Antisect
Antisect were a huge influence on the crust movement, and like Amebix, Anti-System, Sacrilege and Civilised Society, mixed elements of punk with metal for the better. The band began life in 1981 in Daventry as a four-piece to play a thrash like, hardcore punk mix, but with lyrics containing anarchist tendencies. The first lineup was Pete 'Lippy' Lyons on guitar, Pete Boyce on vocals, Pete 'Polly' Paluskiewics on drums and Renusze 'Wink' Rokicki on bass. They didn't really fit in as 'punk's because they were into Motorhead, and didn't find the second wave of punk too inspiring(Killing Joke also had an influence on them). It wasn't until they listened to Crass that the politics behind 'Anarcho Punk' began to sink in and influence their lyrics.
During the beginning of 1982, Antisect played their first gig as a support band for The Barkers in Preston. Afterwards, three demos were recorded that gave a small glimpse as to what kind of sound they had live. They then got a big break supporting Discharge, but they became very uncomfortable playing mainstream venues, as they saw how the big business men were exploiting the bands for profit. Slowly they began to realize that the world was starting to crumble around their home and war seemed inevitable between the British and the Americans, so they became activist and began attending protests that involved direct action. Some members also became vegans and began supporting the Animal Liberation front by sabotaging hunters and doing other acts of direct action to help stop animal cruelty
Choosing this lifestyle also meant that they had to deal with the police force. Several members were arrested and tried in court on more than one occasion. The band continued and expanded into a six-piece, adding two more vocalists named Richard Hill, and Caroline Wallis, and they also relocated to Northampton. They then got the attention of Flux of Pink Indians after playing a gig with them during the Summer of 1982, at the Greyhound in London. Flux of Pink Indians approached the band and offered to release an L.P. for them on their Spiderleg label. The band went into the studio began working on the album, which took weeks to finish(they wrote a bunch of new material and used some tracks from the demos, but made big changes to them).
The brilliant 'In Darkness, there is no Choice' was committed to tape at Southern during September of 1983, and was released on January 14th. Originally, the album was supposed to sound a lot more heavier, but Colin from Flux of Pink Indians toned it down a bit. A short U.K. tour followed with Crucifix and a reformed Dirt.(MDC too, but it didn't happen). One fond memory of the band was a 'bring a toy' benefit they played for single parents where all these punks in crazy clothes and hair showed up with teddy bears and stuffed rabbits in their hands. A big promoter then asked them if they could tour in America, but they declined, being fully aware of how big business ruin punk for profit.
The tour ended in 1984, and Antisect then lost bassist Wink and vocalist Rich, replacing them with Tom Lowe from the Varukers and John Bryson. Several more gigs followed all over the United Kingdom such as a couple of dates in Italy. Antisect were now shaping into what would help influence the Crust scene, since their clothe were getting more and more dirty, and their spiky hair began turning into dreadlocks. Afterwards, the remaining vocalist Pete made his announcement that he was leaving, just as they were about to start a U.K. tour, which infuriated the band.
The band carried on as a three-piece, with Pete (Lippy) and John doing the vocals, even though they couldn't remember all the lyrics. Unfortunately, the band became known for their heavy drug use, and the police would often visit the band and arrest certain members. The band also began to realize that a lot of people within the scene were becoming hypocrites, and this disillusioned the band. They also found out that one of their roadies was burrowing money from their promoter to buy himself drugs.
In early 1986, Antisect released their 'Out from the Void' single on the Endangered Musik label. They were later approached by Motorhate to release another LP, but 'Out from the Void' would become the bands last release so the L.P. was never finished. Antisect was pushed more into the 'metal side' and began to slowly detach from the 'political punk' side.Their last line-up was when John was replaced on bass by Lawrence Windle, who was the former bassist for The X-Cretas and Anthrax(U.K. Anthrax, not the metal one), and additional vocalist Tim Andrews was added. Unfortunately, as work on the second album was nearing completion, the band declined to sign a tight 30-page contract from some big time promoter, so the L.P. was done for good.
Soon after, the band woke up one morning to find out that all their gear had been stolen out of their van. They had to burrow equipment, and they later moved into a giant punk squat in Hackney full of crazy people and drug dealers. Several gigs were played in the summer, and the band also ran into Amebix a couple of times. After several events of police brutality aftermath, the band noticed that people were giving up on fighting back against the system, and the remaining members felt that they were starting to feel the same way. This led the band ultimately splitting up.
An interview with Oi Polloi
Oi Polloi – Destroy The System demo – 1985
Punks And Skins / Thugs In Uniform / Never Give In / Minority Authority / Boot Down The Door / Stop Vivisection / Skinhead / Pigs For Slaughter / No Filthy Nuclear Power
I do love a nice wedding. So through the tear delicately running down my cheek I attempt to construct a post whilst at the same time checking whether the bridal dress is actually that beautiful. Thanks to Chris Low for the lend of this tape, and for the great interview with Deek Allen which has recently appeared in Vice magazine. Also indebted to Chris for the photographs of Oi Polloi during the era of this cassettes recording.
Oi Polloi’s was originally founded by Deek Allen and other friends from school. Their name Oi Polloi often gave the impression that they were a group of skinheads. Despite what some believe, the band did not start out as a “skinhead band” but was in fact formed by a bunch of teenage school kids who played their first gig at Stewarts Melville College in Edinburgh in late 1981.
Apostles and Political Asylum original drummer Chris Low did a stint on the kit for a time while various other one time Oi Polloi members went on to play in such varied bands as Disorder, the Exploited, Bus Station Loonies, Gin Goblins, Newtown Grunts, Divide & Conquer, Moniack and In Decades Decline.
Oi Polloi’s first studio recording was a demo entitled “Destroy the System”, which was released in 1985. A second studio demo, “Green Anarchoi” followed before the release of the first 7” vinyl offering, “Resist the Atomic Menace”. The line-up of the group has starred fifty members since their formation, making up the countless incarnations of the band. Oi Polloi’s only permanent member is vocalist Deek Allen.
There is a royal wedding being held at Westminster Abbey today.
While most of London will spend that weekend waving little flags and gradually melting down into one amorphous, lager-wrecked, red, white and blue vomitoria, others will gather in some crustier corner to hoist their black masts high and celebrate a different anniversary. Yes – in one of those neat twists of fate, royal wedding weekend dares to fall on the 30-year anniversary of the first time Scottish anarchos Oi Polloi got together to shout and play loud music in front of other people.
I spoke to Deek Allen, the band’s only ever-present member, as Oi Polloi rehearsed for their Fuck The Royal Wedding live spectacular. He was full of stories.
As you look forward to playing to one thousand anti-royalist punks, most of whom wouldn’t have been born when you started, can you believe you guys have been around for 30 years now?
We’re more amazed than anyone. When we started were just a bunch of spotty teenagers attempting to play Exploited covers in a mate’s garage with just one 15-watt amplifier and a drumkit composed of old buckets of fertiliser. Once we’d learnt how to cover enough of their songs badly, we played our first gig at a school charity concert. We didn’t have a mic-stand so it was just held up by a mate at the side of the stage with his hand sticking out from behind a curtain. It was so dire that everyone apart from one person fucked off to the next room to watch a karate demonstration instead.
How did things develop for you after that?
Once we had some songs of our own we sought out some ‘proper’ gigs. We had a lot of difficulty finding them though. We ended up playing Under 12s’ Youth Clubs and homes for kids with special needs.
Not exactly Hammer of The Gods. Did you ever feel like packing it all in, flattening your hair and getting a real job?
Bizarrely, what kept us going through those days was the enthusiasm of this guy from the north of Scotland. He used to send us a camera film each week to go up town and take pictures of ourselves posing around with our punk mates trying to look hard, and mooning and flicking V-signs at the camera. Of course, the fact that this guy we’d never met was so keen on encouraging us to bare our arses for the camera should have set alarm bells ringing, and lo and behold, it turned out that far from being the “19-year-old punk rocker with a green mohican” he was in fact a fifty-something convicted sex-offender.
Shortly after we’d rumbled him he stopped writing to punk bands, and started writing to skinhead acts encouraging the hapless skins to pose topless in front of Union Jack flags and give it Nicky Crane poses in their skintight Levi’s so he could see their “balls bulging”… Again, no doubt for his own masturbatory pleasure, but to give him his dues he did find a pretty creative way to get around the social stigma attached to low-level paedophilia.
I suppose things could only get better for you after having a paedo as a patron.
Yeah, you could say that, but things have never been dull. We’ve had over 50 members in those last 30 years. Some of those people are now playing in bands like The Exploited and Disorder, but one guy’s in this band Aberfeldy who had a song in a Diet Coke ad last year. It’s weird looking back at the days when we’d gig all over Europe, the US and Canada, sometimes to a few thousand people at a time. Most of our shows now, though – like they were back then – are intimate affairs in hot and sweaty places full of people who are looking you right in the eye and dancing around on the stage (if there is one) while you’re playing. We’re not a hotels band. We usually end up staying with members of the audience after the shows.
I guess there must be times when decidedly un-street and decadent luxuries seem appealing, though?
Tell me about it. Some amusing things happen when you stay with those on the “crusty” side of things who think it’s cool to be as filthy and stinking as possible. We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve gone to stay at squats after gigs and encountered what look likes a post-nuclear nightmare with black rag-clad figures huddled around fires in various states of intoxication while wild dogs roam around piles of rubble on the wasteland where the squatted building is situated.
One time I was up on the roof of this squat doing an interview when the cops steamed in and started battering folk. We just pulled up the ladder after us and stayed on the roof till the coast was clear again, but by that time I’d lost all my bandmates and was stuck for a place to stay. Luckily this girl I met said I could stay at her squat down the road as one of her mates was away. “Nice one,” I thought, especially as there was the unexpected comfort of a mattress. I got into bed and began to luxuriate, until suddenly I started to feel as if there were hordes of tiny insects crawling all over my body.
“NO,” I thought, “this can’t be happening. I must be imagining it.” But sure enough, a couple of seconds later it dawned on me that it was fucking happening and after I leapt out of bed screaming I put on the light and the sheets were literally seething with an undulating carpet of fleas and lice. Fucking horrendous.
Then you have your ten-a-penny stories about dogshit littered floors – we went through one guy’s LPs and there was dogshit on the record sleeves! – and pissed up wankers throwing darts at sleeping peoples’ heads.
How about abroad? It always seems like the punk and squat scenes are more together and better organised over there.
That’s what we thought too until we toured there. We played in this Polish squat last year and when we asked this guy where the toilet was he just looked at us as if we were dumb and said “Toilet is… everywhere.” As our eyes acclimatised to the candelight, we made out crusty figures squatting in darkened corners like a scene from Macbeth; rivers of diarrhoea flowing into the already faecal-caked floor.
The worst had to be Cologne, though. When we arrived to play this squat this guy offered to give us a guided tour and started by saying: “There are three kinds of people who stay here: there are the political people and they are okay, there are the punks and they are okay… and then there are the people with body lice.” He then took us into this cavernous basement that was just full of piles of rotting clothes and blankets, interspersed with buckets of something black and foul-smelling. “Don’t go too close,” he cautioned, “this is where the people with body lice sleep.”
Turned out the piles of stuff were the nests where they bedded down and the buckets were full of putrefying shit and piss and were black because they were coated with a layer of floating dead flies – you had to see it to believe it. The after-party with these characters was something else, too – like a Hieronymous Bosch painting! Fearful of what further horrors lay in wait, we spent the night cowering inside our locked tour van in the midst of some subterranean parking lot while “the people with body lice” drank, danced and copulated outside all night long.
Having to put up with hospitality like that, haven’t you ever been tempted to return your appreciation in kind?
Last summer in Finland some members of the crowd were really annoying us, so we mixed some of our own piss in with this brutal Finnish homebrew to give to them. We decided not to give it to them in the end, but one came over and demanded it from me – I tried to explain it wasn’t for drinking, but he just snatched it from me and downed it in one.
The Finnish have tangoed with our urine more than once – another time our bassist was really drunk and relieved himself over this guy passed out by the front of the stage. When we got home there was a letter from some woman who had been there. She said she was a piss fetishist and that it was one of the best things she’d ever seen on stage!
Any more disgusting shit you want to get off your chest?
Once we stayed with this couple who were putting us on in Wales. Their relationship was on the rocks, and the morning after the show he demanded that we go to the pub with him and his six-month-old baby he’d been left in charge of. He’d drunk a two-litre bottle of cider for breakfast so was already out of it by the time we got to the boozer. He had a couple more pints, was swaying in his seat and burping and we were getting more and more worried about his ability to look after this tiny baby he had in his arms when suddenly he just went “Fuck – BLEEUUUUURGH” and puked up all over it – the fucking baby was covered in vomit. It was one of the worst things I have seen.
And you’re celebrating thirty years of this? Some folk would rather do that time in a Thai prison, it’d probably be safer and more hygienic.
There are a few negative aspects to the underground punk scene, but the shit-encrusted, flea-ridden squats are thankfully the exception rather than the rule. Sometimes it’s better that they are squats. In Poland (again) this kid told us we could “play in his girlfriend’s house”. We got there and it looked alarmingly normal – there were pictures of Jesus and Mary on the walls and stuff. When we asked them where their record collection was they got really evasive, and we realised that they’d just broken into any old house for us to do a gig in the living room.
Another time in Poland we stayed in this cheap hotel with the organisers, and they were testing out all these homemade Molotov cocktails in the shower and the wardrobes! They threw buckets of water on the blazes, but the room was wrecked and then the next morning they tell us the hotel’s run by the Polish Mafia and we have to climb out of our fourth floor windows to get away.
Needless to say, plenty of gigs have ended up in full-scale riots, too – rubber bullets, water cannons, tear gas, etc. At one in Berlin the punks started throwing petrol bombs and the cops had to flee for their lives.
Oi Polloi have always been an uncompromisingly political band, and you’re especially known for really hating fascists. Ever get in any bother with those guys? Having the word ‘oi’ in your name – and Nazi skinheads not generally being renowned scholars of ancient Greek – must have caused a few problems for you along the way?
That’s a bit of an understatement. A couple of years ago in Switzerland, fascists put a bomb in the concert hall where we were playing, timed to go off in the middle of our set. Luckily someone spotted it in the nick of time and bravely took it outside where it exploded a couple of minutes later in a 20ft-tall ball of flame. Had it gone off inside, I wouldn’t be here talking to you now.
Another time in Estonia the idiot promoter had decided to put us on the same bill as some fucking neo-Nazi band, who had such choice numbers in their repertoire as a version of the Beatles’ “Get Back” with the chorus changed to “Nigger! Nigger! Nigger! Get back to the jungle where you belong.” We had no idea about any of this – we’d been drinking in the van – so needless to say the mob of skins didn’t take kindly to us opening our set with the song “Bash the Fash!” We had to physically fight our way out of the venue, and the only two people who came to our aid were the two ethnic Russian bar owners – a couple of Stalin lookalikes who pulled out nail-studded bats from behind the bar to lay into the boneheads.
Anything else?
Seeing as this is loosely related to the royal wedding, I should probably tell you about the close shave we had in Dublin once. There were a load of conservative Catholics in the audience who weren’t big fans of our pro-choice abortion song “The Right To Choose”.
OK. What happened this time?
They were gonna give us a serious kicking. We were only saved by the fact there was a local feud between two traveller families, one of whom were drinking downstairs in the pub. Luckily, their enemies had chosen that precise moment to break into their van, set it on fire and push it down the hill straight through the plate glass window of the pub, sending the whole place up in flames. In the chaos, the Pope’s bootboys quickly forgot about giving us a shoeing. We’re just hoping we don’t get any angry royalists along to fuck us up at our Fuck The Royal Wedding show.
Do you want any more? Have you got enough for the interview?
I’d say I’ve got about enough, yeah. Thanks very much for your time Deek, you lucky bastard.
CHRIS LOW
The No Future Records Story [33min Documentary]
By early 1980, the leading Punk bands (The Clash, Angelic Upstarts, U.K. Subs, etc…) were now a few years old. Having firmly established themselves on major record labels, Punk Rock had lost a lot of it’s initial passion and excitement. However, there were still a number of young up and coming bands needing an outlet for their talent and material in order to revitalise the (now) stale Punk scene. A number of smaller record companies were formed to provide such an outlet, arguably the two biggest being Riot City and Secret. However, there was another who had the privilege (if you can call it that) of appearing in the national charts. This was No Future Records.
Formed by Chris Berry and Richard Jones with the aid of a £1,000 bank loan, No Future Records provided another outlet opportunity for these new, young punk bands (as well as those preferring the new ‘Oi!’ tag). An advertisement was placed in Sounds newspaper asking for demo tapes from such punk and skinhead bands. This led to the signing of a number of bands (notably Blitz, The Partisans, Peter and The Test Tube Babies and Red Alert) who were to spearhead the re-emergence of punk.
For some of these bands, their only recordings were with No Future (e.g. Attak and The Violators), some made further recordings with other record companies before finally calling it a day (e.g. The Insane and Blitzkrieg) and some have been consistently recording for the last twenty years (e.g. Peter and The Test Tube Babies and Red Alert). There have even been recent reformations and releases after all this time, notably The Partisans (albeit without the lovely Louise Wright - for information, she was 17 at the time). Even at this very time, Blitz are preparing to record some new material, albeit with Nidge being the only original band member. Another band that is worth mentioning here, although their only appearance for No Future was on a compilation 12” EP is One Way System. They progressed to be one of the biggest names in punk rock, and are still recording today, but their roots lay with No Future Records. Two bands that were nearly signed to the label were G.B.H. and Skrewdriver.
The first No Future release was a powerful four track EP by Blitz, entitled “All Out Attack”, in August 1981. Initially, only 1,000 copies were pressed, but these soon sold out (mostly by mail order) and a further pressing was urgently requested. In total, over 25,000 copies of this EP were sold, making it one of the most successful releases by No Future. Further singles by The Partisans, Peter and The Test Tube Babies and Red Alert soon brought No Future deserved recognition as one of the leading Punk record labels with a number of other bands clamouring for a deal. Bands such as Attak, The Samples, The Screaming Dead (a gothic variation for the label), The Blood as well as those previously mentioned were soon to be offered a deal for their material. The singles/EPs were assigned with ‘Oi’ as the prefix to the catalogue number, with one notable exception. The Wall, who’s final release was a cover of the Beatles’ “Day Tripper”, did not wish to be associated the ‘Oi’ tag, and so their solitary release on No Future was given an ‘O2’ prefix.
The first LP recorded on No Future was Blitz’s “Voice Of A Generation”. Remarkably for such a small label, it sold over 15,000 copies in its first week of release with only minimal publicity, spending three weeks listed in the national album charts, peaking at number 27. This success secured a number of live dates for the band, and also television appearance in Channel 4’s “The Tube”. However, the first No FutureLP to appear in the shops was by the American punk band Channel 3, licensed from the U.S. label Posh Boy Records. Further LPs were released by The Partisans, Red Alert and Attak, as well as a live recording by Peter and The Test Tube Babies (quite aptly entitled “Pissed And Proud”).
After releasing 29 singles and 9 LPs, No Future folded. The ever-changing music and fashion scene dictated a slump in punk record sales, and some of the bands could not change musically or ideologically, and thus faced financial loss. A compilation LP was released in November 1984 as a final gesture, which included some narrative on the cover which I have used on this page. As stated above, some bands continued and are still going strong today, but for the majority of the bands, the No Future record label is the only permanent evidence of their existence.
By early 1980, the leading Punk bands (The Clash, Angelic Upstarts, U.K. Subs, etc…) were now a few years old. Having firmly established themselves on major record labels, Punk Rock had lost a lot of it’s initial passion and excitement. However, there were still a number of young up and coming bands needing an outlet for their talent and material in order to revitalise the (now) stale Punk scene. A number of smaller record companies were formed to provide such an outlet, arguably the two biggest being Riot City and Secret. However, there was another who had the privilege (if you can call it that) of appearing in the national charts. This was No Future Records.
Formed by Chris Berry and Richard Jones with the aid of a £1,000 bank loan, No Future Records provided another outlet opportunity for these new, young punk bands (as well as those preferring the new ‘Oi!’ tag). An advertisement was placed in Sounds newspaper asking for demo tapes from such punk and skinhead bands. This led to the signing of a number of bands (notably Blitz, The Partisans, Peter and The Test Tube Babies and Red Alert) who were to spearhead the re-emergence of punk.
For some of these bands, their only recordings were with No Future (e.g. Attak and The Violators), some made further recordings with other record companies before finally calling it a day (e.g. The Insane and Blitzkrieg) and some have been consistently recording for the last twenty years (e.g. Peter and The Test Tube Babies and Red Alert). There have even been recent reformations and releases after all this time, notably The Partisans (albeit without the lovely Louise Wright - for information, she was 17 at the time). Even at this very time, Blitz are preparing to record some new material, albeit with Nidge being the only original band member. Another band that is worth mentioning here, although their only appearance for No Future was on a compilation 12” EP is One Way System. They progressed to be one of the biggest names in punk rock, and are still recording today, but their roots lay with No Future Records. Two bands that were nearly signed to the label were G.B.H. and Skrewdriver.
The first No Future release was a powerful four track EP by Blitz, entitled “All Out Attack”, in August 1981. Initially, only 1,000 copies were pressed, but these soon sold out (mostly by mail order) and a further pressing was urgently requested. In total, over 25,000 copies of this EP were sold, making it one of the most successful releases by No Future. Further singles by The Partisans, Peter and The Test Tube Babies and Red Alert soon brought No Future deserved recognition as one of the leading Punk record labels with a number of other bands clamouring for a deal. Bands such as Attak, The Samples, The Screaming Dead (a gothic variation for the label), The Blood as well as those previously mentioned were soon to be offered a deal for their material. The singles/EPs were assigned with ‘Oi’ as the prefix to the catalogue number, with one notable exception. The Wall, who’s final release was a cover of the Beatles’ “Day Tripper”, did not wish to be associated the ‘Oi’ tag, and so their solitary release on No Future was given an ‘O2’ prefix.
The first LP recorded on No Future was Blitz’s “Voice Of A Generation”. Remarkably for such a small label, it sold over 15,000 copies in its first week of release with only minimal publicity, spending three weeks listed in the national album charts, peaking at number 27. This success secured a number of live dates for the band, and also television appearance in Channel 4’s “The Tube”. However, the first No FutureLP to appear in the shops was by the American punk band Channel 3, licensed from the U.S. label Posh Boy Records. Further LPs were released by The Partisans, Red Alert and Attak, as well as a live recording by Peter and The Test Tube Babies (quite aptly entitled “Pissed And Proud”).
After releasing 29 singles and 9 LPs, No Future folded. The ever-changing music and fashion scene dictated a slump in punk record sales, and some of the bands could not change musically or ideologically, and thus faced financial loss. A compilation LP was released in November 1984 as a final gesture, which included some narrative on the cover which I have used on this page. As stated above, some bands continued and are still going strong today, but for the majority of the bands, the No Future record label is the only permanent evidence of their existence.
