This week I have mostly been pissed off and angry. At times like these I am afraid that 'Always The Sun' doesn't cut it.... even '5 Minutes' doesn't come close!
Here are Conflict from Birmingham back in 1986.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-AOanvtqCAJeEwPKp
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-LkzixN2m7ers2zPS
My appreciation of punk has been wide reaching for many years. Whilst listening to the mellow tones of 'Feline' I was also listening to and appreciating Crass, Conflict and a host of other anarcho bands. I was a teenager at the time and angered by a lot of stuff. We may be closer to a nuclear conflict right now than we have been since the Cuban missile crisis, but I remember the background fear ever present in the early '80's when we were still deep in the depths of the Cold War. Those Government 'Protect and Survive' leaflets were a real thing... even if completely impractical! The anarcho bands addressed many of those burning issues of the day. I would never describe myself as an anarchist though, I was more Newtown Neurotics than Conflict politically....
'You say politics are boring, boring and grey/But would you rather see 'Cruse' brighten everyone's day? ('Get Up & Fight' - Newtown Neurotics) versus 'Cruise missiles have arrived, despite our protest and anger/The fucked up fucking shits took no notice of our banners' (Cruise - Conflict).
The other great thing about the anarcho scene (especially so for a 15 year old with very limited funds) was that it was all so cheap! Pay No More than.... Can't argue with that. Those wonderful records with their fold out sleeves and brilliant thought provoking artwork... none of them are going cheap any more! So, it has been that for many years the likes of 'Skin Deep' has shared shelf space with 'The Serenade Is Dead' and 'Sheep Farming In The Falklands'.
As already mentioned, last week it was announced that Conflict's lead singer, Colin Jerwood, had died. Having been a thorn in the side of elements of the establishment as well as to some involved in the punk scene, I was surprised at the volume of tributes paid to the man. I remember a section of the audience at the 'Gathering of the 5,000' in 1987 chanting 'Kill Colin!' Perhaps it is the passage of time mixed with a degree of age related mellowing that brings this about. I am reminded of a quote that Paul Weller made at the passing of Joe Strummer (a feud between The Clash and The Jam in the early days had been whipped up by the press), Weller said 'That we were both soldiers in the same war'.
Here is a good recording of Conflict was back in the early 1980s. Thanks to Sewer Rat for the share.
MP3: https://we.tl/t-kJk0w7yl0t
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-mBlerTnX11
Conflict and Colin's biggest legacy in my life is that they were responsible for me giving up meat 30 years ago and whilst in some respects I may be in the words of the Subhumans something of an 'Ex-Teenage Rebel', the diet thing remained!
Anger burned at the end of the Metropolitan Line when Conflict played Brunel University's Student Union in Uxbridge, West London. A great set covering material from the first two albums, 'It's Time to See Who's Who' and 'Increase The Pressure' as well as the singles.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-wMA30Nf85e
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-XVbzUUySDW
It was in the van returning from Wales that members of the band declared an intention to call it a day. This declaration meant that the miner's benefit that they had had just played at the Aberdare Colosseum on 11th July 1984 was the last that Crass would ever play.
Crass may have been the band that fermented the 'anarcho-punk' movement, a viable branch of punk, but their demise did not signal the death of a scene. The D.I.Y. nature of the anarcho-scene-on-a-shoestring meant that a significant number of bands, venues, promoters, distributers and labels existed in a self-sufficient, self-supporting network.
Critically, with Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government returned to power in the 1983 General Election and British heavy industry fighting for its life, there was still much to rail against.
Despite the 'There is no authority but yourself' ethic that Crass and associated bands espoused, the Crass split did create something of a vacuum, given their prominence and importance. One band in the frame to occupy that space was South East London's Conflict. Inspired by Crass, by 1984 Conflict were well established with their own label (Motarhate) and a roster of like-minded bands.
Ideologically, Conflict were broadly aligned with Crass, which led the latter to take the former somewhat under their wing , at least in the early years of Conflict's existence. However, different approaches in terms of the best way to handle right-wing instigated violence at their gigs saw the more liberal minded Crass distance themselves from Conflict and let's just say their more robust peacekeeping methods.
In March 1985, Conflict released the single 'This is Not Enough', a tremendous racket, obtainable for a mere 49p. Here seemingly Conflict shot themselves in the boot. In trying to out do Papa Crass with the 'Pay No More than 45p' label for their 'Reality Asylum' single.... given inflation.... every copy of 'This is Not Enough' sold at a 2 pence loss..... which only becomes problematic when the single sold.... which it did in the thousands!
The 'Pay No More Than...' pricing strategy adopted by many of the anarcho bands was another draw for a cash-strapped 16 year old trying his best to build up a record collection on a Saturday job wage. Large chunks of Conflict's back catalogue were then acquired from Virgin Records on Brighton's Queen's Road for a relatively low outlay.
The powerhouse singles such as 'The Serenade is Dead' and 'Mighty and Superior' and albums, especially 'Increase The Pressure' got a lot of airplay in this young punk's bedroom, much to the dismay of my parents!
Despite the fact that Conflict played regular gigs at the Richmond (Hotel) in Brighton, I first got to see them at the point that they released 'The Ungovernable Force' album. It was 9th November 1986.
By this point in time, Conflict were no strangers to controversy. Two years previously, Conflict were embroiled in a high profile war of words with left wing band, New Model Army, who had signed to E.M.I., the record company of the Establishment and one with known investment links to the arms trade and other interests that did not sit easily with Conflict and many others. The dispute prompted Conflict to release 'Only Stupid Bastards Help E.M.I.' on 'New Army Records', a mail order benefit LP for the 'Riot Defence Fund'. The title was a take on the 'Only Stupid Bastards Take Heroin' T-shirt worn NMA's Justin Sullivan on Top of The Pops.
Later on, even within the scene, the rumour mill turned relentlessly producing accusations that the band's management of their Mortarhate label was awry in terms of royalty payments to bands connected with the label and sales accountability. Accusations of this nature were aggressively refuted by the band.
Beyond the music, regular trouble in and around venues where Conflict played brought them to the attention to the Metropolitan Police (the Police Constabulary responsible for Greater London). This resulted in the band's gigs in the capital regularly being pulled at the 11th hour as the police leaned on venues to cancel. The relationship between the 'Met' and Conflict hit an all time low in the wake of the band's 'Gathering of the 5000' event in Brixton which escalated into a full blown riot that saw 52 arrests and 10 police injured.
Into the 1990's and musically things had shifted a great deal. Dance music was king and Conflict's brand of confrontational issue-driven punk lost its footing to some degree, at least here in the UK. In Colin Jerwood's own words, now was the time to reign thinks in a bit. Activism of the type promoted and practiced by Conflict had by the late '80's become a risky pastime, attracting serious custodial sentencing in the courts. The judiciary were not adverse at that time to make examples of prominent agitators and in such an environment Conflict believed that they also would be squarely in the frame for such treatment. The band were still prolific in recording terms, but, to my ears at least, some of the anger had dissipated somewhat.
Conflict are still playing, the last time I saw them was at Rebellion in 2019. It's funny and it may be down to my own gig damaged ears, but I only recognised a handful of songs in a set that I was very familiar with. A far cry from an 80's Conflict gig. Slow it down boys..... the words mean as much as the music!
Within and yet without the punk scene, Crass set a new course for what could be, fiercely independent they sought a means by which the better ideas of the punk train of thought could be harnessed. Records were produced with 'Pay no more than' instructions printed on sleeves that offered affordable product to fans that were suffering under the very same Government policies that the band were railing against. Such stated pricing instructions prevented subsequent mark up by retailers. A master stroke.
Personally, I missed the heyday of Crass and was too young to see the band before they fulfilled their stated intention to split in 1984, but I was aware of them in 1983/1984.
Formed in 1977, Crass took a year or so to find their feet but with their debut on Small Wonder Records, 'The Feeding of the 5,000' they found a ready audience of people appreciative of their no-nonsense approach to punk. Their stripped down, angry roar pinned down by Penny's military drumming brought things back to what appealed too many in '76/early '77.
Crass's early material took no prisoners and the old guard of Strummer and Rotten were very much in the band's sights. But then again The Clash of '77 that so inspired Steve Ignorant were a very different proposition to the polished outfit that they had become by 1979.
In the period of '78 to '81 they were a continuous thorn in the side of the music business and the music press, who it appeared either hated them or could not fathom them. However, come 1982, the trivia of the music business took a backseat as Crass became a thorn in the side of The Establishment, which was a far bigger deal for all of the band.
At the beginning of April 1982, under the direction of the military Junta then in power, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, two small islands located several hundred miles from the Argentine coast, the sovereignty of which had long been a mater of contention between Argentina and the UK. Three days after the invasion Margaret Thatcher order that a task force be sent down to the South Atlantic to assert British control over the Falklands and South Georgia. The conflict was concluded with the surrender of the Argentine forces, made up to a large extent of young conscripts, within 10 weeks, but the sacrifice was significant and bloody. 649 Argentine and 255 British soldiers died in the fighting.
In April 1982, I was 13 and this was the first time in my lifetime that the UK had been involved in a war (Northern Ireland was something rather different to this, at least in terms of how I perceived it) and the images being served up on the evening news throughout those 10 weeks of Spring was truly shocking! As was the nasty, jingoistic reportage served up by the British gutter press, best exemplified by the 'Gotcha' headline that accompanied The Sun newspaper's reporting of the sinking of the Argentine vessel, ARA General Belgrano, on 2nd May with the loss of 323 crew. Misplaced patriotism quickly evaporated just two days later when HMS Sheffield was sunk with the loss of 20 crew, the first of six British vessels lost in the conflict.
Not intending to get bogged down in the details of the war, it is the impression that it made on me that is important here. Crass were equally perturbed by the events of that 1982 Spring, releasing two singles that were highly critical of the role that Margaret Thatcher and her Government in their handling of a diplomatic situation that escalated into a bloody conflict with remarkable rapidity.
At this juncture I would just like to add that I know several veterans of the conflict and and have the greatest respect for what they did and the sacrifices that they made as members of the Armed Forces. But I do think that there is a case to answer as to why it turned out as it did.
Crass's response was to release two singles, 'Sheep Farming In The Falklands' and 'How Does It Feel To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead'.
Oh, it was all happening back in the day in Bishops Stortford, there was also a related record label 'Stortbeat' but that's another story for another day and another post.
Post Crass, the many members have gone on to pursue their own specific interests be it graphic art, poetry, spoken word or a continuation in music. Steve, as previously mentioned, joined the ranks of Conflict for a while before forming the Stratford Mercenaries. Collaboration with Paranoid Visions followed, not to mention a stint as a crew member with the Sea Palling independent Life Boat, before the current and rather good, Slice of Life. Sadly, Steve's 'Ignorant Tour' has been the subject of several COVID-19 related postponements, now out to 2022! But again, it is a tour of Crass material, another potent reminder of that band's influence on the music and politics of a generation!
Not Crass, but on theme and I am sure a sentiment that Crass would concur with, The Newtown Neurotics comment on politics in their 'Get Up & Fight' sums it all up rather nicely:
Over the next week I will be posting a number of anarcho gigs and articles.
