Luton Punks on TV

Matt Hudson and Steve Spon discuss life in punk Luton back in the day.

Matt Hudson and Steve Spon discuss life in punk Luton back in the day.

Steve Spon was featured recently in an Anglia TV special marking 40 years since the punk movement. This two part mini documentary series is about punk in the Eastern Counties and is hosted by Anglia TV’s Matt Hudson who was a big punk fan and UK Decay fan.
Also featured are Steve Ignorant from Crass, Charlie Harper from UK Subs and author and university lecturer Matt Worley whose new book No Future is an in-depth look at the effect punk had on politics and culture.

There are also some still shots of early 1980’s Luton Punks featured on the show taken from our very own UK Decay Communities web archive.

 

 

It comes in two parts…

 

Marking 40 years since the punk movement

Marking 40 years since the punk movement

Part One

Punk memories: Looking back at legendary venues in our region

Punk memories: Looking back at legendary venues in our region

Part Two

AUTUMN SALE OF UK DECAY MERCHANDISE

For My Country DK 1983 on UK Decay Records

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For My Country-Unwind DK3

Nights For Celebration Limited Edition 2017

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Nights Of Celebration 2017 Limited Edition

 

Death So Fatal 2017 Limited Edition CD Live Album

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Death So Fatal 2017 Limited Edition

 

For Madmen Only CD Album

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For Madmen Only 2009 CD

 

New Hope For The Dead 12" Vinyl Album front

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New Hope for the Dead CD

 

New Hope For The Dead 12" Vinyl Album front

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New Hope for the Dead Vinyl

 

Rising From The Dread EP Vinyl 2015

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Rising From The Dread EP 2015

 

For Madmen Only T Shirt Black

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For Madmen Only T Shirt

 

Unexpected Guest 2015

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Unexpected Guest T Shirt

 


'For My Country' T Shirt - Black

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For My Country T Shirt

 

WE ARE NOW OPEN FOR OUR AUTUMN SALE OF UK DECAY, RAYMUNDO AND STEVE SPON MERCHANDISE.

LIMITED RE-ISSUE OF YAK FAVOURITE “DEATH SO FATAL” Only £8.99 inc.free shipping*

LIMITED RE-ISSUE OF “NIGHT’S OF CELEBRATION” Only £8.99 inc.free shipping*

NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD” VINYL Now Only £14.99 inc.free shipping*

RISING FROM THE DREAD” VINYL Now Only £13.50 inc.free shipping*

FOR MADMEN ONLY” CD with booklet and “NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD” CD BOTH NOW ONLY 8.99 inc.free shipping*

UK DECAY T – SHIRTS including the classic’s “FOR MADMEN ONLY” , “FOR MY COUNTRY” , “UNEXPECTED GUEST” which are now only £17.00 inc free shipping* This price is for the standard T Shirt (all sizes) and all T Shirt’s are now also available in Ladies ‘T’S and Premium ‘T’S which are only £20.00 inc free shipping*

Other T Shirts designs include “RISING FROM THE DREAD” , “SPLIT SINGLE” , “SEXUAL/TWIST” and “NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD” all available in Standard, Ladies and Premium shirts at sale price.

We also have a few 7″ Vinyl available at sale price. Our Autumn sale will be open until either we run out of items or until November 30th 2017.

UK DECAY’s sticksman Raymundo has written his first book “FURIOSO” a Victorian Gothic Crime Novel it’s available for 0.99p for a short period.

Steve Spon in the guise as “NOSTRAMUS” has several products available in a bundle of three one hour long CD Albums for just £16.49 including free shipping.
Spon has produced four albums for artist writer ELLA JO of which four are bundled together for just £20.00 inc free shipping.

Finally if you have kids between the ages of 5 to 11 years there are three Gwubbins The Witch Audio/Musical stories bundled together for only £15.00 inc. free shipping , beautifully narrated and with music and sounds to keep the kids happy on long car journeys or at bedtime!

RAYMUNDO AND SPON’s PROJECTS


Was 5.99 GBP Now only 0.99 GBP

Furioso – a book by Raymundo

 

Nostramus Three CD Album Bundle

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Steve Spon’s Nostramus 3 x CD Bundle

Ella Jo Complete set of four CD Album's

“Was 31.96 GBP Now only 20.00 GBP

Ella Jo 4 x CD Bundle

 

Gwubbins The Witch 3 Set Bundle

Was 23.97 GBP Now only 15.00 GBP

Gwubbins The Witch 3 CD Bundle

 

All prices include free shipping to the UK and reduced shipping elsewhere.

Autumn sale will end November 30th 2017

Contact
UK Decay Communities

werewolf –at– ukdecay.co.uk

All prices include free shipping to the UK and reduced shipping elsewhere.

Werewolf note: “I am try to accept payment via crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin because I see this as the future of world transactions. The only problem is that I need a third party i can trust” I like the idea of the new currencies because it can free us up from big banks and prying government” . Watch this space..

UK Decay Communities and UK-DECAY Heritage

UK-Decay Generations

UK Decay Facebook

UK Decay Luton Punks

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Luton: Centre of the Punk Rock Universe

With Abbo and Spon….

Spon (left) Abbo (right) at DV8 2012

Spon (left) Abbo (right) at DV8 2012

Abbo and I will be at Luton’s Hat Factory Art’s and Media Centre on Friday 25th November to talk about Punk in the Luton area back in the late seventies. This is part of the “40 years of Punk” celebrations going down over November at that venue and widely across the country. I am hoping to put together a few slides of various characters, bands, venues, fanzines from Luton and the surrounding are during the late seventies early eighties period. Hopefully this inspire discussion among ourselves and the audience.

Then Justin Saban will join us and we shall perform a couple our punk platters ‘unplugged’ style. So after I have written this I had better dust off the cobwebs of my guitar and get practicing!

When are UK Decay returning for more gigs and recordings? – As part of the talk we shall be hosting a questions and answers session hopefully this question and many others will be answered!

Tickets are just £5.00 bookable in advance from here

Further info

 

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THIS IS NOW

“Film and Video after Punk”

THIS IS NOW POSTER

THIS IS NOW POSTER Saturday 21st November 2015. Leighton Buzzard Library Theatre 2pm – 11pm. Free Entry and Bar

Steve Spon will be attending a question and answer session at the festival…

“Dumping It On Parliament Revisited”

Dumping It On Parliament 2015 Live Presentation

Dumping It On Parliament 2015 Live Presentation

Steve Spon is helping to host a fiesta of protest, a host of bands covering tracks from the original 1986 “Dumping It On Parliament” and also presenting their own contemporary original protest songs to ‘Dump On Parliament ‘ today…

CALL OUT TO YOUNG, EMERGING BANDS IN BEDS…

Did you know Bedfordshire has a punk history? Bedfordshire’s alternative post-punk scene flourished in the 70s and 80s as a reaction to the various social and political shifts of the time: high unemployment, cuts to public funding and a Conservative government… does this sound familiar to you? Issues such as these fuelled the ‘Punk’ spirit and ‘D.I.Y ethic’ which was embraced by the local bands, venues and political activists of the time.

An example of this raw, creative, politicised energy was the Dump it on Parliament: 1986 Luton Compilation cassette part of Bedfordshire Against Nuclear Dumping (B.A.N.D.). In true punk spirit, local young alternative musicians came together against a proposed nuclear waste dump in Bedford. Bands contributed specially written songs protesting against the Governments nuclear agency – Nirex. You can read more and listen to tracks from the compilation here:

http://uk-decay.co.uk/heritage/communities/anti-nirex/

We want to revisit and celebrate this piece of alternative local history, to start a conversation between exciting new bands and original band members from Bedford’s post punk scene. We are working with Steve Spon from legendary post punk/gothic band UK Decay, one of the area’s most influential post-punk bands to produce a new Dump It on Parliament Revisited compilation.

We are looking for exciting Bedfordshire bands to participate. Does this sound like you? If so, we would love you to be part of the compilation and related events and workshops. We would like to include one of your current songs that captures a similar politicised, countercultural feel of the area’s historic post-punk output. We would also want you to record a cover version of an original track of your choice from Dump it on Parliament and through 5 workshops on Wednesdays in October/November with musicians Roshi Nasehi (Roshi Feat. Pars Radio, David Thomas, Suns Of Arqa) Graham Dowdall (Gagarin, Ludus, John McKay, Pere Ubu) and Steve Spon (UK Decay) write one new track, exploring what YOU would want to dump on parliament today.

We will be printing a limited addition vinyl/cassette of the compilation, recorded live at a gig at the Leighton Buzzard Library Theatre on the 27th November. We will play a warm up gig at Houghton Regis Library and will also be producing a DIY inspired film of the event which will be shown at Grove Theatre Dunstable. Other connected activities will include new fanzines, fashion, posters, banners and cut-up appropriated videos being produced, all of which were part of post-punk culture back in the day. The project will be widely publicised through different events and media and we will also be collaborating with BBC Three Counties.

As Rob Callaghan from original compilation contributors The Twist put it, “parliament deserves to be dumped on again and again.” Do you agree? If so, and you’ve a musical way of saying it, let us know!

Dump-it-on-Parliament 2015

Dump-it-on-Parliament 2015

The project is commission by Bedford Creative Arts:
http://www.bedfordcreativearts.org.uk/index.php/library-as-laboratory/

Terror and Wonder

Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination
British Library (Open until Tue 20 Jan 2015)

Terror and WonderLast weekend EJ from Diamondseeds and I spent a day visiting exhibitions held at the British Library and at the British Museum in London.
First we visited the British Library near St Pancras to view the exhibition, “Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination” where “Two hundred rare objects trace 250 years of the Gothic tradition, exploring our enduring fascination with the mysterious, the terrifying and the macabre…”

Ella Jo

EJ

Terror-and-Wonder-BL1

Spon, “ere mate….lend us ten pence!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was pointed out to me a few weeks back that one of our UK Decay records “The Black 45” was on display at the exhibition as well as a giant sized poster of the seminal “The Face of Punk Gothique” article written by Steve Keaton for Sounds in 1981 (he is still around but today uses his real name, Steve May). A number of years ago we visited the Tate Gallery for “Gothic Nightmares” exploring the dark and gothic side of art, this time the emphasis at the British Library was of course to be expected on the literature side.

So in a clockwise direction we headed into the crowds viewing each of the exhibits, starting with memorabilia centred around Horace Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto” written 250 years ago , supposedly the first of the ‘Gothic romances’. There were audio clips and video clips to enjoy dotted around the exhibition with the ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ and Boris Karloff making appearances in the movie realm. A poster for the ‘Night Of The Demon’ loomed, a film that scared the shit out of me as a kid, me and a mate used to rent the super 8 version to play to the other kids in the neighbourhood in our very own ‘garage cinema’. A mention of how Batman was in some way inspired by Victorian bogeyman ‘Spring-Heeled-Jack’ here a spread of Police newspapers with an extended cartoon impression of the Whitechapel murders (Jack The Ripper).

The Wicker Man, The Birds, The Night Of The Living Dead, a Vampire slaying kit, Dracula, Frankenstein, Christopher Lee, Mary Shelley’s first draughts of the literary Frankenstein, Wallace & Gromit’s Were-rabbit sat alongside a host of early and almost unknown 18th and 19th century Gothic romances. Then there was Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, Stanley Kubricks The Shining and a selection of recent novels, films and TV, notably clips from BBC 3’s “In The Flesh” a Zombie/Vampire drama series. All in all fascinating stuff, camera’s were banned so unfortunately no pictures! However turning the corner into room 6 , the giant sized poster of “The Face Of Punk Gothique” can’t be missed, it hits you in the face! Sitting right underneath it is the inner spread out sleeve of the Black 45, alongside Bauhaus’s Bela Lugosi’s Dead – we took the opportunity to cheekily snatch a couple of photo’s at this point. They can’t actually do us for breech of copyright can they?

The Black 45 on display at the Terror And Wonder Exhibition

The Black 45 on display at the Terror And Wonder Exhibition

The Face of Punk Gothique

Spon at the The Face of Punk Gothique

Ella Jo joked about me turning into a museum piece now! Hey we are still active today and writing new stuff although the Black 45 is now pushing forty years , gosh!

The last room contained a series of photographs of the April 2014 Whitby Goth Weekend, of course pertinent to the band and myself as we performed there on that weekend. I saw the odd face in the photo’s that I recognised!

Witches and Wicked Bodies: The British Museum

That was it , time to move on to the British Museum to view amongst other things an exhibition of “Witches and Wicked Bodies” , a fitting supplement to the Terror and Wonder experience earlier.

This was about paintings, sketches, engravings and other artwork examining the portrayal of witches and witchcraft from the Renaissance to the end of the 19th century. There was nothing to say against taking pictures, so we had a field day. The only difficultly was negotiating the crowds, many of whom we noted and recognised from the gothic exhibition earlier.

Macabre, sublime and succinct images by artists such as Dürer, Fusseli, Goya, Delacroix, Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti held the slow snake like processions transfixed . “The magus, or wise practitioner of ‘natural magic’ or occult ‘sciences’, has traditionally been male, but the majority of those accused and punished for witchcraft, especially since the Reformation, have been women” , so stated the museum blurb on the subject of the art. Sadly this was the last day of the exhibition, for us (and hundreds of others) it was a must see!

Wicked-001 Wicked-002 Wicked-003 Wicked-004 Wicked-006 Wicked-005 Wicked-007

A selection of art from the exhibition.

Anglo Saxon (almost!)

Almost Anglo Saxon a new album by Ella Jo, produced by EJ and Steve Spon, featuring  Mel Rogers from Tarantism on Flute, Steve Kerr on Guitar, Ed Branch from UK Decay on Bass, Steve Spon also from UK Decay on guitar and piano and Fiddlin Flick on violin. Folk lore, Myths and Stories from a thousand years ago, beautifully crafted into songs, sounds and sung by Ella Jo... “Only a few bars of music survive from Anglo Saxon times, a thousand years ago, but there is evidence of the instruments that they used. We experimented a lot, as the challenge was to write songs relating to that history and produce an album that is musically credible as well as educational. Choosing subjects such as King Ethelred the Un-ready and the folk tale of Wayland Smithy,  I wanted to tell the stories as the Anglo Saxons may have known them. I was trying to stand in the shoes of those who witnessed historical moments in Anglo Saxon History, like a woman watching the Viking ships land (in the song 'Dragon Ships'). I also allowed a modern point of view such as the discovery of buried treasure in the song 'The Hidden Hoard', and in 'The Minstrel's Song' I wanted to embrace the place of music in culture and show how highly it was valued in the past." For a full interview about Almost Anglo Saxon see http://diamondseeds.recklessrelic.co.uk/

Almost Anglo Saxon a new album by Ella Jo, produced by EJ and Steve Spon, featuring Mel Rogers from Tarantism on Flute, Steve Kerr on Guitar, Ed Branch from UK Decay on Bass, Steve Spon also from UK Decay on guitar and piano and Fiddlin Flick on violin.
Folk lore, Myths and Stories from a thousand years ago, beautifully crafted into songs, sounds and sung by Ella Jo…
“Only a few bars of music survive from Anglo Saxon times, a thousand years ago, but there is evidence of the instruments that they used. We experimented a lot, as the challenge was to write songs relating to that history and produce an album that is musically credible as well as educational. Choosing subjects such as King Ethelred the Un-ready and the folk tale of Wayland Smithy, I wanted to tell the stories as the Anglo Saxons may have known them. I was trying to stand in the shoes of those who witnessed historical moments in Anglo Saxon History, like a woman watching the Viking ships land (in the song ‘Dragon Ships’). I also allowed a modern point of view such as the discovery of buried treasure in the song ‘The Hidden Hoard’, and in ‘The Minstrel’s Song’ I wanted to embrace the place of music in culture and show how highly it was valued in the past.”
For a full interview about Almost Anglo Saxon see http://diamondseeds.recklessrelic.co.uk/

After that with the whole of the British Museum at our disposal and too little time and with fatigue beginning to set in we headed for “Ancient Europe” and particularly the Sutton Hoo Anglo Saxon material. This was befitting because Ella Jo and I have just completed an album project entitled “Almost Anglo Saxon”, which is a collection of (modern) songs depicting myths, legends, life and sounds from the Anglo Saxon period. We marveled at the famous armored helmet and at the Franks Casket with it’s inscriptions of Weland the Smith and at the nearby Lewis Chess set who’s pieces almost comically displaying their bulging eyes and glum expressions.

We also caught a brief glimpse of some of the horrific and dark Aztec material which freaked EJ right out! Very soon we were nearly out of time and in need of a resuscitating coffee, which we drank in the magnificent covered courtyard , just time to enjoy before our journey home.

A very rewarding and enjoyable day.

Steve Spon

Sutton Hoo Helmet

Sutton Hoo Helmet

Franks Casket

Franks Casket

Lewis Chess pieces

Lewis Chess pieces

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UK Decay Communities ten this year

UK Decay Communities are ten years old in 2014, to celebrate we bring you an updated and refurbished website.

The new website will host the Luton area’s community aspect whilst continue to house the resource for the early period (1978 – 1983) UK Decay. The Luton and area Punk community pages will be hosted under ‘The Communities’ button, whilst UK Decay related material will be hosted under ‘Historical UK Decay‘ button.

The ‘spin-off bands’ including Pneumania, Furyo, In Excelsis etc will now sit under the ‘DK-ClanProjects’ button. Each of the mini site’s have also been updated and refurbished.

A new store to be managed like the old system with ‘Werewolf’ in charge of the orders will soon be opened, specialising in the earlier period merchandise. So if you would like to replace or purchase a new classic design ‘For My Country’ or ‘Unexpected Guest’ T Shirt this will be the place to shop and buy. Werewolf will administer and fulfill the orders so you can expect a prompt and speedy service. Anyone wishing to purchase new UK Decay related merchandise should visit the store at that site here

Coming soon we hope to be selling some new designs based on IN Excelsis, Pneumania and Furyo as well, the artwork will be prepped in the new year – watch this space!

We will continue eventually with some discreet ads but as soon as we breech the Google threshold of £60.00, we shall accept their payment and shut down the ads. The money will pay for a period of webhosting. We will invite private entrepreneurs with material appropriate to this website  to advertise instead with a small and very reasonable charge.

The new website will of course be closely allied to the new period website and their will be some shared resources and linkage.

The old forum is still in place, it is eventually hoped to migrate to a new archive position, but in the meantime it is still in place as a resource. The gallery to eventually will be migrated but in the meantime it has recently been augmented with an amount of new material. We have built in a cool new feature that will throw the picture up into a lightbox, similar to Facebook etc. so you don’t have to leave the page to view.

We will be looking at improving social network integration in the future, as the new site is built on a wordpress based framework, we should be able to keep up with twenty first century web continuity.  Also it should in theory at least in most areas be adaptive and responsive for mobile and tablet viewing.

So please go ahead take a look around the new UK Decay Communities.

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