The day the country died.

[chriswasanon]

I hear that Rubella Ballet are over in the US. If you get the chance, go see these veteran dayglo Anarchos.

By the way Glenners. Flux of Pink Indians were fantastic at Shepherds Bush as were Zounds and Steve Ignorant had assembled a brilliant band, sell out shows for both nights...top crowds. Slept in a carpark for two nights...it was alright and got drunk in the Irish pub around the corner.

The band performed all of the Feeding of the 5,000 bar Reality Asylum +Bloody revolutions+Big A little A+Shaved Women+Rival Tribal Rebel Revel and his Schwatrzegger song: "if this is the way things are, it's the way things will be." A lot of thought and time and rehearsal had gone into the shows and it paid off to my mind.

I'm rather looking forward to the DVD recording, that's if we all survive 2008....

Best Flux moment - "They Lie we Die" also the most powerful band after Ignorant. Rumour is that more gigs are coming...

Best Zounds moment - Dirty Squatters

Best Igs moment - Punk is Dead.

Best Conflict moment - well the sound was poor they didn't bother soundchecking.

Best Disrupters moment - Napalm!!

I missed Deviated Instincts.

Ignorant performing on the night.



Summary - an astounding reunion for all Crasstafari Anarcho Punks worldwide with no political violence, glue sniffing or getting beaten up to make it the less memorable. Sleeping in a Ford Cortina in the carpark for two nights just around the corner from the venue with the seats rolled right down and listening to "I live in a Car" by the UK SUBS on the CD player was memorable too as were those dirty London Town orange mornings and the Anarcho punks in the toilets at the Shepherds Bush Empire filling the place with fag smoke with me having to shove them out of the way to use the bog. The lack of selfishness in the moshpit, people actually making sure that those who fell down weren't stomped on. Being sprayed with a fire extinguisher by some crazed mohawk leaning out over the balcony in the seats and him giving it the big one

Going quite demented to "Owe us a living."



Yep Glenn, that 5000 gig will stay with me for a long long time.

Of they course the ******* do!


Forthcoming US shows for Conflict:


12/27/07 Thu CA San Francisco Slims
12/28/07 Fri CA Corona Showcase Theatre
12/29/07 Sat CA Hollywood Key Club
12/30/07 Sun NV Las Vegas SoKal Studio
12/31/07 Mon CA San Diego Brick by Brick TBC

Rubella Ballet:

USA DATES:
27 Dec 2007 20:00 - SLIMS S.F, California
28 Dec 2007 20:00 - SHOWCASE THEATRE CORONA U.S.A. CORONA
29 Dec 2007 22:00 - The Key Club, Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles. U.S.A. Los Angeles, California
30 Dec 2007 20:00 - Las Vegas, U.S.A. LAS VEGAS
31 Dec 2007 20:00 - TBC S.F, California
3 Jan 2008 20:00 - San Francisco SAN FRANSICO, California
4 Jan 2008 20:00 - Portland Portland, Oregon
5 Jan 2008 20:00 - Seattle Seattle
11 Jan 2008 22:00 - FUNERAL venue TBA Los Angeles, California


Cheers.

Chris

[Glenn]

Thanks Chris,

What a great gig.

I am glad that you went and had a great time. Sleeping rough a few nights would be worth it for that.

Crass are awesome, although with Flux..how cool.

Cool photos...did you take them?

I wonder what the Crass symbol means, I have never really though about it.

One day I will check out Conflict when they come through Cali.

Must admit although I am familiar with the name Reubella Ballet I am not too familiar with thieir music. I imagine it falls into the same category as Zounds, Conflict, Crass etc.

[DIsPervertNurse]

Do they owe us a living?
Of course they do, of course they do.
Owe us a living?
Of course they do, of course they do.
Owe us a living?
OF COURSE THEY FUCKING DO.

[chriswasanon]

The symbol? Government, State, organised religion I suppose and the serpent that coils around it, eats its own tail.



And this is what the Crass Wiki says about it:

"The logo represented an amalgamation of several "icons of authority" including the Christian Cross, the swastika and the Union Flag combined with a two headed snake consuming itself (to symbolise the idea that power will eventually destroy itself). Using such deliberately mixed messages was also part of Crass' strategy of presenting themselves as a "barrage of contradictions", which also included using loud, aggressive music to promote a pacifist message, and was in part a reference to their own Dadaist and performance art backgrounds..."

Crass split in 1984 hence 62 (6 years to) 1984. 521984 etc. Which meant that they were going to continue as a punk band until 1984 and then stop. This wasn't the full Crass line up I saw recently, it was Ignorant with a great band performing The Feeding of the 5,000 sans Reality Asylum. + those singles.

It was more of a reunion for the audience I suppose which were like at the early Pistols gigs always a major part of the Anarcho gig. The band weren't giving out badges or leaflets on vegetarianism and Nuclear Power and the audience weren't selling fanzines though which was also a feature of those events.

The very idea of this Feeding of the 5000 happening had split the Anarchos within, some of whom accused Steve of a major sell-out. Neither more importantly did the gig have Penny Rimbaud's blessing. For it was him and Ignorant who had formed Crass in 77 and had collected band members as they went along, basically anybody who wanted to could be in the band.

And the name Crass came from the Bowie lyric to Spiders from Mars...

"The kids were just Crass."

I saw Crass, finally with Poison Girls and Annie Anxiety in 1981 they were playing a benefit for my local Alternative Bookshop. They performed to my memory most of Penis Envy and a bit of Stations. I can remember little of that apart from drinking a cup of tea with someone after the gig.

Here's the poster:



Flux sounded like an unstoppable steamroller down at Shepherds Bush though, they really did.

Curiously the music wasn't set at an ear bleeding level either which also helped (lots).

What changed? A major part of gig going when we were young was sorting out somewhere to crash out afterwards. The tarriff in the car park at Shepherds Bush was equivalent to a dosshouse in Kings X anyway. £16 for 24 hours. My oppo got to say got so drunk though that he put some wild punks from Dublin's fair city to shame for craziness. I remember having the following conversation with him:

"What were you doing last night?"

"Why, what do you mean?"

"Well you've got dusty footprints all over your jacket and trousers..."

Sunday we had intended to have a pint in the pub where ADAM went mad in duh but it was in Kentish town, not Camden.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine ... 57,00.html

I kept getting funny looks when I asked people if they knew who Adam was? Er yesssss and what was the name of the pub he'd gone mad in....

Camden has got absolutely enormous in terms of, "fashion" clothes shops well since I was last there in 1991 it has. Yes you know we went back to the Empire and did it all again that night...So it wasn't just one night, it was two... Second night my companion was drinking quadruple vodkas so you can imagine how 'orribly drunk he became, I last saw him during Shaved Women disappearing into the pit I only met up with him afterwards much later listening to the Subs "Motivator," which he said was dedicated to him and his partner by Charlie Harper, which is quite likely as they had all lived together for a while...but that's another story...

Monday morn back to East Anglia - a fine city not so very far from where the Adicts come from Nursie Josie

Great photos, no not mine...

Zounds did you say Glenners?

Well they do have a MySpace (blows goats)

And the KILL YOUR PET PUPPY Collective have a very nice grab bag of things available to download including the Fatal Microbes (Honey Bane as was) "Violence Grows" and lots of the Mob and here we have a Zounds rehearsal for your pleasures...from 1980

http://www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/?p=387

Cheers and the compliments of the season to you all.

CwA