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To be honest I thought you would tell me to
basically shove it when you saw the q's so I am honestly grateful coz I know its
time consuming and you don't get a lot out of it.
I don't get anything out of it, but I carry this
info in my head and its fun to get it out (and the info as well). I saw Glen Mattock in Regents Park this morning
with his kids while I was taking my dog for a walk. It seemed very odd, but
I didn't feel any older and he still looks like a pilchard. His nickname was Glenric thanks to the wit and wisdom of Sid Vicious. If give me a gram of speed
I'll tell you everybody else’s nickname.
Vive le rock
Mxxx
What was your background growing up, the music
you listened to and what made you play guitar?
I was born (here we go) in 1959 in Highgate hospital, a poor black child well
not totally poor (not totally black either) but not that rich, my parents worked
like bastards to keep what they had, anyway we lived in Camden Town near Kings
Cross station we only moved to Harrow when I was 15.I loved Bowie /Roxy /Lou
Reed/Dolls/Stooges/US 60s punk/T.Rex early Who basically any one who looked cool
and sound different. I hated progressive music of every sort and particularly
the Beatles. Let me say I now consider the Beatles to be geniuses who did more
for modern music than anyone else, but I still don't want to listen to them.
What bands were you in before the Banshees and
what sort of music??
I was in a school band at 14 called, believe it or not "Anthrax" we just did
covers. I was fired for not wanting to play fucking ‘Freebird’, and they were
fed up of doing ‘Sugar Sugar’ and ‘Search and Destroy’. They were also
embarrassed about me wearing nail polish.
How did you come to get into punk and what
attracted you to it?
I didn't get into punk I got into the SHOP as we all called it then. There was
no punk and there was no Sex Pistols. I was attracted to power blue suede winkle
boots, pink rubber, black leather, 50s porno, Screaming Lord Sutch and the
combination of heavy Teds, suburban masochists Hells angels, transsexual call
girls, leather queens, Billy Fury, rubber fetishists and a juke box full of the
strangest and most exciting old music I'd ever heard, compare this with beige
flares and Peter Frampton and I think you get the picture. |
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We’ve seen you in Malcolm’s clothes at the time.
How important do you think Malcolm’s and Vivienne’s clothes were to the early
punk scene and basically how important was punk fashion to the movement? How
important was McClaren to the Pistols and was ‘Anarchy’ written as Mark P
suggested to sell Malcolm’s clothes?
Ah, a question after my own heart. In my own humble, yet all important option,
without the Shop (‘Let It Rock’ and ‘Sex’) there would have been no punk, no Sex
Pistols. Just a load of pub bands who would have made no impact on any thing.
Malcolm is of course a complete liar but what is true is that he invented the
punk attitude and made the Pistols act it out for him. He gave them a point of
view which Paul, Steve and Glen did not have. He forced/persuaded them to have
John Rotten as a singer, who they would never have contemplated; they would have
found a Rod Stewart type and the rest would not have been history. To ask how
important were clothes to the early scene (not called punk, not called anything
in fact) is ridiculous. Clothes WERE the scene. It was not fashion it was
totally anti fashion to everything that was going on at time. The scene was tiny
and totally hated the outside world. When I say early I mean 74/75/76. It was
only later that morons like Pursey decided that it was a working class rebellion
WHICH IS BOLLOCKS and totally missing the point. It was about telling the world
that you weren’t what it wanted you to be, you weren't any thing except what YOU
wanted to be. And what better way to tell England that you would not accept any
of its upper class, lower class, middle class know your place, we are your
elders and betters fucking feudal society than wearing offensive pornographic
clothes on the street.
Re Mark P. I always liked Mark and although I
haven't seen him for years I would consider him a friend disagreed with him
about a lot of things (it would be a boring world if we all agreed) he
overestimates Malcolm in saying that about ‘anarchy’. Anyway ‘Anarchy’ was
always Vivienne’s thing Any how to quote the Divine Oscar (who must never be
misquoted, but I'm going to anyway) coz he sums up the pre punk scene better
than any of us ever could ""we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking
up at the stars"" but according to sham 69 ""we are all in the gutter and we are
going to wallow in it because that all we deserve, M'lord.""
I think I went off the point a bit there but
maybe you can edit it
THE least you can do is reply and tell me what
you think of what I've said, I would be interested to know the views of someone
of wasn't in at the beginning as I do tend to get a bit snobby which I don't
want to be and don't mean to be
Hate and War
Marco xxx
The reply....
I hope on the site to present as many different
views as possible and your comments / answers are particularly welcome as
basically you were a participant and have first hand knowledge. As to being
snobby that’s the right of every one who was in at the beginning of something.
Oh that's all right then.
However what they tend to ignore is that the same
experiences count just as much and have the same validity for people who come
after. Did Edmund Hilary's climbing of Everest mean that everyone who climbed it
afterwards need not have bothered? With punk we all have our cut off point. For
me it was 1979. For you it was earlier and the same with Mark P as both of you
were superceded by the next wave of punkery. For you it wasn't the same anymore
but for the new breed it was new and exciting. I was 13 when I got into Eater,
Slaughter, Pistols etc and most of all the Stranglers. I didn't care about
arguments over who was the punkiest. I was a mixed up kid and I loved the energy
of the music and when I saw the Stranglers live I got goosebumps up my back. I
loved the clothes , the attitude and I loved the girls as much as I could at 13.
This kind of repeated itself with the Goth scene later tho more clothes / women
based I got the same goosebumps watching the Sisters Of Mercy. Mind you I had it
watching Motorhead coming on doing ‘Overkill’ in 1979. Nuff of this. In other
words when people email me and say what about Rancid, Green Day etc I don't
say’ ooooh its not punk77 etc’ I say ‘enjoy it coz its only rock'n'roll!’
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I agree. That’s why I asked you what you thought. I got bored with it after
Grundy but I still went to the gigs I just didn't wear a leather jacket. I wore
my personal collection bondage suit with pride and I didn't scream sell out
(whatever that means?) at the Pistols because I knew that they were too good to
spend the rest of their lives in a grotty cellar and on some dead end indie
label. I didn't get what old mark Perry was on about ‘Today the El Paradiso
club. Tomorrow the world’ I say, if you you're going to do it… do it BIG! In my
view the great Pursey finished it off good and proper. I don't bare grudges (ala
mackay ) but I still blank that cunt Pursey. He undid everything that had gone
before. I saw their first support gig at the Roxy. In those days it was cool to
be bored. The indifference to their set was deafening. Silly sod. Fuck off down
the pub and stay there, just like your dad. Know your place oiks. |
Sir James Pursey: The punk antichrist or
working class hero? |
Basically it does rankle a bit seeing the same
old faces trotted out for punk documentaries.
It rankles me too, coz I 'm one of those faces. Obviously we were so hip it
hurt. I fucking know that, but what about everyone else. People used to say "I
never saw these bastards down the 100 Club." "No. That’s because they were only
11 you fool.”
While the Pistols were banned and punk gigs
banned there were so many bands out there making good records and carrying the
can and getting no recognition while being slagged off by the 'originators' as
second rate unoriginal copyists.
These bands were slagged off because they didn’t bow down to our fashionable and
innate hipness. I mean to say we all got in for nothing. You all had to queue
up. I had a limited edition Anarchy shirt for fuck's sake. If that doesn't set
me above the rest of humanity, then I don't what does. I fought in the war for
the likes of you |
