Anarcho-Punk: Music and Resistance in London 1977-1988
David Insurrection
(Earth Island Books)
'Anarcho-Punk: Music and Resistance in London 1977-1988' is the culmination of three years work by former fanzine writer David Insurrection (of ‘Insurrection’ fanzine, obviously!) to catalogue all of the most important and iconic locations that formed part of the London Anarcho-Punk scene. There were many other locations that were also of importance to that scene, not least in places like Digbeth, or small towns across the UK where local Anarcho-Punk bands, venues and fanzines sprang up, so you may wonder why those were excluded? However, David makes a good point in that all of the main players and instigators (namely Crass, Poison Girls, Apostles, Flux of Pink Indians, The Mob, Blyth Power, Blood and Roses, Flowers in the Dustbin, and others) were either based in the capital and its environs, or played most of their gigs there, so that is where most of the action went on. There were squats, venues, and anarchist centres and bookshops outside of London, for sure, but none had the iconic status of places like the Wapping Autonomy Centre and Centro Iberico, the Ambulance Station, or Conway Hall.
The structure of the book is as eccentric and disorganised as the Anarcho-Punk scene was. Locations are not listed alphabetically, chronologically (in fact there is very little here from 1977, with most of the real action starting from 1979 on), or by geography, but just appear in a fairly random order. Proof reading was optional it seems, as the opening paragraph of the book in the introduction by former Ripped and Torn/Kill Your Pet Puppy fanzine editor Tony D is repeated twice. Page numbers are also printed half off the bottom of each page. None of that really matters, as that only serves to underline what Anarcho-Punk was all about. Glossy and perfect final product was not the aim, the ideas were what mattered and David Insurrection has used invaluable personal testimony from those who were actually there to add realism to the locations and place them in context.
Several of the locations featured I actually frequented myself at the time, including the infamous Ambulance Station (it was in fact a former Fire Station) squat in Old Kent Road, where I lived for a time when I first moved to London, the Recession Club in a railway arch in Hackney where I witnessed Coil’s first live appearance, and Conway Hall. There is a lot more than those included here though, with Housing Co-Ops, and various squats and houses where key figures lived and ran their bands, labels and fanzines from listed alongside pub venues like the Hope and Anchor, clubs like The Roxy, Anarchist centres and bookshops (eg Centro Iberico, Rising Free) and even a church crypt in Deptford and a punk theatre company! It is a heady and sometimes confusing mix, but brought alive by those evocative eye witness personal stories. One story that leaps out features a rare non-London location, describing a 1984 performance in Penarth, Wales in the words of then 14 year old Nick Evans, who impressively organised the whole thing with the support of his parents, who were happy to let a crowd of scruffy anarchist punk bands crash on their floor for the night. We all hoped for parents who were that understanding! Each of the 65+ locations featured gets at least a page to itself, often more, depending on its importance, along with a photo showing how it looks now. Some are boarded up or demolished, but as most were private addresses they all look a lot smarter and more expensive than their squatted past, but are basically pretty bland and largely unchanged. That makes the point in my mind that the locations themselves were not the important thing. They may look unremarkable now, but the people, attitudes, and events they hosted are what really mattered, with the locations acting as reference points.
I love these types of books. The recently reviewed ‘Not Just Bits of Paper’ compendium would make an ideal companion piece, as would Paul Talling’s ‘London’s Lost Music Venues ‘ Volumes 1 & 2. David Insurrection has honestly done a great job here, and filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. We have often written in these pages about the influence of the brief, never-to-be-repeated phenomena that was Anarcho-Punk and without books like this, it would soon be forgotten and it’s history lost forever, so capturing it is vitally important. Using this book as a guide to the geography of that lost, but not forgotten, scene, you can visualise how it developed and why it is still of importance today.
Main image: Crass at Conway Hall May 1979. All other images are from the book.
