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Who can forget Adam & the Pants, whoops, Ants! I saw him at 'The Man In The Moon', Kings Road, London, Summer 1977, supporting X Ray Spex, and is a great laff!
I totally agree, wilder, as it is appalling the way this poor man has been publicly ridiculed for having understandable mental health problems, but is in fact highly intelligent, articulate and a nice fellow, and I can only hope this goes well for this tribute band, as Adam & the Ants helped 'pave the way' from Punk of the 70's to what happened in the early 80's, and i was proud as a 16 year old Roxy Club Punk to follow The Models, previously The beastly cads, as one of my then favourite bands, in early '77, the bass player being one Marco Pirronni, who was in Adam & the Ants' original lineup, and a solid mentor and righthand man of Adam...
A recent documentary about Adam Ant actually took the time to interview him at length, and it was discovered that Adam merely suffered from an 'artistic temperement', his thought-processes ultra-fast, creating at corresponding level, and anything or anyone who dares to 'step outside the mainstream' in a largely straight society is often 'singled out', and no wonder Adam suffered for that, the strain of ridicule or being 'offered out' for fights etc, taking its toll, finally.
There are some great tribute bands around, and this one looks to be ok, too!
Wilder; X Ray Spex I saw many times at the Roxy, also Islington's Hope & Anchor, and the first time i saw Poly styrene was her dressed from head to foot, Soul girl style, gangster hat, double-breasted pinstripe jacket with skirt, in January 1977 in the downstairs Roxy bar, and a few weeks later she started her band, and bloody good they were, too!
Wilder? Poly Styrene was one of the ones who 'led the way' for females everywhere, alongside the likes of Gaye Advert (Adverts), Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Siouxsie Sioux, a very engaging person who always had time to chat in between sets, one I admired and liked very much!
Poly S was an action-bomb onstage, never losing it, her lyrics coming from her own poetry.
Another 'star' Roxy club band which, whenever they took to the postage stamp of a stage, had us all going WILD, cracking our heads on the ceiling pipes and drilling the floor, packed in like sardines and amazingly, no violence, as that was a myth created by the press, at the Roxy it was a 'cause', and everyone was united in it...;)
Ade Xx
The only thing Billy Idol used to do which p**sed us all off, was jumping onstage last, his band on first, and even though he was the height of Punk cool, we viewed him almost as the Cliff Richard of Punk, one of my pals saying she'd been to a party at his house, describing it as a mansion...;)
Wilder? happy days...;) Here are 2 from the American side, 2 from the Brit side, ok? That book you or any person well into the Original Punk would find of value, many interviews with the likes of Don Letts (Roxy DJ) Andy Czsowski (owner of club) and many others, and plenty of great photos, too!
Being a Punk then, as you would know, meant literally risking your neck even to get to and from gigs in one piece, as the public and our so-called enemies, the Teddy Boys, hated us, but then again, we could 'see through it all' and were proud of that...;)
W? My sister Sharon (deceased) not only was afellow Punk and fanzine ed like me, but was one of the original Skinheads at age 10 in 1968, and wore the 'female gear' of tonic mohair suits (skirts, long jackets, beetle crusher shoes & tights), later she turned over to crombies, Ben Sherman & Brutas shirts, braces, boots, harrington jackets, and i 'inherited' her cast-offs being 3 years younger, the group she mixed with then often bringing their records to our house, Trojan, Blue Beat, and I learned a lot from her mixed group of Black Rude Boys & Skinheads.
Skinheads I've always got on with, being honest and direct where it counts, and many Punks came from such a background, believe it or not...;)
PS: Punks at the Roxy knew DJ donn Letts was using much Dub, in between sets, as at that time, January to April 1977, he couldn't play much Punk stuff, as the records out you could count on the fingers of one hand, and, in common with th original Mod movement of the 1960's, the records came out on plastic as the scene was dying...;)
The humble Skinhead is often misjudged, but their 'stripped-down' style was unpretentious, 'sold as seen' and quite in advance, in one way, rejecting the b**lshi* around them via their visible presentation.
Sharon did go 'Pakki-Bashing' as a kid with her group, composed of white Skinheads & black Rude Boys, but later on realised the 'error of her ways', so thus was one of the pro-Dub and Rasta Punk Rockers...;)
The most important aspect of Skinhead was the fact that the girls did have their 'set gear', but were perhaps the first Youth Sub-culture to explore and sport a 'unisex' style, those skinhead girls often wearing the same gear as the boys, and I must say I was proud of Sharon and her pals, Ilford skinheads, who often had 'run-ins' with the Barking Greasers, in the late 60's and early 70's, and one thing about them is they were honest...;)
Ade
That there was a direct link with Punk & Skinhead there is no doubt, as I remember one pal at the Roxy initially turning up in full Skinhead gear, then he changed over to Punk, and there were many like him, until Skinhead resurfaced again in 1978..;)
Here's a story from 1970, from Sharon's group, related to me about 'one of their toughest' who often came to meet the group looking like he'd been in bad fights, this particular Skinhead held in high esteem, as he often would cut himself, let his blood drain into his lager or cider and drink it, and actually wore a leather belt with a couple of cat skulls on it, and do you know what? this Skinhead, claiming always to be in fights with the local Greasers, was seen by one of the group, one day, whacking his head against some railings outside a school, and as you can guess, his 'legend' dissipated overnight...
I love adam and the ants still!
I might have to trek on through to leeds to see this tribute band! however even though i live near enough to leeds i don't know my way round leeds and havn't got a clue where Rio's is!
