Fanzine
Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Fall, Chris Sievey
Grass Roots Books
15th August 1979

Contributors:
Linder, Nicola, Roaring 80s, Andy, Neil, J.C., Martin, J, John, Eddie Manley, Stanley Knife, John D, Irna and Jayne, D.J. Turner, Hyphen, Roger Mitchell, Agapanther 2, Rupert, Ned the Donkey, Ed Thomas, Richard, New Hormones, Jez, Terry, Nick, Kev, Alan's Friend, M.Clancy, Jack, Volunteer Groupy, C.I.D, Fugue, CEE WEEEZ.
Offices: c/o Grass Roots, 109 Oxford Road, Manchester 1

TRANSCRIPTION:

GROUPS REAL LIFE BITS AND ALL THAT JAZZ
A TELEVISION
A PAUL MORLEY IS BORN!
Er...yeah, hello! This is being written, I suppose because of the bit on ATV in cyf 5, which was a little bit critical - "They're bloody diabolical" said Martin X, in capitals as well. Maybe he's right, I dunno, but bear with me as I outline an idea of Mark P as God, or very important, or something.
Fatures and Pasts:- Late '77 after 12 months issues of Sniffin'Glue and 6 months gigging with his own band Mark P gets pissed off with whats happening to punk - "punk on tv = diluted shit", punk becoming a safe commercialised product. The danger was seen, his personal soloution is to get ATV going full time + end SG + try and influence people directly via music rather than via tha misprinted word. (Sorry but I beleive him about the flexi-disc - it was a ta and also a message, of sorts, to the readers. Listen to Love Lies Limp and remember the sexism of the Stranglers and other bands in '77,eg the Clash, + note the way it became hip to be asexual/sexually ambivalent in'78) Gigs and singles followed all supposedly good challenging stuff with "Alternatives" being an example of the fact that the band weren't just jumping on the band-wagon, they were prepared to challenge their audience and point out how punk was being fucked-up. Summer of '78 had the boys gigging with Here and Now which may have been Perry betraying his true hippy self or how about an attempt to get hippies and punks together + even more imporantly to show that gigs can be free. It was also the time of the first L.P. - which I reckon is one of the best two or three punk debut LPs - a great record, also a full stop. Something clicked in Perry and he saw that ATV were falling into the same HM trap as most other bands.- it's either HM or pop, two easy categories and everyone sorts them that way. Therefore the boundaries aint changed, the words may be real, but the musics the same, the music buisness chugs along and continues exploiting the bands and you and me. The Perry answer is to play "anything but rock''roll coz with the r'n'r cliches the record companies are lost" (see THoarding 7). And so spoke the lord and the sead did part + out of it came loads of 'new music' /experimental groups. March '79(?)+ ATV hit the Poly + the 2nd album comes out. I enjoyed the gig in an odd way - maybe it was the crowd reaction or what but I found it intresting (-terrible word to use about music!). The album - I bought it and hated it - I was ready for a change but this? Now - oh it's silly but it gets better each time I play it. The difference between the 1st + 2nd LPs is the difference between making love and trying to talk through and about a really deep relationship - with one you can just bump up and down and think about (-wadja mean, which is which?). The second LP really is very good, if you give it time. Lots aint - ATV are now called The Good Missionaries, which is a shame cos it shows how conservative some people are, but a nice name coz I have a vision of Perry as some kind of prophet/forerunner. The man is important.
Choose your own last quotes:
"So I ran out into the street clutching the music"
or "I'm too much of a jerk"
Shit, thats long aint it - more litter for the factree bins.
OK you wankers ta for your time + guffaws + contempt - I enjoyed writing it, anyway. Good luck and such like.
Ed Thomas
THE INTERVIEWER SHOULD TELL ME THE WORDS, SO I CAN REPEAT THEM AFTER HIM, I'M REALLY SO EMPTY I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING TO SAY. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT US JUST LOOK AT THE SURFACE, THERE'S NOTHING BEHIND. THERE'S NOTHING THERE.
CEJEZ [?]
I read it with much intrest. Ta. yet more coment on ATV at the Poly:-
I never read Sniffin Glue, I'd never heard ATV. The Band come on stage. They make apparently unrelated farting noises with their instrunents. The Bass guitar sustains some kind of rhythm. Stage left stands someone wearing a long shapeless purple velvet jacket, he(is it a he?) very occasionally sings or moans- I wrongly assume it is Mark Perry- mostly he stands there posting - occasionally moving a hand. This behaviour strikes me as pointless self-indulgace - a passenger. There is a guitarist who sings or talks most of the time. The music appears to function as a backdrop for his words. The words are comments about domestic scenery. After a while I get bored and wander away. The Performance is imprinted on my memory and now this makes me curious.
I walk into the dressing room as Martin and Jon finishtheir interview. I discover that Mark Perry is the the guitarist who sang/spoke most of the words. He has the air of someone who's self-assured - it's also the air of someone who's up shit-creek without checking. So this is Mark Perry..So What. I don't want no more gods. Maybe I'll buy the album.
Andy Zero.
THE HAMSTERS: THE MAYFLOWER/THE FUNHOUSE.
So bad that they're good. Fast sparse version of summertime blues. Their chinese chip shop song gives hongkong gardens a run for it's money. Total piss'artists. Lurching about the stage. Out of tune or out of time. In it purely for the laugh. Aural Assault. Sparse guitar drum sound. Their ambition is to be the worst band in the world....say no more, squire.
ANDY ZERO
FOREIGN PRESS
Seen them twice recently. The first time they sounded like a pretty standard 'punk' band. Fast but very little variation in the tone or density of sound. Good songs played with a lack of dynamics. The Second time they had either overcome or were well on the way to overcoming most of their previous deficiencies. Cutting psychedelic pop.Bass and drums with clipped fast rhythm. A light clear vocal style. a four peice looking neat/unpretentious on stage. An exiting act they promise as much again for the future. One of the highlights of Deeply Vale.
ANDY ZERO
TEARDROP EXPLODES: THE FACTORY
Supporting Patrick Fitzgerald. They turned out a good set. Subversive rhythms, a modern dance beat. Innovative and a laugh, do they care???. Innovative songs and style - no style, they lurch about like its their front room, maybe it is. This is 1979 and they know it. Who's looking at who?
New songs and a longer set. Better than before. Plug in to your brain, plug into your feet.
ANDY ZERO
PRETENDERS (HONEST)
After seeing the Pretenders earlier this year and enjoying their bouncy pop and their great version of ? and the Mysterions 'I Need Somebody' I was looking forward to this gig with some anticipation.
However, Saturday night at the Russel, all is not well.
The Pretenders come onstage and open with 'The Wait' a good song but unfortunately ruined by an overbearing fussillade of guitars and leaden, monotonous drumming. The same occurs throughout the set, the only songs outstanding enough to survive being the singles. 'Kid' comes over particularly well. 'I Need Somebody', however, is awful, one big dirge.
The Subtlety and charm I thought their music had is nowhere in sight tonight. The menace, once controlled, stalking in the background is now at the fore and the rock out in the most over the top way. Splintering guitar solos and the drummer trying so hard to be all solid and rock steady but only ending up with 'poundpound ' (what imagination), 'thump thump' (what lightness of touch).
The rebel rockabilly on bass with the Chris Spedding haircut chews gum the whole time in a most disgusting way. As the wit in the NME pointed out she does have all the presence of a plum pudding. Cruel but true.
They play a BoDiddley song (I think), barely recognisable, and then only by the drumbeat. (The drummer changes his 'thump, thump' routine for once).
It is the last night of the tour and the set is long. A treat for the audience who are enthu-siastic throughout.
Eventually they finish and encore, of course. For the second song of the encore they are joined onstage by 1 or 2 from Interview, the support, who were atrocious, and also 'Phyliss', your 15 minutes is up dear.
All in all, the Pretenders were very medio-cre and very disappointing. They were nothing more than an average rock band touting the usual bag of rock Plod cliches around the market place in search of fame, riches etc, I pity the consumers.
M. Clancy
Dear City Fun,
Short letta. 1.20 a.m. Just back from the Factory. I've just seen the Human League in action. Crystalline macabre sate-llites in a dense grinning little world (smiling Kennedy family photos). They play the favorites- Circus of Death/Blind Youth/Rock n' Roll..... Singalonga Huma Leage? (ha ha). They appealed more than anything in ages (more than Manicured Noise, even, and where are they now, incidentally?)
Synthesiser like you never dreamed was possible -- feel, not decoration; the coldest, most chilling version of the Righteous Bros song imaginable - absolute class. And all the slides of old T.V. favourites/sudden instant vision of "when we are young"- nostalgia already?! It was bloody good,though.
See them. They8re excellent. Are they important? Who Knows, but I haven't laughed so much at a gig for years (with the band, not at them).
Yours hypnotically,
Agapanther Z.
P.S. The lead vocalist is incredible.
P.P.S. Sorry. Forgot Essential Logic. I must have fallen asleep. I expect they did 'Aerosol Burns" thought.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz