Posted in Events, Photos and Illustrations, Rubella Ballet on August 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »
A GALLERY OF photos from last night’s Women in Punk event (part of the Punk It Up! series), held at the National Videogame Arcade in Nottingham, featuring Celeste Bell, Gaye Black, Zillah Minx and a screening of She’s a Punk Rocker, with Ruth Elias facilitating the conversations.
Posted in Events, Rubella Ballet on July 25, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Punk It Up!
Saturday 12 August 2017, 18:00-23:00
The National Videogame Arcade
24-32 Carlton Street
Nottingham
NG1 1NN
Facebook event | Eventbrite event
For the 4th event of the Punk It Up! festival, I am excited to be hosting a fab group of women who made their own inimitable mark on the UK punk scene. This is going to be brilliant!
Running Order for the event:
1. Screening of She’s a Punk Rocker
2. Q&A with director Zillah Minx of Rubella Ballet.
3. Celeste Bell, Poly Styrene’s daughter and musician/vocalist with Tabloid Girls
4. Gaye Black, The Adverts/artist
Ruth Elias, from Hagar the Womb, will facilite the conversations. DJs Coop and Gary from The Xrays and Sonia and Dean – Uncensored! You do not want to miss this!.
PLEASE NOTE: due to change of venue, with smaller capacity, you must book a ticket for this event. Please donate if you can, or book a free ticket.
UPDATE 26 July 2017: All tickets for this event have now SOLD OUT. To join the waiting list for any cancelled or returned tickets, see the Punk It Up! Facebook page.
Posted in Releases, Rubella Ballet on March 12, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Dark Entries Records have released a vinyl album version of Rubella Ballet’s 1980 debut cassette release Ballet Bag, which also includes tracks from the band’s two sessions for the John Peel radio show on BBC Radio 1. The Ballet Bag LP can be ordered direct from the US label’s web site (although shipping costs outside the US can amount to more the price of the album itself). Details of any UK distributor will be added here as/if confirmed.
Rubella Ballet are a gothic anarcho-punk band formed in autumn 1979 by former Fatal Microbes Pete Fender (guitar) and Gem Stone (bass) with vocalist Zillah Minx, and Flux of Pink Indians drummer Sid Ation. Sid and Zillah were living with the Poison Girls at Burleigh House in Epping. Pete and Gem were the son and daughter of Poison Girls singer Vi Subversa. The band used Poison Girls equipment to jam and write songs, and their first performance was when they jumped up on the stage at a Crass concert. Zillah created and designed ultraviolet hand painted day-glo clothes for the band and dyed their hair multicolored to differentiate themselves from the death rock bands who tended to wear black, army-surplus style clothing. For their psychedelic stage show they used nothing more than black lights, strobes, and a bit of smoke to illuminate the band.
In 1982 Rubella Ballet released their first batch of material on a cassette album titled Ballet Bag for Poison Girls’ Xntrix Records. Their sound went from fast punk to full on Goth, innovative like their clothing. Sounding like rather organized chaos this was the start of a very colorful part of the British anarcho-punk scene, which remains vital to this day. Lyrics tell of living under the grim rule of Thatcher’s government, in haunting fashion. Despite the severity of the material, pop and even funk dimensions are discernible beneath the claustrophobic thrashing. Ballet Bag was a 100% DIY project, all artwork was drawn and hand-printed by the band. Each cassette came in a bag with a lyric booklet, badge and poster. The band recorded two John Peel sessions for BBC Radio in 1982 and 1983, which are of much higher fidelity than the home-produced cassette. We’ve included 6 of those songs here as bonus tracks, complete with John Peel introductions from the original broadcast.
All songs have been remastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. Housed in neon pink and black checkered jacket emulating the polyvinyl bag that covered the original cassette. Each copy includes a replica of the original 12-page zine with lyrics and drawings by the band. Also included are 2 black and white postcard featuring never before seen photos of the band from 1981.
SIDE A
Emotional Blackmail
Belfast
A Dream Of Honey
Newz At 10
Slant & Slide
Me
Blues
Exit
SIDE B
Krak Trak
Me (Peel Session)
Ballet Dance (Peel Session)
Belfast (Peel Session)
T (Peel Session)
Slant & Slide (Peel Session)
Exit (Peel Session)
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.
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 ]
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 ]
AK Press – Revolution by the Book
