Thirty years after Rock Against Racism, some of its survivors join the younger generation to show how much – or how little – has changed

I've been mugged three times in London. Now, looking at it objectively, spread over 20 years of living in one of the world's most crowded cities, that's not a bad tally. The trouble is this: every time, the perpetrators were young, male and black. On the third and most serious occasion, I was clubbed on the head with a metal bar, dragged into an alley, and held with a knife to my neck by one guy while his accomplice raided £500 from my bank account.

What do I "do" with that? The progressive thing to do is, if not write it off as a statistical blip, at least place it in the context of wider sociological factors. But one's intellectual and visceral responses are two different things, and as a committed anti-racist I was shocked to find myself flinching every time a young black male (particularly if dressed in a particular fashion) passed me in the street. Maybe I shouldn't have thrown that victim counselling leaflet in the bin.

This is precisely why Love Music Hate Racism needs to exist. Will Self, answering a question about Martin Amis at a recent talk, opined that "everyone is a little bit racist", and if even someone as scrupulously egalitarian as myself can experience such feelings, then it doesn't take a genius to work out how the combined effects of anecdotal incidents like mine, tabloid hysteria about gang warfare, and irresponsible politicians using words like "swamped" might drive large sections of the white working class into the all too eager arms of the BNP.

READ MORE... 

Iron Cross was an early `80s hardcore/Oi! act with links to the Dischord scene, a fairly groundbreaking band for skinhead culture in the US. Though they never actually had a release on Dischord Records, the band's close ties with Ian Mackaye landed them a spot on 1982's fabled Flex Your Head compilation. Their only other real output came in the form of a few EPs, the last of which came in 1983, with false accusations of racist leanings supposedly leading frontman Sab Grey to break up the band. So as far as anyone can tell, this is their first new material in almost 25 years. 2 Piece and a Biscuit is actually a split release between Iron Cross and Grey's other project, the Royal Americans, who contribute songs from their 2004 release, Third Left on the Right.

The EP opens up with "Pride and Freedom," and frankly, it feels redundant calling any of these songs "working class anthems" but that's exactly what this song is. And what do you know, it's a pretty great song. You'll find your fist pumping along with the cheesy, given "Oi!"s and singing along with Grey's oddly Springsteen-esque holler. The band is operating fully at mid-tempo, but it's not like they were ever the most speedy outfit anyway. None of Iron Cross's other songs here match the feel-good vibes of the first song, but the fact that "I Don't Love You Any More," "Running Riot" and "Catch Your Grave (demo)" is mostly a better produced and more professional sounding version of their younger selves is pretty admirable. Granted, there are some sure rock'n'roll vibes for the chorus of "Running Riot," but old fans -- and anyone who follows Oi!'s most popular followers -- might just get a kick out of these songs.

Sab Grey's last three with his Royal Americans band is a more Americana/Cash-type deal. The bizarro highlight is a downbeat cover of the Specials' "Skinhead Girl" done in the style of Cash; it's just weird. "Wasted in DC" is an Oi!-backed rockabilly affair and "Ship of Sorrow" another semi-haunting country shuffle in the vein of Johnny and June. Overall, these songs are alright, but I'd much rather hear a few more Iron Cross songs, or at least a more linear approach.

All told, not at all a bad comeback. A lot of people would definitely question the quality if early `80s acts like Minor Threat or Negative Approach tried recording new material so long after the fact, but at least one band of the era has managed some very competent new takes.

STREAM
Iron Cross - Pride and Freedom
Iron Cross - I Don't Love You Any More
Iron Cross - Catch Your Grave (demo)
Sab Grey and the Royal Americans - Skinhead Girl
Sab Grey and the Royal Americans - Wasted in DC
 

Roger Perkins reviews Skinheads by John King

The success of novels such as The Football Factory, Human Punk and White Trash have made John King the premier chronicler, even celebrant, of Britain's more lumpen subcultures and, incidentally, the biggest-selling author on Jonathan Cape's roster.

His seventh book, Skinheads, offers a tale based on the nasty short-haired cult that in the early 1970s proved so irresistible to the large tranche of this country's youths who weren't hippies or Greebos. Many of these have immatured with age and now have salaries big enough to splash out on Savile Row tonic suits and, indeed, hardbacks.

Terry English, one of the three central characters, reflects this. The materially prosperous skinhead owner of a taxi firm, he approaches his 50th birthday with a heart weakened by both fry-ups and the death of his wife and boot-girl soulmate.

The discovery of the boarded-up Union Jack Club offers him the chance of a new start and a shot at some sort of salvation through passing on the skinhead code of the joy of ska, the delight of looking sharp and the pleasure of a good ruck to the next generation, represented by his nephew, Nutty Ray, an Oi-obsessed autodidact who's as likely to engage you in a debate on Orwell as he is to twop you one, and Lol, Terry's skate-punk son and all-round tasty herbert. And that's about it, really.

READ MORE..

Hailed as one of reggae greatest innovators
By Basil Walters Observer staff reporter
Sunday, March 16, 2008

Radio disc jock Mikey Dread is dead. He succumbed to a brain tumour late yesterday afternoon at his family home in Connecticut, USA at the age of 54. Born Michael Campbell in Port Antonio, Jamaica, he distinguished himself as an extraordinary studio engineer and presenter at the now defunct Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) where he came to prominence in the 1970s as “The Dread-the-Control Tower”, the name of the late night show he presented at a time when reggae music was scoffed at by many.

Mikey Dread… hailed as one of reggae’s greatest innovators and original radio engineers/technicians, the past student of Titchfield High School, in 2006 celebrated the 30th anniversary of the night programme which he started at the JBC, and revolutionised the after midnight shift making it into the most popular slot on radio, by playing strictly dub music. This innovation is seen by many musicologists as the antecedence of dancehall as we now know it.

READ MORE

...is the title of a recent Pan Macmillan published book. Essentially, it's a biography of Britain's best ska-revival band, The Specials, and it's written by Specials' bass player Horace Panter. Panter these days is a special needs teacher although he can still be found doing weekend gigs in and around the Coventry area. It's good to be close to your roots.

Lucky you, dear reader, if you're old and ugly enough to remember this lot. They had the best songs and (according to many reports) were the best live band going at the time. Being at primary school at the height of their fame, I never got to see them and I would've had to be accompanied by one of my parents had I went, which would not have been cool. They then split up in October 1981 leaving me more than pissed off. 

READ MORE  

The Victoria BC Ska Society is a newly formed non-profit organization that is comprised of a handful of organizers, volunteers and Board of Directors whose main goal is to keep Victoria’s Annual Ska Festival improving and evolving year after year as well as preserving the profile of ska and its related genres throughout the year in our region. All those involved in the Society have a burning passion for supporting the ska and reggae scene throughout Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of BC as well as Canada and the rest of the world.

1. To present and nurture ska music along with its related genres- jazz, reggae, rock n' roll, punk, soul Latin, R&B and more - in Victoria and region, on Vancouver Island, across British Columbia and Canada as well as the world

2. To educate youth, communities and the general public about ska music and its related genres through a variety of methods including but not limited to the presentation of festivals, musical events, film, visual art, literature, and the press

3. To work with individuals, groups, non-profit organizations, businesses and governments throughout Victoria and region and across Canada in order to entrench ska music and its related genres into local and national culture

Link: http://www.victoriaskafest.ca/

READ MORE 

Ska Brewing is constructing a new headquarters and brewing facility in Bodo Industrial Park that is expected to triple the Durango company's brewing capacity. Ska brewed 8,010 barrels of beer in 2007, up 18 percent from 2006. That growth came in its current markets in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Illinois and North Carolina.

"We've been at capacity all year," said Dave Thibodeau, co-founder and president of Ska Brewing.

Ska plans to move newly purchased brewing equipment into its new plant around the end of June. It will hopefully open to the public in late September, Thibodeau said. Ska will be able to brew 24,000 barrels a year at the new plant, Thibodeau said

Find them here at: http://www.skabrewing.com

 Is there some unwritten rule that every ground-breaking musician must also have a screw loose? I don't mean to assert that Lee "Scratch" Perry is actually mentally deficient, but on the basis of the footage compiled in the documentary The Upsetter: The Life & Music of Lee "Scratch" Perry, it would be easy to conclude that something is not quite right with Mr. Perry.

One of the reasons I wanted to see this particular doc is because I hoped to learn more about Perry, oft described as a legendary musical figure. I first heard about him when he worked with The Clash to produce their version of Junior Marvin's "Police and Thieves" in the late 1970s, but as The Upsetter shows, Perry first rose to fame in the 1960s as the talented producer of dozens of ska records. Perry, who was born in a small town in Jamaica, credits his later success to a stint working on a construction crew building a highway; the rhythmic sound of rocks being smashed against one another made a deep impression on his musical soul. Eventually he got an entry-level job at a recording studio and worked his way up until he became a widely sought after producer.

READ MORE