WITH THE PUBLICATION of a new book documenting the history of Poison Girls—and the release of a new 7-disc CD box set of the band’s songs—just weeks away, guitarist, singer and founder member Richard Famous speaks to The Hippies Now Wear Black about the life of the band, what made Poison Girls so distinctive, and about the sounds, the politics and the lasting legacy of Poison Girls.
How do you feel about the fact that a book on Poison Girls is finally being published in 2025, together with a new box set of the band’s studio, live and demo recordings? Does it feel like something that’s long been overdue, or are these releases perfectly timed?
Poison Girls were around for 12 years— that fact alone surprises many people. The story of the band—intrinsically tied to the bigger life story of Vi Subversa—is, as all good tales, both perfectly simple and infinitely complex. It is a tale worth telling, and so much more than just a history of a ‘punk’ band. As such, I would say the book is long overdue!
Who do you hope that the book might reach? A combination of longtime Poison Girls’ fans and those born long after the band finished?
I know that, as a band, Poison Girls touched the lives of many people. Most would originally have got information from interviews, mainly through fanzines, or the occasional grudging notice from the music press—the NME, Sounds or the Melody Maker—collectively referred to as ‘the comics’.
The book gives a more thorough and personal picture of the ins-and-outs of that time. It is for everyone, and as the band stopped working 35 years ago (!), I would also like to think that it would be both relevant and inspirational to the kids—or the grandkids—of our original friends.
Are there aspects of the story set out in the book that you think might surprise some readers?
There are so many taboos that Poison Girls smashed. Vi was a 40-odd-year-old woman who had never sung in public. Remember this was the 1970s, when the phrase “don’t trust anyone over 30” was still being bandied about.
That she fronted a band was in itself remarkable. That that band held its own in the punk scene—against ageist and sexist criticism, confronted the National Front at a time when they were rampant, that re-invigorated the anarcho / punk / feminist / anti-war movement and still were able to produce wonderful heartfelt, life affirming music—is even more remarkable.
The energy we could see that came with punk was so refreshing. We felt that the youth had caught up!
Richard Famous
The fact that the origins of Poison Girls predate the emergence of punk gives the story of the band a different tenor from so many ‘Year Zero’ narratives. It’s important, isn’t it, that your creativity did not begin with the arrival of punk?
For sure. We all came together through a sketch-show style theatre production, threaded through with music, that performed at the Edinburgh fringe in 1975. Vi had just turned 40, and Lance d’Boyle was not far behind. I was in my mid-20s, as was Bella Donna. We all were political in our own way, alternative and basically old hippies—in punk terms ‘boring old farts’.
We had all individually been involved with CND in the 1960s—Vi at the very start—and took part in student activism and various anarchist / leftist demonstrations. The music came out of the love of working together and making a noise—the politics were always dialed in. The energy we could see that came with punk was so refreshing. We felt that the youth had caught up!
Is too much attention paid to the years that you worked alongside Crass? You were very keen that the book addressed the totality of the Poison Girls’ story—of which that period is only a short part.
The meeting with Crass was an incredible coincidence. We had just moved from Brighton to the fringes of Epping Forest—to a decrepit mansion called Burleigh House—effectively a big licensed squat. By chance, Crass lived a few miles up the road at Dial House.
We had set up a gig in Epping and Pete Wright from Crass came to check it out. We were on the verge of recording Piano Lessons—and then possibly calling it a day, as it seemed as though we had no supportive environment to work in. We met Crass, who were in exactly the same situation.
So we devised a pact that we would work together and create events that we could control and shape ourselves. It became a call to arms for all the anarcho / punks out there and started a movement.
This relationship lasted for three years, during which time we played about 100 gigs with Crass and another 50 on our own. These were all benefit gigs of one form or another, all over the country, playing to an audience that just kept growing. This was all long before the internet, so everything was shared by word-of-mouth. It was all amazingly exciting and productive.
In the overall ‘arc’ of the band, the arrangement with Crass came after four years’ work, during which we seemed to be banging our collective heads against a particularly dense wall. So this collaboration saw the explosion of interest in the ideas and politics of the band. I think it is impossible to overstate the importance of these gigs, and the lasting effect they had on the political and music scene to this day.
That said, Poison Girls were always trying to ‘make the political personal‘. This became more difficult, as the more ‘macho’ anarcho / punk scene galvanized around Crass. So it became important for us to keep pushing ourselves and our ideas by taking our own independent path.
We are very proud of our work with Crass—but equally proud of all our other achievements.
We devised a pact that we would work together and create events that we could control and shape ourselves
Richard Famous
What would you hope that readers take away from the book?
I would like to think people would learn something they didn’t know about Poison Girls, take a more nuanced view on who they thought we were, and find some inspiration about what can be achieved at any stage in life.
Do you think that the work of Poison Girls is properly appreciated and understood?
Well, we are always categorized as an overtly political and punk band. We embrace this of course, but there is so much more to Poison Girls.
We were playing music and were involved with politics before punk—and Vi’s emotional honesty had a huge amount to say about how the personal affected the political. There is a lot of humour in Vi’s lyrics as well as cutting political insights.
Vi was a wonderfully inventive, and much underestimated, lyricist. The music’s not bad either!
You’ve said to me before that interest in Poison Girls has now become cyclical, with a surge of interest happening every few years before receding. We must be overdue another upsurge then?
Well, you never know! I am always amazed and surprised that Poison Girls are still recognised as relevant—and seemingly more so, as the world situation deteriorates.
It’s an unfair question, but what do you think Vi or Lance might have thought about new Poison Girls’ projects still happening all these years later?
They would be thrilled and amused that there was still interest in what Poison Girls achieved 40 years ago.
As for the global lurch into demented politics—the rightwing nutjobs that have taken over what was once a libertarian position—that would, I am sure, have filled them, as it does me, with fury and disgust.
We were also able to review all our old demo and cassette tapes to find the hidden and forgotten gems
Richard Famous
There’s not been a co-ordinated release of anything close to the whole Poison Girls’ musical catalogue since the Statement CD box set was released back in 1995. You’ve been keen not simply to repress Statement but to build on and extend it. What’s been the motivation behind this?
The Statement box set—beautifully realized by Cooking Vinyl—brought together many of the tracks that had been studio recorded, and was based around Poison Girls’ four studio albums.
With this new box set—jointly released by PM Press, Active Distribution, Free Dirt and Cooking Vinyl—we were able to include the previously unreleased live recordings from the Total Exposure and Seven Year Scratch albums.
We were also able to review all our old demo and cassette tapes to find the hidden and forgotten gems, mainly from pre Piano Lessons (the first vinyl release) and post Price of Grain (the last vinyl release) times.
There are some intriguing early recordings, live rehearsal room tapes, and some very early demos of more familiar songs.
Also there were two gigs from The Kob in Berlin from 1987 that were recorded on a 16-track desk. These were supposed to be released as a live album, but the project got scuppered for some long forgotten reason—probably lack of money.
Rough mixes on cassette tape had survived, and modern technology has made it much easier to bring those up to scratch. So the seven-disc Persons Unknown: The Complete Recorded History CD box set will be the first time that a whole batch of late-period Poison Girls’ tracks have been released.
That’s a really enticing collection of never-before-released material. Can you pick out a few songs that you’re especially pleased that people will get to hear?
For me personally, all of the later tracks are special. Poison Girls was always about the people you work with. And the last, and actually the longest, stable band line-up was myself, Vi, Max Vol and Dave Bennett.
This iteration of Poison Girls was seriously underrepresented in our catalogue of music releases. So being able to include a whole host of live tracks from 1987 goes some way to redressing this.
We have been told many times that we changed people’s lives—which is quite a humbling legacy
Richard Famous
The new CD collection begins and ends with the sounds of Vi Subversa singing the song “Persons Unknown” on recordings made 35 years apart. Did that quickly become the self-evident way to open and close this musical retrospective?
Well, what a track! And it has meant a lot to a lot of people down the line. ‘Flesh and blood is who we are. Flesh and blood is what we are.’ What could be more true?
What would you hope that the legacy of Poison Girls would be?
We have been told many times that we changed people’s lives—which is quite a humbling legacy in its own right.
I hope we can show that it is possible to be open, honest to yourself, to work with good people, question authority whenever and however you have to, keep your spirit primed, your senses keen—and to treasure your art.
The Kickstarter campaign—which aims to raise sufficient funds to pump-prime the production of both the book and the 7-disc CD box set—runs until 18 October, and still needs more backers.
Rich Cross with Alec Dunn and Erin Yanke. 2025. This is a Message to Persons Unknown: The Story of Poison Girls. Oakland, PM Press. (UK site listing / US site listing).
Poison Girls. 2025. Persons Unknown: The Complete Recorded History. PM Press, Active Distribution, Free Dirt and Cooking Vinyl. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ww3/poisongirls
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