Thought I'd repost this from the Comments section on my recent 50 Bands I Have Seen post. Apologies to anyone offended by the crapness of the logo above.
Kai Says:
August 18, 2009 at 7:13 pm | Reply edit
please tell about Skrewdriver? hateful band but intrigued how that came about and what happened
everetttrue Says:
August 18, 2009 at 7:39 pm | Reply edit
It was the early-mid 80s. They showed up (uninvited, obviously) with about 100 of their supporters at a Membranes gig in Cricklewood, London – apparently, because both bands were from Blackpool or something.
It was one of the scariest concerts I’ve ever witnessed. Particularly fond memories include an oblivious Coofy Sid (drums) laying out all the metal poles and implements for the crowd to bang together (as was the Membranes’ wont back then - remind me to tell you one day about how McGee based the Mary Chain's entire early shtik around a Membranes show he saw).
I was standing at the back thinking, fuck, I don’t want to be here – but the band were sleeping on my floor that night (only minutes away). Round about that point my mate Geoff the Postman started dancing down the front and a couple of massive skins slammed into him – so I thought, fuck it, and started dancing too... Bam! Couple of massive skins jump me, John Robb leaps down off stage into their faces... and for 10 seconds I was quite sure we were all going to die (there were only a handful of us Membranes fans present). To this day, I still don’t understand why we didn’t… except there was some bloke present who was clearly a British Movement organiser, who was going round saying, “C’mon lads, no need to fight, we’re all on the same side”.
Another memory: while John was dismantling the mics, a massive skin comes up, asks him if he’s having trouble with the lead, whips a knife out his boot, and cuts the lead off, saying, “You should be careful mate. Some of the lads here scare me.”
We drove out of there with a police escort, the sound of bottles smashing against the side of the van.
Addenda:
First time I ever stayed on Calvin Johnson's floor in Olympia, we had some quite heated words over a Skrewdriver cutting he had pasted on his wall. Being from America, he wasn't aware of the ultra-right wing connotations.
J Mascis is a fan early Skrewdriver. He mentions it in interviews more often than most people would.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Mark Radcliffe, the BBC Radio 1 DJ used to play drums for Skrewdriver?
ReplyDeletewhatever some claim, the "all skrewed up"-era skrewdriver - ie pre political extremism - is only marginally more listenable. instead of jackbooted dullness, it's forgettable sub-Count Bishops pub'n'b rock dullness. the front cover, though - the mouth is one of the ladies from Snatch (Ms Nylon from memory).
ReplyDelete(From Facebook)
ReplyDeleteRichard Fontenoy
That sounds like a truly scary night... where was the gig in Cricklewood? I lived around there in the later 80s.
August 18 at 9:42pm · Delete
Everett True
Cricklewood Hotel, I believe
August 18 at 9:44pm · Delete
Frank Menesch
I look forward to hearing more about your EXPERIENCES HERE.
August 19 at 12:03am · Delete
Frank Menesch
Stupid capslock.
August 19 at 11:13am · Delete
Just received this very funny anecdote about this evening from my former dancing colleague Geoff the Postman over at my other (defunct) blog.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if any one is still following this thread, but I've only just stumbled upon it.
My outstanding memory of the evening:
As Skrewdriver ploughed through one of their numbers, a middle aged black man made his way through the crowd of skinheads. Arriving at the stage front he beckoned to singer Ian Stewart. Stewart bent down towards the man, who shouted something in his ear. Stewart than returned to his microphone and asked the crowd "has any one lost a bunch of keys?"
I had begun to think that I had imagined this part of the evening after taking a couple of blows to the head, but Nick Brown recently confirmed it to be true.