The latest edition of the UK’s favourite long-running punk fanzine, Suspect Device, is out now, and alongside the interviews, scene reports and readers top ten’s in issue #74 there are some great reviews, including four new Earth Island publications…
By Jared Forman - Earth Island Books
I love the look of this book, it’s not full text but has reproduced interviews, cuttings and photos from zines Jared Forman has done over the last 35 years. There is a ton of stuff in here, including chats with Channel 3, Subhumans, Toxic Reasons, Doom, MDC, Icons Of Filth, Mission Of Burma, Reagan Youth, A.P.P.L.E, The Avengers and loads more, including bits on ABC NO Rio, Dangerhouse Records and Gilman Street. It’s all presented in a cut and paste style, reminding me of all those great zines of the mid-1980s and it gives a real first hand snapshot of, mainly, US punk rock history. It’s a book I keep picking up and flicking through the pages to find another cool photo or interview to take me back and make me want to dig out the records of that particular band.
Earth Island (Tony)
ANARCHO-PUNK: MUSIC AND RESISTANCE IN LONDON 1977-1988 by David Insurrection - Earth Island
I have always thought that Anarcho Punk is the thing that saved punk rock. By proving that you could put in to action the ideas that The Clash and Sex Pistols spouted, Crass, and the bands that they inspired, proved that if you take control and ignore the mainstream things are better when you do them yourself. Things naturally grow and evolve that way, continuing to inspire along the way. Gaz and me were soaking up the records released on Crass, Spiderleg, Mortarhate etc and although our lives were completely different to the lives of those living in London and forming bands, zines, newspapers we were becoming inspired and our politics were evolving, although we weren’t squatting and living with the constant threat of attacks by right wing skins or the police. So, this book is an interesting read and it was good to see pictures of the venues and locations we’d seen mentioned on record sleeves and in fanzines and read about the people and bands involved too, how they interacted and moved around as well as their links with older, non-punk anarchists. Dave Insurrection also lists many of the gigs, and who played at each venue covered. One or two of these people get a chance to tell their own stories too. It was a different time and although this book covers just 11 years, the impact this period had is still being felt today, the small, DIY scenes that emerged in the mid to late 1980s were directly, or indirectly, inspired by anarcho punk and forged friendships that have endured. I’d put this alongside Ian Glasper’s books as an important historical document of our punk scene. And it is our scene, it’s not one championed or created by the music press, it’s created by punks for punks and although things have changed, the spirit remains. Musical styles ebb and throw, but the attitude stays the same, forged in the years covered in this book.
Earth Island (Tony)
THE FIRE STILL BURNS: MUSIC INSPIRED BY THE POST-PUNK MESSAGE by David Gamage - Earth Island Books
On first glance this book wouldn’t appear to appeal to me too much, outside of the fact that David is a longstanding friend. But, there are bands here I’ve head of, seen live and even featured in SD. None of that really matters though as this massive book, almost 700 pages, could be seen as a companion book to Ian Glasper’s books documenting the punk scene from the 1980s onwards, being just as important for people interested in bands you could call post-emo. The fact that the music most of the bands featured here is not to my taste is unimportant, the fact is that the roots of what they play stretch back to punk rock; there is a line to be drawn from bands like Gang Of Four, Magazine or Wire, Dag Nasty, Rites Of Spring or Fugazi through 1990s Emo to these more melodic bands David writes about here. They are younger, so their entry to alternative music wasn’t Crass or Discharge, Minor Threat or Dead Kennedys, it was a generation after that, but they still found a home in a scene that was born out of those times where they could start bands, play gigs and release their music making use of labels, zines and promoters that sprung up out of the DIY network that existed because of the older punk scenes. Some of their stories are interesting and certainly worth telling, obviously I was drawn to Rites and Zero Again, but I remember Si Briggs interviewing Speedwell and them appearing on one of our compilations, so that was one of the first chapters I read. As with Ian Glasper’s books, this is an historical reference book, making sure these bands are not forgotten and just because I’m not a fan of their music doesn’t mean I instantly dismiss their stories or their worth, in fact I’m pleased these kids found somewhere to play music with people who shared their passion in what was, at least initially, outside of the mainstream music industry.
Earth Island (Tony)
RACCOON STARTS A BAND by Alex CF - Earth Island Books
Following on from Alex CF’s Punks In The Willows book, Earth Island now allows Alex to tell the story I’m sure a lot of us can relate to, of punk rock giving us a purpose, a community, an education and a feeling of security. Along the way there’s a run through of a lot of punk rock’s offshoots and sub genres, as Raccoon finds his way, told in short verse form. The main attraction of this is Alex’s great drawings, putting animals in place of humans, all covered in band patches and t-shirts and all the looks and styles of punks through the ages. It looks like children’s book, but is it? Who’s to say, but I did enjoy it.
Earth Island (Tony)
You can read all the Suspect Device reviews here: http://suspectdevicehq.blogspot.com/p/reviews_29.html
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