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

Batwoman.. I like comics again!

I'm back.. been letting myself be ground down by work for the past month or so but trying to get back on track again.  I'll try to get a decent old fanzine posted later this weekend but for now I'm all into comic books...!  I got the Kick Ass and Iron Man 2 dvd's for my birthday recently plus discovered the recent series of DC's Detective Comics features a very cool new Batwoman.  The art is superb, the story lines aren't bad and she's a redhead.. perfect.  I've gone back to being a 12 year old comic geek all over again!  Check them out if you've ever been into the superhero stuff.. they're excellent.  A new one off issue, Batwoman #0 is due out next month..

Also been listening to a bit of old early 70's stuff.. LP tracks by some of the less obvious glam bands.. Here's a cool Mott the Hoople track, Violence, from their 1973 LP Mott.

Mott the Hoople - Violence

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Love in a Void

My last post got me digging around for more old Banshees stuff.  I was totally obsessed about them around '78-'79 but hadn't really listened to much of their stuff for years.  I found a couple of old pics, one a '77 promo pic and the other from a gig in Guildford in late '78 from the tour to promote 'The Scream'.  I had a tape of the gig and got the photo from the guy who recorded the gig.. no idea where the tape is, shame as it was good recording.  I also scanned an old Roxy poster from the 100 Nights at the Roxy book (back in '78 I tore the page out and stuck it on my wall!)

Here's an old ticket stub from the Banshees last gig as an unsigned band, at the Roundhouse in July '78.  One of the best gigs I've been to, the Banshees were amazing, opening with a storming version of Staircase, I think the first time they'd played it live.  Plus Spizz Oil were awesome in support..totally different from anything else I'd at the time.  Just Spizz and Pete Petrol with guitars and a kazoo..

And lastly, here's a great version of Love in a Void from the '78 bootleg LP which had the Peel Sessions plus 3 early demo recordings.  This is the demo version of Love in a Void.. possibly Pete Fenton on guitar?  It definitely sounds different from John McKay's playing.

Ripped & Torn #12

Haven't had time to do any posting for the last month with one thing and another.. finally got time to stick a few bits up here..  This is a great issue of Tony D's Ripped & Torn from the summer of 1978.  Siouxsie and the Banshees on the cover and there's an interview with Siouxsie and Steve Severin, an interesting interview with David Bowie's manager from 1966-70, Ken Pitts, giving some insights into Bowie's early days and a Stiff Little Fingers article.  There are also the usual gig and record reviews.. all good stuff.  I'd just started going to gigs regularly around this time and had just seen the Banshees a couple of times and thought they were the best thing ever so this issue has always been a fave of mine.   This came out around the time the Banshees signed with Polydor.. back when the only way to hear them was live or tapes of gigs or the classic first two Peel sessions.  I've dug out a couple of old photos I've picked up over the years too, one a promo pic with the early '77 lineup including Pete Fenton, the other of Siouxsie is, I think, from '79.  Saw Siouxsie recently in the BBC series "I'm in a Rock'n'Roll Band" and she is still as amazing as ever..

Download Ripped & Torn #12