Nico in London

Nice photo of Nico in London around the time she recorded with Andrew Loog Oldham in 1965.

Kings Rd - DIY Punk

Today's fanzine is one I picked up recently though I think I had or read a copy way back.. probably didn't keep it as there were no Banshees/Ants/PIL articles!  It covers the DIY punk 'scene' that sprang up in '78 with groups like TV Personalities, O-Level and Swell Maps.  I think it was put together by the TV Personalties.. or at least they had some involvement.. nothing is clear and why should it be!  It's a good read..

Download Kings Road Vol. 1 No . 1

As a tie in to this I've also dug out the O-Level We Love Malcolm EP.. I never listened to it much after I bought it but it's really quite good!  Stairway to Boredom is my fave..

O-Level - We Love Malcolm

Leave Me:

Everybody's On Revolver:

Stairway To Boredom:

Ripped and Torn 11 - A Cheap Night Out with Raped

Got a nice old copy of Ripped and Torn today.  Tony D was really getting into it by issue 11...a bit of colour on the covers and over 25 pages loaded with articles, interviews, reviews and opinion.  This issue has Raped on the cover with a 2 page interview inside, also interviews with the Only Ones, Billy Idol and Levi and the Rockats plus a couple of 2 page photospreads (NY Dolls and Derek Jarman's Jubilee).

Download Ripped & Torn 11

To tie into this issue I'm also posting a classic single by Raped..  A 4 piece from London featuring Ziggy like lead singer Sean Purcell, guitarist Fabian Kwest, bassist Tony Baggett and distinctive Japanese drummer 'Paddy'.  Their first EP, 'Pretty Paedophiles', got them a lot of negative publicity and combined with their camp/gay image (which they actively played up!) at a time when punk was heading towards leather jacketed uniformity meant they didn't have an easy time of things.  Their gigs often had an edge to them as they always got abuse from some of the audience and were prepared to give as good as they got..  At one gig at the Moonlight in West Hampstead Sean and Fabian jumped off the stage and attacked a guy who had chucked a pint over Sean and I remember Sean pulling a knife out on stage at another gig..  Musically they were mostly thrashy '77 style punk, shock value lyrics but with a few good tunes ('Moving Target' and 'Escalator Hater' from the first EP were ok) but suddenly in '78 they came out with 'Cheap Night Out'.  Similar lyrics to their earlier stuff but it added a great glam rock sound.. It deserved to do better but never really took off and they stayed stuck in the small club circuit.  They changed their name to Cuddly Toys in '79 and moved further towards the glam sound, releasing a nice cover of a Bowie song, 'Madman' later that year.  They kept going till 1981 and apparently finally found a bit of success in Japan towards the end..

Raped - Cheap Night Out:

 

Here's the insert that came with the 45..forgot about this when I first did this post..
Download Cheap Night Out insert

I also found this old publicity photo, printed when they were called Raped but with their name trimmed off after they became Cuddly Toys!

The Satellites - Urbane Gorillas of West London

Right.. trying to catch up on all the various ideas I've had for posts over the past few months.. Here's a follow up to the Sounds of the Westway fanzine post I did a while back.  That was produced by Derek Gibbs who went on to form the Satellites in late 1977.  They gigged around west London extensively for the next 5-6 years. I saw them quite a few times around 1978-79, supporting bands like the UK Subs or headlining pub gigs at places like the Windsor Castle near Westbourne Park and out around Acton, Ealing, Alperton, etc.  They were always a great live band and used to get a mixed crowd of West London punks, skins, rockabillies..  (I also got to meet a very lovely redhead called Joanna at their gigs which was extra motivation for catching night busses back home from deepest Alperton!).  Here are both sides of their first 45, Urbane Gorilla, back by High Rise Hill billys.  Other classics were 'I Fell In Love with a Lesbian' and 'Lucy is a Protitute' which came out on a later release..

Urbane Gorilla



High Rise Hillbillys