Alternative - In Nomine Patri

ALTERNATIVE - IN NOMINE PATRI

In Scotland, there was another band who were showing they had mighty good taste by dressing all in black, sporting Kamikazi bandannas, and playing live beneath huge stage backdrops and banners depicting anarchist slogans. Consisting of six members including dual vocalists, they were espousing ideas of autonomy and peace through the mediums of fanzines, leaflets, and a sublime form of Punk Rock. The band was called Alternative, their main influence, of course, being Crass.

Brought to the attention of a national audience by the inclusion of a song by them on the first Bullshit Detector LP, Alternative had grown to be a force to be reckoned with and an important Scottish connection for like-minded bands wishing to play gigs in Scotland. It wasn't too long before Alternative were sharing stages with all the leading Anarcho Punk lights, leading to a record by them being released on the Crass label.

In Nomine Patri was the title of the 4-track EP and was nothing short of a high-octane blend of UK Subs and early live Clash rinsed thoroughly through with a healthy dose of Crass. The centre-piece song on the EP was a track called Anti-Christ, being essentially a dramatic and powerful venture into Crass's Reality Asylum territory. With a near-epic, fanfare introduction featuring church organ, the Lord's Prayer, pounding drums, and crashing guitars, it effectively and immediately established Alternative as being just as able if not not even better than any English band at denouncing religion: "I will not cry or reach out for Christ's hand. He carries my guilt and my sin which was never there. I reject this Christ, I reject the myth that holds us. Where is this Heaven You speak of? Where is this love You offer? Have I no self-control over my thoughts? Whether I like it or not? Is my fate sealed to an endless existence binded in guilt and sin? Your cross has been worn as a symbol of guilt for too long."

Was it Patti Smith who first unwittingly gave the green light for blasphemy in Punk when she declared on her Horses début album "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine"? Or was it Johnny Rotten when proclaiming himself an 'Anti-Christ'? Or was it Crass who well and truly flung open the door with Feeding Of The 5,000? Whoever it was, it was clear that a rich seam had been opened up within the Punk realm that was being mined for all it's worth: "I seek no Christ as my saviour, I must find control myself. I seek no god, no painted idol. I'm the only one who answers for me. I ask for nothing. I owe Him nothing."

In a secular age, religion and in particular Christianity had become a sitting duck for criticism if not outright abuse, particularly over the way those with their finger on the nuclear button would use it as the backbone of their morality. At the same time, however, there were also a number of quite radical free-thinkers within the Peace Movement who would cite Christianity as the backbone of their own morality as well. So it went both ways.

Increasingly, then, being blasphemous for blasphemy's sake was becoming a rather pointless exercise unless good reason for it was given. To their credit, this is what Alternative were doing: "His conditions, His ten commandments, slip the noose around our necks... What right has He to share His pain? What right has He to crucify us?... Religious rantings support this system, we're caught like flies in a spider's web."

Like all good anarchists, Alternative saw religion as just another tenet of the system, another pillar of the State, and another form of repression. Their advice being that as well as rejecting organised religion, that people also: "Reject this system. Sow the seeds of peace. Don't recognise the rules of the power-monger, for his hand shall not touch upon our peace. Let no politician make your decisions, for the only government is your self. Reject and pacify."

Anti-Christ was a magnificent achievement both sonically and polemically. The problem Alternative were now going to face, however, was that by setting such a high standard with this particular song, they were going to be hard-pressed to follow it. Not that they weren't going to give it a good try if the other three tracks on the EP were anything to by, all being super-charged Anarcho Punk work-outs operating on a scorched earth policy. 

Or even going by the self-belief as conveyed on the record's inner sleeve: 'We are not alone. Our voices will not fade. We will confront and question. Our vision is absolute.'