Conflict - Live At Centro Iberico

CONFLICT - LIVE AT CENTRO IBERICO

Slipping into a position that they were destined to maintain for many a year by continuing to give succour to the Anarcho Punk scene was Conflict, whose next record release was the 7" EP Live At Centro Iberico.

Released on the Poison Girls' XNTrix label, it contained six songs of fair to medium quality, acting primarily as a document of Conflict playing live during that period. Being a live recording, justice wasn't really being done to the songs but served instead as a teaser for what Conflict might actually be capable of producing. Of greater interest was the fact that the recording was taken from a gig at the Centro Iberico, an old school building in West London that had been taken over and squatted by Spanish anarchists.

All the money that had been made from the Crass/Poison Girls split single, Bloody Revolutions/Persons Unknown, had been put toward the setting up of an anarchist center in London. A place where anarchists, Punks and anarchist Punks could go 'to drink a cuppa and meet people of possibly similar views'. According to the sleeve notes on Bloody Revolutions, the aims of the center were both political and social. The political aim being to make anarchist literature and ideas more easily available; the social aim being to offer a meeting place for people interested in anarchy and its various outlets, as in music, etc.

True to the word of all involved, the center was opened in an old warehouse in Wapping, East London, but after just a year the project folded. In the introduction to the Shock Slogans booklet that came with Christ - The Album, an update regarding the center was printed:

'The Anarchy Center closed down after a year in which, apart from some very good gigs, very little happened. The general feeling is that we were ripped off and that a lot of the money that we, Poison Girls and many others put into the center was wasted'.

In this instance, it seemed, the reality fell short of the idea.

After the closure of the Anarchy Center, the people who had been putting on the gigs there moved operations to the Centro Iberico where, under the umbrella of the Spanish anarchists along with The Mob and their entourage a free, autonomous venue was established.

Sometimes, it seemed, the reality could match the idea.

Britain was being a bit slow in catching up with other European countries where squatted, autonomous venues were widespread but through the persistence and hard work of a small number of people, the situation was slowly but surely changing, ably supported by a plethora of bands - Conflict being one of them.

Crass - How Does It Feel (To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead)?

CRASS - HOW DOES IT FEEL 

(TO BE THE MOTHER OF A THOUSAND DEAD)?

Just as defeat in the Falklands would have surely ruined Thatcher, so victory did elevate her to new heights of insufferable grandiosity. Victory was the proof that she could now offer up to show that her politics, her policies and her spirit were totally and absolutely right. Thatcher's spirit was the Falkland's spirit was the spirit of the age - according to Thatcher.

"We have ceased to be a nation in retreat," she declared to a Conservative Party rally shortly after the war "We have instead a new-found confidence - born in the economic battles at home and tested and found true 8000 miles away. We rejoice that Britain has rekindled that spirit which has fired her for generations past and which today has begun to burn as brightly as before. Britain found herself again in the South Atlantic and will not look back from the victory she has won."

All good, stirring stuff, fully endorsed by The Sun newspaper, of course. But at what cost was this new-found confidence? Did the British armed forces go to war with Argentina to liberate the Falklands - for Queen and country - or for the political salvation of Thatcher? And what of the sinking of the Belgrano? Being the point at which the war began in earnest, rapidly escalating the death toll and destroying any chance of a negotiated peace, was the decision to attack made from a military necessity or a political one?

Back in Britain, was the degrading of whole industries and the subsequent mass unemployment a price worth paying for the establishment of a free enterprise economy? If Thatcher's vision of Britain was a nation of shopkeepers, it was also of a nation of Tory-voting, home-owning, patriotic Union Jack wavers. But if patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, was Thatcher's Britain to be a nation of scoundrels?

Three months after the Falklands war had ended a Victory Parade held in London offered a glimpse of that vision. As tanks rolled by and soldiers and sailors marched through the streets, thousands of people cheered, applauded and rejoiced. With their flags held aloft and their heads held high, the crowds sang 'Rule Britannia' with gusto as Thatcher - without the Queen or any other member of the Royal family present - stood there on a podium like a modern-day Roman emperor, saluting her 'bold young Britains'. For many, the event was a proud and emotional one but for others it was hugely unsettling if not extremely frightening.

At the risk of being strung up from lampposts by a Tory lynch mob, to coincide with the Victory Parade, Crass released their first, fully considered official statement concerning the Falklands war. Not withstanding the various flexi-discs they had issued, How Does It Feel (To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead)? was Crass's fifth 7" single release and appropriately under the circumstances was a bitter, intense ball of hate-fueled anger.

The Falklands war had impacted heavily upon Crass and whilst being confirmation of all they had ever said regarding the duplicity of governments, it had left them dismayed at theirs and everybody else's inability to do anything to stop it.

If, as it had appeared at the time that the whole Crass/peace/ Anarcho Punk movement was a force to be reckoned with then why had it been so ineffective when it came to the Falklands war? Why instead was it that after showing the massively violent ends to which she would go in pursuit of her political ideas, Thatcher's star was suddenly in the ascendency? Had Thatcher actually been underestimated? Was it time now to become even more strident in opposition? To up the game? To up the ante? To become even more fierce in condemnation?

How Does It Feel began with what might have been a description of the tiring, heavy load that Crass suddenly felt they were carrying; exasperated by the impact of the Falklands war: "When you woke this morning you looked so rocky-eyed, blue and white normally but strange ringed like that in black. It doesn't get much better, your voice can get just ripped up shouting in vain. Maybe someone hears what you say but you're still on your own at night. You've got to make such a noise to understand the silence, screaming like a jackass, ringing ears so you can't hear the silence. Even when it's there, like the wind seen from the window. Seeing it but not being touched by it."

It was a thoughtful and honest admission but instead of showing surrender to such feelings, Crass were hitting back with a single, screamed question aimed directly at Thatcher: "How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead?" A thousand lives, or thereabouts, being the amount lost in the war.

Not only was this a raw and emotive question but also painfully piercing and accusatory. When her own son had gone missing in the Sahara Desert at the start of the year, Thatcher was shown on national television shedding a tear for him as any mother might whose child was in danger. No such tears had been shed and no remorse shown, however, for the starving and dying H-Block prisoners the year previously; the pleas of their mothers and wives calling for clemency falling on deaf ears. The blood of those Irish prisoners was on Thatcher's hands though it appeared to hold no meaning to her nor to any of her fellow Party members, almost as if the responsibility was not theirs.

In comparison, Thatcher was all too ready to claim responsibility for the victory in the Falklands but in doing so, Crass were saying, she should also be held responsible for the deaths: "You smile in the face of death because you are so proud and vain, your cruel inhumanity stops you from realising the pain that you inflicted, you determined, you created, you ordered - it was your decision to have those young boys slaughtered."

As pacifists, Crass were obviously sickened by the war's main perpetrator, advocate and prime beneficiary - Thatcher. How Does It Feel ends with the whole band in unison and then just Steve Ignorant alone spitting out once again their furious refrain, this time sounding for all the world as though it was being directed personally at Thatcher: "1, 2, 3, 4 - we don't want your fucking war! 1, 2, 3, 4 - you can stuff your fucking war!"

Continuing the anti-Falklands war theme, two more songs were featured on the flipside, both featuring Eve Libertine on lead vocals. The first, entitled The Immortal Death was a meditation on the relationship between war and sex: "Ah, those rotting young men who all did their duty are sinking away in the sea. And they've missed, just for them, the 'Invincible panties' displayed in The Sun, page 3." This being, of course, a reference to The Sun's jingoism and the use of page 3 models to encourage the soldiers by flashing breasts and knickers.

The second song, entitled Don't Tell Me You Care, was Crass at their most virulent; perhaps, even, at their most virulent ever. The song starts with the words "You shit-head slimy got-it-alls," and then just gets better from there: "You crap-eyed ghosts with greasy balls. You wicked matron stabbing hard, grabbing while the going's good... You shit-head slimy make-it-alls, with dead meat dripping as you walk. Don't talk of justice or respect, you shit-soaked armchair moralist... You shit-head slimy got-it-alls, crap-eyed ghosts where maggots crawl, tired old jerk-offs with your bodyguards. Those muscle-pimps with forty-fives, you gutless automatic butchers, bullet-shitting dumbhead hookers... You shit-head greedy have-it-alls, you cheat and lie and jargonise that your success is also ours, that what you take you take for us..."

Delivered with caustic, incandescent fury, following the war this was exactly how a good many people hoped that Crass would respond to Thatcher and her supporters. Having had the time to weigh up the subtleties and the ins and outs of the war, this was Crass's thorough and thought-out assessment. There was no debate to be had, no exchange of views or opinion; just absolute and righteous condemnation. There was no message to be imparted, no call for action; just unbridled, unforgiving anger: "You dead meat eyesore death-pushers, look elsewhere for your arse-lickers. The face that stares back from the mirror reflects the reality of your horror. So don't tell me you care, shit head. You betray the dead now as you curse life. Eat your own shit, leader of the nation. Piss off to your Downing Street fortress. Leave us out of your MADNESS. Buy your own Vaseline, grease your own arse, shit in your own backyard, suck your own turds. THIS IS OUR WORLD."

Don't Tell Me You Care was an exhilarating piece of soul-bareing, made ever more heartfelt by Eve's vocal delivery. It was an impassioned scream of disgust perfectly reflecting how a great many people felt. However, daring to express such opinion that ran counter to the prevalent mood of pro-Conservative patriotism meant running the gauntlet of accusations of disrespect, disloyalty and treachery. No doubt for this reason a lot of people were choosing to keep their head down though that's not to say that what Crass were bravely saying wasn't precisely what those same people were all thinking.

How Does It Feel came in the usual wrap-around, fold-out sleeve but unlike other Crass releases there were no copious sleeve notes to pour over. Apart from what was being conveyed in the songs it seemed there was nothing more for Crass to add, so other than Gee Vaucher's artwork the sleeve was in all black. As though behind the anger, Crass were in mourning.

On the inner sleeve that held the actual record were the lyrics along with a reproduction of First World War poet Wilfred Owen's famous elegy, Anthem For Doomed Youth, along with a quote from writer/philosopher Hermann Hesse's book If The War Goes On. And then lastly, a quote from John Lennon. The obvious one, really, and none more so fitting: 'War is over if you want it'.

Being a free flexi-disc that was easily distributed, Crass's earlier release that year of Sheep Farming In The Falklands had the potential of falling into the hands of practically anyone venturing into a record shop. For all that, due probably to the fact that Crass denied at the time that they were behind its release, the only people to receive any flak over it was Rough Trade, the distributor of Crass records.

Following a Conservative MP raising the matter of the flexi-disc in the House of Commons after receiving a complaint about it from a constituent, Rough Trade were written to by the Select Committee on Sound Broadcasting asking them to desist in distributing the disc as it contravened regulations in broadcasting samples of speeches taken from the House of Commons. Rough Trade simply denied any involvement with it and forwarded the letter on to Crass, who hopefully had a good giggle about it. With the release of How Does It Feel, up stepped another Tory MP taking umbrage with Crass.

Having heard the record, or possibly having just read the lyrics, Tim Eggar, the Conservative MP for Enfield North in Essex, requested the Attorney General prosecute Crass under the Obscene Publications Act. For reasons known only to himself, Eggar then issued a press release informing the mainstream media of his action, thereby entailing huge publicity for the record. Eggar and Crass were then invited onto a live radio programme to debate the issue whereupon not only did Andy Palmer make mincemeat of Eggar but Eggar immediately and very successfully revealed himself to be an hysterical fucking idiot.

Years later, Crass would include a sample of the debate on a compilation album of theirs, making for hilarious listening: "The accusations that have been made against us are that the record is obscene," starts Andy Palmer in a calm, polite manner "I consider that Margaret Thatcher, her government, Mr Eggar and all who support her are responsible for sending young men to be slaughtered, which in my view amounts to premeditated and calculated murder."

In a very posh and pompous tone of voice, Eggar replies: "Well, look. What I object to extremely strongly is the actual language used in the last song. Now (addressing the host DJ), I know you have had to consult your lawyers over exactly what words I can repeat because you're frightened of the legal consequences of me reading out the words in that last track. Now that's, now that's, now that is how bad it is." Eggar's brain sounds as though it's about to explode: "And it starts off, the last song starts off with the words 'You shit-head slimy got-it-alls'. And then it gets worse from there."

What elevates it all to high comedy is the fact that Eggar talks exactly how a 'shit-head slimy got-it-all' might be imagined to talk like.

That same week of the radio debate, during Prime Minister's question time in Parliament, a Labour MP asked Thatcher if she might take some time off that afternoon to listen to the record How Does It Feel To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead? Sadly, Thatcher failed to respond to the question though it's probably fair to presume she wouldn't have been very amused.

Soon after this, prosecution charges against Crass were dropped, apparently following the decision by the Attorney General that How Does It Feel did not contravene the Obscene Publications Act, although a more likely reason being that someone in government didn't think it wise to give Crass more 'oxygen of publicity'.

Following their bout of self-doubt regarding the effectiveness of what they, Anarcho Punk, and the wider peace movement were doing, Crass's brush with the higher echelons of power acted as a spur for them to step up a gear.

Now was not the time to waver.

Now was the time to go on the attack.

Drongos For Europe - Eternity

DRONGOS FOR EUROPE - ETERNITY

Like an incurable, ever-mutating virus, Punk had by 1982 spread throughout the whole of Europe and North America, its different strains erupting gloriously anywhere and everywhere. Whilst the sounds, styles, attitudes and politics (or lack of) of different Punk bands were constant and common factors in shaping how any new Punk band might be, so too was geography and environment. Meaning where any Punk band was from was always a massive influence upon the way they were.

Stiff Little Fingers, for example, could only have come from Northern Ireland and the Dead Kennedys could only have come from California. The Angelic Upstarts could only have come from South Shields and The Business could only have come from South London. It made sense that the Exploited were urban, from the city of Edinburgh and it made sense that Crass were rural, from the Essex countryside. And it made sense that a band like Drongos For Europe, despite their name, were thoroughly British. It made sense, even, that they were from Birmingham, the geographical centre of England.

Eternity was the title of Drongos For Europe's second independently released 7" single that year and was a fine example of all the right elements colliding at the right time and at the right place to produce an absolute classic record. The title track conjured up images of a William Blake poem put to Punk music, grounding it firmly to a sense of Englishness symbolised as Albion yet enabling it to soar heavenwards.

British Summertime, on the flip-side, was a song of praise for the inner city riots of '81; poetically brilliant in itself for simply equating the idea of British summertime with barbed wire, riot shields, bricks, complete disorder and mob rule. If summertime represented life in full bloom then so too did a riot.

Birmingham, like many other industrial towns and cities throughout the country was under attack from rampant Thatcherism and its accompanying economic policies resulting in large scale unemployment. Birmingham, specifically in the Handsworth area of the city, also happened to be one of the first towns where rioting had erupted following the riots in Liverpool and Manchester.

High unemployment was one of the reasons that had been immediately put forward as a way of explaining the inner city riots and though joblessness was certainly a contributing factor, it was in no way the absolute cause. Secretary of State for Employment, Norman Tebbit, had famously announced at the Conservative Party conference in 1981 that when his father was out of work he didn't riot but instead got on his bike and looked for work. Though roundly condemned by an incensed Left at the time, Tebbit actually wasn't wrong. Unemployment didn't naturally lead to rioting.

Far nearer to the truth was the notion being put forward by Drongos For Europe: that a riot was an exertion of power from the powerless and something that should very much be celebrated. Just as summer is celebrated.

Discharge - State Violence State Control

DISCHARGE - 

STATE VIOLENCE STATE CONTROL

When it came to knowing where to vent their spleen there were no such worries for Discharge, who with their next record release still knew exactly where to aim and in doing so were continuing on their course of aurally pleasuring their very sizeable audience.

State Violence State Control, with its restrained, heavy Punk groove and extended guitar solos saw Discharge stepping slightly away from their normal shredding chainsaw approach though Cal's words were as precise and succinct as ever: "Kept in line by truncheons, rifle butts and truncheons - this is State control."

Regardless of what their critics might say, with each new record Discharge had released there had been a steady musical progression, for many people the zenith being the single Decontrol and the album Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing. Having created a whole new Punk genre, however, the question would sooner or later arise asking 'Where now? What now?'

State Violence State Control was a hint as to which direction the band might eventually head. That direction in the end would turn out to be Heavy Metal and would prove ultimately and unfortunately to be their undoing. For some, there might only be a thin line between Punk and Heavy Metal but for others it's a chasm they're just not willing to leap. This would be the bitter lesson that Discharge would one day learn.

Lyrically, Cal had basically said all he really needed to say. He had said it all. State Violence State Control would arguably be the last great Discharge record but their influence and their legacy would go on and on forever.

Special Duties - Bullshit Crass

SPECIAL DUTIES - BULLSHIT CRASS

Packaged in the usual giant wraparound sleeve, the front cover picture on Bullshit Detector 2 was a depiction of the Royal Family waving from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, their faces replaced by death skulls. In stencilled letters around the edge of the picture was the wording: 'Right! Hands up who can smell bullshit?'. In a neat twist, their waving had been turned into them answering the posited question in the affirmative. As well as the Royal Family, it was obvious there were quite a few people around who had no problem at all in smelling bullshit, none more so than Special Duties, from Colchester; though the bullshit they could smell was rather different to everybody else’s.

Special Duties were an absolutely formidable Punk group who already had two singles to their name released on the Rondolet label, home to Anti-Pasti, Dead Man's Shadow, Threats, Riot Squad and (later to be Crass-affiliated) The Fits. Both releases were fine, rabid bursts of viciousness, lashing out at society, Colchester Council, the police and politicians. Singer Steve Arrogant's vocals were suitably snarly and the music hard and urgent. Special Duties were a good band. Their third single release, though again a fine piece of Punk Rock was probably, however, a bit of a misjudgement.

Special Duties, it seemed, had a problem with Crass.

Entitled Bullshit Crass, and arriving in a sleeve adorned with a mock 'Crass cover' design, Special Duties third single was nothing less than an outright attack upon everybody's favourite Anarcho Punk heroes. Starting with a chant of "Fight Crass, not Punk", the song hurtled into a short, sharp blast of spite with Steve Arrogant deriding the idea that Crass might not be rich - "Got no money? Ha, ha, ha!" - before asserting "What they preach, there is no way - Bullshit Crass you've been detected."

There was nothing new in groups attacking other groups in song and in print, even Crass themselves had done so with The Clash so in a way, Special Duties were just continuing a tradition. Nothing could have prepared them, however, for the storm of controversy they were whipping up and the backlash they would suffer from the many supporters of Crass, ranging from the Crass fans themselves, major independent record distributors such as Rough Trade and Small Wonder, and major-league Punkers such as the Dead Kennedys.

When it came to tackling rampaging skinheads at Crass gigs there were very few contenders but when it came to jumping on a Punk band who were urging their listeners to fight a fellow Punk band - especially when that Punk band was Crass - then there were plenty who were willing and able to leap into action. And rightly so. It wasn't as if Crass didn't have enough enemies to deal with without Punk bands from Colchester lining up against them also. And as if there wasn't more important things to aim fire at besides top Anarchist Punk bands who were endlessly giving to all kinds of good causes and bands without asking for anything back.

No way could Special Duties have anticipated just how controversial their attack upon Crass would be and though it raised their profile enormously it was for all the wrong reasons, leading to them being ostracised from the very people who might once have been their supporters, losing them a support slot on a US tour with the Dead Kennedys, and then due to promoters not wishing to put them on eventually causing them to split up.

Icon AD - Don't Feed Us Shit

ICON AD - DON'T FEED US SHIT

Of the bands featured on the original Bullshit Detector LP, a number of them were still very much active. Some, such as Amebix, The Sinyx, The Disrupters, and The Snipers had already gone on to have singles released whilst others such as Alternative and Andy T were continuing to play regular concerts. One band by the name of Icon, whose incredibly catchy song called Cancer had been one of the highlights of Bullshit Detector were only now - two years later - having their début single released.

Having undergone a slight change in personnel over the intervening years along with a slight change in band name to reflect this, the Don't Feed Us Shit EP by Icon AD was issued by Norwich-based Radical Change Records. Semi-wrapped in an A4-sized scrap of paper acting as a record sleeve, proudly boasting the Crass-style command 'Pay No More', this was DIY in its most purest form.

The four songs on the record were brilliant examples of politicised Pop Punk, ably supported by intriguing sleeve notes: 'The government has messed itself up so much that it is now losing the support of the people. Take a look at any election result - ok, in this so-called 'democracy' a Party always wins, but forget that - look at the percentage of people who don't vote. In most cases there is a larger proportion of people who don't vote than who vote for the winning Party - why aren't these people's voices heard? Why? Because if they were recognised, then by the 'rules' of democracy this country would now have no government... Don't feed us shit'.

Icon AD's début record would earn them the honour of being invited to record a radio session for the John Peel show which wasn't bad going for a band first introduced to the world on an LP deemed by the NME as 'ill-conceived' and 'excruciating', and by others as being possibly 'the worst record in the world ever'....

Bullshit Detector 2

BULLSHIT DETECTOR 2

Much to the delight of critics and music lovers everywhere, proof of the continuing influence of Crass was presented in Bullshit Detector 2, the imaginatively titled sequel to Bullshit Detector. Like it's predecessor, this was once again basically a fanzine in vinyl format consisting of home-made and cheap studio recordings of tracks from a plethora of Crass-inspired bands from around the country.

This time round, not only was the record twice the size (being a double record set) but was twice as good as the original due to the superior quality of the songs. Potentially even, many of the featured bands could easily have been plucked from their local obscurity, escorted to Southern Studios and after being given the Rimbaud production once-over had singles released by them on the Crass label whereupon fame and fortune would surely follow?

In all, 38 different bands and solo artists were featured and whilst some were simply regurgitating Crass song lines, others were finding new and interesting ways to cover the subjects of war, the Bomb and the system. Others were diversifying into new song subject areas such as apartheid, animal abuse, police brutality, alcohol abuse, and Punk introspection. All, however, were seemingly taking the Crass 'message' very much to heart.

One of the big achievements of Bullshit Detector 2 as a whole was in successfully relaying the fact that there was now a genuine Anarcho Punk movement of bands who after taking heed of the example set by Crass, seemed to have no intention of selling out on their ideas. According to the sleeve notes: 'A lot of the bands on this album may not fit the facile image of what the music press tell us Punk's about. In reality Punk is an attitude of mind, a form of protest against an unjust and uncaring society. Punk is concerned with ideas, not last weeks throwaway fashion. The tracks on this album express the 'real Punk spirit' - protest, independence, originality and lack of compromise, even if some of them don't conform to the media idea of what Punk 'should be'.

Through the inspiration of Crass, people were creatively expressing themselves and becoming united in their ideas; and through that unity, strength was being found. Gravitating toward each other, seeing and meeting each other at gigs and at demos, and together raising a loud, collective voice. Alone, these people were possibly misfits to the system but together they were an alternative.

Omega Tribe, The Suspects, Krondstadt Uprising, Deformed, No Label, The Rejected, Polemic Attack, Naked, Toxic Ephex, Anthrax, Metro Youth, Riot Squad, Youth In Asia, Passion Killers, Destructors, Chumbawamba - all unknown bands at the time but some soon to be very well known and very inspirational in their own right.