All the music downloads on the site have been deleted by persons unknown from the server.

They CAN be uploaded again, but firstly Tony Puppy will have to get to the bottom of why this has happened.

It could be that the host site have done something incredibly unethical and pulled the plug for some reason. The hosting site has not sent any emails to Tony concerning any problems or maintenace with the KYPP site over this weekend.

If the hosting company deny any knowledge then it could be a disgruntled hacker deliberately wiping of all the downloads.

Either way all my personal mp3 files ARE SAFE, just need to be reloaded, which would take some time but is do-able at least.

I am not going to reload until I know that the hosting site will not take them down, if they were responsible for the deletions in the first place.

Tony and Gerard will keep me updated with news on this matter, and I will proceed with reinserting all the mp3 files when I get told to do so.

This could take several days to get to the bottom of, so keep checking back.

Bunch of arse…

Thanks to Stewart (Jellyfish – shown above) for getting this amazing video together.

Please be aware that Ginny the lady who filmed it lived in Balls Pond Road near Dalston at the time.

Some outside footage is included in Stewarts edit of Balls Pond Road along side the edited footage set inside of the Huntingdon Street squat, which is along Caledonian Road near Kings Cross.

So two areas of London filmed and edited to one short film.

The editing is so good that I thought I should clear this up from the start in case you feel it is ’set’ only in Ball Pond Road, Dalston, as the street signs would suggest!

Huntingdon Street squat 1979.

Witness this wonderful super eight footage by clicking on the link above

Author’s history:
Baron Von Zubb A.K.A Rich Kid A.K.A Jake Heretic’s parents hailed from Stepney but by the time he was born they’d left that all behind and joined the ranks of northwest London’s middle classes. Nice, this rather bored our Baron so after being expelled from school, squatting, punk rock anarchism, heroin and general delinquency as chronicled in the book, Baron went to Asia for several years. There he worked as a small time smuggler, a tailors tout, a film extra and drug dealer.
He has traveled overland to Asia 3 times, smoking opium and drinking alcohol in the Ayatollahs Iran, visited the closed area in Pakistan that is now home to enemy number one Mr. Bin Laden and spent 3 months at The King of Thailand’s pleasure in Klong Prem jail.
He’s lived for months under trees on beaches and swam in the planets cleanest jungle streams in India and Malaysia
His long suffering partner Kay and him organized and actualized a small relief project in the immediate aftermath of Sri Lankas tsunami.
They now live in Brighton, have two nieces and a nephew to keep them sane, are trying to be middle aged and eat masalla dosa weekly.
They visit Asia every winter.

Synopsis
Here’s some extracts from the unpublished novel ‘The Joys of Work’, by Baron Von Zubb; the story of one kids journey from a nullifying suburban background to the revolutionary barricades of post Thatcherite Britain.
Via getting expelled from school, punk rock, squatting drugs, crime, autonomist politics, and the 1981 summer uprisings in Britain’s inner cities, the book chronicles an alternate history of the times.
Written as I traveled in Asia in the mid 1980’s, it was intended to be the first in a trilogy of books, the following two postulating alternate futures, ironically thanks to global warming, based on environmental and societal collapse.
My nomadic lifestyle meant that too many copies just got lost on the way so along with the rejections of ‘The Joys of Work’.

I called it a day.

Thanks to Mickey Penguin and all The K.Y.P.P. crew for putting this up.

Selected excerpts from the unpublished book:

pages 57 – 73 start here This link will drop you on page 57, just use the ‘next’ function to ‘turn’ the pages.

pages 157  – 172 start here This link will drop you on page 157, just use the ‘next’ function to ‘turn’ the pages.

pages 208 – 216 start here etc etc etc.

Please leave comments if you enjoy the excerpts> If you know of any publishers that may be interested in this kind of material, please get in touch

The following books are published, recommended and available:

A.K.A. Martin Wright: Anti Fascist Action street fights in London and elsewhere during the 1970’s > ISBN 094898435X

A.K.A Daniel Wright: Thieving, drug taking, homelessness in London, true account of Martin Wrights (above) deceased brother > ISBN 1871593212

A.K.A. Bob Blood And Roses: Early punk days in Australia, thieving, drug taking, homelessness in London, true account by Bob Short (not deceased, surprising if you read it!) > ISBN 9780975825846

A.K.A. Nick from Rudimentary Peni: Semi autobiography, shyness and fragile ego, punk, depression > ISBN 0952574403

A.K.A. Sian from The Lost Cherries / Blyth Power: Squatting in Brixton, gigs, crusties, lost loves, Tinsel and even Mickey Penguin is mentioned in this book > ISBN 1412026814

A genuine KYPP success story. Exactly six months after uploading excerpts of this manuscript for you to read and comment on, Jake finally gets these writings into print form. Go get it from lulu.com or alternative bookshops > ISBN 9781409245964

Bigger text here

Bigger text here

Thanks to Mike Clarke for these cut outs of Portobello Road Punks from The Observer from 1979. If anyone knows some of the faces then please leave comments. The bottom photo shows The Heretics, Phil Richie and other Cambpell Buildings survivors.

I had an idea of setting out some history of this road in the then, wasteland of Hackney, between the Grand Union Canal and London Fields.

The history has not actually been written yet, as I have no real leads on when the road became a small part of the underground counter-culture. All my leads so far were residing in the road from 1981 when it had already been set up as squatted accomodation.

I would not like to hazzard a guess to how long the road had been active with squats or who was the first person to bust open a door, before the brightly coloured haired visionaries took over the street in the early 1980’s.

I am hoping that some passing comments on this post may start to give me a more detailed view of what I will have to write. For now, a few bits of mail from folk (in no particular order) who were there in the early 1980’s to jog your memories.

J.C. (Treasurer of Co-Op/sometime soundman and security at gigs):

I got there in 1982, so don’t know too much about the early history. I thought the Mob/Zounds crew would be able to help more with that. Or maybe even Hugh, but not sure how much him and the Tibetan hippies would actually be able to remember, or if it would be accurate.

OK – When I got there, co-op was more or less set up. Main culprits were Richard, number 70 I think, a guy up at number 106 whose name I can’t remember and Elizabeth.

The ´face´ for the street was definitely Richard – I think he was going out with Fiona at the time, so again, Hugh might know more about him. He convinced me to become ´administrator´ and later secretary/treasurer /general dogsbody!

I think Patchwork ran several houses, but were (gently) persuaded to hand them over to us! Six houses (at the bottom) were knocked down for road, but this was balanced by 4 ´derelicts´ being brought back into commission.

Loads of money wasted by council (as usual) during repairs. There was a rolling program of repairs to bring all houses to some sort of standard, but some houses were worse after renovation than before.

Josef Porter (Zounds/The Mob/Blyth Power):

The real story happened before we moved in – I heard some of the old hippies squatting there before us hid Astrid Proll from the Baader Meinhof Gang, and other such madness. We just picked up their leftovers. Steve Lake might know more, and you need to find Dave Morris A.K.A. Dave the Anarchist Postman, who predates us all. He was the one in the McLibel case.

Dave Morris:

Well I was squatting in 64 Brougham Rd from 1974-1980. I was a postman in Islington. The house was very run down, with an old outside toilet and a sink for a kitchen. But we decorated the inside with posters, murals, press cuttings and inspiring slogans etc.

I shared the place with Alan, a really decent and quiet young bloke who became an alcoholic in the late 1970s. Alan once got nicked when drunk at a train station wearing my post office jacket and wheeling about a post office trolley with bags of letters on it. This led to a raid on the house and some laughable police hysteria about him and me being in an anarchist train robbers gang… I testified in court that I had known nothing about it (and that probably nor did Alan), but he still got 6 months suspended (Mentioned in Albert Meltzer’s autobiography). After I left I think he went downhill, and last I heard he tragically got run over by a bus.

The other bloke we shared with was Des Kelly from Ireland who I recall was writing a book… I have a mad photo of him trying to ride his bike UP our staircase. I did bump into him in Hackney 15 years later but cant remember what he was doing them.

Spanish Elizabeth was next door I think. Zounds folks moved into my place or next door after I left. I vaguely recall a guy (Bruce?) living at No 66 who did animation and who told me he was working on an amazing path-breaking new film called ‘Star Wars’.. it didn’t sound to me like it would get anywhere with a crap name like that…

There was a very strong Broadway Market Squatters Association (with maybe 50+ homes in it from the area) which met regularly for mutual solidarity and campaigning. I remember we decided to boycott an amnesty offered by the GLC (London Authority) to squatters if we would accept licenses… the Association saw it as a sell out and divide and rule – we were all pretty militant and independent. But eventually many did accept licenses and then formed housing co-ops in order to keep together and survive.

There were lots of radical feminists in the area, many squatting – I admired them a lot. Some were involved in the Women In Manual Trades group. Former german urban guerrilla Astrid Proll did apparently spend some time in the area and many people in the area helped form the Friends of Astrid Proll to campaign for her after she was arrested.

I think a building which had been squatted at the south end of the street sometime in the early 70s became a collectively run playcentre..

There was a revolutionary socialist guy who was a tenant in the tower block at that end of the street and had had some run ins with NF fascists.. I vaguely remember getting involved in anti-fascist stuff in the area, painting out nazi slogans etc…

There was a good community, with squatters, tenants, feminists, anarchists and all age groups and nationalities all mixing and getting along pretty well.

There was famous graffiti on a wall at the end of the street by the market which survived for over 10 years: ‘Broadway Market is not a sinking ship – its a submarine.’  It has been restored in recent years, but unfortunately gentrified a lot. It was amazing to go back there last year after decades away and visit Tony’s cafe which had been there when I was there I think, been evicted in order to be ponced up, and then re-occupied as a high profile squatted political centre opposing gentrification in the area (by some anarchists and ‘Hackney Independent’ activists.. see the Hackney Independent website for full info on this).

John:

I remember the Mob had a house there and they lived next door to Andy from Null and Void (I think the bass player lived there too who’s name if I remember rightly was Mark) and Steve from Yeovil (long dreadlocks).

Rob Vex, Rob Challice, Paul (Faction, This Bitter Lesson and Christie) and J.C. lived at 96 Brougham Road.

Next door was Spanish Elisabeth (who was an old school revolutionary/anarchist type from Spain-hence the name) she later ended up having a kid with J.C. and I lost touch with him.

Neal (original guitarist of Blyth Power) also lived on Brougham Rd with his Mum and his sister Liz (great people) but I’m not sure of the exact number.

I also remember Tim Hutton (ex Mob drummer before Josef and ex-Zounds) living somewhere on Brougham Road great guy and amazing musician.

That’s about all I remember about Brougham Road. It was quite hippyish and if I remember rightly the whole street was squatted, or at least that one side of it was. There was on old bus station on one end and Broadway market on the other and it was a five minute walk to a 24 hour bagel shop.

I think the Ukrainian Mountaine Troupe were part of the hippy bus convoy crew that lived in the bus station, which at one point I lived next door to, very briefly as they had a tendency to break into the local squats and steal stuff. After I lost my radio/cassette and Kelvin lost some stuff, it seemed like time to move.

Mark Wilson (The Mob):

The Mob were living in a rented house in Seend in Wiltshire and we bought a bus to tour on. When we got it ready we took it for a test drive to visit Josef who was living in Brougham Road.

The next morning a guy walked out of number 74 and asked us if we wanted to buy the house for £40. This was the amount he had spent on getting water on and changing the Yale lock. Yale locks have a big place in the history of squatting!!

Sylvianne (pictured in Friends of the Puppies in photo gallery) lived next door at number 72. Number 76 was inhabited by some radical feminists who disliked us and most other people intensely. Spanish Elizabeth who was involved in the Centro Iberico lived up the other end, possible number 94.

There were many interesting characters such as New Zealand Andy the mechanic who would take copious amounts of mind bending drugs and stay up all night fixing trucks. My personal favorite and life long inspiration was Ray who was a cockney wide boy with loads of kids. We would often get work with him fixing transit vans and old Ford Capri’s outside his house. We were best known for tipping cars on their sides to change the gearboxes to the horror of their owners.

The oven in number 74 was permanently turned on and the whole street would use it to cook bread – we had a special arrangement with the electric bill.

Sara, Liz Rosie, Neil, and Chris lived up in the number 90’s After I left the street, number 74 became a den of skag for a while with Guy, Max, Mark H, and Glen from Weymouth I believe.

The bus garage was squatted after we arrived by members of the Peace Convoy including my sister Jen. We were a bit pissed as we seemed to get the blame for the invasion having just landed in a bus.

The Tibetans were living temporarily in the street on or around the same time.

Rob Challice (Faction/All The Madmen Records):

Sara, Liz, Neil and co lived at number 94

Sara and Liz lived for a while round the corner to the right of the bus garage entrance.

I remember that it was somebody from number 102/104, Spanish Elizabeth, JC and a couple of other organized heads who made the push to get the houses into a housing association.

We were proud of our house, number 96, and the street. We made plenty of home (and garden) improvements. J.C. was always responsible for gas, electric and such amenities.

I regularly explain to people who have no experience of squats that actually in some squats the standard of accommodation was higher than some rented accommodation that I’ve seen, and I imagine better than much student accommodation on offer.

Ray and family were in the number 60’s I think. ‘Diamond geezer’ he was.

J.C. took over 96 Brougham Road. Paul, Rob (Vex) and I joined him in 1981. I was 17.

I ran 96 Tapes and WOT Distribution from number 96 from 1982/1983 onwards.

I can’t remember many break-ins at our house I moved out approx 1985/1986

Val Puppy (Kill Your Pet Puppy contributor):

The Tibetan Ukrainian Mountain Troupe was around when I was living at number 66. Various members of whom run the kids’ field at Glastonbury now (including Tibetan Tony and Wandering Will), They promote it as a free festival within the larger festival.

Photographs by Val and Penguin

Taken during summer solstice.

Probably not taken during summer solstice (this photo is not from the Penguin or Val collection)

Scanned in pages from KYPP 1 of Crass / Poison Girls November 1979 statement issued after cancellation gig – due to conditions imposed by the Greater London Council.

With full permission of Gary Hatcher, Kill Your Pet Puppy present an amusing journey into the early life of one Josef Porter, one time sticks man of The Entire Cosmos, Zounds, Null And Void, and The Mob, now of course still performing every now and again with Blyth Power.

From the pre-punk years, forward onto all the major events in the small localised Somerset community of bands and faces, onto the free festival scene, squatting in west London, Crass and the non appearance of Zounds at the 1980 Stonehenge free festival. All the recollections are here written with wit and gusto, and the good news is that there is much more to come.

A wonderfully written personal history, at times hilarious which should be printed chapter by chapter and placed in a folder to read.

The chapters, when chosen, will dump the reader onto the host site, which is the Blyth Power official site. Have a mooch about that site while you are visiting…

More chapters to be added when they become available from Gary Hatcher. Looking forward to those immensely.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

To be continued…

Pic of Hall class GWR loco from 1979 – part of secret strategic steam engine reserve

Is it just me, or is this totally surreal? Apparently, as part of the UK’s top secret nuclear war survival strategy, 160 steam (and a few diesel) engines were kept in working order in an underground depot up until 1982… when they were all secretly cut-up.
Apparently, they might have been saved but for the pesky Greenham Women

What a shame we did not know at the time – could have been the subject of a song or two. Or even the chance to fill the pages of anarcho fanzines with pics of steam trains with mushroom clouds coming out of their funnels…

Anyhow, here is a cut ‘n’ past taken from : http://www.willys-mb.co.uk/rudloe.htm

Long viewed as a kind of British ‘Area 51′ , the vast underground complex at Corsham, Rudloe Manor, Box near Bath, England was the wartime home of a joint War Office/ U.S. Government plant for the assembly of the famous ‘Jeep’ light reconnaissance truck.
Less well known however is its cold war function as home of a vast collection of retired steam locomotives – the legendary strategic steam reserve.

Secure underground storage
As well as acres of secure storage space, the mothballed Jeep factory provided both the tooling and the skilled pool of local labour – former employees who were fitters, metalworkers, machinists etc. – necessary to keep the stock of over 160 locomotives in working order. As late as 1982, long after the demise of steam on Britain’s railways, a small staff of dedicated personnel were still carrying out care and maintenance on the stock of slumbering giants.

Unlike their diesel and electric counterparts, the steam locomotives had no electrical or electronic control systems which could have been affected by the electro magnetic pulse created by a nuclear explosion. They also required no imported fuel oil or electricity which would have been in very short supply after an attack.

End of the strategic reserve
The last word is perhaps best left to Bob Watson who tended the strategic steam reserve throughout its existence:

‘They were in good nick as we’d kept the boilers filled with de-oxygenated water and although none of them had official boiler tickets, we were exempt and could fire them up for test runs. I never worried as we had a retired boiler inspector of 35 years experience on the staff and if he’d fire it I’d drive it! We had a regular greasing and maintenance schedule and we’d take one at random every two or three months and fire it up for a day to make sure it was o.k.

I was sad, we all were, when the engines were scrapped. I’d expected them to go over to Dai Woodham ( A scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. ) where I reckon most of them would have ended up being preserved but the government at the time was very sensitive about anything to do with nuclear war after the Greenham Common women and all the protests.

It was budget cuts that led eventually to the decision to decommission the steam reserve.That and the fact that the preserved railway movement was growing and there were locomotives and staff that could be requisitioned in an emergency and cost the government nothing to maintain!
We cut them up on site, no contractors because of security, and the metal was taken in lorries direct to the British Steel plant at Llanwern, it kept me busy more or less up until I retired.’