Discharge v Conflict

[chico enrico]

if you ever see any copies of the first two Bullshit Detectors in any 2nd hand shops or cheap on ebay just snap them straight up. you can't get a better introduction to most of the bands from that era (although there is a fair amount of crap too)

In addition to Griff's excellent reccomendations above i'd also say Six Minute War/Fallout, The Rondos, early records by The Ex and first few singles by The Apostles (natch ), The Sinyx (retrospective CD recently released) but your first port of call should be - www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk which is undoubtedly the best online resource for music from the early anarcho-punk era with loads of downloads of rare and unreleased material added daily.

 

[Belushi]

Never been into punk but did used to know paco the drummer years ago so Conflict get my vote.

 

[Griff]

if you ever see any copies of the first two Bullshit Detectors in any 2nd hand shops or cheap on ebay just snap them straight up. you can't get a better introduction to most of the bands from that era (although there is a fair amount of crap too)

There certainly was some crap. The first Bullshit Detector is virtually unlistenable.

Wish I still had the 6 Minute War EP, I remember that being pretty good.

Also try and track down The Epileptic's excellent 'Last Bus to Debden' EP.



Here ya go £15 well spent.

 

[trevhagl]

I put the new Discharge CD on ebay and lost money. Are people finally getting bored of the same old formula? Maybe some people will even start listening to NEW bands....

its a long shot but...

 

[trevhagl]

if you ever see any copies of the first two Bullshit Detectors in any 2nd hand shops or cheap on ebay just snap them straight up. you can't get a better introduction to most of the bands from that era (although there is a fair amount of crap too)

In addition to Griff's excellent reccomendations above i'd also say Six Minute War/Fallout, The Rondos, early records by The Ex and first few singles by The Apostles (natch ), The Sinyx (retrospective CD recently released) but your first port of call should be - www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk which is undoubtedly the best online resource for music from the early anarcho-punk era with loads of downloads of rare and unreleased material added daily.

A lot of thse i listened to at the time but looking back some of em were dreadful...i was looking fwd to hearing the Sinyx again but christ they were awful! The Ex were always abysmal from what i remember and the Bullshit comps, oh dear. But a few of the Apostles singles were good esp the one with Mob Violence on. (booklets etc generally better than the music though - and these days they would get locked up under terrorism charges!)
I liked the Fallout /SMW at the time but it'd be interesting to see what i thought now..

Check out a band from Colchester called ICH who are very anarcho yet miles better than most of that era.

 

[ouchmonkey]

Frankly, they're both shit, but Discharge are brilliant. If you see what i mean.

WIN!

 

[chico enrico]

A lot of thse i listened to at the time but looking back some of em were dreadful...i was looking fwd to hearing the Sinyx again but christ they were awful! The Ex were always abysmal from what i remember and the Bullshit comps, oh dear. But a few of the Apostles singles were good esp the one with Mob Violence on. (booklets etc generally better than the music though - and these days they would get locked up under terrorism charges!)
I liked the Fallout /SMW at the time but it'd be interesting to see what i thought now..

Check out a band from Colchester called ICH who are very anarcho yet miles better than most of that era.

actually, i LOVED a lot of the stuff on the first two Bullshit detectors, bad recordings aside. the first two EX LPs are absolutely brilliant and sound like a cross between Crass and the Gang of Four, and stunningly different from their later works which just sounded like a motorbike falling down a flight of stairs whilst a tramp played a violin and shouted at the traffic in the background. their early stuff

SMW/fallout still sound brilliant. The bands with an original sound , no matter how basic, still sound just as fresh as 25 years ago. the ones who sounded more generically 'punk' just sound crap.

and, you may be right, that the Sinyx may, sadly, fall into the latter camp given a listen today. In the same way that I got a CD of the complete recorded works of Crisis a while ago and was shocked at just how shit much of that sounded for such a revered act.

intrigued to hear this ICH lot though all the 'modern day' anarcho bands , like those i caught at the 'feeding' aafter party in tufnell park were just woeful. that type of music and that scene was very much of its time and doesn't really translate into 2008 very well.

 

[cozmikbrew]

the mob,s"let the tribe increase"has been re issued by RuggerBuggerrecords with the singles on it as well still available from usa broken rekids label.anyone interested in the uk anarcho scene could do worse than getting hold of a copy of Ian glaspers"the day the country died"(history of anarcho punk 80-84)not put the bugger down since i got it!!!

 

[chico enrico]

anyone interested in the uk anarcho scene could do worse than getting hold of a copy of Ian glaspers"the day the country died"(history of anarcho punk 80-84)not put the bugger down since i got it!!!

to be honest and no offence nut i found it a really depressing read. 101 bands saying the same thing, all claiming they were never influenced by crass or an 'anarcho punk' band and all looking gormless standing in black infront of some banner amalgamating an anarchy and CND sign. the music was only one part of the whole scene. for the 'full picture' , really, my mate's site - www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk is the place to start. especially the stuff about the late 70s squatting scene, wapping and centro iberico anarchy centres and early days of many bands like crass, the mob etc. Also loads of bands such as the assassins of hope etc who while they may not have ever released any records were a damned sight more influential in the genesis of the whole 'anarcho-punk scene' than 99% of the bands in that book.

 

[Griff]

assassins of hope

"I don't wanna be part of the spastic disco!"

 

[chico enrico]

Griff, Did I tell you i saw Leon at the KYPP get-together a few months ago? he's in a new band called REFUSE-ALL (expect Mike will be in them too) who seem to gig quite a lot. we should make an effort to go and check them out some time.

 

[Griff]

Griff, Did I tell you i saw Leon at the KYPP get-together a few months ago? he's in a new band called REFUSE-ALL (expect Mike will be in them too) who seem to gig quite a lot. we should make an effort to go and check them out some time.

Yeah, you did mention it. I also spoke to John A by email, he's done alright hasn't he?

 

[cozmikbrew]

yeah i appreciate what ya saying about the book chico lol i just enjoyed it for what it was,same as i enjoyed his "burning britain"book,just musical nostalgia really,will checkout the kypp site though not heard of it for ages,cheers

 

[chico enrico]

yeah i appreciate what ya saying about the book chico lol i just enjoyed it for what it was,same as i enjoyed his "burning britain"book,just musical nostalgia really,will checkout the kypp site though not heard of it for ages,cheers

yes, know what you mean mate. but, as well as the overriding impresion of a total uniformity of look, sound and opinion amongst the 'anarcho-punk' bands the fact they all seemed to eager to distance themselves from it kinda put a bit of a shadow over much of the content.

being involved in it all at the time (early 80s) the music just seemed but one (albeit integral) part of 'the whole' scene but as most of the bands featured seemed to use the book as an opportunity to rewrite their history i was left with the end impression of it being no more than a load of rather uninspiring sounding records when it was so much more than that.

not to say, i didn't enjoy the nostalgia fest of both books, in fact , to some extent probably enjoying 'britain's burning' perhaps a bit more for the simple reason i didn't know many of those bands where-as every second page of the anarcho punk one i was thinking "hold on, that's rather different to the way it really was".

if you see what i mean.

 

[cozmikbrew]

fairplay matei was only14 when isaw the mob play thier last gig,so ive probably got a more "fan"orientated view of the book,the look and sound did become quickly uniform so i moved more towards reggae n spacerock(terrible name)not listened to any guitar based music for years really

 

[trevhagl]

to be honest and no offence nut i found it a really depressing read. 101 bands saying the same thing, all claiming they were never influenced by crass or an 'anarcho punk' band and all looking gormless standing in black infront of some banner amalgamating an anarchy and CND sign. the music was only one part of the whole scene. for the 'full picture' , really, my mate's site - www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk is the place to start. especially the stuff about the late 70s squatting scene, wapping and centro iberico anarchy centres and early days of many bands like crass, the mob etc. Also loads of bands such as the assassins of hope etc who while they may not have ever released any records were a damned sight more influential in the genesis of the whole 'anarcho-punk scene' than 99% of the bands in that book.

I thought DTCD book was great, really interesting with updates on what the people are doing now.
Kill Your Pet Puppy was the first zine i ever bought! There was something really exciting going on down London at the time, total creativity....compare that to all these little rich kids these days trying to sound like later Leatherface etc... i despair!

 

[trevhagl]

2 more great books to get are -

NO MORE HEROES (Alex Ogg)(Cherry Red)
GODS LONELY MEN (Pete (Esso) Haynes)(Headhunter Books)

These are superb and unputdownable...great tales and brutal honesty

 

[cozmikbrew]

ay up mr haglwhats the"gods loneley men"book about?

 

[northeastoipunk]

discharge and conflict were both class in different ways conflicts lyrics were superb and straight to the point no arguments , discharge similar but short and in yer face , both had a unique sound .love the discharge power it is brilliant to crank up loud .
. i once took me mates chav daughter to see conflict she nearly shit herself walking into the venue but came out amazed and her words were , THAT WAS F*** IN AMAZIN EVEN BETTA THAN A RAVE lol afterwards we couldnt get a taxi back to me mates so she flagged one down by standing in front of it and flashin her fried eggs . amazinly the taxi stopped and we got in it was ferenc from the band lol he gave us a lift back good man

 

[El Jefe]

LOL

 

[ViolentPanda]

I loved Discharge, if only because on first hearing the "Realities of War" EP, my mate Len (the sort of fella who though Matchbox were "cool") had the same sort of expression as a rabbit caught in headlights.
I preferred Crass to Conflict, though. You could bank on Crass to always do something different, whereas Conflict were, to put it bluntly, samey.

 

[ViolentPanda]

must admit, haven't heard much discharge tbh.....

To be fair, that's what most people said after the first number at a Discharge gig!

 

[sus]

Discharge all the way.. Conflict were great, but imo Discharge took punk to a new place. Just the fuckin intensity of songs like Fightback and Decontrol blew me away as a 13/14 year old kid.

We had 'em at the Redstar a couple of years ago with Rat from the Varukers on vocals... they were shit

 

[chilango]

eh???

how can you be familiar with conflict but not discharge?

no offence, but that's like being into the clash but never having heard the sex pistols.

Conflict I know. Discharge I don't.

 

[josef1878]

Conflict without a shadow of a doubt. I took a mate who hated punk to one of their gigs years ago, he couldn't understand why there were so many police outside the venue!

Saw em last year in London and they were awesome, well they were after the usual technical glitches got sorted. Colins introduction: "we are sorry its so shit here"!

Anybody who hasn't heard their last album 'There's no power without control" should give it a listen. Pure Class

The message board on their old website was hilarious, shame its gone.

 

[Lisarocket]

Totally Conflict for me. Paco is a nice fella too