Do It Thissen: Sheffield and South Yorkshire Music Scene: 78 - 82

[Ian Townsend]

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/thissen_flyer1_zps76013538.jpg

Great opening night to this exhibition of Post-Punk goodness.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/thissen_flyer2_zpsf3668acd.jpg

Annoyed at myself for not photographing the hearty reunion hugs going on as bands like the Stunt Kites reconvened to get misty-eyed about the past.
Lots of good stuff to see. Vintage equipment loaned by Clock DVA for example.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/small_stone_zpsa32d711c.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/kawai_clock_dva_zpsd3b91894.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/copicat_machine_zps856d0ebd.jpg

Curator Matt Cheeseman did a great job opening the event and thanking all the folks who had contributed stuff, although here it kinda looks like he's bursting into song.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/eine_kleine_zps8f04c642.jpg

Lots of great ephemera including badge collections and the actual sign from Crazy Daizy's, the nightclub where Phil Oakey picked up two young girls to sing in Human League. Was there ever such a lucky night out for two teenage girls anywhere in the world ever???

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/crazy_daizy_zps6b728bbf.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/badges_zps4f8779dd.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/nmx_mag_zpsbb1a555d.jpg

Fanzine editor Martin Lacey chatted to the crowd about his influential NMX fanzine which via distribution through Rough Trade reached a circulation of 1500 at its peak and helped to spread the gospel about bands like Human League, Artery, Clock DVA, Stunt Kites, Cabaret Voltaire etc etc. Here he is proudly displaying the original NMX technology. (Rather bizarrely. I went to the same school as Martin. Worked out he was the year above me. Small world!)

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/martin_lacey_zpsdf7ac388.jpg

A nice touch to the exhibition was the creation of a fanzine about him by Chelle Quint. Damned annoyed I didn't get to chat to her as I was hoping to source all six issues of her own fanzine that's been running a while called ( ahem) 'Adventures in Menstruating.' Chelle? If you're reading this? Please get in touch. (Forumusic article in progress on the current New Wave of Fanzines-related...)

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/nmx_special_zpsb0370aed.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/thissen_opening_zps6c50c907.jpg

Eagle-eyed raer fans may notice a lil' something lurking in the background behind the Shy Tots single.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/shy_tots_zps15855d46.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/human_league_zps4da391cd.jpg

A thoroughly enjoyable night (and great to the Seven Hills possee there too!)

These photos only represent a fraction of the stuff on display. Highly recommended veiwing if you're near Sheffield and you can buy most of the wall exhibits. Really kicking myself I didn't photograph the crowd more. So many interesting post - punk 'faces.'

[ceemillar]

Punk and post punk sounds are one whole period of music i never really understood. I sort of understand that it was against everything that happened in rock before and wsa all about reflecting industruial bleakness but just cant hear any appeal in the songs and sounds at all. I suppose the angry jagged edge of it is what others actually like but to my ears its just angry and disjointed and cold.

[ironheadrat]

Punk and post punk sounds are one whole period of music i never really understood. I sort of understand that it was against everything that happened in rock before and wsa all about reflecting industruial bleakness but just cant hear any appeal in the songs and sounds at all. I suppose the angry jagged edge of it is what others actually like but to my ears its just angry and disjointed and cold.

I've never really agreed much with the theory that it was a reaction against what went before - it was more to do with cheap, accesible musical instruments and technology (that picture of the Copicat above brought back great memories of me and my mates farting around for hours with one of those, a guitar and a trumpet I found in a junk shop) and a DIY ethos. What that produced was easy to contrast with the excesses of the industry at the time.

The cold, jagged element is there in a lot of it, but it was by no means the only influence. Dub, funk and disco were there almost from the start, and there were soon bands exploring corners from exotica to free jazz. Another aspect to remember is that this occurred at the very height of youth movements - punk had a clear style, but the post-punk thing was much more indefinable. The look for most kids you'd see was austere - raincoats, camo, wartime haircuts, and that was reflected in the music. Punk was also mainly a London phenomenon, but post-punk saw towns like Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool becoming exciting centres of music, and there was definitely a strong northern influence (rain, decaying industry, general grimness).

The 1979 & 80 futurama line-ups gives a good idea of what was on offer. There are big names like the Banshees and PIL, who were instrumental in the jagged, arty style, but there's all sorts of other stuff, too, from dreamy sketches by the Durutti Column and Young Marble Giants, plenty of electronic pioneers like OMD and SOft Cell who would help define 80s electropop, a few old art rockers and many bands whose music was far more humorous, quirky and chirpy than is recognised by the modern post-punk stereotype

http://www.mdmarchive.co.uk/gfx/400-875.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SvsaNpaytxU/TIkkskj2BfI/AAAAAAAAJQM/HzYOo5p0Is0/s1600/fut2leaflet.jpg

[ironheadrat]

[]

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/Pattrick_104_2007/copicat_machine_zps856d0ebd.jpg
'

The Copicat is lovely, like the wing of a bird or a harp. I can remember thinking it reminded me of Alexander Calder's mobiles (of which there was one on the cover of this book that I used to read ostentatiously and pretend I understood).

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41R3Z9PARFL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

[treeboy]

That first Futurama line up is incredible! One of my favourite bands from the period was Magazine. As to the cold, angry, disjointed feel, I think that's how a lot of us felt back in them days. Thatcherism didn't make you feel too warm and cosy, especially if you were living in the Midlands/ North of the country, it was bad enough down South!

[ironheadrat]

That first Futurama line up is incredible! One of my favourite bands from the period was Magazine. As to the cold, angry, disjointed feel, I think that's how a lot of us felt back in them days. Thatcherism didn't make you feel too warm and cosy, especially if you were living in the Midlands/ North of the country, it was bad enough down South!

It's often overlooked that the first flurry of punk occurred under a Labour government. There was definitely a sense of bleak foreboding when Thatcher got in, though, and post-punk saw a much tighter political focus from many artists, with feminist, Marxist, anarcho-syndicalist strains, and many others, coming through (much of it, also, had nothing to do with politics - Ian Curtis voted for Maggie)
Magazine were great, but I never really liked Devotos singing, Adi from ClockDVA had a similar idiosyncratic, abrasive voice which often grated a bit too much for me,.

[Ian Townsend]

The cold, jagged element is there in a lot of it, but it was by no means the only influence. Dub, funk and disco were there almost from the start, and there were soon bands exploring corners from exotica to free jazz.
Something that LadyBoyGrimsby touched upon in that very interesting thread over on VG+ about the roots of library and easy music (http://www.verygoodplus.co.uk/showthread.php?958-Library-easy-etc).

Everything But The Girl in its earliest form and The Pale Fountains were two bands I really liked. I remember seeing EBTG play at Harrow Tech around 1980(?) in a Pillows and Prayers type line-up that included The Marine Girls. I was really impressed with Ben Watts guts to just stand and sing the really melodic song This Boy with an acoustic guitar.
Dream Academy wafted along but a little later on I think.

[e3sa934]

As a coda to this, one year after the event ....

During the exhibition, a former member of local band 'Hobbies Of Today' gave me a stash of records badges and posters, and some tracks which had been transferred to CD. It turns out that three of the tracks on the CD were the tracks from the band's unreleased debut single, which should have been released in the first half of 1977. Apparently, there were problems with the record pressing plant, and the master tapes had mysteriously disappeared. All that survived was a mono cassette copy of the tracks taken from the masters before the record plant farrago ... and which tracks have now found their way to me. I'm working with the band to release these as intended on a 7" single in the not too distant future.

You can follow progress and hear clips from the tracks via the FB page, here (https://www.facebook.com/HobbiesOfTodayMexborough)

[Ian Townsend]

Excellent coda! Keep us posted. I deeply regret not taking more photographs of the crowd. :( There were post-punk faces, styles and haircuts present that were frozen in 1982. It would have made a great Forumusic website main page.

( Note to self: ALWAYS photograph the crowd)

[e3sa934]

Go to the FB page of Ian Michael Spooner and find an album called 'Festival of the Mind Ongoing Album', scroll to picture 131: there are a number of 'crowd' pictures of the event in there :D

[e3sa934]

I'm working with the band to release these as intended on a 7" single in the not too distant future.

You can follow progress and hear clips from the tracks via the FB page, here (https://www.facebook.com/HobbiesOfTodayMexborough)

... released, and down to the last few copies :D Kev and I were interviewed for a piece in the local paper a couple of weeks ago, hopefully that will be published this week or next :cool: