Adam &the Ants Birmingham.Digbeth Civic hall 14/7/79

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ADAM AND THE ANTS: DIGBETH CIVIC HALL 14/7/79 It was the 2nd night of the Zerox tour, having played Retford Porterhouse the night before. I was intending to go home after the Retford gig as funds were low, and catch up with the tour in a couple of days, but as soon as I got to Retford and bumped into the old ants crew I was like an addict needing a fix. I just knew I would be at Birmingham the next day. The Parizians tour finished in Feb and they had only played at the Lyceum in April since then. Adam had a new look. out went the Kabuki makeup, green army Mac, shirt and leather tie, and sash look, and now he had a camouflage face make up, cowboy style shirt, leather trousers, black kilt and black sandals with white soles. The Retford gig was great, but not much happened except I was thrown out for sniffing glue, and nearly didn't get back in. Some punks from London introduced me to it. It was also the 1st time I met Dean Parko from Cleethorpes, who as been a great friend ever since After the Retford gig we all slept in this small but comfy train station until the morning when the train came. I was in a precarious position, as i hardly had any money, which ment I would have to bunk the train to Birmingham, but you never worried about things like that, things always worked out. I got within 2 stops of Birmingham before I was caught. [This was mainly due to a combination of hiding in the toilets. I was caught coming out of the toilets and told the conductor he had just checked my ticket and was going back to my seat and moved in the direction he had come from reaffirming, I think? That he had checked all the people's tickets from that end of the train.] I finally got caught when I let my guard slip, thinking I had got away with it and fell asleep The options were pay or get nicked, so I had to go round the train tapping10p's All this and without a Mohawk hair cut lol! I managed to get quite a bit of money to pay the train fair and had a bit spare. We arrived in Birmingham quite early so we hung around the the church near the Bull ring, a famous Market in Birmingham. There were loads of Chinese tourists who came up to us and offered us money to take photos of us to show people back home.. So that was more money in the coffers! We then went to walk around Brum and get something to eat. We came across this record shop that had a Italian and Portuguese copies of the parizians single. Which were hard to find? I could only afford one of them so I bought the Portuguese copy, thinking that would be the rarer, something I was to regret as I still haven't got a copy of the Italian one. We went back to the others at the church and decided to find a pub.where all the local punks went. After looking around for about an hour we eventually found it , but it was empty. We had a drink then returned to the civic hall. Just in time to watch the ants do their sound check. After I spoke to Mathew Ashman[R I P] and Andy Warren to make sure I was on the guest list and general chit chat. My mate Gary O'Connell[R I P]turned up from Bradford. He asked how I was getting home the day after as the ants had a day off. I said I don't know he said we could get coach tickets. So we went across the road to the bus station and asked how much the coach fair would be back to Bradford the next day, we then put that money in our back pockets for safety so as not to loose it. I was starting to think this was going to be a great night. I had made a bit of money the gig was sorted out, bought a record, coach fair was payed for and had a bit of money left for a couple of beers.. I was standing outside the gig talking with Pete Vague, Tom Vague and Gary and a large group of punks turned up across the road. Then we realised it was more ants crew who had come up from London. We felt great there must have been about 100 of us now, including Wendy,Popey,Duncan,Spud,Kev,John Srobat etc We couldn't wake for the gig to start and people were still turning up . Boxhead from Liverpool, paul wanness from Middlesbourgh,a lad from Leeds who's name I can't remember now. Eventually the doors opened around 7.30. I got my name ticked off the quest list and made straight for the bar where everyone else was. I knoticed that all the security were Hells Angels from Wolverhampton, which we thought was a bit strange, but we ignored them. We all sat in the bar, it was like a private party as there where no punks fron brum there.. Then this girl, I had seen at a couple of ants gigs turned up. It also turned out she was from brum. She had turned up with another guy from Bradford. Barry Jepsom [who would later become the bass player for Southern death cult] She said we could stop at her house after the gig things were just getting better. She told us that that the skinheads had told the brum punks not to turn up because they were going to attack the London ants crew, and anyone who was there was libel to get attacked if they were not skinheads. The skinhead issue became the main talking point from then on. [The ants crew were getting a bit of a reputation for being a bit handy in a fight as ants gigs were quite violent to visually , but this was just the way people danced to the ants, it was unlike any other punk gig.] The ants crew were not that bothered however as there had been many a scrap at ants gigs since they did the parizians tour and before at London gigs. Punk gigs around this time were starting to resemble football matches, without the police to monitor the situation. Lots of people started touring round the country following groups in fairly large numbers Soon as you landed in another city the local hooligans would find out and mob up.. I knew I could look after myself and and I was used to this sort of situation when following Leeds United and I I knew some of the ants crew could look after them selves and were quite handy lads. It was also a tight nit crew so every one new that if there was any trouble they were confident that they wouldn't be on there own. Suddenly someone shouted "there here" we al rushed over to the window to look. Outside, there were about 200 skinheads walking down the middle of the main road , blocking all the traffic. They stopped outside the gig and started shouting abuse up at the ants crew. The ant's crew returned the taunts. The Hells Angels wouldn't let the skinheads in the gig , probably because they knew what was going to happen. Some of the skinheads climbed up the drainpipes and climbed in through the windows but were delt with immediately. There seemed to be a lul in proceedings so we concentrated on the gig , thinking that because the skinheads couldn't get in they had gone away. We were sat in the bar then the Gary Glitter song "Hello, hello I am back" again", came on and every body started singing along The ants played this before every gig to let everyone know they were coming on stage. The ants hit the stage to the usual frenzy of delight. The atmosphere was electric. The ants were about to start singing their 4th song, "animals &men" Then all of a sudden we heard this loud noise and turned round. To our amazement there were the skinheads.. They were spead out all across the hall with arms linked, goose stepping slowly towards us, as to box us in near the stage. And make sure that know one could get past. Adam started the intro 1 2 3 4 to start the song and I noticed the skinhead leader Had a Man u shirt on. So as they charged forward, I went straight for the guy with the man u shirt on [being a Leeds fan he was an obvious target] I shoved these two Millwall skinheads [who followed the ants] out of the way and whacked the man u fan straight in the face. To my amazement this had no effect on him at all. He didn't see who hit him, so I jumped back out of the way and started helping out others who were getting attacked. Thinking I could have been a bit lucky there? The fighting seemed to go on for what seemed ages. Adam was on stage saying "aim sick of you lot, you travel all over the country to see us and just end up fighting" then walked off the stage. The Hells Angels were on our side, together we managed to get the skinheads out and own the stairs and eventually out of the venue.. They locked the doors. We went back in the gig and Adam came back on the stage and the gig was finished in peace. The ants were great as usual. With Adam being annoyed with what had happened earlier the music seemed to reflect Adams anger. They were loud, energetic, and aggressive. With everybody on a high on adrenaline from fighting the skinheads everybody seemed to be dancing in a state of frenzy. They always danced like that, but even more so tonight. It was like some sort of testosterone ritual. It's hard to describe how people danced at ants gigs it's got to be seen to believed. The music seemed to transform people into potential homicidal maniacs. I have seen people, who are placid in nature turn into potential homicidal maniacs once the music starts. My mate Duncan showed some photos someone took of people dancing at an ants gig and they all looked like they were having a nervous breakdown.. To see the ants live was an unbelievable experience and no other punk gig came close, including the pistols. The nearest atmosphere to an ants gig was the Meteors, but then half the people at the Meteors gigs used to follow the ants.. At the end of the gig I went back stage to speak to the band. Adam was really pissed off so I went back outside to sort our sleeping arrangements out.. I met up with Gary and Paul, then Barry came up and said that that girl from brum had changed her mind about us stopping at her house and that there had been a mix up, so we made our way outside. When we got out side there were loads of police everywhere. We were told we would be getting a police escort to the train station, as that was how most of the ants crew had come up from London.. Has the police marched us back to the station the skinheads tried to attack the front of the escort [It's an old football hooligan tactic to get all the weaker ones in the middle of the escort, so you can protect the front and the back] Me, Gary, popey and a few others went to the back of the escort as that's the most vulnerable part of the escort, as the police will protect the front but your more open to attack from the back , that's if your attackers have any brains. So far the skinheads weren't showing any. They continued to attack the front, and the police kept them at bay. The skinheads then split into two groups. They kept probing at the front of the escort, throwing bottles, but keeping their distance so they didn't get nicked and to occupy the police.. Eventually the police had enough and charged the skinheads down the road. Leaving us with no protection. Then those skinheads who had split off earlier came out of hiding and attacked us We got all the people to the front that could look after them selves and the weaker ones at the back. There were about equal numbers and after a while we managed to get the upper hand. It's hard to describe a free for all as you don't have that time to be an observer. Your just trying not to get hurt and concentrating on protecting yourself.. The only thing I can remember is popey picked up one of those circular metal road lamps and whacked this skinhead over the head with it, leaving him lying in the middle of the rd. This had a dramatic effect on the skinhead's appetite to continue the fight and they dragged there mate to safety. The police then realised [as usual] that they had been out manuvered by the skinheads. The police quickly hearded us into a street so as to make sure we were under their supervision again. At the end of the street we could see that an ambulance had arrived to attend to the skinhead that had been hit earlier. Everyone started cheering! The police went over to see what was going on, and then the inspector then came over to where we were and addressed us all. He asked if anyone knew anything about what had happened to the skinhead.. Someone shouted out" I think he tripped over his big mouth" and everyone started laughing. Then some said "why don't you ask HIM…..in a few days when he wakes up" Everyone started laughing again. Apparently he was in quite a bad way. We realised popey could be in big trouble, so we hid him in the middle of the escort In case one of the skinheads had seen him hit their mate and could point him out. The skinheads had now lost their appitite for a close contact brawl but were still up for ambushing us with bricks and bottles all the way to the train station. When we finally arrived at the train station the police escorted everyone towards the the London train. We said goodbye to everyone as they got on the train, in two minutes the train had gone. All of a sudden we were stood in Birmingham train station on our own just me, Gary, Paul and the lad from Leeds, with nowhere to go and the skinheads were still outside the station. We went up to the police and told them the situation , thinking they might put us up in a police cell for the night, but they just said in no uncertain terms that they didn't care what happened to us, and that we shoudn't have come to Birmingham. This was a standard reply by the police to football fans that had been attacked on their patch. With the ants gig resembling a football match rather then a gig we were not surprised by their attitude. WE walked of platform return into station and we coul?d see that skinheads were still in the station. We realised that if the skinheads got hold of us we would get one hell of a beating after what had happened to their mate. I didn't fancy our chances either of trying to walk back into the station ifself. Luckily the skinheads thought that everyone had got on the train to London so they were not particularly looking for us. We looked around and saw a little opening at the side of the station and we saw that there were some taxi's parked there. So we made a dash for it , then one of the skinheads spotted us and they started running towards us . We just managed to get into the taxi. WE jumped in .the taxi driver got half way through "where to" and we just said "anywhere", just drive!" The taxi driver could just seee all the skinheads approaching the car and he said "are they after you" we said "yes!" So he set off as fast as he could, realising his car would get smashed to bits if they caught up to us. We just about set off before they skinheads got to us . We got to the end of the short road then realised that the traffic lights were on red. We looked behind us and the skinheads had also seen that the traffic light were on red and set of in pursuit of us again. We sat there wondering what to do and praying that the traffic light would turn green. The skinheads got to within a foot of the car then the light turned green. The taxi driver, who was as scared as us just put his foot down and we were off again …phew! Everyone, including the taxi driver. We drove of into the distance and we all started to relax. We Taxi driver asked us what had happened and we told him we had been to see the ants play. The taxi driver exclaimed "all that trouble for a concert, what's the world coming to?" We all laughed! The taxi driver asked us where we were going again. We said we had know where to go. He said 2we can't just drive round brum allnight" we said "I know" We counted up all the money we had between us which came to £5 We just said we want to get out of brum centre and try find somewhere to sleep. After a few suggestions we decided to go sleep under the motorway bridge. It was July so the weather was ok , and we had a duvet so it wasn't that bad. We were just glad to have survived the night. The next day we all woke up with the sun with a slight hangover and hungry. Because we hadn't eaten since the afternoon, the day before. As we found our bearings we realised we were about 6 miles from the city centre. We set off walking towards the centre. We had no money left for food. or bus fair back in to the centre. It took us about an hour and a half to get back to the bus station. We were really knackered, but relieved to get there. We sat down for a minute to get our breath back. Paul had his ticket for the coach back to Boro so he said farewell and left. The lad from Leeds had a train ticket so he departed to get his train. Me and Gary then went and queued to buy our tickets back to Bradford. We got there and the queue was massive, eventually after what seemed a life time we got to the front of the queue. "Two tickets to Bradford please" Certainly! Then the women behind the till asked us for our money. We gave her our money and she said there's not enough. We said we came and asked the price the day before. She said that the prices had gone up over night. We could have died right there. We stood in front of her looking unwashed and dishevelled, starving and hung over. We explained what had gone on the night before and that we had slept on the motorway all night I also said if I could have one wish it was to get home. I started to think of walking all the way back to the motorway and hitchin home, I think at that point I just wanted to die. Gary was sat on the floor at this point in despair and I was about to join him when the women behind the till said she would pay the difference for us. I think it was about 60p each. I said "I will return the money as soon as I got home" I don't think she believed me, but she gave me her address I was just glad she took pity on us or was it the thought of having to drag our bodies up from the floor so she could carry on serving customers? I didn't care, I was going home. I think it is one of the only times I can say a was glad to be going back to Bradford. When I got back to Bradford I said goodbye to Gary and I went home and had a beautiful sleep. The next day the first thing I did was send the women the money back. At the next Ants gig i bumped into the girl from Birmingham who was going to put us up at the ants brum gig. She asked us why we didn't come back to hers? We told her that Barry Jepson had come up to us and told us the you had changed your mind. She looked furious and said "wait till i see him." Obviously Barry had is own agenda ?and he didn't want any one else staying. so he told us that we couldn't , even though we could have been seriously hurt. Typical ! "self before others everytime!"

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:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Victoria park Anti Nazi gig 78

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With the Bradford punks all being from different ethnic backgrounds Muslim ,Eastern European ,Black Indian etc all the punks wanted to go to this Anti Nazi gig.plus there was the added bonus of watching some good bands as well.

The Clash ,X-ray Spex etc

We had already had a few run in's with local NF ,but we were quite a solid bunch & we would all stick up for each other .More alarmingly we had this  ongoing run in with some Nazi punks from Leeds called "the Dentists "

There had  been a couple of fights at the F Club in Leeds & later that year there would be a really bad fight at the Buzzcocks/Penetration gig at Georges Hall when someone got stabbed..

Some one in the ANL who drank in the Mannville organised the trip to Victoria Park.

We took 9 coaches from Bradford which set off from out side the collage on Great Horton Rd.We had our own special coach which was just full of punks , local eccentrics & Blockheads[a little group of pissheads who resided at Blockhead Towers on Merton Rd .Ala Keith Haste ,Kendal etc  [rip]] who drank in the Mannville.

We all went out on our usual night out but a few of us [about 20?] decided to stay out so we wouldn't miss the coach which left at 5 am.

Now in those days the pubs shut at 10.30 & there were no clubs open as late as these days ,probably  2 at the very latest.

So after  our usual haunt s at that time were shut [probably the Queens Hall or Communal Building as they were the only places we could usually get in]

We looked for somewhere else to go?

Someone told us there was a late night drinking club next to the Army recruitment office [a club that years later would be come ours "Beavers" ] I can't remember what it was called back then,but we went along & surprisingly they  let us in.

It was like a blues playing reggae & soul.

In attendance  with some of Bradford's dodgiest clientele.

We all sat at one side of the room having a chat & getting drunk.

We were a bit weary of the people around us because we were used to getting some sort of reaction when we went off our turf, but everyone seemed sound with us.

Anyway at some stage of the evening  some one said that someone had spat at them

So we all looked round & no one was paying any attention to us .this kept going on for a while & after a few more drinks we started getting a bit pissed annoyed  & brave with it .

We were sure someone was spitting at us. at some point one of us [can't remember who now/]jumped up & said "who's spitting at us"?

Everyone starred at us the management came over to see what was up.we told them we thought some one was spitting at us .the argument went on for a while eventually the music stopped & the other people started getting annoyed & were on the verge of getting involved as well. Then someone said "I have been spat on again" but everyone was looking at us & no one mad any spitting  gesture .all of a sudden someone looked up & realised there was a bloody big hole in the roof & it was rain drops that had been landing on people .lol

Everything then calmed down & we were all laughing along with the other s the music started again & everyone was happy.

After the club finished it was around 3  we had no  where to go suddenly someone said that one of the local eccentrics said we could stop at his bed sit in Mannville Terrace which was by the collage .So we all went up there .we all got to the bed sit & woke him up[can't remember his name ?]

He was shocked to see about 30 punks in his garden. He asked what we wanted & who ever he told? said you said we could stop at your .He said not this amount ,it's only a bed sit. anyway he let us in & we all just to find wherever ever we could to sleep.

About 10 got in the bed ,people tried to sleep standing up in the wardrobe .the floor was full .someone even tried getting inside his Chester draws lol

Luckily there was only about 2 hours till the coach so people did the best they could to sleep. Obviously no one did lol

At 4.30 we all got up & went onto the end of the street to get the coach.

As soon as we got all the beer on that we had left in the Mannville  we set  off & everyone fell asleep.

When I awoke we were on the outskirts of London.

When we all got off at Trafalgar square we were told everyone was marching to Victoria Park.We realised we would miss the Xray Spex if we marched & they were the only band I was really interested in seeing ,So a few of of us decided to go by tube.We marched down the Strand towards the East End every 100 yards or so everyone gave out a loud shout.We thought the NF were coming.This happened all the way ,then we spotted a tube station so we legged it on to tube.

It took us a while to get there as none of us had been to East London before. When we did we got there just as the x-ray spex were coming on They were great. After they finished we went & looked around for the others. It took us a while but we found them near the perimeter of the park near the toilets. We went to the pub for a pint or 2

Then we made our way back towards the park. To see The Clash.As we approached the park we noticed a few gangs of skinheads.They were just walking round the perimeter of the park shouting "skinheads!"

There were the occasional zieg hails! The some skinheads started a little skirmish

Being  the multi cultural bunch that we were  jumped into help out eventually backing the skinheads off. The crowd inside the park was massive around 100.000 I heard?

We watched Tom Robinson & Steel pulse then the Clash came onto a huge roar from the crowd .I didn't really like the Clash so was more interested in getting back to Trafalgar Square for the coach., but quite a lot of our lot liked the Clash .They didn't appear to be as good as when I saw them at Leeds Poly in 77  I remember Jimmy Pursey bouncing on stage & singing a song with them .When the Clash finished we all met back at the toilets & made a hasty retreat back to Trafalgar Square for the coach

We just managed to get there in time .A few people did get lost though but the driver wouldn't wait so we sat back & fell asleep again. After about an hour I woke up & remembered the beer we had stashed .so we cracked open the beers .By the time we got back home we were all pissed.we pulled up outside the Mannville for a night cap

There's a pic of the Bradford punks in my pics in Trafalgar Squre

SEX PISTOLS HUDDERSFIELD XMAS DAY 1977

When i lived in , and knocked about in London in the late 70s,early 80s  i used to bump into loads of famous faces. Lemmy was out every time we went out. But the best was meeting Lydon at Huddersfield on xmas day 1977.
Me and my mate Chris walked to huddersfield for the sex pistols gig.it only took us 3 hours.
We saw them in keighley 2 days earlier at the knickers club,but it was hard to even see the band as the stage was half way up the wall facing the balcony,weird venue.but the feeling of seeing the band was the same as when i first went to see the MIGHTY! leeds united.
But was spiolt a bit because i was so excited at bieng there i got completly bananared ,so every thing was a bit hazy the next day.
hardly anyone went to huddersfield because few people we knew had a car.
when we got there the gig had sold out. but we hung around,mainly because we were knackered from walking there ,and coudn't face walking back again.
There were about 20 punks outside.after an hour the promoter came outside and said we can pay in on the door.
When we got in the club was rammed.it was that full we coudn't get near the bar.in fact we coudn't move at all. when the pistols came on great view!
Lydon says here's your xmas national anthem, straight into god save the queen.
We soon realised that there were far to many people in the venue, which looked as though it could hold about 400 at a push.Don't know how many there was actually in there but it was extremlyuncomfortable.
Me and my mate ad to take turns at giveing each other a piggy back so we could see anything.
When the gig finished every body just left.We were that knackered by this point we coudn't move.
Then all of a sudden Lydon came up to my mate and taped a fag of him. He was wearing a plastic desert hat.and an old suit jacket.
we were a bit nervous ,but asked him what he thought of the Keighley gig? he said" the crowd were good but it was a strange venue,as we could hardly see the crowd ,because of the stage"
We then asked him about the punk scene in London, i had already been there and visited seditionaries in Oct 1st ,when leeds beat Chelsea 2.1 at the bridge,
He was a really down to earth guy. We talked to him for about half an hour.
He gave us a holidays in the sun poster each and a flyer then said catch you in London some time.
quality bloke!
outside though was a bit hairy .the drongo town fans were on the prowl ,looking to batter some poor little punks, about thier limit!
luckily! we saw some of our punk mates Sham ,Nidge Womesley , Chris Murphy & Skin  from wyke in Bradford,who were getting picked up by there dad.
so we hung around with them and got a lift back to Bradford.
What a night! and ,for once iam glad  we coudn't get to the bar,otherwise it might have ended up like a blur again.

King kurt palm cove bradford 83

Palm Cove! another great kk event.
My friend Barnzley went to have his hair cut on stage and they cut is wart off ,which was on the back of his head.
There was blood everywhere.
After the gig.we decided to have a welly throwing contest in the venue.
This was to the accomponament of  some one on the piano.which had been dragged in to the middle of the hall

Quite simply! you had to throw the welly  the furthest,but by using your mouth only.

If i remember rightly? this was the bands psychedelic period again, as everyone was off thier heads

The band stopped at my mate Elvis's house. also there ws a journalist from melody maker who stopped as well.

The idea being ,he would interview them the day after , because they had a day off on the tour.

The next day we all got up and started on the magic mushrooms we had collected. as the day went on things started to get messy.
The cooker was pulled into the middle of the kitchen and Some one put a pigs head on the cooker rings.
After about an hour the whole house was pitched black with smoke. I went into the kitchen to see what was happening and there were about 10 people dancing round the cooker mumbling some old pagan ritual stuff.
Weird even by kks standards.
but things were only just starting to get going.

Later in the afternoon the journalist decided he wanted to interview the band.but he got no scense out of them.
So they told him they would continue the interview in the garden.

As they went into the back garden  the band were just mucking about and not interested in the interview.
You could see the jounalist was getting a bit frustrated because he had to produce an articl for Melody Maker the following week.
He kept persisting that they get on with the interview much to the annoyance of the band ,who just wanted to have a laugh. in the end the poored the contents of my mates dustbin over his head.
He had a photographer with him as well who captured this happy event.

He then realised he wasn't going to get the proper interview he wanted so he just got what scence he could out of them and went to have a bath and get tidyied up for his journey home.

While he was in the bath, smeg and a couple of other people went into the bathroom and jumped in the bath with him with thier boots on emptying the bath of water,nearly fusing the electricity and completly ruining the guys clothes:oops:

We had to lend the guy a t shirt and try dry his trousers in front of the fire so he could go home.

Nver a dull moment when these guys were around

Mark Almond story
Category: Music

Hi was in London a while ago now. I was stood outside reckless records in berwick street in soho.
I looked round and Mark Almond was stood next to me. He had is yes it is me! face on.
I looked away ,then looked back and the alarm of the side of the shop fell off the wall and hit him on the head.
He was staggering in the road with blood spurting out of his head.He then fell on the floor ,got up again ,staggered around again, then some people jumped on him trying to keep him still,and stop the blood.
I left at this point as it was getting really messy.

king kurt warwick uni83

king kurt played Warwick uni in 83.

This place had a reputation for having a mad bar manager, who would take no shit.

About 30 of us travelled up from london.
When we got there we met the famous bar man, who told us not to carry on as we would be in trouble.He also told us he had sorted the meteors out earlier in the year. Any way some mates of mine turned up with some acid, so we all took it....yipee!!

Within the hour the bar was covered in shaving foam the pool table was upside down and the mad barman had resigned.

When the gig started there was this student band supporting.

People were just throwing flour and shaving foam at them and getting on stage and putting pies in thier faces. the whole all was covered in a white gooy mess. The gig was a little aduitaurium with a balcony. like a very small version of the roman arenas were they fought the lions.

There were about 150 people who turned up to see king kurt, and it ended up that every one had got some acid off my mate. As usual people turned up with thier bin liners full of rotting food and rubbish to throw at the band.

This tradition goes back to thier first gigs when one of the band threw some manky sausages into the audience. At the next gig, some one turned up and threw some rotting food at the band. This escalated to people bringing dead animals ,flour and water bombs etc. not a good idea to get dressed up to go watch this band.

The support band were pelted with shaving foam bombs and what ever else could be found.

when king kurt came on some one had brought a big home made banner with the king kurt rat belting a student over the head and the student was shouting for his mum. With the headline "kill the students", which was then hung over the balcony.

We found out that some of the band had taken some acid as well......no need to ask who from. lol!

If i remember rightly the band ALL started playing a different songs at one point. i think it was the beggining,
and there was an inpromtue song made up on the spot about james hunts underpants which features on the tape i have.

My mate Russell, who was wearing these great big sking goggles, was so out of his head he couldn't find is way out of this building, so he put the fire extinquisher through the window to get out. Then walked straight into the window next to the one he had put through.

The gig ws that good at the end i shouted to smeg to start the gig again.They tried to start the gig again but the security pulled the power and it took ages for them to clear the hall.

The problem now was that warwick uni is in the middle of nowhere, so we coudn't get home.

Luckily we got invited to a party so we all went there only for the people whos party it was to call the security, and we were ejected from the party.

At this point every body lost each other. I was with a couple of mates, names i cant divuge for potential legal reasons lol. they broke into this student halls and passed all the food out of the fridge through the window got some chairs and a blanket and we had a jelly and cake picnic. singing and dancing round the lawn accompanied by my mate who also took a pile of books and a clarenet.......don't know why?

After the picnic my mate ran of playing the claranet with a pile of books under his arm and the sheet over his head howling like a wolf.
The security came up to us again at one point asking if we had seen this mad bloke howling like a wolf. As they were asking us, we could see him in the background howling and wailing with the clarenet, still running round with the sheet on his head.

I was knackered at this point and just layed in a bush with this other guy smoking a spliff and looking up at the stars, when we were caught by the police.

We were taken to this police van were some of the others were. some of them had got into a work mans hut and started decorating the campass and were covered in paint from head to toe.

After the police had rounded everybody up they just told us we know your all on drugs but we don't care ! we just want you to leave us in peace and go.
I don't think they fancied spending forever taking statements of about 30 people out of there heads on acid, and i can't blame them.
So they dropped us off outside the campass and we had to walk into Coventry, which was about 10 miles away.

we got back in the morning just in time for the train back to london.

OH, WHAT A NIGHT!!!!

The Nick Cave story, "my perspective" lol

Another tale from the archives.

I used top work at the Bradford university in the late 80's ,early 90s.
I used to do the security for the bands with my mate.
When Nick Cave played we had to escort them onand off the stage.
When they came off they decided they wanted to go out the back of the stage and walk all the way round the uni.
When we got back round to the uni main doors, Nick Cave spotted some guys selling bootleg gear.
He went mad and ordered us to take all thier stock.
Me and my mate approched the guys to take thier stock.
This could have been a dangerious situation for me and my mate as there were only 2 of us and 12 of them
They appolagized and said they were out off work and they were just trying to make a bit of money for thier families.
They said we can have the stock just don't get the police involved.

We gave the stock to Nick Cave and he accused us of being thier friends and colluding in thier black market activities.
Then that German guitarist started talking photographs of them all and saying he was going to hand all the pics in to the police.
We started arquing with cave and the german saying they were making the situation worse.
He just kept accusing us of being thier friends and that we were part of the bootleg gang.
This situation went on for ages.
After a while cave and the german wound these guys up that much with threats that they tried to attack them.we had to hold them at bay while trying to calm these guys down.
Cave and the german then locked them selves in the dressing room with us and these 12 guys outside.
Luckily they didn't have a problem with us but wanted to kill them.eventually we told them we would get the photos from them and it would go no further.
After a while we managed to get the guys to leave.
We then knocked on Cave's dressing room door .
THen he opened it i just called him a wanker and asked what he thought he was doing putting our lives in potential danger and cowardly locking himself in the dressing room .
I then tried to grab the camera of the german.
He dropped it on the floor so i stood on it.
They then ran to the promoter trying to get us sacked.
Luckily the promoter had seen a lot of what had gone on.
He told us not to worry he just wanted to get rid of them as they had been an arse to everybody that night.
He coudn't really do anything to them but just to get rid of the arseholes he said he would deal with it.
Me and my mate were still up for taking them both outside and deal with the consiquenses later.
That was the only trouble we ever had with bands there.
and some bigger bands then him played there like Nirvana,primal scream etc.

Only other problem we had was when Julian Cope played.
He wanted us to take him the long way rond and come through the back of the stage.
Only problem with this was he had no shoes.
We offered to lend him some but they were leather.
He said he would not wear leather and we couldn't find any pumps etc.
He wanted us to give him a piggy back round there.
We said no way!
The promoter had a word with him and eventually he decided he wanted us to escort him through the crowd.
So they got some of the student staff to make a path through the crowd so he could make a grand entrance and me and my mate would stand either side of him in case anyone broke through the cordon.
As we escorted him down we got instructions to go where ever he went .
When we got down to the gig the music was playing and he was skipping through the cordon waving to everyone.[it was a bit like when the boxers make thier way to the ring]
Then he shot off into the crowd, running all over the place and we had to follow him.
He was stopping and talking to people ,then when we got close to him he would shoot of again.
After what seemed ages we finally trapped him and escorted him to the stage.
Me and my mate were knackered.
We waited at the side of the stage till they finished.
I quite enjoyed them.
He was in to 60,s psychedelia[ihis favourite song is "i must be mad" by the craig,i can see why lol]
He really put all his energy into the show , so luckily when he came off he was that knackered we nearly had to carry him to the dressing room.
so that night ended alright

For those that haven't read the 1st part it's in my blog archive

The only other time I came into contact with Cave [man]

Was at the Leeds Warehouse I think it was 81 when their 2^nd single came out

"release the bats"? they were The Birthday Party then

I don't know why I went , I am presuming  someone I knew was supporting them .maybe SDC?

I certainly didn't go to see The Birthday party. There 1^st single "friend catcher " & the new one was awful.

They were even worse live they sounded a slow version of Discharge what a racket.

He was stood on stage bony thin with wild hair, he looked like an extra from Worsal Gummage.

 I had a run in with the promoter about how I danced on prievious occasions at the club He was complaing that I danced violently I told him  every danced like that .

I had recently seen Bow wow wow [how you can dance violently to them I don't know  or the Monochrome Set? ] The Meteors, Theatre of Hate ,SDC at the Werehouse.

Anyway this promoter had singled me out as the orchestrator of this violent dance .

As this is going on Caveman comes up to the promoter & tells him someone as nicked his symbals & that he wanted the doors of the club locked till the police get here .

So the promoter left to lock the doors of the club & inform every one what was happening & why

Everyone was shocked ,but amused at the same time .We just carried on drinking at the bar .Things changed however when the bar closed & everyone wanted to go home

Cave was still stood by the door with the promoter  moaning to everyone who tried to get out that there were some thieves in here & no one was going home till the police arrived & he got is symbols back .

Everyone was staring at each other to see who had his missing symbols it wasn't something that was easy to hide so we couldn't understand why we all had to wait

For the police? If anyone had his symbols you would be able to see them

After a while longer everyone was getting a bit frustrated & people were getting pretty aggressive .The promoter realised things could turn nasty & desided to let everyone out. As I passed him he told me I was barred   .Cave was still moaning

Telling the promoter he wasn't going to play here again & that everyone here was a thief.

God knows what happened to his precious symbols

I have left this in it's original email form

It's in response to my thoughts on Crass & SLF's

It relating to an ongoing discussion on the onemickjones site about Lydon & Strummer.

The memories of the house & Manneville just came to me as i was writting it.

It brought some funny memories so i thought i would share them with you

Crass brought a new dimension to things adding a 3rd group.

I bought the feeding of the 5.000 record which i quite liked

Banned from the  Roxy.

There were very political & ideological

In retrospect they were just what punk needed it get it back on track

But a lot of punks were suspicious off their commune based life style & were perceived as hippies jumping on the punk band wagon.

Quite a few of the ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Bradford punks got into them at every level, which was still appealing to those that wanted something to believe in

They were the  band that were responsible for the travelers, the punk /hippie crossover [I always thought that these two movements were ideologically compatible

They just tried it in different ways,. Quite similar to Martin Luther King  & Malcolm x.

The punks were preferred the Malcolm x way of doing things  & the hippies Martin Luther King]

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After the Clash signing for CBS & the pistols splitting & later becoming a bit of a joke after MaClarens film  people had become cynical  &  weren't really looking for another band to preach to them. Then sell them down the river.

Punk had become a fragmented movement, which was now consisted of  load of bands looking out for their own interests  people had gained enough  confidence to do it  themselves.

It had gotten that bad that people just tended to just watch the bands the knew or had liked from the start.

I met Crass & Poisoned girls  once in 79 in Bradford

My mate was in a bit of a mess& in a bit of trouble at the time

 Crass & poisoned girls looked after him at the commune

He came back to Bradford with them when they played at The Italian club at the bottom of Leeds Rd.

I had just got back off tour with Adam & the Ants & my mate had the key to our house so i had to go & get it off him.

When i got there i was told we'd been evicted for not paying our rent.

My first thought was for my records & posters.

It was to late do anything at the time so I went round the next day with a car ,broke in & took all my stuff out.

[This as just triggered another memory

We paid rent for an house that initially didn't have a lock on the door.

We had hardly any windows we had no gas or Electricity

We took the house on because the landlord said if we moved in he would send the relevant people that week to sort out everything

We were also impressed with the kitchen & it had a  bee day

In the bathroom that none of us had ever seen before & we were intrigued by it.

We used to sit on the toilet with our feet in it wondering what the hell it was for./

This was one mad house

Because we didn't have a lock on the door some days you would wake up with some one you didn't know crashed out in the house

There used to be a centre down the Rd were they used to feed the alcoholics & homeless

One day we went down to the Manneville

[The Manneville in 77 to79 had some wonderfully eccentric characters.

There was the old guy  called Alf who used to eat live matches then a couple of hours later he would produce them from his mouth.

There was another regular called "pissed up Pete"

Because of the obvious

He was an old hippie ,well about 30 which was retirement age as far as  us young punks were concerned.

He would sit in the corner with his grey army coat & his little dog with his long scraggly hair all over the place.

Pete once had to visit his mum in Blackpool but he spent his money down the pub

In a fit of guilt be decided to pinch a horse to travel to Blackpool the next day

Realising he was to drunk it came up with a good idea?

He took the horse home .

When he got home he woke up all the house as he was trying to take the horse upstairs to his bedroom Ian & Harvey ,who he sheared an house with went mental, they told him to get the horse out of the house.

So he decided to set off to Blackpool immediately

About an hour later he came back into the house covered in mud.

He had got as far as Odsal when a car came round the corner scared the horse which threw him off & bolted.

Then the was Granville an alcoholic how earned a degree at Bradford Uni then he hit the booze & never got off it.

He would go round Bradford cleaning people's drains for enough money for a bottle of Cider .He also sold his medication to the punks for a bit of extra cash.

I feel victim to this once.When I bought some tablets off him thinking they were uppers

I went to see Adam & the Ants in Newport Shropshire.

I rememeber the start of the gig ,then remember all the bouncers stood round me

The next thing I woke up in an empty house with know one in it.

There weren't even any pictures of anyone in the house.

I walked round the house trying to find any clues as to where I was ?

After about an hour this lad walked in that I recognised from Wolverhampton.

He told me they picked me up unconscious outside the gig just as 2 coppers were going to nick me

My mate Ian & Harvey let him stop at their house one night

& they were woken by the police the next day

They had Granville in the back of the police car with a toilet on his knee

He had only nicked their bogg to cash it in for some beer.]

Were we bumped into Granville he told us the story we all pissed our selves laughing

Later on though we felt sorry for him so we said he could stay for a couple of days.

We put a spare mattress in the bathroom for him to sleep on. The night after we all went out to the Manneville again, the next day I woke up & there was 2 of his alcoholic friends sleeping on my bed.

I got up walked down stairs & there were about another 6 he'd invited his mates to sleep over .

We got rid of his friends & told him never to bring them back again.

The next day I was woken by the feeling of water in my bed

I slept next to the toilet in the attic next to were Granville was sleeping

I woke up & there was water everywhere jumped out of bed & went into the toilet

Granville wasn't in bed but the airing cupboard was open & there was a gap where the boiler used to be, he'd only nicked the boiler.

He went missing for a while after that & we couldn't be bothered by the time he surfaced again.

I remember as well that the local Asian population thought we were the devil or something?

They used to leave dead animals ,bones & stuff out side the house I never found out what the significance of these things meant.

One day They left a goats head We were all out of our heads on something?

I used to have this big Samurai sword Dave Wilcox[the Negatives singer who lived with us] grabbed my sword ,stuck it into the goats head then round down the street shouting "Satan come into me" everyone in the street just dispersed in fear.

That put an end to the leaving of dead animals outside our door]

I have gone slightly off track.

I spoke to Steve Ignorant & all the others who were all really nice

I thanked them for looking after Dave

 when the gig started

I hadn't had any sleep for a day I had been hitching it all day.

I had a couple of beers

I was so tired a feel asleep in the bass bin while the band were playing.

Someone woke me up after the gig & we all went & stopped round some ones house?

I did see them a few times after that they didn't really have much an effect on me musically , but I liked the fact that the seemed to stand by what they believed in

Unfortunately I was one of the cynics who didn't want to be preached to anymore

I remember when SLF 1^st came over to England

There hadn't been as much hype since the pistols had played

SLF 's however were singing about  the possibility of losing  your  life or your loved ones or seeing them locked up indefinitely with internment.

With the regular  bombings & shootings that was part of daily lives over there.

We over here be  appeared to come across as a load of wingers by comparison

I

I don't know if it was because of the that they were living under sectarianism

& life was generally a lot harder in Ireland that people thought they were more genuine then other bands?

People were starting to view them   like the 2^nd coming

They also seemed to be a more credible Eire apparent to the punk throne.

For those that still needed one.

I looked  At  their tour dates & there were quite a few  with in quite easy distance   from Bradford.

Everyone was looking forward to seeing them.

I had bought their first 2 singles & really liked them.

We all met in the train station, everyone was there

When we got to thegig a few of our lot got in then they announced it was sold out.

We went down to the Fenton for a few beers & to wait for the others to come out.

When they did everyone was really excited

"Oh ,you've got to see them there brilliant" everyone was saying

I think  it was the 5^th gig we went to before i finally got in?

A lot of those SLF gigs is firmly laid in the gigs to forget file

Anyway it was the same at every gig people loved them

I was getting really frustrated with the situation.

When I finally got in [I can't even remember which place it was,?]

I was really disappointed with them

They were like the Irish version of the Clash

The looked like them ,sounded like them & they even moved around on stage like them

I remember saying to some one that I have been threw all this to see the Irish clash lol

I liked them on record ,but they didn't sound the same to me live

Southern death cult  Windermere 83?

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I was reminded about this gig at a recent old punk revival get together

Everyone was looking forward to this gig because we had met 2 lovely girls Fran & her mate from Windermere at other gigs; also there had never been a gig in Windermere before.

This wouldn't be like any other gig ,usually we would all have to drive straight back

Or if people had hitched would have to sleep in some dodgy car park or what ever

Or find a local to put you up for the night.

In Windermere we would be able to camp.

Just about everyone from ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Bradford went along with Alvain & Roy & the London Boys

Si from Liverpool [who now runs the Sandinista bar in Leeds]  among others.

About 40 in all?

We all got to Windermere at various stages of the day & met at the gig, which was the local village hall.

The band were busy setting up there gear, suddenly Aki came over & said that the support band ,who were from Blackpool were a bit of an Oi ,nazi skinhead band from Blackpool

With SDC following being quite a multi cultural bunch we were expecting a bit of trouble.

We went out side the gig & I told everyone what Aki had told us.

It was a beautiful day as it was mid summer. so we decided we would deal with that later

Some one had brought a football so the lads decided to have a kick around.

While the girls sat around & chatted .

After a while we got a bit bored so Roy & a couple of other went for a walk round Windermere to see were the local pubs were/

After about half an hour Roy & the others came running back "Skinheads & mods"

He shouted,

He said there's going to to trouble tonight because these skinheads & mods had seen Roy & made some remark about the colour of his skin ,him being slightly bronzed & being  a native of Bromley.

Roy said the skinheads & mods were all on scooters.

He had heard the remark & was angry [because know one likes to be insulted because they come from Bromley]

He said they gave him a glaring look then went into this café. Has Roy & the others walked past the scooters he tapped the 1^st scooter with his foot & the scooter fell over knocking a couple of the others over in the process.

They did a runner back to where we were.

So the scene is set , big fight with some numpty Nazi's.

The girls were getting a bit jittery about  the prospect of a free for all in a tiny village hall

This was probably the one place we weren't expecting any trouble.

We found a little pub to get a few drinks in then made our way to the venue.

I couldn't believe they were having a gig in what was basically the village hall

That held about 100 people at the most.?

We all congregated on the far side of the all then suddenly the skins & mods came in.

They congregated at the opposite side of the hall.

Y ou could feel the tension.

Almost immediately the support band cam on & the their following went to the front of the gig .

Their singer was making snide remarks throughout the gig & you just knew this was going to go off..

Their fans were getting more boisterous as the gig neared it's end

Some of the bands songs lyrics  seemed a bit dubious at best & I can't help thinking who decided to pair these two bands on the same bill together?

They would have been more at home supporting Skrewdriver  .

We all just stood waiting for the in eve ratable row to start.

Right at the end of the support bands set the singer made what sounded like a racist

Comment & their fans suddenly turned round gesticulating towards us .

All of a sudden Roy picked up a shovel & wacked this skinhead over the head

Who then fell on to the floor

& all the rest us just steamed into the the skins & mods .

They looked quite surprised that we were having a go back because not many of us had that aura of violence about us .Most of the SDC following looked like badly dressed Indians who had been kicked out of Big Chief Sitting Bulls camp for being improperly dressed.

After a couple of minutes of mayhem ,much to the disgust of the locals who had bobbed down to check out what this punk think was about.

The Skins & mods made a hasty retreat from the hall followed closely by us.

They just got on their scooters & left.

Everyone went back in the gig & apologized for the trouble.

Roy tried to have a go at the singer of the support band for his comment

But in the end the promoter told them to just go, realizing I think he had made a mistake putting the 2 bands on together?

The support band packed their gear & went

Almost immediately the atmosphere changed & everyone started to relax.

SDC played really well on the night & everyone had a good time

Although I think the adrenaline from the early events helped proceedings.

After the gig [which finished surprisingly early at around 10/]

We all went back to the pub to discuss where we were going to camp for the night.

Fran took us down an old abandoned hut on the banks of Lake Windermere

Everyone who had a tent put it up ,others with just sleeping bags slept in the hut.

Everyone was hungry by now & people started a fire

Ian & Si the resident Indian chiefs decided to to go of & look for some food

In the large woods behind us..

Here was their chance to put all that Indian knowledge of living of the land to good use.

we had our own little Indian camp complete  with a odd little tribe lol

They must have been in their element?

The rest off us sat about drinking & watching the lights on Lake Windermere.

It looks really spooky at night with a mist hovering over the Lake & strange noises.

After an hour we realized Ian & Si hadn't returned yet so we sent out a search party.

We split into two groups & set out.

One group went left & one went right.

We were calling out their names ,after about 10 minutes we heard one they shout "were over here" so we all made our way in the direction of the shouts.

Eventually we found them.If I remember rightly one of them was stuck in a ditch?

We helped free them & we all went back to the camp.

Everyone was tired by now so everyone crashed out.

In the morning everyone was out in the Lake swimming & diving off the pier outside the hut. It was great.

The sun was out & everyone was in good spirits.

Buzz & a few of the others found a little boat so they decided to take it out on the lake

It got about 15 yards out when the people in it realized it was leaking.

Everyone jumped out of the boat except Buzz who had all his clothes on, complete with this big furry coat he wore.

I think he  some how  thought we were some how going to get him back to shore without him getting wet?

Suddenly this guy came running onto the pier asking us what we were doing with his boat.

He shouted to buzz to bring the boat back to the shore

By this point the boat was practically underwater with Buzz realizing he was going to get wet, was doing the old Captains salute going down with the boat routine .

We were all in stitches until the guy said he was calling the police.

We said we would get his boat back for him & wasn't trying to nick it ,we just thought it didn't belong to anyone.

By this time the boat had completely sunk & Buzz was making his way back to shore

Wet through .

We all got back in the water to search for the boat.when we found it , it tookus all to drag it along the bottom of the lake.

The guy told us he would get the police if there was anymore trouble & left.

A lot of people set off home after this ,especially Buzz who had no other clothes to wear

A few of us decided to stop on as we rearly got chance in those days to enjoy the countryside & there were no more gigs for a few days .it was great .

We just eat simple [bread & butter,jam etc]which kept us going for a couple of days.

Also Fran invited us round to her house for supplies & a wash etc.

We just spent 3 days sunbathing,swimming & generally chillin out.

By the 4^th day there were about 5 of us left. Others had left at various points over the last 3 days

& the novelty had worn off on needed to get back home.

Me & Brian, Ian's brother hitched it back because everyone who had transport had left.

It took us about 6 hours.

Another memorable  gig.