Monthly Archives: May 2016

The Poetry of Punk:

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Tenderness and Rage

After the recent hiatus in the bands live appearances both Steve ‘Abbo’ Abbott and guitarist Steve Spon will be taking part in the 40 years of punk celebrations later in the year. Further details to be announced soon.

What we can announce is that following the recent ‘Lutonia’ poetry and spoken word festival,  Abbo is curating a festival of punk poetry at the Kings Place , an independently funded arts and music venue in Kings Cross, London.

Hosted by BBC 6 Music’s  Steve Lamacq,  8pm on Saturday 11th June 2016,  Hall One at Kings Place 90 York Way, London N1 9AG

Amongst the frenzied rage of the punk era are some of the most romantic lyrics in the English language. How has punk weaved love, social commentary and uprising so successfully?

Hosted by Steve Lamacq, our festival finale celebrates the poetry of punk with musicians who birthed the movement and transformed the landscape of lyrics with their blistering new approach.

Join The Adverts’ TV Smith, Pauline Murray of Penetration and Crass’ Penny Rimbaud as they discuss Punk’s lyrical heart, and for a unique opportunity to hear them perform some of their hard-hitting classics.

Curated by Steve Abbott, whose early punk playlist and interview with us about the event you can listen to below:

Further information: Kings Place, .Tickets and Booking

Crimewave hits Luton

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Sat 7 May, Russ CrimeWave performs UK Decay lyrics in front of Luton Town Hall.

There wasn’t exactly a crowd but a series of puzzled onlookers who thought they were watching a priest or some sort of crazed politician. The mayor with his gold chain was sat there looking quite unsure for a while before moving on. When he read out the lyrics for  “Killer for the USA” , a bemused asian youth shouted out “what do you mean?” “Killer for the USA” . After a moment of explanation and on receiving a free “God So Loves Decay” lyric book, the youth and his pals walked away puzzled.

All in all , it was a really surreal experience, the poet enjoyed his performance and so did a group of us, the public registered a strange happening under the statue of liberty by the town hall for two hours.the point had been made! Heavy Metal Jews in mind of all the anti-semetism stuff that had gone down, was a bit nerve racking but, I think in the name of punk and poetry , it prevailed!
It was actually really interesting hearing the songs, read out in this way, could this be the start of something new in a similar vane perhaps (sic) ‘punk poetique?’

Finally a confused and indignant looking raconteur priest type chap arrived , apparently he was the regular bible basher for that spot, he had to wait his turn, he turned out to be good humoured thankfully!