Eater Conference Circle, Wintergardens, Blackpool 7th August 2026

 

Okay, bringing things a little more up to date, with the gigs at least, if not the bands. Here are Finchley's finest, Eater, captured at Rebellion back in August. Eater, or at least the Andy Blade component of Eater do keep coming back. A few years ago a friend of a friend was drumming for them. Well, the band are back again.

I have never really taken the time to listen fully to Eater. Familiar with the singles, 'Outside View' and 'Thinking Of The USA' and an old tape of some demos they did, I should set aside some more time to listen to the Eater album.

Anyway, here they in Blackpool. many thanks to Chatts for the share!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-dypEe0oFvshEDNBv

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-gSHQfAKWGDTGmkv2

The Damned 100 Club Punk Rock Festival London 21st September 1976

 

If there was a hierarchy withing the burgeoning punk scene it was apparent at the 100 Club festival and the running order. Was it the case that Monday 20th was the night for the in-crowd (the Pistols ('Malcolm's band'), The Clash and Subway Sect ('Bernie's bands') and the Banshees (a band made up of the original and earliest Pistols' acolytes) whilst Tuesday 21st was 'Outsiders night', The Damned (ideological outsiders) and Buzzcocks (geographical outsiders)?

The Damned turned in the shortest and fastest set of the festival. Just 19 minutes from start to finish (excluding string changes)! Actually, whilst I do not have the wherewithal to analyse speeds, my version here sounds rather slow (can anyone check?).

Listening back to this, its is surprising that even at this stage (the band's live debut, also at the 100 Club, was as recent as 6th July 1976) they were tight live... showing that the 'can't play' accusation levelled at them (and other punk bands) by critics and to an extent a myth perpetuated at the time by the band themselves, was not strictly true.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-ej1bSf4UYR6THME7

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-RGHWRYmHS7HDdFqY

Here's Mark again...

'Tuesday: "It's back to jazz from now on, we can't play here again... not after tonight".

It had to happen. Let's hope it doesn't happen again! It was a quieter night than Monday, except for the violence of course.

The Damned emerged next. They were really pissed off with things as they powered through their raw set. For a start, Dave Vanium's (sic) mic kept cutting out plus there was loads of jeering from the "wonderful" Vibrators in the audience. The atmosphere was growing tense, it cracked when one of Bryan's (sic) guitar strings broke, 15 minutes it took to restring the thing, more jeers etc. Vanium was all over the place when they restarted, throwing beer into the crowd and he ripped Chaotic Bass' Sex Pistols t-shirt. Suddenly there was a bit of violence at the front of the stage - a glass had been thrown. Dave jumped down into the crowd to see what happened, he was soon back on stage - "Which one of you bastards hurt someone near and dear to us... Come up here and we'll kick the shit out of you, you bastard!"

No one admitted throwing and the music raced on, the Damned were fucking great, it's a shame the atmosphere in the place didn't match it. Suddenly, a heavy's on stage, the music stops - "There's three people outside waiting for an ambulance, if there's any more glasses thrown, we'll stop the show and have you all out!"

One more number an the Damned left the stage. Someone said the Damned are awful. Don't you believe it, there's no fucking pussyfooting with the Damned. They put everything into what they do.

"The Damned are better than most bands but they've got no good lyrics, I mean, you can't hear 'em. The kids can't go, ru de dum de dum and remember the tune, and it'd stick in their heads so they can pass it on. With the Sex Pistols the kids really bop- that shows you they've made it, I mean did you see anyone bop to the Damned? "They played Iggy Stooge, that was 1969, I mean, we're seven years on, this is 1976!" Malcolm McClaren said. He's got a good point but we think the Damned are saying something through their energy, the way they behave on stage, etc. They're certainly the most controversial band in London at the moment!'

The Damned as 'the most controversial band in London at the moment!'?  Well, Mark P's works were written some nine weeks before the Grundy event... at which point The Damned undoubtedly lost their 'Kings of Controversy' crown!

Listening to the recording, there are a number of cuts in evidence. Brian James's 15 minute restringing interval is removed, but more interestingly so is Dave Vanian's chastisement of the audience after the glass throwing incident. I did not know that the girl who was injured by glass was associated with The Damned until reading the Sniffin' Glue review. What you can hear throughout The Damned's set is the heckling from the audience, some of it at least coming from members of The Vibrators of who Mark P had nothing positive to say.

So the words of Mark Perry that appeared in the Sniffin' Glue festival special issue put the earlier posted Giovanni Dadomo review (here) into better context. The trouble that marred the event occurred during The Damned set early on (they were second on after Stinky Toys). In contrast, the first night seemed to have been relatively trouble free.

As mentioned earlier, as far as I am aware, the set from Chris Spedding and The Vibrators was recorded (and would be good to hear for the appearance of Sensible on stage to also play with Spedding), but sadly nothing from Buzzcocks. By all accounts by the time Howard and Co, took to the stage the venue had emptied out (public transport in the capital was not what it is now) so maybe it was the case that the taper had exited too.

Sex Pistols 100 Club Punk Rock Festival London 20th September 1976

 

The main attraction to conclude day one. At this point the Pistols had some notoriety, but infamy was some months off yet (the Bill Grundy 'Today' interview on the eve of the Anarchy tour took place on 1st December 1976).

Half of the tracks that make up the Pistols set went on to appear on their 'Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols' album whilst others cropped up as B-sides on those '77 singles. Other iconic songs, the likes of 'No Future' ('God Save The Queen') and 'E.M.I.' were still in their late stages of creation ('No Future') or the events that inspired them ('E.M.I.') had yet to happen. Although the songs were in place, the release of 'NMTB' was still more that a year away as the band became the hottest potato of all for those record companies that engaged with them (most notably the establishment label 'E.M.I.' and the American giant 'A&M').

Many of those that participated in these early punk gigs (such as Siouxsie and Marco) have gone on record to state that punk died with the Grundy interview and the furore come media circus that followed in its wake. If this is so then punk in its intended form did not even make it in to 1977 and was enjoyed by just a couple of hundred people in London and Manchester! Luckily, there was plenty more good stuff to come in 1977, but I happily concede that all of those early gigs throughout 1976 would have been something to behold... before a variety of people and organisations manipulated 'punk' and took it over to a large extent.

Once again, over to 'Sniffin' Glue'.

'During the interval the Sex Pistols showed up. I approached Johnny Rotten, who was slouched over some chairs with Glen Matlock:

SG - Would you do Top Of The Pops?

Rotten - Great, why not? Should be good.

SG - There's a rumour going around that your song, 'Anarchy In The UK' was made just to promote Malcolm McClaren's 'Anarchy' shirts, is that right?

Rotten - No, that's just other bands jealous of us... anyway the song came first!

SG - Yea, it's said that it was all planned.

Rotten - Well, all I can say to that is, "Yawn".

SG - Just, "Yawn"?

Rotten - Yea!

The Pistols were fucking brilliant! They were really on form, there was kids on chairs, tables... the following they've got is amazing. No one in their right mind could say they "can't play", they're getting better every gig. No, there was no violence, they just played!'

The punk and the prophet

Roxy, London 1977

In this briefest of interviews, Rotten does indeed allude to simmering rivalries between those bands that eventually coalesced into what we know understand to be punk.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-pqz7BCPe1DD4mTAw

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-K29q7xHH6kLztdXi

The Clash 100 Club Punk Rock Festival London 20th September 1976

 

Back again from wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen. As promised here's another set from the 100 Club Punk Festival, this time from a second on the bill Clash. From before the sniping and the one upmanship that accompanies music 'scenes' really kicked in.

An early preview of what would become 'The Clash' album (8 of the 14 tracks on the debut album appear in this set) is what you get here. Alongside them are two early tracks that did not last the course, 'Deadly Serious' and the oddly named 'How Can I Understand The Flies?'.

First album era Clash has always been my favourite.... back when Jackson Pollock was the fifth member!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-MjWGcHw9QOSntJuh

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-jLr0YmX6o0QhuokV

So, what was Mark P's take on The Clash's set...

'The Clash were really good. They seem to be getting better every time I see 'em. Their set was more loose and expressive than before. They've dropped a member (Keith Levine) and they are probably the most powerful band on the scene at the moment. The response from the audience was pretty good but they're still yet to find their own audience. They're gonna start heading in clubs so they should soon build up a loyal following, they fucking deserve it. 

After the Clash, in the dressing room I got me Count Bishops badge ripped off, someone (a 'clash') pounded it into the floor with the heel of his boot, "We'll get you a real badge", he said. Thank you, Mr. Clash!'

So who do you think was responsible for the destruction of Mark's Count Bishops badge then?.... my money's on Mick!

Siouxsie And The Banshees 100 Club Punk Festival 20th September 1976

 

So this is the first (the next will follow in a few days as I will not have access to my PC for a couple of days) of the recordings that I have from the 100 Club Punk Festival that took place on the 20th and 21st September 1976. As mentioned earlier, the sound is rough, but I  think that it is important that you hear this at least once... and maybe even give it a second go given how unusual it is.

People talk endlessly about the DIY ethic of punk, and in the Banshees appearance, here was that ethic in its purest form on show in front of a paying audience. The band just wanted to get up and play and probably more to the point preen up on a stage. The set? Well there was no set as such, other than a 24 minute improvisation of the 'Lord's Prayer' interspersed with bits of 'Twist & Shout' and 'Deutschland Uber Alles'. According to the story, what Camden rehearsal time they did set aside, a bored Sid cut short. The band produced something of cacophony, an experimental jam fully intended to put people's backs up. The interesting bit is that Sid was pinning it all down effectively with a regular drum beat (despite only having one day's familiarity with the instrument). It is fair comment to say that he was a better drummer than he was a bass player!

So whilst NME dropped the ball review-wise with these 100 Club nights, the man with the real inside punk know how, Mark P, was on hand to offer a review in a Festival special issues of his 'Sniffin' Glue' fanzine.

Over to you Mark...

Yes, it’s the 1976 100 Club Punk Festival!

Monday: What a fucking great night, anybody who was anybody was there, it was an occasion not to be missed. A bunch of Discos and ageing hippies popped down to see what was happening as well as the regular punk fans posing and liggering in the fun. There was a bit of a rumble but it wasn’t too violent, it was a great night.

Suzie & The Banshees

After the Sect’s set the buzz was going round about the Pistols follower, Sid, who was gonna play drums with the next band up – Suzie and the Banshies (sic). Everybody was exited and thought that Sid was gonna pull out his chain and madly lash out at the poor drums. When they finally made it onstage, Sid was terrific, he kept a real clear drum tempo going which really lifted the band a cut above a few other punks currently on the scene. The amazing thing was, that Sid had only been playing the drums for one day. I spoke to Sid afterwards and he was really pleased and told me he enjoyed himself.

A few people spotted in the bar after Suzie’s set were, Paul Weller, the Jam’s guitarist and Mike Spencer, the New Yorker who reckons that the London punk scene is very far superior to the scene in New York. Very true.

MP3: https://we.tl/t-5gWNpSLWWhTz4ekM

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-cmZAFfBjbuyige4X

100 Club Punk Festival 20th and 21st September 1976

 

There were other, earlier key gigs that feature in the punk rock creation myth.... the Pistols at the Marquee in February 1976 'Don't look over your shoulder, but the Sex Pistols are coming', the Lesser Free Trade Hall gigs in June and July which carried the punk torch that ignited Manchester, The Black Swan in Sheffield on 4th July with the Pistols and The Clash, not forgetting the Screen on the Green gathering in Islington in August. The list is quite a long one.... the bans had yet to arrive!

However, the Daddy of all of those seminal early gigs has to be the two night 'Punk Rock Festival' hosted by Oxford Street's 100 Club. Other gigs to date had paired two or even three of these 'new music' bands, but until the 100 Club event no gig had pretty much gathered together under one roof all of the punk talent as it existed in the Autumn of 1976. There is of course a notable exception, but bear in mind that this event occurred just a few weeks after the trouble flared at Dingwall's.

The line up ran as follows:

Monday 20th September
Sex Pistols
The Clash
Siouxsie (billed as Suzie) and the Banshees
Subway Sect

Tuesday 21st September
The Damned
Buzzcocks
Chris Spedding & The Vibrators
Stinky Toys

At the 50th anniversary gig a couple of weeks ago, during the John McKay's Reactor set, Jen (the JMR singer) asked whether there was anyone in the audience who had been there back in 1976. A couple of people shouted yes (and it wasn't TV Smith or Marco who shouted... I believe that Gaye was also in the venue... she didn't should either). They were very lucky.

Witnesses to these two legendary nights are few, the venue is small with a capacity of about 400 tops. However, despite the primitive (not to mention bulky) nature of audio recording equipment that was available in the mid-'70s, at least five of the bands on the bill had their sets recorded by members of the audience. The Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Banshees  and The Vibrators were captured on tape for posterity.

Admittedly, all of those recordings fall some way short of pristine. Can you imagine it, bodies launching in all directions, the heat generated by 400 bodies in a confined basement space in what was the hottest UK summer on record (air conditioning was something to only be experience by the millennial generation much later!). These conditions are not compatible with good sound capture. On top of it all there is the unusual configuration of the venue, the stage is long and shallow such that the band occupy a small part of the stage around the central part of the venue. Oh, and the supporting pillars don't help either. Another 'Who: Live At Leeds' was never on the cards!

With all of that said, these gigs were worth recording. I mean this was the Banshees first ever gig... and the only one with that line up (Sioux, Severin, Pirroni and Vicious).

In preparation for the posts that will follow, I looked to hunt down some contemporary reviews of the gig and found one from Sounds written by Giovanni Dadomo. New Musical Express seemed to miss out on this one, whilst Caroline Coon wrote an extensive piece for Melody Maker (but I don't have it unfortunately).

It is clear from his review that Dadomo was bitterly disillusioned by the scene, or more accurately, the violence that it attracted, to the extent that the music did not feature in his copy. Indeed, the Festival gained infamy, it being marred by an incident in which a girl was blinded in one eye after a glass, believed to have been thrown by Sid Vicious, shattered against one of the aforementioned pillars. Vicious was subsequently arrested and punk bands were banned from playing the venue, even before Dadomo's article reached the printers.

Sounds (2nd October 1976)

High dummy count flunks punks

Punk Rock Festival

London

By far and away the most discordant sounds to be heard during the 100 Club's two day 'Punk Rock' festival last week were the crunch of bone on bone and the clatter of broken glass. Violence, in other words, was the hideous keynote.

Monday's flow of events was interrupted about half-way through when simultaneous brawls broke out on both sides of the stage. Things were quickly brought under control – however and had it stopped there – with the major casualties being a broken table and a score or so of beer mugs - one could have
dismissed the night's least enjoyable spectacle as unfortunate and almost inevitable at an event where lots of kids drink a little too much in a cramped and darkened room. No fun, to be sure, but hardly unique.

Unfortunately, this was not to be, Tuesday bringing with it an even nastier outbreak of violence which resulted in at least three people receiving hospital treatment and a number arrests. A side effect of the two nights' events was that the club's directors have now banned groups like the Pistols from ever
playing the 100 again, therefore reducing the number of central London venues available by some hundred percent.

A great pity, right? But then who can blame them really – like attracts like and the chances of such incidents ultimately resulting in a fatality must have been a major factor in the club's decision. Result? Everybody loses club, bands, and audiences.

So, who's to blame and, even more important, how can such unpleasant events be avoided in future?

Considering that their set on Monday night was exemplary in its professionalism, it, seems almost unfair to lay most of the blame at the Pistols' door. Unfortunately, it happens to be true that most of the band's current notoriety stems directly from their image as young villains, something their PR has exploited to the hilt (consider only the staged punch-up photo which appeared on the cover of 'Melody
Maker' a few weeks back). Almost inevitable therefore that they should attract all manner of fringe psychopathics and that this idiot minority (like those people who've made insecurity an integral part of the live reggae scene) should screw things up for everybody.

What it boils down to is this: it's all very well to preach the causes of nihilism and anarchy and wear armbands -marked 'chaos' as long as all it is is the latest fad. Trouble with 'anarchy' though is it's no hula hoop – it hits back. I'm sure John Rotten no more relishes the thought of having his head split open at his next gig than I do. But the terrifying truth of it is that right now it's a highly likely probability for both of us.

My apologies therefore to all the people who played good rock 'n' roll those two nights (and I'd include the Pistols alongside Chris Spedding, The Vibrators, Damned and Clash) but the truth of the matter is I just don't feel up to reporting it. Because all I can think about is a girl with an eyeful of broken glass. A tragedy is what it Is, a fucking tragedy.

Christ knows if it'll help by saying this but I'm sure the pressure would cool considerably (and remember - the bands are in as much danger as those people on the floor) if the aura of aimless violence surrounding the Pistols and, their followers were eased out. Maybe they could concentrate their energies on something constructive – like fucking or destroying the BBC, for example. Because if all the indignation about the mess the world's in only results in some poor chick getting her eye chopped up then count me out, I just don't want to know any more.

And I know I'm not the only one. - GIOVANNI DADOMO.·

Danforth Music Hall Toronto 31st May 2013

 

Having posted a Toronto radio interview with JJ and Baz earlier, it seems as good a time as any to post the gig that occurred later on in the day (or at least what exists of it). The fact that 'No More Heroes' appears twice makes me think that this is in all likelihood pieced together from mobile phone captured audio. A quick listen to 'Heroes' shows it to be the one and the same i.e. both are from the same gig, but the audio is different, possibly due to it being captured by someone located in a different part of the auditorium. As they say, it is what it is.

Danforth Music Hall, Toronto

31st May 2013

MP3: https://we.tl/t-WrXeE6EL3r2B63C5

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-e9AgFPie5XBnNszA