On BBC One’s early evening magazine show The One Show yesterday evening (25 April 2018), Jon Culshaw presented a short retrospective feature on The Thatchergate Tape, the hoax telephone conversation between Thatcher and US president Reagan produced and circulated to the media by members of Crass in the aftermath of the Falklands War (recordings and transcripts of the tape are available online). There were no new revelations in the piece, but the feature includes a brief interview with Steve Ignorant and even briefer live footage of Crass (taken, as always, from the Persons Unknown documentary).
Viewers in the UK can catch-up with a recording of the show of the BBC iPlayer (until 25 May 2018).
CONFLICT FOLLOW UP on recent gigs in Birmingham (24 February) and Telford (3 March) with a live show at The Maze in Nottingham on Saturday 7 April 2018.
Conflict + Riot Squad + Terminal Rage + King of Pigs + Rats From A Sinking Ship
7 April 2018 The Maze, Nottingham
Doors: 19:30 | Tickets: £12.50 advance
“Can everyone attending this gig please bring a tin of food for Framework food bank”.
SLICE OF LIFE play three live dates in succession in early April. The trio of gigs kicks off tonight at The Arts Centre in Colchester (5 April) and is followed by a live show in Brighton tomorrow (6 April) and a gig in Brussels on Saturday (7 April), supporting Sleaford Mods.
THE CRAVATS begin a three dates mini-tour-ette this evening (5 April), with a gig in Bristol at The Thunderbolt, with gigs in London (6 April) and Brighton (7 April) to follow, playing alongside Folk Devils
Overground Records are now accepting advance orders on the vinyl re-release of The Cravats’ debut single Gordon (backed by Situations Vacant). This repressing, limited to 500 copies comes with a special. insert. This seven-inch of aural loveliness was originally released in July 1978.
INTERROBANG‽ RELEASE THE band’s self-titled debut album today, and kick off the album launch tour with the first date in Todmorden.
Interrobang‽ was formed in 2012 by ex-Chumbawamba members Dunstan Bruce and Harry Hamer and “former enfant terrible in the London louts, Regular Fries” Stephen Griffin. Their album is released in vinyl, digital download and CD formats. All The Mad Men Records sold out of all pre-release copies ahead of the release, but vinyl and CD copies will be available from the band on tour, and from many of the usual (and some unusual) outlets.
The eponymously entitled Interrobang‽ album is vocalist Bruce laid bare, torn open asunder, as he finds himself deep in those 50-something blues. Lyrically the album is an exploration of his determination to never give up the struggle despite his own malaise. He questions and rails against his own demise with song titles such as Curmudgeon, Mad As Hell and Am I Invisible Yet? whilst still full of that anger about the state of the world in songs such as Are You Ready People? and Here Now. He veers from the personal to the political, from the poignant to the pithy, never pulling any punches, always being brutally honest but with an ability to laugh at himself as well.
The music of Griffin and Hamer is short, sharp and urgent. Interrobang‽ pride themselves on their tightness and economy in these rapid-fire assaults and with their crisp, cutting backing vocals the band have created an album that is pointed and precise, exciting and exhilarating. This is an album’s worth of hard hitting songs for hard hit people with Griffin’s guitar technique building layers of scorching sonics which when seen live will astound.
...is the online accompaniment to a variety of writing projects on the history, culture, politics and practice of British anarcho-punk, 1977-1984
Most recent work…
Rich Cross. 2017. 'Fifteen shades of grey', in Greg Bull and Mike Dines (eds.), And All Around Was Darkness, Itchy Monkey Press, pp.218-227. ISBN 978-1-291-74025-7.
The Aesthetic of Our Anger
Rich Cross. 2016. '"Stop the City showed another possibility": Mobilisation and Movement in Anarcho-Punk', in Matt Worley and Mike Dines (eds.), The Aesthetic of Our Anger: Anarcho-Punk, Politics, Music - 1979-1984, Minor Compositions: Colchester / New York / Port Watson. ISBN 978-1-57027-318-6 [ Free eBook download | Print copy available to buy from Minor Compositions ]
Some of us Scream
Rich Cross. 2016. '"Why do you think that they are laughing?", in Greg Bull and Mike Dines (eds.), 'Some of Us Scream Some of Us Shout': Myths, Folklore and Epic Tales of the Anarcho, (Itchy Monkey Press) [ Buy from Active Distribution or Situation Press ]
This is a guest post from Shane Burley, author of Fascism Today. Shane has the last event of his east coast tour this evening in Washington, DC—see here for details! White nationalism is implicitly violent, it cannot exist without it. The proposition is, by its own merits, steeped in the most expansive and profound sorts [...]
Shane Burley, author of Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It, will be on the east coast for a few days giving talks in three cities on, you guessed it, understanding today’s fascist forces and how to defeat them. Here’s the low-down, along with links to the events on Facebook: . . [...]
The following is an excerpt from the first English-language edition of Peter Kropotkin’s Modern Science and Anarchy—which we’ve just published! A portion of the book is devoted to Kropotkin’s study of the nature and origins of the State. This brief excerpt comes at the end of a lengthy critique of the State-form. You can order [...]
As you probably know, we’ve just re-issued Paul Avrich’s long-out-of-print biography, An American Anarchist: The Life of Voltairine de Cleyre. It’s an amazing study that Robert P. Helms, in a new foreword for this edition, rightly points out is “as readable as a novel.” Below, we’re sharing a portion of Avrich’s preface to the book, [...]
As Black As Resistance will be released on June 5th, and we’re already getting excited! Here’s where you can catch the authors Zoé Samudzi and William C. Anderson discussing the book next month: Wed. June 6: 6:30pm @ Potter’s House, DC Thurs. June 7: 7:30pm @ Red Emma’s, Baltimore Fri. June 8: 7pm @ Wooden [...]
