Apologies in advance to post persons everywhere... Ian Glasper promised us he'd make sure his next offering was at least slightly smaller than the recent Subhumans or Scene books, but we've just seen the proofs of the final design (Welly Artcore has made it look great, BTW) and it clocks in at a puny 680 pages. Another hefty punk-rock tome.
In amongst the heaving mass of this book you will find the likes of Awake Mankind - a little known, but nonetheless brilliant, anarcho band from Portsmouth that emerged from the ashes of Ad Nauseam... enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Dke3rhivo
One of the best bits about doing this new book was discovering bands I'd never heard before, and being blown away by them... like Ipswich's Panorama in Black - this is 'City of Dreams' from their 1983 demo, produced by Pete Davison from The Adicts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu4fjImCKcM
More than a few of the bands in my next book appeared on the ‘(I’ve Got Those…) Demo-Lition Blues!’ compilation LP that Insane Records released in 1983... not least of all, Nottinghamshire's gloriously frantic Solvent Abuse...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ata9h3SwEY
Pre-order for Ian’s next book, 'A Country Fit For Heroes: DIY Punk in Eighties Britain', will go live on April 1st (no, it's not an April Fool), and between now and then he'll share some music from a few of the bands featured... and it only seems right to include The Syphletix, seeing as their vocalist Gerry is on the front cover... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMg2kq-WDn8
You're going to have to get acclimatised to some lo-fi production values in readiness for my next book, but thankfully punk has never let a lack of money stifle creativity. This is Ilfracombe's Dead Rose, who come across like a fusion of the Cult Maniax and Uproar... they only ever recorded two tracks, and this is one of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwVBY_J6mSY
Another amazing yet overlooked band who are in my next book - Freeborn from Wisbech, and the track 'I Want My Life to Begin' from their 1986 demo... how good is this?!? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGv2FKUbgsw
The brilliant Seventh Plague from Wolverhampton, one of 144 bands featured in my next book, 'A Country Fit for Heroes'. As it says on the tin, it’s a celebration of the obscure, a love letter to the UK punk underground, and it’s out in May (pre-order going live on April 1st): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dByy1HUHU7k
Here's one of my favourite tracks from 'Bullshit Detector Three' - No Defences and 'Wall in the Mind' (incorrectly listed as 'Work to Consume')... the band recorded an LP for release through Crass, that never came out at the time, but was thankfully picked up and 'Released' by Demo Tapes Records in 2017... you can find out why, of course, in my next book, 'A Country Fit for Heroes'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7H3tI5CoX0
'A Country Fit for Heroes: DIY Punk in Eighties Britain' will be published in late May by Earth Island Books - pre-order goes live on April 1st, and that’s no joke!
