Sham 69 Vortex London 3rd January 1978

 

The Vortex was the snotty cousin of the Roxy opening under the stewardship of Andy Czezowski when his Roxy closed. Located in Wardour Street in the heart of London's Soho, the Vortex played host many bands who went on to greater success, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Ants and Sham 69 to name three. 

Jimmy Pursey and Sham 69 got 1978 underway with a gig at the Vortex on 3rd January. It sounds like a pretty edgy gig with fights breaking out sporadically as Pursey once again tried to control the situation, with little success. He is very vocal in his frustration that no matter what he does every gig his band plays is marred by violence.

This is a great sounding recording that gives the listener a good idea of what a Sham 69 gig was like as 1977 rolled into 1978. It's a great set for sure, but I'm not sure that I would have wanted to be at the front... or even the back for that matter!

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Sham 69 are forever strongly associated with the Vortex. On 23rd September 1977 Sham played at the opening of the Vortex Cafe in nearby Hanway Street. The other bands on the bill, The Models, Mean Street, Neo and The Outsiders, played in the Cafe itself whilst Sham 69 opted to play on the roof of the venue. The volume quickly caught the attention of the Metropolitan Police, who promptly pulled the plug on the gig and arrested Pursey, or Jimmy Sham as he went by at the time.

Sham 69 performing on the roof of the Vortex Cafe on 23rd September 1977.

The story was picked up by the New Musical Express and run in their 1st October issue. A bit of a debarcle it would appear from the report.

The gig and the subsequent arrest may not have matched a similar stunt by The Beatles, when they played on the roof of the Apple Corps building in Savile Row in 1969, but as they say there is no such thing as bad publicity!

'You're nicked son!'

Putting The Fast In Belfast 7 (Stiff Little Fingers, Public Image Limited, Sham 69)

 

Seeing that today is St Patrick's Day here's the craic from Belfast from back in the summer. Stiff Little Fingers hosting the 'Putting The Fast In Belfast' punk all-dayer, an event that has become an annual fixture in the city. This billing was interesting, what with PiL and Sham 69 sharing the stage. As I remember there was bad blood some years ago between Johnny and Jimmy, to the extent that they made some tabloid column inches after a couple of punches were thrown in London back in 2005. 6 Music reported the incident.... why didn't The Proclaimers wade in one asks?!

'Punk punch-up!

Handbags at dawn between Jimmy Pursey and John Lydon.

24 Aug 05 - Punk legends John Lydon and Jimmy Pursey came to blows outside the US embassy as they queued for visas.

There has been bad blood between the pair since the Seventies - and things came to a head this week as they waited outside the embassy at 0730.

Former Sex Pistol Lydon ignored Pursey's offer to shake hands and threw coffee over him, while the Sham 69 singer responded by kicking his punk rival. Bizarrely, The Proclaimers were also there and witnessed the whole thing before armed policemen intervened to calm the situation.

Pursey was waiting for a visa so he could travel to New York for a benefit gig in aid of the CBGBs club. He told 6 Music the scrap was like being back at school.

He said: "It would be like standing in the dinner queue with someone that you don't really get on with when you're at school. Suddenly, it just turned into him and his mate throwing coffee at me, then it just went from bad to worse with the armed guards luckily interpersing the whole thing. One of them, thank God, know knew who we both were."

He continued: "It's not every day you get a guy with a submachine gun round your head telling you he's a Sham 69 fan."

Lydon meanwhile dismissed Pursey's claims.

He told The Sun: "All the usual low-rent and lies. He's not fit to be in the same sentence as me. What do you expect from a low-rent fake mockney two-bob runt?"

Jody Thompson.'

The Sun

I assume that the lack of punk love stems from the Sham Pistols thing from back in 1979.

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Thanks to the Historical Field Recording Unit.

Summer Punk All Dayers

 

Well it's no surprise that the three talking Pistols would get some further milage out the recent set up with Frank Carter, but the the appearance of The Stranglers on the bill did surprise me. I am assuming that the Margate gig will get an expanded bill along the lines of the gig in Glasgow. Who's your money on then? I'll put a fiver on it not being PiL! I'll get shot down but 999 would go down a treat! 

Talking of Johnny, I was also surprised to see the bill for SLF's next Belfast shindig, featuring PiL on the same bill as Sham 69. I thought that Johnny and Jimmy harboured a particular animosity towards each other. I do remember fisticuffs between the two at an airport or something... a story that made page 20 of The Sun! I assume this bad feeling stems back to the Sham Pistols thing that was momentarily the big story for the music press in '79.

Sham 69 and Anti-Nowhere League The Junction Cambridge 31st May 2024

 

Gunta has slipped off to Cologne with her mate for the day, so rather than sit at home twiddling my thumbs I thought I'd head up to Cambridge to take in a double headline gig of Sham 69 and Anti-Nowhere League. 

I had seen Sham a few weeks back at the Vive Le Rock awards in Islington, but such was the nature of the event that Sham played a short five song set. First up though were the League, always good fun in my book. 

'We Will Not Remember You'

The Junction Cambridge

31st May 2024.

'We Are The League'

The Junction Cambridge

31st May 2024.

These days it is noticeable that Jim doesn't engage with the audience as much as he used to, but then again perhaps that is such a bad this since when he was talking to the crowd back in the day it was mostly imploring then to stop fighting!

'No Flag'/'Questions & Answers'

The Junction Cambridge

31st May 2024.

The Bard of Surrey!

 

'Tell us the truth

Don't let us down,

You're a fool if you do!'

Jimmy Pursey (Sham 69)

15 cm x 20 cm linocut print.

Black ink on cream art card.

The Adventures Of Hersham Boys - Sham 69 Lose Their Mojo!

 

'The Adventures Of Hersham Boys' was Sham 69's third studio album released in September 1979 and whilst it went on to be the bands most successful album, peaking at Number 8 in the UK album chart it was pretty much panned by the music critics of the day. The album's Wikipedia entry includes a line from music journalist, David Hepworth' which summed up the critics view on Sham's 'new direction'!

"A tired, hollow effort struggling between weary attempts at rabble-rousing and blush-making pseudo-Springsteen 'street' songs that reek of desperation and contract fulfilling. As empty and self-satisfied a record as anything they supposedly set out to replace."

Record Mirror (22nd September 1979)

SHAM 69: 'The Adventures Of The Hersham Boys'

(Polydor Deluxe POLO 5025)

AN UNSATISFACTORY conclusion from Sham, but then it appears they've not really concluded so maybe it doesn't matter anyway and Pursey always was a confused mass of contradictions in the first place.

After being single handedly responsible for the unnecessary resurgence of the skinhead movement, Gentleman Jim decides he's really a cowboy.

But it's not a jail you need to break out of Jim, or even a borstal – just your own elaborately - woven paranoia, if a song like 'Voices' is anything to go by. Or the self-made martyrdom of ' Fly Dark

Angel', hideously howled with Dylanesque vocals.

'Cold Blue In The Night' rides a similar theme, insecurities thrust into the open for a heart-felt cry of

"Someone's gotta help me/ Sympathy defeats me/ can't help myself." The Yardbirds ‘You're A Better Man Than I' appropriately concludes the introspection of side one which also includes the corral - storming 'Money' and 'Joey's On The Street' (no ... relation, rat fans).

On side two self-identification extends to James Dean on 'Lost On Highway 46', but you're

ALIVE Jimmy, as well as being rich, famous, popular and accompanied by an excellent sidesman

in Dave Parsons. 

Like 'Hersham Boys', 'Questions And Answers' is already owned by all the fans, and its inclusion is

hardly compensated for by the free 12 inch single. This features awful and over-long versions of 'If The Kids Are United', sung throwaway-style and sounding more like 'Roadrunner', and a live'Borstal Breakout’.

The latter, fortunately, adopts the words "It 's never too late to breakout" and there I'm right behind you, Jimmy. Christ, after a few years in a factory I did myself. The older - but - wiser lyrical change is matched by a similar modification on the album's live 'What Have I Got' where the reply is "I've Got You!" You still have, Jim, and they've still got you if you keep it cool. I know it must be very 'ard, but won't you try?

++ + MIKE NICHOLLS

Sounds (8th September 1979)

SHAM 69

‘The Adventures Of Hersham Boys’

(Polydor Deluxe POLD 5025) ***

WHAT DID Sham mean to you? I don't really give a monkey's cos to me and a lot of my mates they were the business. Whereas the Clash and the Pistols were heroes put on a pedestal by history, legend and the media, Sham 69 were the ultimate people's band.

"You are us, you are Sham 69, and Sham 69 are you," Jimmy used to say. And the band would make a non-stop-pogo rowdy racket and he'd sing about real life. Everyday life and everyday people. About rip-offs and shitty jobs and nagging parents and enjoying yourself. Sham were REAL, and d'you remember how they blew the Clash off stage at that Rainbow gig in December ‘77 ...

The first album 'Tell Us TheTruth' really knocked me out, specially the live side which was pure unrefined Sham and, to me, the essence of Punk Rock. That came out in February last year. The follow-up 'That's Life' came out just eight months later and it was magnificent. A lot like the home scenes in Quadrophenia, the album was true to life, serious and humorous, featuring a terrific eye for detail, and still great rock 'n' roll music. Sham were actually one of the few punk bands to avoid the dreaded 'second album syndrome'.

Which is why after two brilliant albums less than adequately critically received I was busting a gut to get hold of this one. At last someone was gonna review Sham who understood them and, more importantly, believed in what they were about.

Like a kid at Christmas I rip open the envelope. Gulp. Cover's a bit suspect. A deluxe affair portraying the

band togged up in spaghetti western threads blasting away on six shooters at all-comers in what looks like Albie Maskell's barn. Hmm. Just Jim's cockney cowboy joke I hope ..

Side One opens with , 'Money', a rocky re-working of the number Parsons and Pursey wrote for

Quadrophenia, and it's a fine passionate Sham stomper with great anti-commercialism lyrics except why's the guitar lost in the mix?

Next number 'Fly Dark Angel' is awful, really embarrassing as Jim tries his Dylan impersonations over a sub-Basement Tapes nonsong. What the hell's going on? Sham are capable of doing slow numbers and

doing them well, 'Everyone's Right' for example, but this just makes me cringe.

’Joey's On The Street Again' is another goodie except Jimmy still don't sound like Jimmy and the song sounds muddy. Compare the production on this to 'That's Life’ or 'Win Or Lose' or anything on the last album'. Still it's a powerful number with a strong chorus and a nice bubbling bass hook. Kermit's 'Cold Blue In The Night' is like a breath of fresh air cos it sounds like Sham and Jim sounds normal  again, he ain't putting on any airs and graces. But listen to the diction on , 'You’re A Better Man Than Me’ (originally the b-side of The Yardbirds ‘Shapes Of Things’). This might work well on stage but on the album it smacks of ‘how do we fill up the 40 minutes’.

The other side confirms this. There's 'Hersham Boys' the mighty Top Ten smash, a re-working of 'Questions And Answers' and a great live version of 'What Have We Got' (words changed to 'I've

Got You' and sounding to me like the Glasgow Apollo gig and thus featuring Steve 'n’ Paul.

This leaves just two new numbers. Both are excellent songs but both are to different extents sodded up

by that anonymous organ and the messy mix. 'Lost On Highway 46' is a full frontal belter about Jimmy Dean featuring silly frilly Cockney Rebel like keyboards, while 'Voices' is a Status Quo-sy exercise for Jim to hit back at media critics over a steamy rock and roll workout.

Free with the album comes a 12 inch single including ten minute versions of 'Borstal Breakout' and 'If The Kids Are United' which are so awful Sham's worst enemies wouldn't have believed it possible from them. 'Breakout' starts great with the lyrics re-written to feature most of Sham's song titles but soon degenerates into some sort of horrible cross between ELP and Hawkwind. 'Kids' is even worse with Jim sounding literally deranged as he goes through a prolonged 'stream of consciousness' hippy rant. It's too embarrassing to listen to.

Forgetting this vinyl waste, the album itself is thinly stretched and over ambitious. It features only five good new songs (that's a quid a piece) and even they are marred by bad production and that infuriating organ. So why?

I reckon the reason for the intrusive organ and Jim's silly voice changes is that this is his bid for critical credibility. Sham have always been slagged by media tossers and this is their attempt at acceptance and

sophistication. Except it doesn’t work and the result falls between too many stools to satisfy anyone.

On another level the album has moved away from the street reality the band have always traded in to pure escapism. Compare the covers of this and the first album. Compare the subject matter. Fly dark what?

The reason for this is obvious - the monster that Sham audiences became. And I ain't about to blame

Jimmy for the rise of neo-nazism and I don't know the answer to it either. It's not his fault that the only people willing to talk to white working class youngsters were ultra-right nutters and he certainly did his best to counter the German Movement's arguments (just as he's always done his best to put something back in the industry unlike all his big-talk contemporaries). Suffice it to say that the kids killed the band in more ways than one.

Finally the album was recorded in France with a Pursey whose mind was committed to other things - 

in particular the ill-fated Cook and Jones liaison - and it definitely shows that his heart wasn't in it. It smacks of getting out of the contract quick.

As it is the Pistols collapsed. What happens to Pursey, Parsons, Cain and Treganna now I don't know. They could get back to the roots of punk protest, they could become the Slade of the eighties, or they could carry on this 'serious' rock band mishmash. I know which one I'd prefer.

Saying all this has hurt but it needed to be said because I love Sham 69. It would have been so easy to gloss over the errors and pretend they'd gone out with a bang but the slogan says tell us the truth, right? I hope you can accept that Jim. This is not a good Sham album. For me the goodbye was 'Hersham Boys' the single, and the Glasgow Apollo gig. This is a rip-off. A mistake. It reeks of money, marketing and desperation. It makes a mockery of everything Sham stood for.

I wouldn't buy it. Parsons and Pursey are capable of much, much more.

GARRY BUSHELL

Sham 69 Outlook Club Doncaster 10th January 1978

 

Here's an early example of a Sham gig. Early in that the band run run through all of their material before returning for an encore in the literal sense to play 'Rip Off' and 'Borstal Breakout' again. Introduced by Danny Baker, until recently part of the 'Sniffin' Glue' editorial team, this set features material from the first singles and the debut album 'Tell Us The Truth'. Jim is on good ranting form throughout!

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01. Red London

02. I Don’t Wanna

03. I’m A Man, I’m A Boy

04. Hey Little Rich Boy

05. Rip Off

06. Ulster Boy

07. Banter

08. I Don’t Understand

09. George Davis Is Innocent

10. Borstal Breakout

11. What About The Lonely

12. It’s Never Too Late

13. Encore Break

14. Banter

15. Rip Off

16. Borstal Breakout

'That's Life' Sham 69 Review (Record Mirror 4th November 1978)

 

Sham's finest moment.... their 'A Day in the Life'. Nine to Five humdrum, the sack the 'orses, the boozer, night club and a punch up! Oh and listen out for a young Pauline Quirke!

SHAM 69: 'That's Life' (Polydor POLD 5010)
SLADE: 'Slade Alive Vol 4' (Barn 2314 106)

It would be easy I s'pose, to be glib about the simultaneous release of these two albums: to quickly sum up Slade and Sham as passing strangers, heading inexorably in their op posite directions: one up, one down. But the truth, it se to me, is more complicated than that.

True, Slade, after staying at the top throughout the early Seventies (a more suc-cessful reign than practically any other group of this decade?) have been heading for the pits in the last few years, and a totally horrendous gig in Denmark last year had me more or less convinced they were to be resigned firmly to (happy) memory. But Monday night's gig at the Music Machine, saw the boys (mind you, considering the time they've been around, I have to use that term extremely loosely) somewhere near old form, and this album, while patchy, confirms my opinion that they could still have something going for them… enough to make this record a worthwhile, if not exactly essential purchase, and enough, possibly, to get the group back on an even keel.

Their big problem, however, the one I still can't see a solution to, is the same old one of material: the oldies are still way the best. It's 'Take Me Bak 'Ome'. 'Everyday', C'mon Feel The Noize' and the eternal 'Mama Weer All Crazee Now' that are the highlights of this album: forget the new stuff. Their ability to turn out those neat, complete, stompalong ditties seems lost forever. If they could  get that back though I'd put Slade back up there above 90 per cent of their successors. Ironically, if there is to be a renewal of interest to Slade's careers, one of the factors involved could be the ready acceptance by one of those suc-cessors, Sham 69, of the former's influence on them. The similarities, both musical (the same perfect three minute anthems, the same unstoppable rhythms. the same guts and enthusiasm) and ideological (the un-pretentious delinquent next door with a  heart of gold approach).

Sounds (2nd December 1978)

I should say that Sham are like early Slade: Slade's problems really started when they got involved with musicianship. Musicianship is of course irrelevant to groups of their ilk, dealing as they do in something much more basic. Sham thankfully haven't reached that stage yet, and in fact, don't ever look like reaching it: a group who only rehearse when they're forced in to it. A group who couldn't care less about technical mistakes.

Sham are on their way up, driven mainly by some great live gigs and a bunch of irresistible singalong singles. But with this, their 'concept' album, I personally feel that they've perhaps found a few obstacles in their way: that the route is just a little steeper than they first thought. I know Jimmy Pursey himself is pleased with the result, and I'm sure his fans will be equally delighted, but after a few listens, I can't help sensing a niggling disappointment, a feeling that it's not quite all it could've been. Maybe it's my own concept of concept albums (If you follow me) that's at fault - the concept albums that have gone before have perhaps conditioned me into expecting gloss and slickness. Of course you don't get that here: slick is the very last word you could use to describe Sham. Which, normally, I find endearing. This time it gets a bit much - the spoken scenarios linking the tracks for instance, while entertaining at first, soon begin to grate. Musical amateurism is one thing: theatrical amateurism something else. Perhaps, as a device it's simply overused: whatever, I don't think it works that well In the long run.

Sounds (18th November 1978)

Nor am I convinced about the wisdom of doing slow songs ; the opening tracks ‘Leave Me Alone’ and 'Who Gives A Damn', still sound weak and flat to me. Side one picks up again though, with the title track and 'Win or Lose', and side two is something else again: I mean, how could it fall, including as it does, 'Hurry Up Harry’ (which even Robin Smith Is humming these days), 'Angels With Dirty Faces' and 'Sunday Morning Nightmare', still my favourite track. (Unless, of course, you've bought all already..).

I still think 'Nightmare' shows the group at their best: perfectly displaying their ability to capture and reflect everyday life (in this case the aftermath of the disco) The rest of the tracks contain the same embodiment of real life to a greater or lesser extent. The result is, I don't think, totally successful, but despite my quibbles, it's not  failure by any means. Not that it matters too much in the end, anyway; because one more thing that Sham have in common with Slade is that they are essentially a live band. No matter how good their records, are, they'll never match up. All they'll ever be are plastic souvenirs of a great live show, Sham + ++ ½  Slade +++.

SHEILA PROPHET

'Come 'An 'Ave A Good Time With Us!' - Sham 69 Electric Ballroom Review (Sounds 9th December 1978)

 

It promised to be a good night (or two even). A pre-Christmas home coming gig, celebrating the very recent release of perhaps the band's finest album 'That's Life'. However, it was not to be and at least the first night ended up in another violent shambles as a small faction of British Movement skins did their darnedest to derail the gig.

Garry Bushell took up the story in his review that appeared in the 9th December issue of Sounds.

Sham 69

Electric Ballroom

So now we know who the real Sham fans are.

Three scenes from last night stick in my head this morning. One: A kid singing along to ‘Rip Off’. Four other kids come up “You like Sham then, mate?” “Yeah, they’re terrific.” “You f***ing c*** etc etc.” The kid hardly smiles again all night. The other four are British Movement, part of a gang of I suppose no more than 20. The same kids who mashed up the Lurkers fans at Thames Poly.

Before the set the atmosphere had been tense. Cimarons didn’t play because someone had smashed the drummer’s brother in the face on the way in. And everyone knew the BM had sworn to kill Sham next time they played London, but with friends and roadies lining the stage they had no chance. So instead they turned their attention to kids in the audience. 

Threatening, intimidating ruining an otherwise shit hot gig with tension and fear.

The British Movement hates Pursey because so many kids take more notice of him than they do of them. So the ‘hardcore’ headcases will try and wreck every Sham gig. They’re a problem that won’t walk away and can’t be talked away. A problem Sham’ll have to deal with every time they play London. What’s the answer? To ban known BM kids from gigs? To organise squads of fans in the audience? I’m not sure. What’s certain is that the BM ruined what looked like being a great Sham gig.

The band kicked off with ‘What Have You Got’, the words amended to “communists and National Front/they’re all a shower of shit”. The sound was razor sharp, far far better than the quality at the Bridgehouse (if only the atmosphere had been the same) and the band smashed through numbers like an out of control steam train: ‘Cockney Kids Are Innocent’, ‘ Family Life’, ‘That’s Life’, one of the best songs on the new album.

‘Angels’ which I’ve just decided is the single of the year, saw the first real pogoing of the night with a mass of bopping crops slamming about out of time with Doidie’s solid drumming. Repeat the sight for ‘Borstal Breakout’ – this is what punk’s about. Scene two came during ‘Angels’ when a skin climbed on his mates back singing “Kids like me (points to himself) and you (points at Pursey)”. There’s more for you than against you Jim, never forget it. 

Other good moments included the slower ‘Who Gives A Damn’, ‘Rip Off’ dedicated to Talcy Malcy with a new ending (“He’s just a c***/just a c***/just a c***") and ‘Hurry Up Harry’ which was scene three of the night with the wildest pogoing I’ve seen for months and these two girls sitting on the stage singing their hearts out beaming all over.

But all the time the BM skins had been operating and when after 14 numbers the band ended it took about 50 seconds before the ‘Sham’ chant went up. People were scared to clap. The worst moment came during the first encore of ‘Kids United’. By this time there was so much ill-feeling that Pursey just walked off stage, and though Dave and Kermit carried on until the end, no way would they come back again. 

In the van outside Pursey was well and truly pissed off: “Ow can you play when the audience is like shop window mannequins. It’s our ‘ome town and this ‘appens…”

Was he wrong to walk off?

I’m not sure but I don’t blame him. The irony is, cutting short the set left out the newest song and next single ‘Questions and Answers’: “So think before you do what they say/ It’s your life so go your own way/ There’s no one can tell you/ What you can and cannot be/ The world was made for all of us/ For you and yes for me…”

And if you think it makes you tough to prostitute yourself to some tinpot crank who thinks he’s ‘feuhrer’ and who’s gonna shit all over you, fair enough. I think it makes you a tosser.

POSTSCRIPT: To put things in perspective, Friday night was far far better, the crowd was much bigger and rowdier and the BM kids who were there caused no trouble at all. Rather than run away from the problem Pursey gave a short speech during which you could hear a pin drop, reaffirming his hate for the Nazis and his love for his fans.

The trouble at the gig provoked an editorial piece into the background of the British Movement that appeared in the following week's issue of Sounds (16th December 1978).

Beware the British Movement

In recent months London gigs, notably those of The Lurkers and especially last week’s Sham gigs at the Electric Ballroom, have been prey to the anti-social, anti-music activities of a very small gang of kids lead by members of the British Movement. Who are they?

Putting things in perspective the British Movement are tiny. Where they do exist it is in miniscule pockets in a lunatic limbo to the right of Britain’s ‘respectable’ racialists of the National Front. In other words they make no attempt to conceal their Nazism.

The BM was formed in 1968 by leading British Fascist Colin Jordan, fresh out of jail for offences under the Race Relations Act. He was a veteran of such ‘crusades’ as the paramilitary group, Spearhead (for which he, alongside present NF leader Tyndall were jailed), the British National Party, the National Socialist Movement and the Synagogue Arson Gang. Excluded from the newly formed NF for personal rather than political reasons (Tyndall, Pirie, Fountaine and many others shared similar overtly Nazi backgrounds) Jordan formed his own party which by 1975 had a grand national active membership of less than twenty. At this time Jordan decided to take a ‘leave of absence’ (shortly before being convicted of stealing three pairs of red knickers from the Leamington Spa branch of Tesco’s) and the mantle of leadership fell to Michael McLaugglin.

Messrs Tyndall and Webster had realised long before that in order to gain any degree of mass acceptance at all they’d need a populist veneer to their politics but this often makes them appear to the hardcore, or arguably more stupid Nazis, as softies, hence the ‘real’ Nazis join the BM, the League of St George, the Leeds based British National Party or the even tinier underground paramilitary Column 88, none of whom have such scruples about image.

And so in miniature amongst kids who superficially identify with the NF, a smaller number superficially identify with the ‘harder’ BM. Their actual London membership could be counted on a normal Aryan’s fingers especially after just being further depleted by the latest BM edict – that every member should have BM tattooed on their arms.

The problem of fascist violence at gigs is new to Britain but it does stem from their inability to make any headway at all amongst the majority of kids. Their decision to turn on punk groups can only serve to isolate them even further from rock fans, a fact which when it eventually finds its way into their ‘brains’ (and we use the word reluctantly) might persuade them to turn to some more rewarding activity.

Like suicide.

So did Sham bring this problem down on themselves? I fully understand Jimmy Pursey's genuine desire to engage and dissuade those that turned up at the band's gigs hell bent on trouble, but as Bushell pointed out in his Electric Ballroom review, that element of the audience were not open to his liberal approach to the situation, "They’re a problem that won’t walk away and can’t be talked away." If anything, I guess that the approach was naïve, but at the same time I don't really know how it could have been handled when the targeting of 'political foot soldiers' at punk gigs seemed to be a deliberated policy decision for the leadership of Britain's prominent far right organisations of the day. In contrast.... Sham 69 were a band of four musicians facing this shit every time they set foot on a stage.

Hersham Boys – Laced Up Boots and Corduroys!

 

I have long had a soft spot for Sham 69. They were a great singles band and as a result clocked up more Top of the Pops appearances than most of their punk and new wave contemporaries. Their songs, whilst rabble rousing, spanned a variety of themes from social commentary (‘Angels With Dirty Faces’), jack the lad humour (‘Hurry Up Harry’ and ‘Hersham Boys’), almost through to self help! (‘Questions and Answers’ and ‘If The Kids Are United’). Put ‘Hersham Boys’ on the turntable and you could be listening to a rough around the edges Madness (another troupe of lovable rouges, especially in their early years).

Originally championed by Mark P of Sniffin’ Glue/Alternative TV, Sham were sold as the band taking punk back to its grass roots, the punk band for young working class kids who couldn’t afford the look and style of the Kings Road from ‘Seditionaries’ or ‘Acme Clothing’ and instead made do with a torn school shirt and customised blazer. Sham 69’s songs spelled out a message of unity and the need to question and challenge authority, delivered through the lyrics and on-stage rants of front man Jimmy Pursey. Jimmy was something of a paradox. Did he and his band bring young people together or rather inadvertently open the door to elements of the far right and in doing so give the National Front and British Movement easy access to large numbers of disaffected working class youth looking for a purpose, at a time when their prospects for extremely limited by the economic and political climate that then existed in the UK?

The band tried to address the unwanted reputation they gained by virtue of the right wing skinhead elements of their audience, but often with limited success. Sham gave their support to the Rock Against Racism (RAR) cause, with Jimmy most notably performing ‘White Riot’ with The Clash in Hackney’s Victoria Park on 30th April 1978. Announcements of the band’s intention to play RAR promoted gigs were sometimes followed up with more announcements that they had pulled out gigs due to concerns over threats of violence that would ensue were they to play.

New Musical Express (23rd September 1978)

Pursey performing 'White Riot' with The Clash

Victoria Park, Hackney 20th April 1978

In 1979, some of the most exiting bands that the UK had to offer were on the rise, the likes of Adam and the Ants, The Angelic Upstarts, The Ruts, Sham 69, The Specials and The Beat. As great as the music was many of these bands gigs were regularly marred by politically motivated violence, with the 2 Tone bands being particularly easy targets. And for Sham that trouble seemed to follow in their wake.

Jimmy Pursey explains himself

London Weekend Show 11th February 1979

Prominance of the far right in the Top Ranks and Odeons of the land was reflected in the polling stations. Such was the new found confidence of the National Front in the 1979 General Election that they fielded candidates in nearly half of all British constituencies, polling 191,719 votes. This represented only 0.6% of the total vote and all deposits were lost but doubtless, their performance would have been stronger had the ultimately successful Conservative Party not played to the fears of would be NF voters to increase their vote.

Whiling away another sunny afternoon in Hersham Park!

As mentioned earlier, the band’s music did not warrant such a dubious reputation. When I listen to an early Sham 69 album, I cannot but smile. Think of ‘That’s Life’ punk’s own vinyl kitchen sink drama, a concept album no less documenting the drab 9 to 5 existence of a central character who lives for the horses and a fumble in the darkness of a nightclub on a Saturday night….. ‘Me brother thinks he’s John Travolta and me sister thinks she’s Olivia Nooooton Jo-o-ohn!’ (‘Grease’ was the runaway box office hit of 1978, songs from the soundtrack of which infected the UK charts for weeks on end!). ‘Everybody’s Right, Everybody’s Wrong’ sees our Jim in a reflective mood when he delivers the following lyrics, which are often quoted in our house:

‘I'm a jumper on the wrong way

With the label sticking out

I've been hung up to dry

But the dirt just won't come out

Everybody's wrong everybody's right

Someone must be wrong when someone else is right

Everybody's wrong everybody's right

You tell me that I'm wrong

Then you tell me that I'm right’

Just great, Keats could top that!!

The classic line up of Sham 69 disbanded in 1980 after the release of their fourth album ‘The Game’. Jimmy Pursey persued other artistic avenues including new fangled video and performance dance, remember the footage of Jimmy cavorting to ‘Meninblack’? No….

Jimmy suffering for his art!

(Riverside)

I first Sham 69 at The Marquee in 1992…. with keyboards! It was a tame affair. The only skinheads in evidence were very young and at one point Pursey leant over the stage and patted one of them on the head and told him to grow his hair. Given the fact that he was wearing a modern Skrewdriver T-shirt I would have favoured the more robust Mensi approach in the same circumstances!

In 2006, after a fall out, Sham 69 mainstays, Jimmy Pursey and Dave Parsons, parted company with the guitarist continuing with the band with Tim V on vocals. In more recent years three quarters of the classic line up of Pursey, Parsons and Treganna reformed and they still cut it although the former motor mouth stage proclamations have disappeared and that’s a shame.

New Musical Express

11th March 1978

Sham 69 The Great British Alternative Music Festival Skegness 5th October 2019

And another from Skegness.... you don't see fo meny Sham recordings around and this is great! Thanks again to PontiacB!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-vbLrCtKaMi

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-S78KlEhx4f

01.Intro
02.What Have We Got
03.Tear Gas Eyes
04.I Don't Wanna
05.Ulster Boy
06.Rip Off
07.Bastille Cake (Leave Me Alone)
08.No Entry
09.Borstal Breakout
10.That's Life
11.One Faith (Give A Dog A Bone)
12.Money
13.Questions and Answers
14.White Riot
15.If The Kids Are United
16.Encore Break
17.Angels With Dirty Faces
18.Hersham Boys
19.Hurry Up Harry

Hey Ho! Let's Go! To The Butlins Bop!

'Fresh' from this years 'Rebellion Festival' I must have been a glutton for punishment to agree to spending the first weekend of October in the Butlin's Holiday Camp some 7 miles outside of sunny Skegness. Actually it was my daughter who persuaded me that I had to go. You see she turned 18 that weekend and she knew that she had me somewhat over a barrel.... what her Ladyship wanted that weekend, her Ladyship would get! In truth it was a great weekend but it reinforced an important lesson once again.... I cannot stay up later than an 18 year old!! And what is more I shouldn't actually try to! With great friends and bands that I have been following for 30 years what more could you want other than sleep.

Friday night was a solid nod to the UK '82 scene with headline sets from two of the big hitters of that time, The Adicts and The Anti-Nowhere League. For me, this was the second time that I had seen The Adicts in a 24 hour period having been at their Islington gig the night before.

The Adicts

The ultimate showmen for me. Monkey and crew must be the largest stakeholders in each and every West Coast jokeshop.... and he is such a messy boy! Original members, Kid and Pete Dee, along with the aforementioned Monkey are ably assisted by a couple of excellent German musicians and together they make a great good time noise between them. And what tunes they have from the explosive opener of 'Joker In The Pack' to the head clearing 'Vive La Revolution'.

At the finale of The Adicts' set their crew release a dozen or so oversize beach balls into the crowd to accompany the band's rendition of the long established Liverpool FC anthem, 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. Much juvenile fun is had belting these things around as the band shift into Eric and Ernie's 'Bring Me Sunshine' which brings the show to a close. To my great embarrassment, upon heading towards the bar amidst the final settling snowstorm of Adicts' confetti, I accidentally side swiped a descending beach ball straight into the face of a wheelchair bound punk who was unseen to my left! Belated apologies should you read this.

The Anti-Nowhere League 

Now I haven't seen the League for many years now and I was unsure as to whether they would be playing this weekend's bill given the recent misfortune that befell Animal when he was glassed in the throat in his hometown of Tunbridge Wells. However, he was indeed here and apart from a less than complimentary reference to his Kent assailant, nothing appeared to be amiss and the League delivered a great set of 'We Are The League' classics supplemented with the likes of 'For You', 'Fucked Up & Wasted' and 'Let The Country Feed You' and of course, that legend of the early '80's classroom..... 'So What'. Great to see them again and good to see Animal back on stage doing what he does best.

'Let The Country Feed You'

A few beers after the League saw Day One draw to a close... for me at least.... Mo and Laura had other ideas and after acting as good Samaritans leading some lost revelers to their chalet.... it is impossible not to get lost in that place where everywhere looks identical, no more so than in the dark. Eventually they returned at 6.30 in the morning after having partied in the chalet of 'Hung Like Henratty'!

'So What'

Pete Bentham & The Dinner Ladies

As winners of the 2018 Introducing Stage popular vote, Pete Bentham & The Dinner Ladies were able to open the day's proceeding on one of the main stages on Day Two. Hailing from Liverpool with their self declared 'Kitchencore' sound, they delivered a punchy set at this unearthly time of day (at least in terms of your average rock 'n' roller!). The set was great and the band played the audience well. Personally, Pete reminded me of a very much more personable version of Mark E. Smith!

Tom Robinson Band

I do not own anything by Tom Robinson or TRB. I know some of the singles but that’s about it. Nevertheless, I was keen to see at least a part of their set early on Saturday afternoon. Older musicians than most of their contemporaries they eschewed the safety pins and ripped clothing, for many the uniform of 1977 punk. In their song writing however they were the original political punk band and my goodness was Tom Robinson angry. It was for this reason that I was so very keen to see them. Tom was the only original member, Dolphin Taylor was not behind the kit and I know that Danny Kustow died earlier this year, but they were regardless a very tight unit. Whilst I watched them they played ‘Grey Cortina’ and ‘Winter of ‘79’, both from the ‘Power in the Darkness’ album of 1978 along with ‘Too Good to be True’. Tom looked to be in rude health as he approaches his milestone 70th birthday. Good to see such a significant band, another ticked of the punk band bucket list.

The Undertones

I was lucky to have left Tom and his band when I did. Had I stayed for another song or two it is highly unlikely that I would have made it into the venue where The Undertones were playing. Shortly after I got through the door a strict one out one in system was introduced.

The band seemed unphased when the compare introduced them as the ‘Tome Robinson Band!’. Well in rock ‘n’ roll terms it was pretty early. They launched into their set with an exuberant ‘Jimmy Jimmy’. Watching The Undertones play is like getting a great big punk hug! It is nigh on impossible not to sing along whilst grinning like an idiot as this troupe of middle aged men from Derry regale a middle aged audience with hormone heavy tales of triumph or disaster, be it in relation to getting the girl, losing the girl or getting their hands on popular confectionery! Paul Loone expressed his discombobulation at being on stage at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. ‘He would normally be in the bookies’ said bassist Michael Bradley.

What a collection of songs they have in their arsenal. Forget ‘Teenage Kicks’ and ‘My Perfect Cousin’, formidable though they are, a typical Undertones set quickly brings the listener to the realisation that they were one of our great singles bands….. ‘You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?)’, ‘Get Over You’, ‘Wednesday Week’….. well you get my drift. With ‘Teenage Kicks’ cropping up mid set it was with ‘My Perfect Cousin’ that they closed a fantastic set, a song that contains the most masterful lyric of the punk era…..

‘His mother bought him a synthesizer

Got the Human League into advise her

Now he's making lots of noise

Playing along with the art school boys’

Peter and the Test Tube Babies

What is there to say about the Test Tubes? They have been consistent since 1978, one of the few bands not to have broken up. It’s funny to think that compared to my mates I saw them first time relatively late (they were our local band). It was 50p to get into a Sunday lunchtime gig at Brighton’s Richmond Hotel back in 1985. Then it was the original line up of Peter, Derek, Trapper and Ogs. These days it is just Peter and Del who continue with the band but the songs still hold up….. none better than ‘The Jinx’ from their greatest album, 1983’s ‘The Mating Sounds of South American Frogs’. The only downside to their set was that I was hit on the back and the back of the head by about a pint and a half of cider. I’m not getting shirty about it or anything….. if someone wants to part with £4.50 for a pint only to launch it at a band on stage minutes later, well that’s down to their own intellect and bank balance I suppose.

Sham 69

Like him or loath him, Jimmy Pursey won’t go away. Few characters in punk, other than John Lydon, have the ability to divide opinion in the way that Jim does. Is he a rabble rouser who inadvertently gave the far right a home in the late ‘70’s or is he a well-intentioned individual who happens to view the world through a rather simplistic lens? In my view he fits the latter description but either way I have always loved Sham’s material. It is not up there with the likes of ‘White Man in Hammersmith Palais’ or ‘Down in a Tube Station at Midnight’ but Sham’s songs have a different appeal altogether.

I first saw Sham back in 1992 (I think) at the Marquee.... it was pretty dreadful as I recall, it was during the time that they had keyboards on stage! The gig was in no way memorable as all I can remember is Jimmy ruffling the heads of two very young skinheads wearing Skrewdriver T-shirts and telling them to grow their hair. I have seen Mensi engage with a punter in a Skrewdriver shirt at an Upstarts gig.... let's just say that his approach was more robust! I saw them too at a 'Holidays in the Smoke' gig around the mid to late '90s. I have no idea what Mr Pursey had done on that day but half of the audience were baying for his blood. However, in this latest incarnation with three quarters of the classic line up now restored with Dave Tregunna back on bass they are a very different band to what they were in the '90s.

Again, as with The Undertones, its easy to forget the popular appeal that Sham had over the last two years of the 1970's. The band cropped up with fair regularity on Top of the Pops taking their cock-er-nee antics in to the nation's front rooms on a Thursday evening, causing Mums and Dads (mostly the Dads) to roll their eyes and tut! Those great singles, 'Angels With Dirty Faces', 'Hersham Boys', 'Questions and Answers' and of course 'Hurry Up Harry' are all in there prompting a raucous sing-a-long! The set opens too with a nod to the bands early days with 'I Don't Wanna' and 'Ulster Boy' from 1977. However, it is not all nostalgia as a couple newer songs feature, 'Tear Gas Eyes' and 'Bastille Cake' both of which were received well.

999

Always great to see 999 although quite why they are on at 12.15 on a Sunday lunch time is baffling. Here you have an original first wave punk band, veterans of The Roxy and The Vortex for Heaven's sake! They should be way up the billing in my opinion.

They are one of only a handful of the original punk bands who kept on going through thick and thin. As Nick Cash is always at pains to point out.... 'It's all about the music!'. And 999, much like the UK Subs, live by that statement and it's a commitment that has earned them a very loyal following. So, despite the very un-rock 'n' roll stage time I was very glad to see a good turnout for the lads. They played a great set and I am very much looking forward to the release of their new album, now late in the mixing stage.

After the gig I had a chat with Guy and Nick, who was manning the merch stage. I love 999's take on merchandise..... you never know what there will be on account of the band sticking to the original DIY ethic...... find a random shirt screen print a logo on it and knock it out. Brilliant!

The Angelic Upstarts

This was the second set of the weekend for The Upstarts as they had filled in for the AWOL Bad Manners the day before. These days an Upstarts gig falls something between a Working Man's Club turn and a full on punk gig. Mensi provides the banter and the band periodically jump in when he decides to do a song. I loved his anectodote about his punk initiation seeing 999 first (at this point Guy Days of 999 was watching the bands set from the wings) and then The Clash on the 'White Riot' tour.... can't recall where he said but it was a student gig, so I am guessing at Newcastle University (20th May 1977). Mensi, then a young coal miner, turned up with a load of colliery mates and went to pay for admission to the gig. The guy on the door explained that this was a student only gig so did he have an N.U.S. card (contrast with the recently upped post of The Stranglers at the University of Surrey in 1978 (here). Mensi responded 'I've got an N.U.M. card'. 'Look' says he 'We'd prefer to pay to get in, but we're going in'. On a second refusal our Mensi took matters in had with regards to gaining access to the gig.... launching a plant pot through a plate glass window which he and a handful of fellow miners stepped to go and see The Clash!

As for The Upstarts this afternoon, well they were brilliant as usual!

The Stranglers

Photo: Owen Carne

Given the issues that some folk had with venue access the previous day I decided to encamp in the venue that The Stranglers were due to play in, unfortunately this meant that I missed The Lurkers. But on this occasion, I didn't get to see much of the MIB either. Twice, a couple of people on the barrier crushed the daughters arm as she was holding the barrier to steady herself. This resulted in me getting her out of the venue on two occasions! When she went back in for the third time I decided that I couldn't be arsed to battle through the crowd anymore and I settled for another (at this point unneeded pint). So there's not much to be said about that one!

Nevertheless, Mo was pleased to see her pink framed moonface in one of the crew's photos from the stage.

'Where's Wally?'

The Cockney Rejects

After the hassle with The Stranglers and this being the culmination of what had been a great weekend, I dragged my somewhat drunken arse from the bar in order to see The Cockney Rejects. The situation in the venue was much better that it had been in Blackpool where the unbearable heat inside the gig meant that I only saw two songs before having to leave.

Tonight, once again The Rejects gave it their all with a great set (this time we saw it all)..... most of which I can't remember very well! :). But anyway here's a picture instead.

Well done to Butlin's as Skegness and to all behind the organisation of the 2019 Great British Alternative Music Festival for a full weekend of great bands at a great price!