...This is some old PUNK DIARY excerpts that were found in his inbox whilst doing a random search.....enjoy
In thee 1980's I decided to write a diary and for the Punkiest-Squat-Gigging-Seeking Die-Hards amongst then read on as I'll take you through
Loads of Punk Gigs, from 1980, 1981 and 1982, all over the UK seeing...
some of these Punk Rock bands.....and how many times I saw each band too is below...
Discharge (49 times)
Antisect (17) , English Dogs (17)
Conflict (15), G.B.H (14), U.K. SUBS (14)
CRUCIFIX (11)
THE MOB (8)
THE EXPLOITED (7), LOST CHEREES (7), SUB-HUMANS (7)
ANTI-PASTI (6), CHRON GEN (6), DIRT (6)
HAGAR THE WOMB (5)
THE DESTRUCTORS (4), THE NAKED (4), MOTORHEAD (4), THE VARUKERS (4)
COCKNEY REJECTS (3), D & V (3), FLUX OF PINK INDIANS (3), ICONS OF FILTH (3), METALLICA (3), THE PARTISANS (3), STIFF LITTLE FINGERS (3)
ABRASIVE WHEELS (3), A-HEADS (3), ALTERNATIVE (3), ANNIE ANXIETY (3, ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE (3), ANTHRAX (3), BROKEN BONES (3)
CHELSEA (2), DEFECTS (2), THE INSANE (2), OMEGA TRIBE (2), POLEMIC (2), THE SEARS (2), VICE SQUAD (2), THE VIBRATORS (2), VENOM (2)
...and a plethora of bands that I caught once including...ACTION PACT/AC/DC/AMEBIX/BAD BRAINS/BLACK FLAG/BLITZ/CHUMBAWUMBA/CRASS/CULT MANIAX/THE DARK/DEAD KENNEDYS/DISORDER/THE FITS/GIRLSCHOOL/HERESY/IRON MAIDEN/K.U.L.K/ONE WAY SYSTEM/PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES/POISON GIRLS/SOLDIERS OF DESTRUCTION/VIOLATERS/YOUTHINASIA/ ZOUNDZ...and many many more.....!!
Punk Diary 1980
DUBLIN, Southern Ireland
:: January-April 1980 ::
I was living with my mum, dad and brother in Southern Ireland from 1977-1980 when it appeared that we would infact be "moving back to England"....which set my world alight.
...Being into Punk in Eire in that period...all i got to see was PENETRATION Live (March 1979) and Lots of early U2 Gigs (for the equivalent of 25p now I guess) Virgin Prunes and also some STIFF LITTLE FINGERS gigs too....
:: April-December 1980 ::
...So we duly set sail for the UK over the irish see back to England in April 1980 just after the hysterical-historical Discharges 'Realities Of War' redefined Punk from 'Ground Zero' the month prior....
...Well back in the UK I could sign on the 'dole' (state benefits)..and that was a blessing and I think they paid me £14.70p a week in those days and job-dodging became an art of mine that I have been unusually adept at right up till the age of 43 I might add...!!!
...I bought the music papers of 'Sounds', 'Melody Maker; NME (The New Musical Express) and sometimes even 'The Record Mirror' too. So I would 'pencil-in' the gigs I wanted to go to and also bought lots of records and a few clothes.
I never dyed my hair or had any tattoos, or smoke or drank or took any drugs, apart from a few mushrooms once and a spacecake (dope) in Holland in 1983 - only after eating it and saying "yum" did they inform what was in it..!!!
...Which goes to prove you don't need these needless steroetypical culture-induced additives to have an awesome time in life.
It didn't take me long to get gigging in the Punkey UK...!
In May 1980 I saw my first of 10 gigs in the next 7 and a half months.
Considering I was living 75 miles from London and all these were at least that far away, if not more, I think that was some going for a 16/17 year old..
...May the 17th I saw The COCKNEY REJECTS in London, and again at the Electric Ballroom (in Londons inner-north suburb of Camden Town)....I had seen them the year prior here at the same venue. They were not only 'Street-Punk' urchins...(later they were maybe be totally responsible culprits for 'Oi' music...!!) they were also 'Football Fans' and (bad) luck would have it by going to that gig that 'their team' (...East Londons...ermmm 'West Ham United') had just won the biggest prize in Football sport (No, No, No...not a crap 999 LP) - the F.A. Cup.
...The gig was shortly after 'The Rejects' had released 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles' as a spur-them-on-cup-anthem (...and it did...!).
...Support for Cockney Rejects the first time they played at The Electric Ballroom was from The KIDZ NEXT DOOR who had a cousin of Stinkey Turners (...the vocalist for The Cockney Rejects) on vocals...also on the bill werea band called 'The Suspects' and they were first on that evening.
...So just 2 months (...and 1 FA Cup win) later.....I was back at the same venue seeing the same bands..!!!! (...bar 'The Suspects' - who were replaced in an identical bill by 'THE PACK' (...with Kirk Brandon, later of 'The Theatre Of Hate', on vocals) I recall them doing a great song called 'Legion' and were o.k really.
....The Kidz Next Door were pretty lame bar the 'Hey You, Get Off Of My Cloud' cover job song.
The Cockney Rejects were very lively after their teams F.A. Cup triumph..and I am sure the ANGELIC UPSTARTS Played with 'The Rejects' once at the Electric Ballroom too...with Mensi of the Angelic Upstarts using a 'Pigs Head' as Football onstage..!!!!
The 'Football Gig' was a riot....literally it was....I thought I was going to 'A Punk Gig' and it turned out to be little more than a platform for 'Violernce and Football Rivalry' on the ahem....'dancefloor'.
The mood was 'Electric' like the Ballroom itself...a once grand place now filled with fans of several types tonight..Punks, Street Kids and of course Skinheads and later on tons of aggressive up-fer-a-foight-Football Fans too....
...It was packed in there with around 800 people or more and a big space below the 'eye-high' stage at one end...Thee Punk and Reggae sound system played music booming-out amongst the smell of beer and carpet...there was an upstairs thin-walkway/balcony with glass windows all along with a few seats and that was good to observe things from...
The next month on August the 8th I saw The UK SUBS in London at The Music Machine near Camden Town (...Actually it was much easier to get off the tube at a station called 'Mornington Crescent') that place stayed open til 02:00 A.M. and was a great venue. It had three tiers and balconies of wrought iron and the architecture was amazing - all full up with dub freaks, punks and weird night people that even drifted in way after the 'Live-Music' had subsided. Heavy dub and reggae sound systems oozed out the 'alternative-beats' mainly and the place got filthy but the stage was high and The Subs were great indeed (...infact they were always a great live band throughout the years). That August night support came by way of THE CITIZENS and THE STRAPS (...neither of these were any good really) - Those gigs at the Music Machine left me to exit out into the Camden Town streets and headlong into the post-midnight night-time hours air at 1 or 2 AM. So a walk back into the centre of London (...around 4 miles southerly direction) and a wait at Victoria Railway Station until 3:00 AM when the 'Mail-Train' would leave, for Margate and home beside the seaside 75 miles east in Kent, which served me well the next 2 and a half years til I went into the unknown whirled of squatting up in London with a new-found gaggle of urban-street punks and their 'world' I had become part of.. The much-used and rarely missed 'Mail-Train' was a mode of transport for those 'who missed the last train home' It had one carriage for people and it used to get quite packed sometimes - the lights did not work and the smell was musty indeed - still it was a doddle to bunk most times (like the daytime trains in that era too). I would get home into Margate at about 5:30 a.m. or 06:00hrs and get into bed around 6 or 7 AM - all for a great night out up in London watching Punk bands live.
The next month I was up at The Music Machine again on the 25th September. I went to see THE EXPLOITED after acquiring their first two seven-inch singles. They actually were not even headlining and infact they played support to MANUFACTURED ROMANCE of all people (...mind you even I enjoyed their 7-Inch single called 'Time Of Your Life' though. Wattie and the boys were raw and Scotch-Punk (...I later went off The Exploited like most people though) Charlie Harper (...singer of the U.K. SUBS) was there at the bar with Wattie and I got both of them to sign a used paper chip plate (...and it wasnt even my plate either...!) they duly obliged though. I rarely asked for signatures but did on that occasion. First on the bill that night were LIQUID STONE (...who I cannot remember a thing about at all, which could be a blessing with a name like that..!).
...But on the 19th of October 1980 all hell broke loose for me in London as DISCHARGE played..for the first time...!!!! (...It was the first of 49 times I was to see this eight legged apocalyptic noise machine called 'Discharge'..!!) They somehow crowbarred their way onto the bill at London’s’ prestigious The Lyceum Theatre which was set off the Strand in Central London right by the River Thames. The irony was that they were first on the bill to U2 and SLADE of all people..!!!!!
...When Discharge came on they were ragged and messy and alive with energy - just how I hoped they'd be. This 4-person apocalypse were playing to the wrong crowd in their 'wrong-trousers' but to a very happy tiny gathering of die-hard punks down the front amongst the 'rock-crowd' for Slade (..the 'born-again' 1970s pop-stars now a little 'rockier'..!). A seething 'messmass' of Staffordshire anger. Cal puked up onstage and the bouncers stamped on their guitar and amp leads as they exited without an encore after barely a half hour of frantic earbashing for the mass of punks down the front that must have amused the Slade and U2 fans no end. I bought a poster of the gig from the Lyceum too...a giant pink and black one for 1.00 GBP and managed to carry it with with me after the gig. As soon as Discharge went off (...which must have been only around 8:15 p.m. in the evening...!) most, if not all, of the Punks that came to see Discharge herded off en-masse up the 3 miles to see the
...UK SUBS later that evening, like I did. Travelling their own individual way collectively to North London’s Camden Music-Machine. They were great too and were supported by The Citizens who I unfortunately saw yet again...! What a great Punkey day that was Discharges' first London gig and also The UK Subs at the Music Machine.
...But if you thought that was good then it was just the beginning and not 'The End' (...a title of one of Discharges later songs...!) because just nine days later and Discharge were back again in London...!!! Not quite the Lyceum - but the Music Machine was fine by me...! The 28th it was in October and I met the band there outside down the right side of the building...loading their gear in about 6pm in the evening so I helped them in with some. I chatted with them for the first time - nice friendly people - and I got in for free aswell.
The support band came on...called THE DEMONS
who I cannot recall at all
......but Discharge were for me 100% what I wanted from (noise not) music. And when they hit the stage the world seemed alive in like no other way - they'd take your head off your shoulders in those early days such was their acute power and messy razor-edged-cutting 'whitesoundnoise'.....‘lethal’ in a one-word-decriptive-sentence. I sat stage left of the band looking down at them with one leg up on a speaker and was elevated above not only them to my right...but the crowd of some 150 people chin-high to the stage in front of Cal, Bones and Rainy...It was a prime position for observing not only the power fired out at head height like a grenade-hopper-explosion that was triggered by the tap of your toes to the Discharge rhythm that Tezz was hammering out, but also the power of the lyrics that Cal machine-gunned into your nodding flesh at arms length...Rainy was twirling away and Bones walking back and forth to the stage edge (it was about 5 feet drop boyeee..!!!!) and Cal gruffly barking out the early songs from 'Realities of War' and 'Fight Back' seven-inchers..it was a spectacle to behold...Tezz was instrumental in tearing away at a pace that, then seemed impossible for punks to handle..not only did he have that 'unique' rhythm...he had a great energy and powerful drum rolls to boot...I first heard that 'Tezz/Discharge' rhythm for a few beats in a Buzzcocks LP track...which made me raise my ears..OK their music was pop-new wave...but that beat that their drummer stumbled upon for a little bit of one song was something overlooked by them...but not by Tezz no doubt..and he, like me loved it....The (lucky) gathering of punks that cold October night way back in 1980 were witnessing an early Discharge gig that was more like the Discharge I grew to know over the next 12 months...gone were the Lyceum and U2 and Slade...now it was just them and us...it felt meaningful and had a purpose...the lyrics and energy hit home on these few 100 punks and me of course...A wildly angry gig it was in an echoey Music Machine that night as the spotlight from the middle balcony picked out Cal onstage and distant people stood drinking up there in the raised tiers looking down as dots in the distance...
...I talked with the band after the gig as the dub-system played and I got an A4 sized poster of the gig for nothing...then left them there at 02:00hrs to walk back south across Londons a.m hours and avoid the pre-dawn odd people...and get my mail-train back to Margate and home again at the usual time of 06:00hrs on the wild and windy cold coast of south-east England in 1980...but I was feeling more alive than the weather was making me feel cold...it was a nice feeling as dawn approached gloomily lighting up a billowing grey/black sky as I shut my eyes and heard that sound of 'Discharge' ringing in my ears
....By November the 17th I had now seen Discharge three times in just 29 days - it doesn't get much better than that does it...!!! This time they were not playing The Lyceum nor the Music Machine - infact they were not even playing anywhere near London. I had thrown caution to the most strongest of winds and taken it upon myself to go see them in NUNEATON off all places (...just east of Birmingham, 20 miles or so) in England’s Midlands about 100 miles north of London and in total about 175 miles from home down in Margate, Kent). I always seemed to be travelling alone...both there to the (ir) gigs and also back home....hundreds of miles and at strange times of the day or night...waiting for connections and sometimes never even knowing anything more than the 'gig venues' name and maybe a phone number...and that was it...no warm clothes, gloves, hat, sleeping or food packed...just see Discharge and let everything else sort itself out...it usually did...but when it goes wrong it goes wrong big-time..!!). They played a teeny-weeny club called THE 77 CLUB in a dingy area of what I thought would be a nice place...! This place called 'Nuneaton' was grim indeed. Again I got there well early and met a white long spikey-haired punk bloke called Glenn (...he turned out to be the singer from the support band called...The Hatred). He was studs and spikes all over the place and laughed his head off after we walked around the front on a cold-frosty/icy mid November night in 'middle-England' and saw a Mod crashing his scooter at some traffic lights opposite the gig venue as he tried to stop for a red light. We met Discharge outside and got in for free when they turned up down the side of the building which was tiny and on a road-corner. I helped them in with gear and chatted a bit more to them - the gig venue was two-tiered and pretty good indeed though. There were about 50 people (...if that..!) there that night...so it felt like you personally say hello to all the audience if you wanted too...! . Discharge were just sitting around in the actual place on their own and people sometimes would walk up and chat and other times just look at them as they passed by or Discharge would go get some food or to the toilet etc....!!
THE HATRED were quite good - not sure whether they actually got a record out but I would've like to hear them and a few locals had their name on the back of their jackets too and a few people also 'danced' to them too.
Later on DISCHARGE came on and they played blindingly good, possibly their best gig so far - a few punks turned up down the front (...from the 50 punks in there..!) and the atmosphere was violence free and nice as Discharge fired through their set consisting of much, if not all of their first three e.p.s (including the soon to be released 'Decontrol') aswell...their 'repertoire was infact 12 songs in total...no cover jobs (I never-ever heard Discharge play a cover song live..!!)
...After the 77 Club gig I loitered around with the band and helped them pack all their equipment up and away in the van outside in the chilly cold after midnight and we and saw them off in their van and they were a happy bunch tonight..it was a relaxed gig and very low-key too...possibly their last one of that type I would say.
I am not so sure how the hell I got home. I recall walking back alone to the Nuneaton railway station 15 minutes away and finding it dark and lights out almost. I think I may have caught the next through-train back to London (Kings Cross) a terminus in the north-central area of London at around 0100hrs or later and then walked across the centre of London southwards at about 3AM to catch that darque n dusty mail train again for free back to Margate, Kent and getting in my bed after 6AM yet again.
...But just thirteen days later and DISCHARGE were at it again. Not only back in London (...yes!..) but also at the Lyceum again (...how this?) supporting KILLING JOKE on the 30th of November...and what was that about someone saying "it just doesn't get better than this?"..!!!
...did someone mention FAD GADGET as support? (...I have now!)
...Discharge were very good that night...but not as good as a smaller more intimate venue (...like The 77 Club in Nuneaton). Still crackingly good though..! . There were more punks to see Discharge here tonight than the last time they played the Lyceum, but that could have had something to do with Killing Joke headlining too I feel..?
...Killing Joke were a different act altogether...and heavy as fuck with it...They were sort of metallic yet with doomy-dub-ladenesque melodies. Wow their set onstage was an eye opener indeedy (I had all their records too and they were just as good if not better live...!). They were so good it was untrue...but not in a thrash-mad pogo-style..it was subtle and melodic but heavy-as-fuck...a different type of musical pain...but they got my respect even more-so for doing it 'that way'...!!!
..I went home back to Margate, Kent complete with another (..a giant 'Orange and Black' Gig poster for the gig above) feeling all powered up by two-attacks on my senses..the first being 'Killing Joke' the latter being 'Discharge'...!
....So for the FOURTH time I had seen Discharge in 1980 (...in just 42 days..!!!!)
...Not bad for a 16 year old from Margate some 75 miles east of London by the seaside (and way over 200 plus miles south of Stoke and Discharge...!!).
...Early in December was my last gig of 1980 and yes it had to be none other than DISCHARGE again to round off a brilliantly Punkified gigging year...!!! They were in London again and up at The Music-Machine in Camden for the 2nd time.
...and the support was from Dag Vag (...a weird synth-backed band from Scandinavia..!!!) what a double-act. Who were as bemused by the crowd and what 'Discharge meant' as the crowd were of 'Dag Vag'..it was almost surreal at times...The singer was dancing to electro-pop and flicking his tousled fringed haircut...!
...DISCHARGE came on
...and I had the place seemingly to myself..I could walk around with ease while Discharge rocketed through their white noise in the echoey spaces that were the Music Machine inside...I took four photographs of them from different angles and it was a bit devoid of atmosphere when Discharge finished a song though...
...They had a backdrop in spray-can writing stating 'So Punk Is Fuckin' Dead' (...black spray can writing on a white-ish sheet) and they were well alive and raw that night...like a fire extinguisher bomb - they drew just a small amount of crowd really but the small amount of punks loved them regardless...
...I chatted to the band after the gig up by the stage and chatted with a few people who had travelled to see them...then left them and my 1980s gigs behind and that was the last gig with Tezz too...and with it died the '3 first e.p's' era with his last gig with Discharge too....
...So that was it for 1980 on the 4th of December at the Music Machine
....Then I walked south across the city again at 0230hrs heading for Victoria Station and the last mail train home for 1980...
...I saw 10 gigs in that year
.....and half of them were Discharge gigs.
The '1980 Diary' was a 'retrospective description' of what happened during the year - not from diary
(.....click on the '1981 Punk Diary' page for a detailed day-to-day account of the Punk Rock Gigs that year)
In thee 1980's I decided to write a diary and for the Punkiest-Squat-Gigging-Seeking Die-Hards amongst then read on as I'll take you through
Loads of Punk Gigs, from 1980, 1981 and 1982, all over the UK seeing...
some of these Punk Rock bands.....and how many times I saw each band too is below...
Discharge (49 times)
Antisect (17) , English Dogs (17)
Conflict (15), G.B.H (14), U.K. SUBS (14)
CRUCIFIX (11)
THE MOB (8)
THE EXPLOITED (7), LOST CHEREES (7), SUB-HUMANS (7)
ANTI-PASTI (6), CHRON GEN (6), DIRT (6)
HAGAR THE WOMB (5)
THE DESTRUCTORS (4), THE NAKED (4), MOTORHEAD (4), THE VARUKERS (4)
COCKNEY REJECTS (3), D & V (3), FLUX OF PINK INDIANS (3), ICONS OF FILTH (3), METALLICA (3), THE PARTISANS (3), STIFF LITTLE FINGERS (3)
ABRASIVE WHEELS (3), A-HEADS (3), ALTERNATIVE (3), ANNIE ANXIETY (3, ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE (3), ANTHRAX (3), BROKEN BONES (3)
CHELSEA (2), DEFECTS (2), THE INSANE (2), OMEGA TRIBE (2), POLEMIC (2), THE SEARS (2), VICE SQUAD (2), THE VIBRATORS (2), VENOM (2)
...and a plethora of bands that I caught once including...ACTION PACT/AC/DC/AMEBIX/BAD BRAINS/BLACK FLAG/BLITZ/CHUMBAWUMBA/CRASS/CULT MANIAX/THE DARK/DEAD KENNEDYS/DISORDER/THE FITS/GIRLSCHOOL/HERESY/IRON MAIDEN/K.U.L.K/ONE WAY SYSTEM/PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES/POISON GIRLS/SOLDIERS OF DESTRUCTION/VIOLATERS/YOUTHINASIA/ ZOUNDZ...and many many more.....!!
Punk Diary 1980
DUBLIN, Southern Ireland
:: January-April 1980 ::
I was living with my mum, dad and brother in Southern Ireland from 1977-1980 when it appeared that we would infact be "moving back to England"....which set my world alight.
...Being into Punk in Eire in that period...all i got to see was PENETRATION Live (March 1979) and Lots of early U2 Gigs (for the equivalent of 25p now I guess) Virgin Prunes and also some STIFF LITTLE FINGERS gigs too....
:: April-December 1980 ::
...So we duly set sail for the UK over the irish see back to England in April 1980 just after the hysterical-historical Discharges 'Realities Of War' redefined Punk from 'Ground Zero' the month prior....
...Well back in the UK I could sign on the 'dole' (state benefits)..and that was a blessing and I think they paid me £14.70p a week in those days and job-dodging became an art of mine that I have been unusually adept at right up till the age of 43 I might add...!!!
...I bought the music papers of 'Sounds', 'Melody Maker; NME (The New Musical Express) and sometimes even 'The Record Mirror' too. So I would 'pencil-in' the gigs I wanted to go to and also bought lots of records and a few clothes.
I never dyed my hair or had any tattoos, or smoke or drank or took any drugs, apart from a few mushrooms once and a spacecake (dope) in Holland in 1983 - only after eating it and saying "yum" did they inform what was in it..!!!
...Which goes to prove you don't need these needless steroetypical culture-induced additives to have an awesome time in life.
It didn't take me long to get gigging in the Punkey UK...!
In May 1980 I saw my first of 10 gigs in the next 7 and a half months.
Considering I was living 75 miles from London and all these were at least that far away, if not more, I think that was some going for a 16/17 year old..
...May the 17th I saw The COCKNEY REJECTS in London, and again at the Electric Ballroom (in Londons inner-north suburb of Camden Town)....I had seen them the year prior here at the same venue. They were not only 'Street-Punk' urchins...(later they were maybe be totally responsible culprits for 'Oi' music...!!) they were also 'Football Fans' and (bad) luck would have it by going to that gig that 'their team' (...East Londons...ermmm 'West Ham United') had just won the biggest prize in Football sport (No, No, No...not a crap 999 LP) - the F.A. Cup.
...The gig was shortly after 'The Rejects' had released 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles' as a spur-them-on-cup-anthem (...and it did...!).
...Support for Cockney Rejects the first time they played at The Electric Ballroom was from The KIDZ NEXT DOOR who had a cousin of Stinkey Turners (...the vocalist for The Cockney Rejects) on vocals...also on the bill werea band called 'The Suspects' and they were first on that evening.
...So just 2 months (...and 1 FA Cup win) later.....I was back at the same venue seeing the same bands..!!!! (...bar 'The Suspects' - who were replaced in an identical bill by 'THE PACK' (...with Kirk Brandon, later of 'The Theatre Of Hate', on vocals) I recall them doing a great song called 'Legion' and were o.k really.
....The Kidz Next Door were pretty lame bar the 'Hey You, Get Off Of My Cloud' cover job song.
The Cockney Rejects were very lively after their teams F.A. Cup triumph..and I am sure the ANGELIC UPSTARTS Played with 'The Rejects' once at the Electric Ballroom too...with Mensi of the Angelic Upstarts using a 'Pigs Head' as Football onstage..!!!!
The 'Football Gig' was a riot....literally it was....I thought I was going to 'A Punk Gig' and it turned out to be little more than a platform for 'Violernce and Football Rivalry' on the ahem....'dancefloor'.
The mood was 'Electric' like the Ballroom itself...a once grand place now filled with fans of several types tonight..Punks, Street Kids and of course Skinheads and later on tons of aggressive up-fer-a-foight-Football Fans too....
...It was packed in there with around 800 people or more and a big space below the 'eye-high' stage at one end...Thee Punk and Reggae sound system played music booming-out amongst the smell of beer and carpet...there was an upstairs thin-walkway/balcony with glass windows all along with a few seats and that was good to observe things from...
The next month on August the 8th I saw The UK SUBS in London at The Music Machine near Camden Town (...Actually it was much easier to get off the tube at a station called 'Mornington Crescent') that place stayed open til 02:00 A.M. and was a great venue. It had three tiers and balconies of wrought iron and the architecture was amazing - all full up with dub freaks, punks and weird night people that even drifted in way after the 'Live-Music' had subsided. Heavy dub and reggae sound systems oozed out the 'alternative-beats' mainly and the place got filthy but the stage was high and The Subs were great indeed (...infact they were always a great live band throughout the years). That August night support came by way of THE CITIZENS and THE STRAPS (...neither of these were any good really) - Those gigs at the Music Machine left me to exit out into the Camden Town streets and headlong into the post-midnight night-time hours air at 1 or 2 AM. So a walk back into the centre of London (...around 4 miles southerly direction) and a wait at Victoria Railway Station until 3:00 AM when the 'Mail-Train' would leave, for Margate and home beside the seaside 75 miles east in Kent, which served me well the next 2 and a half years til I went into the unknown whirled of squatting up in London with a new-found gaggle of urban-street punks and their 'world' I had become part of.. The much-used and rarely missed 'Mail-Train' was a mode of transport for those 'who missed the last train home' It had one carriage for people and it used to get quite packed sometimes - the lights did not work and the smell was musty indeed - still it was a doddle to bunk most times (like the daytime trains in that era too). I would get home into Margate at about 5:30 a.m. or 06:00hrs and get into bed around 6 or 7 AM - all for a great night out up in London watching Punk bands live.
The next month I was up at The Music Machine again on the 25th September. I went to see THE EXPLOITED after acquiring their first two seven-inch singles. They actually were not even headlining and infact they played support to MANUFACTURED ROMANCE of all people (...mind you even I enjoyed their 7-Inch single called 'Time Of Your Life' though. Wattie and the boys were raw and Scotch-Punk (...I later went off The Exploited like most people though) Charlie Harper (...singer of the U.K. SUBS) was there at the bar with Wattie and I got both of them to sign a used paper chip plate (...and it wasnt even my plate either...!) they duly obliged though. I rarely asked for signatures but did on that occasion. First on the bill that night were LIQUID STONE (...who I cannot remember a thing about at all, which could be a blessing with a name like that..!).
...But on the 19th of October 1980 all hell broke loose for me in London as DISCHARGE played..for the first time...!!!! (...It was the first of 49 times I was to see this eight legged apocalyptic noise machine called 'Discharge'..!!) They somehow crowbarred their way onto the bill at London’s’ prestigious The Lyceum Theatre which was set off the Strand in Central London right by the River Thames. The irony was that they were first on the bill to U2 and SLADE of all people..!!!!!
...When Discharge came on they were ragged and messy and alive with energy - just how I hoped they'd be. This 4-person apocalypse were playing to the wrong crowd in their 'wrong-trousers' but to a very happy tiny gathering of die-hard punks down the front amongst the 'rock-crowd' for Slade (..the 'born-again' 1970s pop-stars now a little 'rockier'..!). A seething 'messmass' of Staffordshire anger. Cal puked up onstage and the bouncers stamped on their guitar and amp leads as they exited without an encore after barely a half hour of frantic earbashing for the mass of punks down the front that must have amused the Slade and U2 fans no end. I bought a poster of the gig from the Lyceum too...a giant pink and black one for 1.00 GBP and managed to carry it with with me after the gig. As soon as Discharge went off (...which must have been only around 8:15 p.m. in the evening...!) most, if not all, of the Punks that came to see Discharge herded off en-masse up the 3 miles to see the
...UK SUBS later that evening, like I did. Travelling their own individual way collectively to North London’s Camden Music-Machine. They were great too and were supported by The Citizens who I unfortunately saw yet again...! What a great Punkey day that was Discharges' first London gig and also The UK Subs at the Music Machine.
...But if you thought that was good then it was just the beginning and not 'The End' (...a title of one of Discharges later songs...!) because just nine days later and Discharge were back again in London...!!! Not quite the Lyceum - but the Music Machine was fine by me...! The 28th it was in October and I met the band there outside down the right side of the building...loading their gear in about 6pm in the evening so I helped them in with some. I chatted with them for the first time - nice friendly people - and I got in for free aswell.
The support band came on...called THE DEMONS
who I cannot recall at all
......but Discharge were for me 100% what I wanted from (noise not) music. And when they hit the stage the world seemed alive in like no other way - they'd take your head off your shoulders in those early days such was their acute power and messy razor-edged-cutting 'whitesoundnoise'.....‘lethal’ in a one-word-decriptive-sentence. I sat stage left of the band looking down at them with one leg up on a speaker and was elevated above not only them to my right...but the crowd of some 150 people chin-high to the stage in front of Cal, Bones and Rainy...It was a prime position for observing not only the power fired out at head height like a grenade-hopper-explosion that was triggered by the tap of your toes to the Discharge rhythm that Tezz was hammering out, but also the power of the lyrics that Cal machine-gunned into your nodding flesh at arms length...Rainy was twirling away and Bones walking back and forth to the stage edge (it was about 5 feet drop boyeee..!!!!) and Cal gruffly barking out the early songs from 'Realities of War' and 'Fight Back' seven-inchers..it was a spectacle to behold...Tezz was instrumental in tearing away at a pace that, then seemed impossible for punks to handle..not only did he have that 'unique' rhythm...he had a great energy and powerful drum rolls to boot...I first heard that 'Tezz/Discharge' rhythm for a few beats in a Buzzcocks LP track...which made me raise my ears..OK their music was pop-new wave...but that beat that their drummer stumbled upon for a little bit of one song was something overlooked by them...but not by Tezz no doubt..and he, like me loved it....The (lucky) gathering of punks that cold October night way back in 1980 were witnessing an early Discharge gig that was more like the Discharge I grew to know over the next 12 months...gone were the Lyceum and U2 and Slade...now it was just them and us...it felt meaningful and had a purpose...the lyrics and energy hit home on these few 100 punks and me of course...A wildly angry gig it was in an echoey Music Machine that night as the spotlight from the middle balcony picked out Cal onstage and distant people stood drinking up there in the raised tiers looking down as dots in the distance...
...I talked with the band after the gig as the dub-system played and I got an A4 sized poster of the gig for nothing...then left them there at 02:00hrs to walk back south across Londons a.m hours and avoid the pre-dawn odd people...and get my mail-train back to Margate and home again at the usual time of 06:00hrs on the wild and windy cold coast of south-east England in 1980...but I was feeling more alive than the weather was making me feel cold...it was a nice feeling as dawn approached gloomily lighting up a billowing grey/black sky as I shut my eyes and heard that sound of 'Discharge' ringing in my ears
....By November the 17th I had now seen Discharge three times in just 29 days - it doesn't get much better than that does it...!!! This time they were not playing The Lyceum nor the Music Machine - infact they were not even playing anywhere near London. I had thrown caution to the most strongest of winds and taken it upon myself to go see them in NUNEATON off all places (...just east of Birmingham, 20 miles or so) in England’s Midlands about 100 miles north of London and in total about 175 miles from home down in Margate, Kent). I always seemed to be travelling alone...both there to the (ir) gigs and also back home....hundreds of miles and at strange times of the day or night...waiting for connections and sometimes never even knowing anything more than the 'gig venues' name and maybe a phone number...and that was it...no warm clothes, gloves, hat, sleeping or food packed...just see Discharge and let everything else sort itself out...it usually did...but when it goes wrong it goes wrong big-time..!!). They played a teeny-weeny club called THE 77 CLUB in a dingy area of what I thought would be a nice place...! This place called 'Nuneaton' was grim indeed. Again I got there well early and met a white long spikey-haired punk bloke called Glenn (...he turned out to be the singer from the support band called...The Hatred). He was studs and spikes all over the place and laughed his head off after we walked around the front on a cold-frosty/icy mid November night in 'middle-England' and saw a Mod crashing his scooter at some traffic lights opposite the gig venue as he tried to stop for a red light. We met Discharge outside and got in for free when they turned up down the side of the building which was tiny and on a road-corner. I helped them in with gear and chatted a bit more to them - the gig venue was two-tiered and pretty good indeed though. There were about 50 people (...if that..!) there that night...so it felt like you personally say hello to all the audience if you wanted too...! . Discharge were just sitting around in the actual place on their own and people sometimes would walk up and chat and other times just look at them as they passed by or Discharge would go get some food or to the toilet etc....!!
THE HATRED were quite good - not sure whether they actually got a record out but I would've like to hear them and a few locals had their name on the back of their jackets too and a few people also 'danced' to them too.
Later on DISCHARGE came on and they played blindingly good, possibly their best gig so far - a few punks turned up down the front (...from the 50 punks in there..!) and the atmosphere was violence free and nice as Discharge fired through their set consisting of much, if not all of their first three e.p.s (including the soon to be released 'Decontrol') aswell...their 'repertoire was infact 12 songs in total...no cover jobs (I never-ever heard Discharge play a cover song live..!!)
...After the 77 Club gig I loitered around with the band and helped them pack all their equipment up and away in the van outside in the chilly cold after midnight and we and saw them off in their van and they were a happy bunch tonight..it was a relaxed gig and very low-key too...possibly their last one of that type I would say.
I am not so sure how the hell I got home. I recall walking back alone to the Nuneaton railway station 15 minutes away and finding it dark and lights out almost. I think I may have caught the next through-train back to London (Kings Cross) a terminus in the north-central area of London at around 0100hrs or later and then walked across the centre of London southwards at about 3AM to catch that darque n dusty mail train again for free back to Margate, Kent and getting in my bed after 6AM yet again.
...But just thirteen days later and DISCHARGE were at it again. Not only back in London (...yes!..) but also at the Lyceum again (...how this?) supporting KILLING JOKE on the 30th of November...and what was that about someone saying "it just doesn't get better than this?"..!!!
...did someone mention FAD GADGET as support? (...I have now!)
...Discharge were very good that night...but not as good as a smaller more intimate venue (...like The 77 Club in Nuneaton). Still crackingly good though..! . There were more punks to see Discharge here tonight than the last time they played the Lyceum, but that could have had something to do with Killing Joke headlining too I feel..?
...Killing Joke were a different act altogether...and heavy as fuck with it...They were sort of metallic yet with doomy-dub-ladenesque melodies. Wow their set onstage was an eye opener indeedy (I had all their records too and they were just as good if not better live...!). They were so good it was untrue...but not in a thrash-mad pogo-style..it was subtle and melodic but heavy-as-fuck...a different type of musical pain...but they got my respect even more-so for doing it 'that way'...!!!
..I went home back to Margate, Kent complete with another (..a giant 'Orange and Black' Gig poster for the gig above) feeling all powered up by two-attacks on my senses..the first being 'Killing Joke' the latter being 'Discharge'...!
....So for the FOURTH time I had seen Discharge in 1980 (...in just 42 days..!!!!)
...Not bad for a 16 year old from Margate some 75 miles east of London by the seaside (and way over 200 plus miles south of Stoke and Discharge...!!).
...Early in December was my last gig of 1980 and yes it had to be none other than DISCHARGE again to round off a brilliantly Punkified gigging year...!!! They were in London again and up at The Music-Machine in Camden for the 2nd time.
...and the support was from Dag Vag (...a weird synth-backed band from Scandinavia..!!!) what a double-act. Who were as bemused by the crowd and what 'Discharge meant' as the crowd were of 'Dag Vag'..it was almost surreal at times...The singer was dancing to electro-pop and flicking his tousled fringed haircut...!
...DISCHARGE came on
...and I had the place seemingly to myself..I could walk around with ease while Discharge rocketed through their white noise in the echoey spaces that were the Music Machine inside...I took four photographs of them from different angles and it was a bit devoid of atmosphere when Discharge finished a song though...
...They had a backdrop in spray-can writing stating 'So Punk Is Fuckin' Dead' (...black spray can writing on a white-ish sheet) and they were well alive and raw that night...like a fire extinguisher bomb - they drew just a small amount of crowd really but the small amount of punks loved them regardless...
...I chatted to the band after the gig up by the stage and chatted with a few people who had travelled to see them...then left them and my 1980s gigs behind and that was the last gig with Tezz too...and with it died the '3 first e.p's' era with his last gig with Discharge too....
...So that was it for 1980 on the 4th of December at the Music Machine
....Then I walked south across the city again at 0230hrs heading for Victoria Station and the last mail train home for 1980...
...I saw 10 gigs in that year
.....and half of them were Discharge gigs.
The '1980 Diary' was a 'retrospective description' of what happened during the year - not from diary
(.....click on the '1981 Punk Diary' page for a detailed day-to-day account of the Punk Rock Gigs that year)