▲TLR 004
lock it up
TLR 001
outside view
(recorded december 1976):
▼
"..this single is crap. Its not even good crap, it's just a waste of time"
- Mark Perry, 'Sniffin' Glue' issue #8.
???
Produced by Dave Goodman and Kim Thraives.
▼
"..this single is crap. Its not even good crap, it's just a waste of time"
- Mark Perry, 'Sniffin' Glue' issue #8.
???
Produced by Dave Goodman and Kim Thraives.
Ian Woodcock: bass;
Dee Generate: drums;
Brian Chevette: guitar;
Andy Blade: vocals.
▼ EATER: OUTSIDE VIEW from "Outside View b/w You" 45 (The Label) 1977 (UK)
▼ EATER: LOCK IT UP from "Lock It Up b/w Jeepster" 45 (The Label) 1977 (UK)
PREVIOUSLY ON SIBLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS
PREVIOUSLY ON SIBLINGSHOT ON THE BLEACHERS
14 comments:
Haven´t heard these in a loooong time. Wasn´t their drummer only 14?
Yep! Average age, 16. Something which made me identify with them all the more. I loved the Eater singles and their one LP. T-Rex on a high speed collision with Mott The Hoople, the Velvets and general juvenile delinquency...
And picking up the Monkees hitch-hiking on the way.
For sheer bratty exuberance they were kind of hard to beat.
Allegedly, too, "Outside View" is regarded as just the third UK Punk release; after "New Rose" and the Buzzcocks self-financed "Spiral Scratch" EP. I don't recall for sure. Mark P came off sounding like a slightly snooty elder brother.
I did some work for a thoroughly decent bloke who had relocated to Glasgow in the 90s and was once on close terms with the four.
Although they only shifted a dribble of product at the time, they enjoyed quite a loyal support outside of London.
Oh. And according to 'Punk 77', John Savage said:
"Youth by itself is not enough".
To quote Animal of ANW, "So fuckin' what."
Beats the shit out of 'Pop Idol' and the whole Solyent Green karaoke machine.
For some reason I totally passed on Eater when Punk first came around -- maybe because the critics slogged them off as not worth it, a la Perry. But damn, when I heard Outside View very recently, I thought it was one an out and out stone cold classic, just as good as anything the more well-known bands were doing.
Eater were great. They just didn't fit with some people's blueprint for a manifesto. A bit like The Damned, who were written off by some as paultry Stooges derivatives.
Then again, The Ramones always struck me as a speedballing Bay City Rollers. And I liked the Rollers.
Which reminds me; it was reputedly Rat Scabies of The Damned who introduced the fourteen year old Dee Generate to the rest of Eater; Brian Chevette and Andy Blade being schoolmates since year dot.
Never belive what you read in the press. It's like the old driving exams of old here in the uk; it's not who you pass, it's how many you fail.
ib: I had a great punk book called 1988 by Caroline Coon, I think it was, that featured the early UK punk bands. Eater was in there, along with the Pistols, Damned, Buzzcocks, etc. I used to just skip over the Eater section because I never knew their music; even the punk compilations never seemed to feature them. Man, I wish I still had that book. One of those lent it to somebody and never got it back deals. The same guy, Davey Gunner from Kraut, also has my Rude Boy program from 1980 when it first played here at the 8th Street Playhouse in the Village. Davey: I still want them back if you ever read this!! No statute of limitations in effect here!
Yeah. Caoline Coon was one of the first of the old guard to embrace punk. 'Melody Maker', right ?
I had stacks of papers under my bed until my cat made a nest in them and pissed all over her territory.
Mostly the NME and Sounds. A few Melody Makers, possibly. A great issue with Lester Bangs covering The Clash on tour and stopping off in Northern Ireland.
Left to my own devices without the gamma rays of external influence, I have always found it nearly impossible to let go of 'stuff'. It is in my blood very possibly. A Polish / Ukranian hoarding mentality. A resistant ego under seige.
Actually. Those times when I have been most happy have been those when I've been forcibly stripped of possession and forced to begin anew. Not that I'm necessarily recommending it.
These days I'm mainly just covetous of an entry port to the WWW. It giives me a degree of comfort, just knowing all this shit is floating weightless in the ether. Until some web crawling robot 'manually' deletes it, of course.
The web is like some physical alternative manifestation of the human brain. Fragile but subversive and potentially capable of AI.
Thank god for the counter culture, is what I'm driving at.
"Do you want the hippie shit ? or d'you just want the Rock n' Roll shit ?"
It's all Philip K. Dick to me.
And. I feel I must add, Caroline Coon was probably just intent on fucking Paul Simonon.
I still have a copy of that Coon book. It´s called 1988 - The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion. Contains some great photography. I just checked and you can buy a used copy on Amazon UK for about 25 quid.
ib: I'm a fellow hoarder. Pre-Internet, I had a filing system with various files labeled Punk, Ireland, Jimmy Breslin, Orwell, Sports, etc., the majority of which I still have. A few mates dropped by my house this past summer and were stunned that I held onto a postcard they sent me from a 1979 California trip. My response was, Why would I dispose of it? It doesn't really take up any room.
I think Coon and every other "chick" on the Punk scene was after the Clash bassman, including as you probably know Patti Smith. Smith just released her memoir about the early NYC pre-punk scene which sounds pretty interesting, hopefully a better read than Dylan's quizzically structured Chronicles from a few years back.
Ramone: That's the one. I thought it was out of print. eBay had some used copies, but the cost was prohibitive. Not sure how quids convert to dollars! I'm still holding out hope that I can retrieve my original copy, minus the few pages I ripped out to hang on my bedroom wall(bedsit room for you Brits; picked that lingo up courtesy of Joe Strummer in Capital Radio) as a young lad, much to my dad's dismay. Had a huge Clash poster, an orange-tinged one from a Paris show that was my all-time favorite snap of the band, as well as a smaller NO ELVIS, BEATLES OR THE ROLLING STONES IN 1977 shot. My dad was a neat freak who hated scotch tape on the walls, but they stayed up, along with a life-size shot of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, until I moved out in '82, taking my cat Herman with me but alas leaving much of my punk ephemera behind.
Caroline Coon was in the audience of 23 the first time I saw the Stranglers. She had a great can and so did her girlfriend. I think the bass player had a threesome with the pair after the show. They were too old for any of the other band members to have a go at.
I don't think I have the Eater lp but if you are ever in need of a shot of unbridled exuberance look no further than their singles.
And, to quote Cock Sparrer, if I may, "Where are they now?"
Well, that seals it; the Stranglers - with the possible exception of JJ himself - being no spring chickens themselves at the time.
Shameful. She was all of 32 in 1977. Jesus.
"London Lady", yes. The jury is still out and disappearing over the horizon regarding her claim that Dylan wrote "She Belongs To Me" after a breief laison.
My fave = "Holland - we've never even been there!" Ha ha punk footnote getting the remaining 7.50 minutes they *ahem* deserve? I guess so even though I think they aped the 1st Clash/Adverts singles a tad ("Gary Gilmore died in the USA"!)but then again if I recall Eater I am probably in my Senile Scratch segment of punkabilia - & old to boot!
Glad you have moved off the Beatles - did you find a copy of MC Solaar's Noveau Western or should I put my CD version between mattress & springs & squash you a copy?
Anti Nowhere League ! OMG I forgot about them League
AW
You are right, AW, about the Gary Gilmore reference; even at the time it felt overshadowed by The Adverts 45, which actually received its fair share of airplay.
Which came first, though, I genuinely don't recall. Also, I think "Thinking of the USA" was intentially a retort to "I'm So Bored with the USA". Anyway.
The lines "Lou Reed comes from the USA, Walter Lure comes from the USA" more than compensate for the ill-judged Gilmore sensationalism, I feel. And you could tell they definitely meant it.
Still haven't tracked down a copy of "Nouveau Western", sadly.
As for ANW. Well. A bit too comic book - Viz - for extensive namechecking, but nevertheless "So What" has a place in my affection.
Three foot dayglo Mohawks for the tourists in Trafalger Square. Never really got that 80's comedown. Very Gary Bushell.
Post a Comment