How did it happen? Here is the short version. It was 1981. I was living in London and working in a factory making Durex condoms, but also a member of the (Kill Your Pet) Puppy Collective. Don’t worry. No puppies were ever killed, it was a metaphor.
We went to see the Barracudas play at the Hope and Anchor pub in Islington. Some Puppies were persuaded to go to a rival attraction, a squatted church on the Pentonville Road called the Parallel Universe. Somehow, via a gay punk squat on Huntingdon Street in Islington, this Parallel Universe later fused with a search for magic mushrooms at dawn on Hampstead Heath and seeing The Mob play a free gig in an adventure playground on Parliament Hill Fields.
You know how everyone has this mental list of people they would love to do a blog, but they never will? Well one of mine just started one!
Alistair is now up at http://greengalloway.blogspot.com/. If his blog ends up with a fraction of the stuff he’s sent me in emails and letters, then it will one of the best things ever.
dubversion
ah, the Mob. beautiful, the missing link between Crass and Joy Division. bleaker than a bleak thing… never saw them (just that little bit too young) but did see Zoundz and then in turn Blyth Power (who were, i’m ashamed to say, my ‘kitbag’ travelling round the country band.
And whenever you see Jamie from the Kills – bless im – sucking in his cheeks and hanging with the White Stripes, just remember how many Blyth Power albums he was on
2005/03/09 @ 04:52 pm
kek-w / http://kidshirt.blogspot.com
The Mob were/are from my home manor Yeovil…used to go drinking with Mark Wilson back in the day…Farmer Glitch knows him too. In fact, the Farmer was in a band w/ The Mob’s original drummer. Mark W’s brother Paul (another 1st gen. Yeovil punk-rocker) still lives round here and occasionally puts in an appearance in the pub…
What a scarily small world.
2005/03/09 @ 07:33 pm
monkeysblood ( / )
yay zoundz!
yay kit bag travelling!
didn’t know about the kills/blyth power crossover either.
(strokes chin)
2005/03/09 @ 08:11 pm
dubversion
the gentleman on the left of this pic
http://www.blythpower.co.uk/photos/images/budapest.jpg
is also on the left in this picture
http://www.karsten-jahnke.de/data/artist/kills-1.jpg
i once asked him why his biog never mentions Blyth Power. he did have a reasonable response:
“would you fucking admit to being in Blyth Power?”
🙂
2005/03/09 @ 10:49 pm
farmer glitch ( / http://farmer-glitch.blogspot.com/
amazing the discussion you end up stumbling upon when searching ta web …
yep played in bands with Grahem (post MOb) – and indeed Grahem and Mark (pre-Mob school days) – have a couple of tapes from various Mob sessions at Stonehenge amongst other places been meaning to digitize sometime ……
2005/03/16 @ 01:28 pm
spent most of my childhood in yeovil …used 2 sit an watch the mob practice at the ace centre saw them 5 times live and knicked a squeedgie from school 4 mark 2 print the 1st mob tshirts . their words and attitude had a major impact on my life i spent years living in squats and travelling. anarchy state of mind. thats why my minds a state
Also stumbled upon this, I was around All The Madmen in those days, we all had our own attempts at bands supporting the Mob at the Village halls. Any one remember Jeff? and the bungalow, and Max,……great times. Hope all these guys are well and life is good. Andy Barker(stratton-still got the Madmen single in the attic) Max , Curtis, Jeff, The Musgrave brothers, Wilf the artist, Debbie and brother Nigel, Graham Fallows (making a big family last time I was in touch) and of course Mark Wilson, all them years ago.
All the best
been hunting for the musgave-bros (jim and andy) where-abouts for ages – do ya know where they are these days ??
drop me a line if ya do – stephen@digitalcutuplounge.com
cheers,
s.
if i had any nouse I’d register punksreunited.com! No idea, but try hounding alistair over at greengalloway blog