bit of time in his second home in Morrocco. Wilf, the artist of all the record sleeves and much more than that, a close friend to all the band, passed away in the late 1990’s.

All the Madmen records continued though out under Alistair Livingston’s guidance after Mark Mob had disappeared in 1984. He helped release the Astronauts album ‘All Done By Mirrors’ in late 1983, the Flowers In The Dustbin 12″ and the Zos Kia 7″ in 1984 featuring Min.

Rob Challice from Faction, took the record label over in 1985 and released a whole heap more material by Blyth Power, The Astronauts and Thatcher On Acid until early 1988, when All The Madmen records closed it’s doors for the last time.

Mickey Penguin x




THE MOB’S VINYL DISCOGRAPHY

MOB01 - Crying Again / Youth - recorded at Crypt, Stevenage by Grant Showbiz - recorded 1979 released 1980 - All The Madmen Records

MAD02 - Witchhunt / Shuffling Souls - recorded at Spaceward, Cambridge by Mike Kemp - 1980 - All The Madmen Records

321984 /7 - No Doves Fly Here / I Hear You Laughing - recorded at Southern Studios by Penny and John Loder - 1981 - Crass Records

MAD04 - Let The Tribe Increase LP - recorded at Spaceward by Ted and The Mob - recorded 1982 released 1983 - All The Madmen Records

MAD06 - Mirror Breaks / Stay - recorded at Spaceward, Cambridge by Joe Bull and The Mob - 1983 - All The Madmen Records

MAD13 - Reissue 12" Crying Again / Youth / Gates Of Hell* / No Doves Fly Here* / Whats Going On* * Live recordings - 1986 - All The Madmen Records

CFC02 - Live At LMC Camden 1983 - split live recording with The Apostles - 1986 - Cause For Concern Records - THIS IS A BOOTLEG PUT OUT BY LARRY PETERSON AND IS A RECORDING MADE IN THE CROWD, NOT THE MIXING DESK. . .

Obviously all this vinyl stock is long gone, and you will have to search for it in specialist record shops dealing with decent secondhand stock, or you could try ebay to see if anyone is selling there old copies worldwide.

* New CD of very old recordings (some Streetlevel tracks / The Ching sessions recorded in Josef's bedroom at Brougham Road / live tracks) avaliable now on Overground Records as is the remastered and nicely packaged 'Let The Tribe Increase' LP. Both these CDs are official releases and details are below.

Mickey Penguin x




LET THE TRIBE INCREASE - OFFICIAL CD RE-RELEASE ON OVERGROUND RECORDS

THE MOB

‘Let The Tribe Increase’

14 track CD: 49 minutes:

Label: Overground

Cat. No. OVER 122VP CD

Barcode: 604388719020

Release Date: 6th April 2009

In many ways The Mob were the archetypal anarcho punk band. Formed in Yeovil, Somerset in 1979 the band soon spent their time permanently on the road in a convoy of trucks before squatting in Brougham Road, Hackney – a street of houses that accommodated many punk and counter-culture types. Until their demise in 1983 they remained an integral part and a huge influence on the anarcho, traveller and free festival scenes.

Their first release was the 1979 ‘Crying Again’ single on their own All The Madmen label. 1980 saw another single the hugely popular and haunting ‘Witch Hunt’, followed later in 1981 by the ‘Ching’ cassette, soon followed by their now legendary Crass single ‘No Doves Fly Here’, both taking anarcho punk into new musically unchartered waters.

1983 saw the release of their now legendary album ‘Let The Tribe Increase’, an album that saw them moving away from the constraints of the punk sound as they continued to push the musical boundaries. This trend continued in their epic single ‘The Mirror Breaks’.

The Mob’s involvement with the counterculture saw them playing gigs with archetypal hippies Here & Now and Androids of Mu as well as being actively involved in the Persons Unknown and Centro Iberico anarchist centres and the Black Sheep Housing Co-operative.

Eventually The Mob dissolved with Joseph Porter and Curtis founding Blyth Power.

‘Let The Tribe Increase’ includes the full album, both tracks from the ‘Mirror Breaks’ 7” and a previously unheard demo version of ‘Stay’, all professionally remastered. Packaged in a 12-page booklet it contains a band history and the events that surrounded the recording of the album by Kill Your Pet Puppy fanzine editor Alistair Livingston.

Track Listing:
Another Day, Another Death / Cry Of A Morning / Dance On (You Fool) / Prison / Slayed / Our Life Our World / Gates Of Hell / I Wish / Never Understood / Roger / Witch Hunt / Stay (demo) / The Mirror Breaks / Stay




THE MOB MAY INSPIRE REVOLUTIONARY ACTS CD

Catalogue number
OVER115VPCD
Release date
26 /11 /2007
Format
CD
Label
Overground

Disc 1
1. Gates Of Hell 2. No Doves Fly Here 3. What's Going On 4. Slayed 5. White Niggers 6. I Wish 7. Youth 8. Never Understood
9. I Hear You Laughing 10. Crying Again 11. No Doves Fly Here 12. When The Mirror Breaks 13. What's Going On 14. Violence 15. No Time 16. Clown 17. Another Day Another Death 18. Raised In A Prison 19. Gates Of Hell 20. Witch Hunt

In many ways The Mob were the archetypal anarcho punk band. Formed in Yeovil, Somerset in 1978 the band soon spent their time permanently on the road in a convoy of trucks before squatting in Brougham Road, Hackney – a street of houses that accommodated many punk and counter-culture types. Until their demise in 1983 they remained an integral part and a huge influence on the anarcho, traveller and free festival scenes.

Their first release was the 1980 Crying Again single on their own All The Madmen label, followed later that year by the Ching cassette which is included here. 1980 saw another single the hugely popular and haunting Witch Hunt, soon followed by their now legendary Crass single No Doves Fly Here both taking anarcho punk into new musically unchartered waters. Included here is the original recording of that single prior to being reworked by Penny Rimbaud of Crass.

1983 saw the release of their now legendary album Let The Tribe Increase, an album that saw them moving away from the constraints of the punk sound as they continued to push the musical boundaries. This trend continued in their epic single The Mirror Breaks.

Eventually The Mob dissolved with Joseph Porter founding Blyth Power.

May Inspire Revolutionary Acts compiles all the material that wasn't on their discography Let The Tribe Increase CD. These include their highly collectable Ching cassette, unreleased versions of Crying Again and No Doves Fly Here, tracks that appeared exclusively on the impossible to find A Tribute To Bert Weedon cassette and three live tracks.

Packaged in a 12-page booklet it contains a detailed explanation of the sources of the recordings and sleeve notes by Kill Your Pet Puppy fanzine writer Alistair Livingston.




SOMETHING WRITTEN BY AN OLD FOLLOWER OF THE MOB

There was something uniquely English about The Mob which to this day is difficult to define. A loose, understated eccentricity. A strangeness, fuelled by their association with free festivals and LSD. I can remember the Porky Prime Cut messages scratched on the inner groove of their records: ‘Acid Punks’, ‘Take a trip down’ etc. Unlike most of the Crass-type bands, The Mob never offered any solutions or calls for action. They simply described how things were and how they felt. While Crass et al attempted to inspire through anger, The Mob inspired through being very truthful. While some put forward pacifism as an answer and others direct action, The Mob offered no answers at all and in this respect they were just like us because we also had no real answers. We all knew the world was wrong but none of us really knew what to do about it. It is this aspect of The Mob that makes them very important in the scheme of 1980’s anarcho punk rock. They were the same as us. They were closer to us than most other bands, closer I imagine than they ever really knew. Though the music they played was relatively simple, the sound the band made was very big and it translated well from small squatted venues to more sizeable and established venues, from small audiences to larger free festival audiences. Equally important of course, the sound translated well to each listener alone in their homes. I always thought they could have been a hugely successful band in the sense of reaching out to a much wider audience. They were getting better all the time, their last single ‘The Mirror Breaks’ was even covered a few years later, after the band had ceased recording or performing live, by an indie band from Glasgow, The Close Lobsters, for that band's John Peel session. For some reason, however, they called it a day but in doing so they passed into legend.

John Serpico (Bristol, England)




HISTORY OF ALL THE MADMEN RECORDS - 1978 - 1986

All The Madmen started off as a fanzine from Yeovil in Somerset, England, in early 1978. The name 'All The Madmen' was taken from one of the tracks off David Bowie's album from 1972, 'The Man Who Sold The World'. The fanzine was run initially by Geoff in collaboration with Mark, from one of the local bands at the time called The Mob. The fanzine also involved various local friends including Max, Wilf, Christine and Debs.

Towards the end of 1979 after returning from a tour of the UK and Holland supporting Here And Now, The Mob recorded their first studio tracks. Geoff decided to start up the label for the release of 'Crying Again' and 'Youth'. Grant Showbiz, who had been behind the mixing desk during the tour, handled the production on these recordings at the Crypt in Stevenage. This would be the start of a relationship between Grant Showbiz and the various bands on the All The Madmen label which would continue for many years.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=4250

MOB01 - The 'Crying Again / Youth' 7" was released in 1980 with the financial help of Max, and was the first record on the All The Madmen label. The local record shop in Yeovil called Acorn agreed to distribute it locally. Other sales went through mail order via the fanzine and at local gigs performed by the band. The address for all correspondence for the fanzine and the new label was Larkhill Road, Yeovil, which was where Geoff was living at the time. The sleeve was done by Wilf, a friend of Marks and Geoff, who would work quite closely with the label from then on. All The Mob's releases on the label featured Wilf's artwork. He also worked on product for other record labels including the artwork for The Mob's 'No Doves Fly Here' 7" released on Crass Records in 1981.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=180

REV01 - 1980 continued with another release on the label by a Clevedon mod band, The Review - 'England's Glory / Greatest Show' 7". The Review was a band that was like the other mod revival bands of the day, but a cheaply recorded one, although the band were still very punchy. This record actually has ALL THE MADMEN printed labels on the disc, as opposed to the plain white labels of the previous All The Madmen release. On the sleeve it name checks The Mob, Wilf, Christine and Debs (Goodge) from Bikini Mutants (Debs was to become a founding member of My Bloody Valentine in the mid 1980's). If anyone gets to hear this record, listen carefully to the intro of . . Greatest Show. . on the B-side, sounds very much like the first few bars of . . Londons Calling. . by The Clash! Bear in mind that there is NO MAD01 catalogue numbers. . . MOB01 for The Mob and REV01 for The Review.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=4250

MAD02 - Later in 1980 the label released the explosive 'Witchhunt / Shuffling Souls' 7" which really got The Mob's name pushed out from their local tight knit community, and into the wider circle of punk bands and fanzine writers in the south of England. On the first pressing, the sleeve has the Larkhill Road, Yeovil address on. On the second pressing, the sleeve has the Seend, Wiltshire address. . . which takes us nicely to Andy Stratton (later of Null And Void) who shared this address in Seend with The Mob, at the time.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=179

MAD03 - The single by Andy Stratton 'I Don't Know / Evil Minds' 7" came out in 1980. The drummer on this single was Graham, who was still a member of The Mob at the time. The single is an excellent punk pop affair, with the sound and feel of the Pete Fender and The Four Formulas 7" called 'Promises' which was released on Poison Girl's label Xntrix around the same time. Very Buzzcocks influenced. Pete Fender went on to record Andy Stratton's band Null And Void later on in 1982. Mark and Curtis of The Mob decided to move to London late on in 1980, Graham opting to stay in Yeovil, the band tried out various drummers to work with them including Adie from Null And Void. Max and Geoff had also decided to stay West Country bound, so Mark was looking after the record label, loosely, at this time. All went a little quiet for the All The Madmen label for a short while, but the Mob released, in cassette form only, a recording done on a tape recorder in Brougham Road, Hackney with the new drummer Josef Porter from The Entire Cosmos and Zounds, entitled 'Ching' which was basic, but good enough to sell at gigs and through mailorder. Then 'No Doves Fly Here' 7" was released on the Crass label in 1981, to huge acclaim.

MAD04 - This was the most adventurous project to date and was released in 1983. The album 'Let The Tribe Increase' by The Mob which originally came out in an reddish orange cover, with a poster, and displayed 'borrowed' artwork from Alternative TV's second album on the front cover! The Mob had been based in London for a couple of years by now, so the address they were using was c /o Freedom Press bookshop in east London. All the members were living in squats and co-op housing in west and north London, so needed an address they could rely on, in case they were evicted from their homes. The album is absolutely essential listening, and had wonderful reviews from the music biz hacks, and more importantly from the followers and fanzine writers of the day. This album got to number 3 in the indie charts and was featured in all the weekly music papers. Josef played drums on this album, which was recorded at Spaceward studios in Cambridge.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=325

MAD05 - The Astronauts second album (first for All The Madmen) 'All Done By Mirrors' was released in 1983. Their first album on Jon Barnett's Bugle label was already an important product at the time. Jon Barnett was a free spirit who was hanging around with the band Here And Now, and squatting in west London. The Astronauts had played on the 'Weird Tales' tours in 1980, which also had bands like Zounds / The Mob / 012 / Androids Of Mu etc performing. The first Astronauts album 'Peter Pan Hits The Suburbs' was very good with astonishing artwork, but when All The Madmen released 'All Done By Mirrors', the resulting album was much tighter musically and is still probably the pinnacle of their long and varied experiences in the studios.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=4250

MAD06 - The Mob 'The Mirror Breaks / Stay' 7" was released mid 1983, and is one of the prettier songs, musically, released by the band. After a European tour in late 1983, The Mob split up and Curtis and Josef immediately carried on playing with their new band Blyth Power, which included Neil from Faction on guitar. Josef had already been playing (a soon to be Blyth Power song) 'Hurling Time' live with The Mob towards the last few shows. Mark was disillusioned with London, and felt no need to continue writing and recording songs for The Mob. He went quietly into the countryside with the peace convoy and in the process started to raise a family.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=2485

MAD07 - This was the 12" by Flowers In The Dustbin, which was released in 1984 by Alistair, a contributing writer for 'Kill Your Pet Puppy' fanzine, who was now in charge of the label after Mark had left London. FITD were a very colourful band that shared some similarities with The Mob. The structure of some of the songs, well written personal and conscientious lyrics, and some of the time, a complete shambles live, but in a very colourful and positive way. This five track 12" was a good debut for the band.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=463

MAD08 - Later on in 1984 Alistair was involved in releasing the 'Rape / Thank You' 7" by Zos Kia, a band run by John Gosling who was also with Psychic TV at the time. He had first recorded with Psychic TV on the single 'Roman P' earlier in 1984 which was released on the French Sordide Sentimental label. John stayed with Psychic TV for a couple more years, recording and playing on the sporadic live performances. John was living in the same street as Genesis P-Orridge in Beck Road, Hackney at the time. The All The Madmen label was now based in Brougham Road, Hackney, which was just around the corner to Beck Road. Brougham Road was a street with one side colourful co-op housing, colourful trucks and coaches. The other side of the road was a large housing estate. The tenants on the 'colourful' side had agreed with Hackney Council to live in these broken up houses while paying very little rent. Short term housing that was looked after and improved in time by the tenants, but for a better description just a row of 'legal' squats. Min who voices the Genesis P-Orridge / Alex Ferguson produced track 'Rape' was also involved in the 'Kill Your Pet Puppy' collective at this time. The words for 'Rape' half whispered, half screamed and very stark, was a chilling account of what she experienced being abused in Australia, when she was younger. Min went off to join the peace convoy and was not involved in any further recordings with the band. John Gosling continued with Psychic TV and Zos Kia for a while longer, and Zos Kia had some releases on Psychic TV's own label Temple Records. The single for All The Madmen got decent reviews, and remains to this day, a very emotional track to listen to. It has a completely different sound and feel to the rest of the label's output. Alistair at this point turned over the general running of the company to Rob Challice, a Brougham Road tenant, who used to play bass in the band Faction, and who also contributed to the 'Enigma' fanzine. Rob was generously assisted by Andy Morgan, and a little later on Sean 'Gummidge' Forbes, and a little later on still Mickey 'Penguin', who was upgraded to the official All The Madmen Records slave, which was previously Sean's postion!

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=473

MAD09 - Rob's first release came out in 1985, the 12" by Blyth Power entitled 'Chevy Chase', which was a success for the band and the label. As a three piece outfit the band had previously released 'A Little Touch Of Harry In The Night' a cassette on Rob's own 96 Tapes label. The tracks on this cassette were recorded in the basement of 96 Brougham Road where All The Madmen had their small office. The 12" though was recorded at Street Level studios with Grant Showbiz engineering. The band had expanded to a five piece a few months before the time of this recording; both new members were backing singers, Andy (the same Andy who was helping Rob at All The Madmen) and Sarah. These singers improved the band's sound immensely, Blyth Power would continue in this line up until the end of 1986. The three piece version of the band was decent enough, but the five piece line up really were very popular at the time, and did very well. The band even got onto Radio One's afternoon drive time show with the single 'Ixion', with an interview on the show with Josef (although by the time the interview was aired and the single released in 1987 the band that actually recorded the track did not exist). Blyth Power gigs at this time were always enthusiastic and sweaty. It seemed that the band was always performing somewhere live every night.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=418

MAD10 - This product released in 1985 by the label, was Clair Obscure's album 'Pilgrims Progress'. The band was a French gothic experimental / performance art band. If you could imagine Chrome partying with The Virgin Prunes while UK Decay mixed the drinks, then that would be a fair description! Not a bad live recording and quite different to the other albums on the label, but sold slowly in the UK, quite a lot of copies went out on export though, mainly to the U. S. A!

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=421

MAD11 - This was the third Astronauts album (second for All The Madmen) entitled 'Soon' which came out in 1986. This album was popular. One side there were new tracks (not quite as strong as the previous album's, but still reasonable) and the second side were tracks taken from the early 7" single's previously released on Jon Barnett's Bugle label (The 'Astronauts' and 'Pranksters In Revolt') - These tracks were well out of print by 1986 so there was a fair amount of interest generated on this release, just on the reputation of these tracks on the B-side.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=473

MAD12 - 1986 continued and All The Madmen were back on track with Blyth Power's 'Junction Signal / Bind Their Kings' 7" & 12", another Grant Showbiz production. Both formats sold very well and the band continued to tour all over the place in the UK and Europe. A thousand numbered limited edition 7" were produced along with the four track 12".

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=4250

MAD13 - Later on in 1986 the 12" reissue of The Mob's first single 'Crying Again' was released. The original and long deleted 7" was still being requested in a lot of the letters being sent to the All The Madmen office, and also by interested gig goers at Blyth Power performances around the country. Because of the success of Blyth Power, and the fact that the Mob's available back catalogue, 'Witchhunt' 7" (in a non foldout cardboard sleeve on these later repress copies), 'Let The Tribe Increase' album (in a blue cover now) and 'Mirror Breaks' 7" were all still shifting units even up to 1986, it was suggested by Rob that this was the right time to re-release these old track's and add some decent live recordings for good measure. The plan was discussed, master tapes found, and Wilf contacted. Wilf completed his last piece of artwork for a Mob release. This release sold out quickly as expected.

http://killyourpetpuppy. co. uk /news /?p=685

MAD14 - The last release of 1986 was a band with the strange name of Thatcher On Acid and the product was the 'Moondance' 12". A decent band hailing from Somerset who were squatting in South London, had a three piece line up, the guitarist with dreadlocks was the singer, more than a couple of Mob comparisons. The band stood up to the Mob 'rip off' tag, and became a very good outfit, which continued until the early 1990's. The 12" that was released was considered a bit flat and dated by the band at the time, but that is probably because the recordings were already about two years old by the time of the released 12". Most of the public thought it was a good release at the time and it sold well. The release also had some great artwork by Wilf and Graeme Coles. The band played all over the place, a lot of shared gigs with Blyth Power and The Astronauts. In April 1987 the band even supported Conflict at Brixton Academy in front of 5000 screaming punkers who went on the rampage in the streets after the main performance by Conflict had finished. All The Madmen had a stall in the venue on that night, got to sell quite a lot of records and shirts. Thatcher On Acid went back to playing to 200 people in pubs and squatted venues after this gig!

The label left Brougham Road late on in 1986 and went to 97 Caledonian Road in Kings Cross, N1. Known as crucial corner, it was graffitied as such; All The Madmen's office was above Better Badges and below Fuck Off records. Over the road was Rough Trade Distribution, which was quite handy, as their distribution network had been carrying and distributing All The Madmen stock since The Mob's 'Let The Tribe Increase' album. Around the same time as the label moved to a new area, Josef from Blyth Power had told Neil and Curtis that their services would not be needed, come the New Year. Andy one of the vocalist's was also leaving on his own accord. Therefore a new line up was found to tread the boards night after night from 1987 onwards. The new line up had Protag from The Instant Automations, and one of the organisers (with Grant Showbiz) of the bi-annual Meanwhile Gardens gigs in Westbourne Park, on bass (and more importantly, van! ), old Mob and All The Madmen ally, Steve Corr from Yeovil on guitar, and Sian from The Lost Cherees as duel vocalist with Sarah, who remained from the original five piece line up. An album recorded with the original five piece line up was released after the split, got good reviews and sold well. The final original five piece Blyth Power gig was held at the Sir George Robey in Finsbury Park, London in December 1986 to a very large and emotionally friendly audience.

Brougham Road was eventually evicted from 1987 onwards to make way for 'decent' families as part of Hackney Council's regeneration program. Some tenants just got in their trucks and moved away with the peace convoy, or ended up in Spain. Some others continued squatting in other areas, or found new co-op housing schemes to add there names to.

All The Madmen went on for about a year and a half until the spring of 1988, releasing the following titles: Blyth Power 'Wicked Keepers' album and 'Ixion' 7" and 12" / We are Going To Eat You 'I Wish I Knew' 12" / The Astronauts 'Seedy Side Of' album / Dan 'An Attitude Hits' album / Thatcher On Acid 'Curdled' album / Hysteria Ward 'From Breakfast To Madness' cassette. Also released were a Mob and a Blyth Power pack with printed record envelopes, which held within; one 12" record and two 7" records for the Mob package. Then one 12" record, one 7" record, a t-shirt and badge in the Blyth Power package. These packages were mainly sold to customers abroad, who did not already have the available Mob and Blyth Power catalogue. Blyth Power with the new line up had several albums and 12" records released on the Midnight Music label from late 1987 to 1991. I have only put in information from 1980 until the end of the Brougham Road stay in late 1986. . . All The Madmen at Caledonian Road would take a lot more time, and I have run out of space on the pics section just going up to the last release on All The Madmen at the Brougham Road address.

If anyone out there wants to cover the latter stages of the All The Madmen label, then get in touch, I will scan a load of stuff and forward it to you. Thanks for reading

Mickey 'Penguin' x




INTERVIEW WITH ALISTAIR LIVINGSTON REGARDING HIS DAYS WITH ALL THE MADMEN RECORDS CONDUCTED BY THE SADLY MISSED LANCE FROM CRINGER

What do you think was so important about The Mob?

The Mob were important for us because they were like a musical version of KYPP. In terms of wider importance it is difficult to say. The Mob were part of the scene and offered a creative alternative to the restrictions imposed by the identification of Crass with 'anarcho-punk'.

Were there other bands as close to the collective as The Mob?

Probably not, but variously Blood And Roses, Hagar The Womb, Brigandage, The Turdburglars, The Barracudas, Zos Kia, Flowers In The Dustbin, Charge, The Associates, Rubella Ballet. . . it was a shifting mix of relationships between members of the collective and individual members of bands rather than between 'the collective' and 'the groups'.

At the time, did you relate to much of the other anarcho bands?

Thinking about it, and with reference to 10. above, the question misunderstands the situation at the time (1979 / 85). What there was a punk version of the UK / London late sixties / early seventies counterculture where there were several thousand self-confessed punks, with a concentration in London. Within the counterculture there was no clear boundary between 'audience' and 'performers', between fanzine writers and fanzine readers. I remember this most clearly from gigs when one group stopped playing they would get off the stage and return to the audience whilst the next group to play would step out of the audience and onto the stage (sometimes there wasn't even a stage). The Kill Your Pet Puppy 'collective' were indistinguishable from the 'punk collective'.

How would you describe the Centro Iberico to someone today?

The Centro Iberico was a place where the Do It Yourself ethic of punk prevailed, where anarchist theory was everyday practice. Where there was no boundary between audience and performers. This was challenging - there was no-one in charge so for something to happen (e. g. to build a stage and wire it up) those with enthusiasm to make it happen, had to enthuse enough others to get the job done. There was no 'product of alienated labour', no 'spectacle' to be 'passively consumed'. The biggest challenge was how change attitudes - how to persuade alienated youth not to trash place and get them to realise they 'owned' it. It was a problem punks with a squatting background had faced many times before. . . The Centro Iberico was about what happens after the revolution. How do we find ways to move from destruction of the old world to the creation of a new one? I remember the experience as exhilarating and liberating - the closest equivalent being the atmosphere on Claremont Road in 1993 /4 during the M11 Road Protest Campaign. See http://www. geocities.com/londondestruction /claremont. html for a bit of historic background

How did you get involved with All The Madmen?

My involvement began in the kitchen of Puppy Mansions, Westbere Road, West Hampstead, London in early 1983. Mark Wilson of the Mob was there and he mentioned the idea of the Mob making an album. At the time I was being trained as a 'Project Engineer' by the London Rubber Company (makers of Durex condoms) so I applied a bit of the theory I was learning to the problem - break down a project into small do-able units and cost / time them. So Mark began scribbling down the costs etc. of making an album on a scrap of paper - cost of studio time, cost of mastering disc, cost of art work, printing costs, pressing costs - which he knew from The Mob producing their own records like Witch Hunt.

Mark then managed to get Rough Trade (who distributed The Mob's singles and knew that their 'No Doves Fly Here' single on Crass' label had been a best seller) interested. Rough Trade told Mark that if he could finance the recording costs, they would cover the other costs in return for a distribution deal.

Mark then got myself and others (Mick Lugworm for example) to contribute to the recording costs and The Mob went into the studio and made the record - Let the Tribe Increase. With the help of Tony D, Mick Mercer and other fanzine writers who were now writing for music papers (NME, Sounds, Melody Maker) and magazines like Zig Zag and Punk Lives, the album got rave reviews and sold well beyond expectations. This meant that by the end of 1983, The Mob had several thousands pounds held in credit by Rough Trade. Mark had the idea of using this money to put out records by other groups on their All The Madmen label and asked me to help manage the project. This I did, though it meant going from being paid £90 a week at London rubber to getting £15 a week …

Unfortunately, after releasing The Mirror Breaks as a single, The Mob then split up. None of the other groups (The Astronauts, Flowers In The Dustbin and Zos Kia) on the label were able to sell more than the 1000 copies of their records to break even… so the money slowly began to run out. See following questions for next part of this story.

Who were Clair Obscur and how did they wind up on the label?
What was the story with their live LP?

I can't answer these questions, I had parted company with All The Madmen by the time they were on the label.

Who were Zos Kia and how did you know them?

Zos Kia were a Psychic TV spin off group and in their early days crossed over with Coil. Psychic TV (1981) in turn came out of Throbbing Gristle who were contemporary (1976) with punk. Genesis P Orridge of TG / PTV lived in Beck Road in Hackney and there was a strange cross-over between Brougham Road (a squatted street where Mark of the Mob and many others including briefly former Bader-Meinhof gang member Astrid Proll lived and with a link to the original hippy-traveller Ukrainian Mountain Troupe group) and TG / PTV…

Min was the direct link, she was 'sort of' a KYPP collective member, I first met her at a Mob gig at Parliament Hill Fields / Hampstead Heath in summer 1981- which was also our first encounter with The Mob themselves. Another link was through Mouse, who was briefly a member of PTV and a friend of Coil.

Anyhow, through the various overlaps and connections, Zos Kia put out their single Rape on All The Madmen.

What was the Rape 7" about? I remember it being extremely shocking at the time.

The words of Rape were a graphic description by Min of when she was raped in the Australian outback whilst on a family holiday there. I am not sure how old she was at the time, about 14 I think. It was a traumatic experience. I cannot forget her describing it to me a couple of years before the record came out. She later told me she only listened to the record once. It was a personal exorcism. It is still intense and powerful, far more so than the 'distanced' explorations of extreme realities of other PTV or TG songs. After touring with Zos Kia, Min became a traveller and was at the Beanfield (Stonehenge Peace Convoy) police riot in 1985.

What were your main duties running the label?

I was the only employee / manager so had to do everything. . I did the marketing and promotion, kept the accounts and paid VAT, hung out at recording sessions, replied to fan letters, organised printing and pressing, liaised with Rough Trade / the Cartel ( co-operative distribution network). Boring stuff.

Did you enjoy running the label?

Yes I did. Way back in 1972, long before punk, I became a fan of Hawkwind (after hearing their single Silver Machine and In Search Of Space album). Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies were part of the late sixties / early seventies UK counterculture and I wanted to be part of that… but by 76 /7 punk was the scene and I wanted to be part of that as well. Running All The Madmen in 1984 and being part of the Puppy Collective seemed to me to be the fulfilment of my teenage dreams… The Mob were like Hawkwind / Pink Fairies (or the Sex Pistols and Clash) and KYPP was like International Times and OZ or Sniffing Glue.

But then the reality was also a necessary disenchantment / disillusionment. Like the Gertrude Stein said about Los Angeles - 'when you get there, there is no there there'. In theory I was 'there' at the heart of anarcho-punk, of the early eighties 'post' punk counterculture … but it seemed strangely empty .

How did Rob Challice wind up running ATM? Why did you quit?

I did not quit, I was asked to leave by Joseph (with the support of Curtis) of The Mob who got annoyed when he asked Rough Trade for some Mob money and was told that I was the only person who had access to the funds. Which is fair enough, since no formal agreement about how money earned by The Mob via the deal with Rough Trade should be paid out had been worked out. They left a letter on my desk saying Rob Challice was now in charge of ATM. I took this as a dismissal / redundancy letter. The only thing which annoyed me about this was that it meant that the Anarcha And Poppy record never got released. I thought this was a brilliant piece of music which should have been released… which it now has been.

Between the KYPP, ATM, Centro Iberico, etc. what do you think was your main interest and your best memories of the times?

My main interest was Kill Your Pet Puppy. I thought it was brilliant then and I still do. I put it up there with sixties counterculture magazines like International Times and OZ. Sod Crass and their idiot ilk, KYPP was the real thing, they were just background noise. KYPP was PUNK. ATM and the Centro Iberico were interesting asides to KYPP and to the evolution of punk and I am proud that I was part of them. But when it comes to punk as revolutionary, as visionary, as creativity, as 'be realistic: demand the impossible' - it was KYPP which demanded the impossible and delivered it as reality.

How do you reflect back on those days?

OH! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!
For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood
Upon our side, we who were strong in love!
Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven! --Oh! times,
In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways
Of custom, law, and statute, took at once
The attraction of a country in romance!

As Wordsworth described the French Revolution. Our Revolution was inspired by the French revolution of May 1968, by the Situationists, by the Surrealists, by the Doors, by the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, by Patti Smith, by David Bowie and Marc Bolan, by the Pink Fairies, by the Sex Pistols, by… The Mob, Blood And Roses, Charge, by Adam And The Ants, by punk… but not Crass…

How do you reflect back on that music scene?

Ooops, think I have answered this above. Zounds, Rubella Ballet, … Hagar The Womb, Look Mummy Clowns. But we also listened to the Human League and Soft Cell (well I did! ) to Killing Joke and the Pop Group, to Siouxsie And The Banshees and the Psychedelic Furs, to Syd Barrett and the Misunderstood, Bow Wow Wow and the Slits, to Joy Division and New Order …. We were not bound to the constraints of 'anarcho-punk'. We were anarchists, we were punks but the very act of such self-description destroyed the narrow boundaries of 'anarcho-punk' and librated us to create a 'music scene' beyond the puritanical constraints of 'anarcho-punk' as defined by Crass and their clones.

Alistair




ALISTAIR ON THE MOB, THEIR ALLIES, FRIENDS AND PLACES OF INTEREST

Subway surfing anarcho-goths.

Legend has it that when Tony D. First saw Jeremy Gluck of The Barracudas, he was carrying a surfboard down an escalator at Holborn tube station in 1978. The Barracudas were a surf-punk band, celebrating early sixties California in late seventies London. They even had a hit in (?) with I Want My Woody Back. Jeremy joined the Puppy Collective and wrote an article in praise of 'stupid songs' for KYPP 1 featuring Abba, Boney M, the Village People and Blondie.

Fast forward to early 1981 and the Puppy Collective are surfing the subway to see The Barracudas play rock n roll heaven, the legendary Hope and Anchor pub halfway down Upper Street, Islington. It was a venue I had never visited before. The pub was upstairs, the bands played downstairs in a tiny basement on a stage which must have been all of six inches high. It was hot and sticky. Sweat evaporated instantly and then condensed on the ceiling to fall back down like rain on the audience.

At some point in the eveing's proceedings, most of the Puppy Collective vanished, leaving only myself and Tony to re-create obscure dance moves from the Sixties as our tribute to The Barracudas.

Gay Punx and a Parallel Universe

The lost puppies returned a few days later, full of strange tales. They had apparently entered a parallel universe and found a lost tribe of gay punx living in a squatted corner shop in Islington. They even had the evidence to prove it. On closer inspection, the evidence was revealed to consist of an article about gay punks in Gay Noise magazine (swiftly cut up and retourned for KYPP 4) and flyers for gigs at a squatted church on the Pentonville Road called "The Parallel Universe". From here on in, any coherent linear narrative breaks down. All that remains are a jumble of dubious 'recovered memories'.

The Mob on Parliament Hill

The gay punx / Gay Noise was written by Pip. Pip lived at 51 Huntingdon Street in Islington, a former corner shop with its windows breeze blocked in. H Street as it was called for reasons which will become apparent later, was part of a punk squatting scene which had diverged from that of the Puppy Collective a few years earlier. It is all somewhat confusing, but from 1977 onwards, as more and more teenagers were drawn to London by punk, punk squats began to emerge as the squatting scene of a previous generation (i. e. Frestonia / Freston Road W 11) decayed.

For a while, members of the Puppy Collective lived in a squat at Covent Garden. later they lived in a derelict fire station at Old Street, right on the edge of the City of London. After this squat was evicted, some occupied an abandoned hospital, St. Monica's, in North London. Other punks moved to Campbell Buildings near Waterloo. Campbell Buildings gained a reputation as a 'hell on earth'. As Bob Short of Blood and Roses put in an interview with Tony D published in Zig Zag magazine, "It was like boredom for weeks, then there would be a murder".

What happened in 1981 was a re-connection between these divergent strands of punk. Pip invited the Puppy Collective over for a meal (vegetarian lasagna) and the next morning we trecked back across north London to search for magic mushrooms on Hampstead Heath. None were found. What we did find was The Mob playing a free gig in an adventure playground on Parliament Hill Fields.

Though we did not know it at the time, The Mob were to become inextricably entwined with the Kill Your Pet Puppy Collective and the Centro Iberico, with 'anarcho-punk' and the Black Sheep Housing Co-op and with our magickal mystery tour to Stone(d)henge and beyond. Through Min, who I met that afternoon, another series of connections emerged, leading from Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and onto Zos Kia.

The Mob were west country punks. John Peel (of sacred memory) picked up and played their second single Witch Hunt, which is how we knew of them. "Still living with the English fear, waiting for the witch hunt dear". Not sure when they moved up to London, but by 1982 they were mainstays of 'the scene'. The connection with the Puppy Collective was briefly intimate (Tony's sister Val ' I am not a Puppy' and Mark Wilson were an item for a while). Plans for The Mob's album Let The Tribe Increase were made on the back of a shopping list in the kitchen of Puppy Mansions. My contribution was to ask how much it would cost to make an album (such a quaint word these days). Mark jotted down some figures and then went to Rough Trade who offered to pay the pressing costs if he could raise the recording costs. Thanks to Crass, who had released their single No Doves Fly Here, The Mob were able to build on the strength of Witch Hunt to become, thanks to Let the Tribe Increase, a major influence on anarcho-punk.

Their very success became a problem, at least for main Mob person Mark Wilson. Inspired by an encounter with uber hippy travellers the Ukrainian Mountain Troupe, who had occupied an abandoned bus garage near Brougham Road in Hackney. Brougham Road was a row of squatted houses where ex Bader Meinhof person Astrid Proll biefly lived. Her sojourn there inspired a song by Nik Turner of Hawkwind fame. Mark bought a truck and made himself a tipi over the winter of 1983 /4 whilst living at 103 Grosvenor Avenue, part of the Islington based anarcho-punk Black Sheep Housing Co-op. As Tom Vague would no doubt point out, members of the Angry Brigade had lived on the same street a decade earlier. Black Sheep's anarcho-punk credentials were established by managing to acquire Andy Palmer of Crass as an active member. But on a point of information, the original inspiration for the Black Sheep Co-op came from anarcho-communist Andy Martin of The Apostles.

To cut this part of the saga short, by 1984, an idea first expressed by Mark P's ATV / Here And Now tour of 1978, which took in a performance at Stonehenge Free Festival had become a reality. First a trickle, then a surge of the punk generation became 'hippy travellers', much to the discomfiture of tribal elders like John Pendragon.

Thelemic punk- Blood and Roses.

Back to 81. Clissold Park, Stoke Newington. One of London's 'lost rivers' ran through here, down from Seven Sisters and on past Abbney Park Cemetery, along part of Brooke Road, through the edge of Hackney Downs (with a ford on Mare Street) to the River Lea. I didn't know that then.

What I did know was that Bob Short had been one of the Old Street fire station squatters and then the last survivor at Campbell Buildings. Now Bob had a band and they were to play on the outdoor stage at Clissold Park. I remember going with Puppy Collective, but not much more.
Did we end up back at Bayston Road ? Or not ?

Bob's group evolved into Blood And Roses. The name came from a vampire film by Roger Vadim. Bob was and still is a movie buff. Thanks to Bob I saw Blade Runner and Assault on Precinct 13, Alien and ET. Blade Runner still haunts me, Alien still scares me. Blood And Roses created an evocative and powerful version of the theme to Assault On Precinct 13 for a John Peel session. Still got it on tape somewhere. Safely back in Australia, Bob is still making music and making movies. Just seen a couple. Makers of the Dead and a spoof Christian TV show. Makers of the Dead is a fascinating and brilliantly subversive re-writing of Bram Stoker's Dracula set in present day Oz. The spoof religious TV show is perhaps more directly subversive and just happens to be side-splittingly hilarious.

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law, love is the law, love under will. . . " . The chorus of a Blood And Roses song, which is also they key mantra of Thelemic magickians, or followers of mad, bad and dangerous to know Edward Alexander (Aleister) Crowley to get tabloid. If The Mob were the dayside of anarcho-punk, Blood And Roses were the evil twin , the anarcho-goth nightside. Although The Mob and Blood And Roses occasionally played on the same bill, their worlds did not collide. They just overlapped a wee bit.
At the Centro Iberico for example. But that came later, so I will have to return to the Hope and Anchor. Discovering the Parallel Universe opened up fresh set of possibilities, allowed a movement away from straight venues, created opportunities for a punk underground to develop as an alternative to the overground represented by 'oi! ' punk as promoted by Gary Bushell , then of Sounds, now of the Sun. But . . . it also meant a gradual retreat into an ideologically pure ghetto, a return to the pre-Grundy period when the Sex Pistols were an underground group playing to a self-selected elite of hip dudes and dudettes. It was a slow death, but it was a dying none the less.

Like all squats, the Parallel Universe was physically only ever a temporary space. A gang of 'dossers' hung out there and resented their space being taken over by a bunch of spotty punks. Eventually the church caught fire and lay derelict for years before being tunred into trendy offices.
Bit of psychogeography - a famous Victorian clown 'Grimaldi' was buried in the attached graveyard which remains a place of pilgrimage for the clowning community.

Fortunately the Autonomy Centre set up post Persons Unknown trial with the help of Crass / Poison Girls became our new church. The original idea (Andy Martin's?) was just to have a few benefit gigs to pay the rent, but they turned into a regular Sunday feature over the winter of 81 /2.

On John Eden's website there is a whole chunk by Andy Martin about the Wapping Autonomy Centre, complete with lists of the bands who played. The Puppy Collective's contribution was to buy crates of cheap lager to sell alongside fanzines and anarchist literature in a back room.

Didn't last though. According to Albert Meltzer's online autobiog, the punks trashed the place and then the landlord threw everyone out. Which is true. What is also true is that the Autonomy Centre was never a viable economic proposition. There just weren't enough straight anarchists around to keep it going without the punk gigs, but the punks gigs broke the lease agreement (no music, no alcohol). . . echoes of similar sixties ventures. Except instead of Crass and the Poison Girls, places like the Indica bookshop were financed by the Beatles (see In the Sixties by Barry Miles : Jonathon Cape: 2002 or All Dressed Up by Jonathon Green).
Aside - Tom Vague has done an excellent job by creating a seamless narrative for West eleven / Notting Hill which firmly puts 'the sixties' in a before and after context - see www. historytalk.com and numerous Vagues.

Centro Iberico 421a Harrow Road W9

Knit your own anarchy centre. It was an old school on the Harrow Road. Brick built circa 1900, similar to the one my kids later went to in Hackney and again in New Cross. Real Spanish anarchists lived there, some were veterans of 1936. There was a proper assembly hall with a stage on the first floor. We got the use of the ground floor and built a stage out of old cookers ( I had a photo, used in Punk Lives, of Tony hard at work building the stage). It was a bigger space than Wapping and its active life as Anarchy Centre lasted through into the summer of 1982. Still have a bright yellow double sided A 4 flyer Tony produced for it.

National tragedy 23 million people still employed!

The Autonomy Centre in Wapping has now officially closed after being largely unused in its year long existence- apart from the gigs there every Sunday from November to Feb 21st 9 till the landlord found out.
As the gigs were the centre's only form of income it was inevitable it had to close (£680 rent every three months, next payment would have been made on March 22nd).

Around £700 was paid into the bank from concerts, another £50 used to repair the drum kit that was used almost every week and to buy materials and keep running the Centro Iberico. As this is written there is £89 in the kitty, but there is also a list of things that are needed quickly:
Microphones, chemical toilets (what people in caravans and things use) tape recorders, a plu board (not enough sockets in hall) paint / brushes to paint banners to decorate the place, food / tea / coffee that you eat and drink free each week (or pay a little for the food). . .

This isn't just a gig venue run by an elite clique of people. As we said in our last Sunday Supplement "A kick up the arse", if you don't put energy into the centre well all get pissed off and put none in ourselves and then where will you be? The Lyceum? The Clarendon? the 100 Club? Twice the cost, half the bands and bouncers = no fun. Thieves, no-one paying, no participation = no A centre. Its your centre, use it, don't abuse it. . . etc. etc
When a new, permanent place is found that we can use during the daytime for more than just gigs, then these gigs now should have raised enough to pay for facilities and things that can be used by and for all. If you have any ideas about what should be there, come along early and discuss it.

Crass have shown interest in helping out but they don't want to be used as a money source (the way Iris Mills and crew did in the setting up of the last place) - this place has to be finacially independent. . .

£1 entry, doors open 4. 30pm, first band on at 7pm, finish at 10. 30pm

21st March 12 Cubic feet / Apostles / Lack of Knowledge / Replaceable Heads

28th March Rubella Ballet / Action Pact / Dead Man's Shadow

4th April Subhumans / Organised Chaos / Locusts / Hagar The Womb

11th April EASTER -no trains? no bands? probably a free mind boggling weird and wonderful day

18th April Flux Of Pink Indians / Cold War / Screaming Babies

25th April The Mob / Bikini Mutants / D-Notice

Dotted around the text little Situ quotes "Authority is the Negation of Creativity", "Dis-obey your jailors- Smash the Spectacle", All power to the imagination / imagine no power", "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act"

Anarcho-punk, anarcho-goth - and Crass had fuck all to do with it. Got a single recorded by Conflict there, but probably belongs to Tinsel. Got a tape with Blood and Roses going nova with Curse On You live at the Centro . . . and didn't they play Sister Ray there once? The first Sunday there was nothing so we banged bits of wood and metal together and sang Patti Smith songs "We shall live again. . . "

It was the kind of atmosphere which the previous underground turned into legends - like Pink Floyd playing the IT launch party at the Roundhouse / Hawkwind and Pink Fairies playing under the Westway. . . or the stuff of 76 /77 punk mythology. But by 82 a few hundred crazy-coloured anarcho- gothic punks were? What? An invisible sub-sub culture and the whole scene has been re-written 1984 style as if it was Crass what done it.
But Crass were out in Epping, not there on the streets