Britain in the 1980s was in the grip of a socio-economic crisis, with mass unemployment, riots breaking out in all the major cities, the closure of industries, and the height of the Cold War. This in turn spawned a generation of disaffected youth who fought back with their music coupled with a defiant look and attitude. The UK punks of the 80s were living on the fringe and sticking two fingers up to society. In the new book 'Voice of a Generation: 80’s UK Punx in their ow

On 30th June from 7pm at the Best Video and Cultural Centre in Hamden, CT there will be a screening of ‘Rock n Roll High School’ (A 1979 film in which the fanatic and delinquent Riff Randell battles it out with the strict new principal of Vince Lombardi High School, Miss Togar, with a little help from the Ramones!) with Jenn L Beckwith, the author of the brilliant new Ramones book, ‘All Good Cretins Go To Heaven: The Enduring Legacy of The Ramones’ there to sign copies, answe

Counter-cultural explosions happening elsewhere. The global underground music map is incredibly vast, yet Western listeners frequently suffer from a severe case of tunnel vision. We routinely hyper-focus on our localized circuits across Europe and North America, completely oblivious to the brilliant counter-cultural explosions happening elsewhere. It takes a monumental piece of print documentation to smash those geographic biases and open our eyes to the thriving sonic resi

Had an absolutely cracking time at the launch for the Ten Poets Volume Three book in Ipswich the other night. Great sets from Michael Bamber, Matt Carter, Laura Bradley, Kirsty Smith and David Mustill - what a line-up! If you don't have a copy yet, Earth Island Books have plenty, so let’s rectify that situation.

Not all poetry behaves itself - and James Domestic has no interest in making it try. Within these pages the ordinary slips out of situ. Narratives get a bit wonky, objects misbehave, and convention absconds. A TV legend may be a residential menace, and a smart speaker might develop a grudge. A rock band could be mistaken about what it actually is, and the Poetry Police may have secured an arrest warrant… Domestic’s world feels just close enough to ours to be unsettling -

‘Tin Knocker’ is a story about choices; choices that can find you in the worst throes of a suspended adolescence and force you to face impending adulthood. With a band that found a neatly defined success in the small, tight-knit LA punk family, both Mike Magrann and CH3’s trajectory should have raced past cramped, filthy vans and into catered dressing rooms and five-album deals. It was the ‘80s, after all. Excess was more common than oxygen and they were throwing deals at ban

Tilman Dominka's book ‘I am already hearing sounds’ combines black-and-white photography and music. Closely connected to the DIY music scene, he travelled to various places to visit musicians he met at shows. In this book, which is dedicated to the close connection between photography and music, he has compiled images from the last 15 years and asked musicians and bands to provide a piece of music; there are 30 images and accompanying pieces of music, which can be accessed

There’s so many great photographs in the new ‘Punk at Sea: A Rebellion Festival photo book’ by Michiel Blijboom. Over 130 pages of candid images, taken mainly of fans and punks just being punks by the seaside, at the big festival in Blackpool. The book is available in time for the big thirty year celebration – crass commercialism, or a celebration of the people and the scene we all love? Rebellion, the annual punk festival in and around the not so aptly-titled Winter Gardens.

‘All Good Cret­ins Go To Heaven: The Endur­ing Spirit of The Ramones’ by Jenn L. Beck­with with Gary Lynn Clev­enger ★★★★ Earth Island/DiWulf £19.99 ISBN 9781916864948 280 pages Love let­ter from the fans Show­ing again how price­less memor­ies can often out­weigh pro­fes­sional inter­views for fun and insight, chil­dren’s lib­rar­ian Beck­with’s first book came from an idea with researcher Clev­enger to hon­our the Ramones around their 50th anniversary that grew into an un

Thoughts Words Action review ‘Tear It Down’ by Alexandros Anesiadis Anyone who has spent a significant portion of their life digging through the dusty crates of underground music history knows that genres don’t just appear out of thin air. They are forged in the fires of friction, subcultural warfare, and unexpected alliances. Back in the early 1980s, if you told a die-hard hardcore punk that they would soon be sharing a mosh pit with a long-haired thrash metalhead, they pr

London’s Wonk Unit are not only one of the most successful and prolific UK punk bands of the last two decades, but also one of the most original and eclectic, their irreverent take on melodic punk knowing few boundaries and their self-effacing humour coupled with an often- fearless honesty. “It was around 2005, and I hadn't made any of my own music for a few years previously,” explains vocalist Alex Johnson, who had enjoyed considerable success in the Nineties as part of The

Spill Magazine review ‘All Good Cretins Go To Heaven: The Enduring Spirit of the Ramones’ All Good Cretins Go To Heaven: The Enduring Spirit of the Ramones, by Jenn L. Beckwith, is a unique publication, and an interesting addition to the growing number of books about the fabled Godfathers of Punk. Billed as “an open love letter to Ramones from the fans and those closest to them, sharing their love in photos, artwork, and memories,” the book is part music and cultural histor

‘The Underground in China: Metal, Punk, Hardcore and Noise (2013-2021)’ by Ryan Dyer showcases bands across the spectrum of genres in China. No Clean Singing have handpicked ten of the more extreme bands found within the book to showcase. Check out their choices here: https://www.nocleansinging.com/2026/06/09/the-underground-in-china-10-underground-extremities/ Another major asset of ‘The Underground in China’ is that the book covers many genres. Looking at the scene as a w

The street-smart punk-poetry troubadour James Domestic has a couple of imminent events in Suffolk, on 20th June (with HENRY NORMAL) and 25th June (with ANDY RILEY) in Eye and Bury St Edmunds respectively. Both with some excellent supports. [Foreword Festival UK](https://www.facebook.com/groups/1210462116767562/user/100093839145255/?__cft__[0]=AZY20CKhmRvAgwtvq_3-q3POS645V4SAKGCTaR2n6wTSZerRJLS6y_eEhiR2CSpI3wDV1K7zqPDtNkYFx6c3K3cX6dyQgi5BCE3wggzuPtr9JjfxKXV7T0fIM7-2ZDjoDCCSbho

Five of the East Anglian based poets featured in the punk-poetry book, ‘Ten Poets, Volume Three’ will be holding a pre-publication spoken word gig to celebrate the book's imminent release. This event will be a reading and book-signing party at Bin93 Wine Bar in Ipswich (IP4 1JZ) from 7pm onwards on Wednesday 24th June. Entry will be free and we’ll have plenty of books there for you to check out and maybe buy. There’s more info here: https://facebook.com/events/s/ten-poets-boo

An excerpt from - NOT JUST BITS OF PAPER By GREGORY BULL and MICKEY PENGUIN TENTH YEAR ANNIVERSARY - FULL COLOUR HARDBACK EDITION From: Unexpected Guests – Crass, Trinity Hall, Bristol, 15th December 1983. …It’s a sea of punks here tonight. Some dressed all in black wearing raggedy clothes an old cardigans, black shirts, Shiny waxed black jeans, patchwork clothes. there are donkey jackets, leather jackets adorned with studs bands names and symbols that have been hand painte

Police (with ‘leveller’) Part 1 I’ve met some lovely police Who were kind, considerate and polite But mostly they were arseholes Who just wanted to start a fight A bunch of legalised criminals Who love to fuss and fight A good day’s work for them would be To see me put in prison It’s not ethics or morals they uphold But a corrupt and unjust system... Police they like to commit crime Without having to do the time Police will scream into your face Wit

Praise for GUITARGONAUT… “I finished reading the excellent book GUITARGONAUT by Sluggo Cawley. I’ve known Sluggo since 1988, when Toxic Shock released an album from his band Hullabaloo, based in the Boston area. The late 80’s were an interesting time for punk rock. Major labels were just beginning to sign bands and soon ruin it for the underground. Sluggo has a knack for storytelling and remembering all the small details. The pages are filled with malcontents, losers, drunk

We’ve just been reading a great interview with Charlie Harper of UK Subs by Djordje Miladinovic for Thoughts Words Action punk-rock blog. They cover all sorts of subjects and as usual, Charlie is open and honest and has interesting answers. It’s a conversation you should definitely check out if you have a moment. You’ll find the interview here: https://thoughtswordsaction.com/2026/06/02/interview-charlie-harper/ Few figures have been as vital to the endurance of punk rock as

Punk poet and musician, Attila the Stockbroker, is set to perform in Sudbury at the Arts Centre on Friday this week, (5th June) bringing more than four decades of politically charged poetry, music and satire to one of Suffolk’s most striking cultural venues. He’ll be more-than-ably supported by our very own punk-poet, James Domestic, and they will both be bringing bags of poets day dreams, humorous verse, and fiery words for these hellish times. If you’re quick, you can still