Poison Girls - All Systems Go

POISON GIRLS - ALL SYSTEMS GO

If Discharge were blazing a whole new trail for Punk Rock to travel then the Poison Girls were doing likewise but going off at a completely different tangent. Both bands were sat at almost opposing extremes though both were similar in the way they were polarising critics, leading to both being either loved, hated or studiously ignored.

If Discharge were playing unlistenable music (for unliveable times) then Poison Girls were playing music for pleasure in a very mature manner and it was a sign of the times that the only people able and willing to appreciate both bands at once was the Punk crowd who were acknowledging, perhaps, not only the form but the content.

All Systems Go was Poison Girls' first 7" record totally of their own and featured two tracks, Promenade Immortelle and Dirty Work. Though very much their own record, the connection to Crass was still on full display as in being released on Crass Records, produced by Penny Rimbaud, featuring Eve Libertine on backing vocals, with photography by Gee Vaucher.

Piano, gliding synthesizer, delicate guitar and gentle bass created a grand audioscape buoyed by perfect drumming for the vocals of Vi Subversa and Bernhardt Rebours to caress the listener with words of hope and defiance: "Strong with the strength of all that has gone and all that will change. Strong with the strength of the longing and pain that flows through our veins. Strong we are strong with the rage of the past and all that will fade. Strong we are strong with wave upon wave of change after change.

Wave... Wave... Wave upon wave upon wave. Wave... Wave... And we have survived and we stand here again."

There was something of the epic about Promenade Immortelle; something modestly, even shyly majestic. If ever a song was fit to be played on national radio then surely this was it? If ever a record might appeal to teenage Anarcho Punk Rockers and their parents alike then - surely - this was the one? Promenade Immortelle should have been the song that took Poison Girls from being viewed purely as an underground Anarcho group to being cast into the mainstream where up against other groups with much bigger budgets and major label support they could have proudly held their own. But alas, it didn't happen and it begged the question as to why? What was preventing such a talented, original and accessible band such as Poison Girls from being picked up on by a mainstream audience? Not that there was anything to suggest this was what Poison Girls wanted or that they were looking to be signed to a major label or any such nonsense but now and again these things would happen whether a band was actively seeking them or not. So why were they only being appreciated by their hardcore audience? Why weren't they being at least offered a slot on Top Of The Pops or even a John Peel session? Was the Crass connection doing them more harm than good, perhaps?

Not that Poison Girls had lost their edge in any way nor their spikiness as evidenced by the other track on the record, Dirty Work. Propelled by tribal drumming and scorched by fuzzbox feedback, the words are delivered in an almost robotic fashion: "Bombing cities pulling switches we won't do your dirty work, making death is full employment we won't do your dirty work. Bombing cities bombing people while you eat your dirty meal, we won't serve you at your table screw your dirty deal."

At a time of escalating mass unemployment when simply having a job was considered to be lucky, to question how you might earn a living and the effects of your job upon others was a thorn in the eye for the likes of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) who were demanding The Right To Work. Nuclear power and weapons manufacturing were two (entwined) industries whose tentacles spread far and wide, with both offering a living wage but at what cost? And because they offered employment did it mean these industries had the backing of the TUC?

"Bombing cities washing dishes we don't want your dirty work, easy living easy killing we won't do your dirty work. We won't make your dirty weapons to defend your dirty law... We won't do your dirty washing, war machine is bloody real... We don't want your dirty war!"

Poison Girls may have been making music for what could could be termed 'easy listening' but they weren't in any way making for easy listening.