Tag Archives: Billy Bragg

Redskins Revue

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The Redskins did a month of Sundays ay the Mean Fiddler in 1986 with a great mix of turns. Great gigs they were too. This review is from the NME, 12 July, 1986. The Housemartins sneak in as Fish City Five.

Redskins Revue
Harlesden Mean Fiddler

Young, girted and bald was the aim. On the revue’s second night the result was a combination of two, but never all three. Buster Bloodvessel came close. That rotund rascal of drollery, with a little help from his friends, rip-roared his immense proportions through ‘Monster Mash’. ‘My Boy Lollipop’ and more. The Troubleshooters, perverse in the presence of dogma, saw Debbie (Dolly Mixture) don a monstrous wig for their camped-up journeys through the Abba and Madonna songbooks. Seething Wells spouted furiously in a scathing attack on the life and times of Laura Ashley. Why her you may ask. Why indeed? A true contender if only he’d had a haircut.
Wendy May’s sizzling Locomotion sounds kept all alive and kicking, in striking contrast to Lol Coxhill, whose 15 minute homage to Jnr Walker rated as a wonder-cure for insomnia!
Not forgetting the mighty mouth on the loudhailer who led the Redskins through their stomping favourites, ‘Kick Over The Statues’ et al. And a well splendid night was rounded off with some accapella combo by the name of Fish City Five. In fact there was only four of them. , but their harmonies weren’t half bad, especially on some ditty called ‘Happy Hour’ which sounded sort of familiar. One of them launched himself into a ranting preach about Jesus, Karl Marx and himself in the same bed (with clean sheets, of course)! What a strange bunch. Perhaps they’ll be famous one day.
Maybe it was the rumour that Paul Weller was to appear, or perhaps Tom Watt (chump Lofty from East Enders), that drove the hordes on mass to Harlesden for this Artists Against Apartheid benefit on the fourth night. With its Brechtian overtones, the climax of the Redskins revue proved a resounding success.
Angus and Toby from Test Dept. swapped their metal objects for bagpipes and calmed a packed frustrated crowd, unable to move to Stuart Cosgrove’s and Steve Caesar’s fast and furious vinyl funk. The Redskins began their set of covers with ‘Levi Stubbs’ Tears’, and were closely followed by the man Bragg himself. He soon had the audience whipped up a storm with ‘Chile Your Waters’, and ‘A13’, for which he was accompanied by stalwart Wiggy.
And the grand finale, ‘Winds Of Change’, as performed by the Redskins, Dammers, Bragg and others, baldly established the common bond.

Jane Wilkes

Anti Social Workers At The LSE

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Anti-Social Workers reviewed in Sounds, 26 May, 1984.

Anti-Social Workers
LSE

Don’t let the moniker put you off, negative they’re not. An ASW set is one hell of a punk reggae party mix of thinking fun.
The fab four, three blokes and one girl, groove about the stage with dance steps borrowed from Bananarama and toast over reggae backing tapes in a way that recalls the Fun Boy Three. Girl singer Paula looks very French and stunning, Tim the Skin looks so innocent you’d think butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, Mark is a Simon Le Bon lookalike, while Paul’s the real live wire natural frontman and the angriest of the combo.
They’re four complete individuals whose diverse personalities combine in a totally complementary manner that makes for a compelling rant ‘n’ rap attack.
With songs about race, class, laughs, and underdogs winning, ASW are the whoopee cushion of political protest, while their Mad Professor backings recall a heavier mixture of 2-Tone and classic Trojan. Jerry Dammers would make an ideal producer for their next vinyl outing.
At the moment ASW are where it’s at. Along with Billy Bragg, the Redskins, Billy Mayell and The Farm, they’re in the frontline pushing a message of hope and survival.
They’re not dogmatists cos they crack their faces too often for that. And they ain’t poseurs, cos they move too well.
They’re an iron fist behind a beery grin. I’d prefer to see them playing with a band rather than singing to backing tapes, though I suppose it’s all good training for Top Of The Pops.

Garry Johnson



A New England

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Billy Bragg’s first record in Jamming!, number 16, 1983.

Billy Bragg: Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy
(Utility/Go)

Richard Branson recently achieved his lifetime ambition – to own Genesis and Peter Gabriel. By merging Charisma into the Virgin empire, all other acts on the label have been left to fend for themselves, and one Billy Bragg, with an album just out, managed to sneak away to pastures new with Go! Discs. ‘Life’s A Riot …’ – a seven-track 45 rpm 2″ – has just been re-released by said independent to coincide with Billy’s Tube appearance and growing reputation.
Billy Bragg is one of those solo artists thrown up from time to time whose talent is so apparent, yet method so unusual, that major success is always there to be grabbed, but sometimes infuriatingly out of reach. The last great example was Patrik Fitzgerald; Bill Bragg, though different in so many ways, could prove a similar case.
Billy’s voice is most instantly comparable to Weller’s; his guitar, a rabid jangle of dislocated chords, is his only companion; and his lyrics are biting and to-the-point, yet full of wit and humanity. Check out ‘The Milkman Of Human Kindness’ and in particular ‘A New England’ for perfect examples of how to sound angry, compassionate, young, and yet also very tongue-in-cheek and witty. Elsewhere, ‘Lovers Town Revisited’ and ‘The Busy Girl Buys Beauty’ are two more impassioned examples of Billy’s grievances with the modern world.
Although I think £3 for a twenty-minute record that obviously had minimal recording costs is a bit off-putting, there is no doubt that Billy Bragg is on his way to becoming a cult hero of the ’80s. The interesting point will come when the public get bored of hearing just him and a guitar; then we’ll see whether Billy can create a more populist career for himself, or fade into obscurity, as did Patrik Fitzgerald in the same situation. I await with interest, but in the meantime, I enjoy.

Tony Fletcher

Wake Up

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The Redskins, Neurotics, Attila, Billy Bragg, and Kevin Seisay on this 1987 miner’s benefit 12″ from Dave Womble’s Wake Up zine.

the Redskins – levi stubbs’ tears
Billy Bragg – a change is gonna come
the Neurotics – this fragile life
Attila the Stockbroker – 40 years
Kevin Seisay – all smiles
Billy Bragg with Wiggy, the Neurotics and Attila the Stockbroker – garageland

The Captains Cabin

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This nautical pub was just off the Haymarket. As well as Apples and Snakes gigs, Billy Bragg also ran a night before he made it big. I was his keyboard stand on a few occasions.
There were some great line ups at Apples and Snakes in the early days, this flier from 1985 has Seething Wells, Levi Tafari, Little Brother, Porky the Poet, Nick Toczek, Surfin Dave, the Mad Kiwi Ranter and more.