Crass – Zig Zag Club Squat Festival Westbourne Park, London, W11 18/12/82
Crass (Soundcheck) / Faction / Omega Tribe
Omega Tribe / Sleeping Dogs / Lack Of Knowledge
Amebix / Soldiers Of Fortune / The Mob
Polemic Attack / Poison Girls / end of Conflict (sorry) / Flux Of Pink Indians / Annie Anxiety
These recordings were done in the crowd, some sets were cut up a bit, at the time, to save space on the original three tapes taken. The sound quality is not the best, added to this the tapes are 25 years old. On the Null And Void set some hapless punker even put his jacket onto the recorder which knackers the recording somewhat. Depending on where the recorder was put during the day, the quality varies by degrees. D.I.R.T disbanded after this gig, in fact half way through the set Martin Wilson of Flux Of Pink Indians had to sit in for Fox the then drummer of D.I.R.T who had stormed off the stage…There is a decent complete Mob set uploaded earlier on this site somewhere. I will also put on a decent Crass set at some time, although saying that the Crass and Poison Girls sets are of a relatively decent quality. These recordings were uploaded only to get a historical feel of the day, not as crystal clear recording stock…
November 21st, 2007 at 9:10 am
Excellent… just wish I could actually remember much about the day itself. I have managed to blur together the squat gig with the opening of the Zig Zag Club. Can anyone with more efficient brain cells help?
When did the Zig Zag Club open? How long did it last? I think it was only going for a few months – a financial disaster? Was this before Mick Mercer became editor of the mag? I think it was.
And then the squat gig – wasn’t there a ploy suggesting it was going to be at the old Rainbow in Finsbury Park? There was coverage in Sounds – “This is squat we want” , some stuff in the Photos section here.
But a bit of folk history and remembering would flesh out the bare bones of the music. How “important” was the gig? It gets three pages in “The Story of Crass” 220-223, which is a good starting point.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Wow, I was actually at this gig but it’s so long ago it’s hard to remember much. Wasn’t there so many bands that wanted to play that the names were drawn from a hat or something ?. Looking forward to hearing this…..
November 26th, 2007 at 6:42 am
Nice stuff – another blog tried to post the complete gig before – Running A Riot / Mr Magoo something or other (sorry forgot the URL). I am going to compare the sound on the two…I am still amazed that Amebix played, seems so early for them retrospectively…(ok, I am rambling here)
December 1st, 2007 at 6:46 pm
cheers for the omega tribe ,conflict ,annie anxiety , recordings mate i only need d+v n its near complete im sure ive een conflicts full set around in my past as well as d+v !!!!!!!!!!!, my blog running riot in 2007 featured as mentioned above an attempt at posting the whole gig only lacked conflicts,d+v,omega tribe,annie anxiety sets, anyone can visit my blog via the link above anyway thanx for the recordings mate
December 1st, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Does anyone know anything about Soldiers of Fortune, or what became of them? I thought that one single (‘Stars’/'Autonomia’) was great.
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:14 am
Used to have the Soldiers Of Fortune single, thought they were a fine band. The only info I have on them is that they may or may not have come from Berlin. Penguin If you’ve got the single, look at this as a request.
August 23rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
i was there, firstly myself and crass went to the rainbow but the s.p.g came and took the doors, yes i said they took the doors so we couldn’t secure it. then we squatted the zigzag as a second option and all the beer was still in the barrels and to celebrate i busted the seal of one of the barrels and we had a beer fountain, we spent the night there then we tidied up and the rest is history a truly great day. we where at the london peace camp at jubilee gardens and the n.f attacked the next day hospitalized a guy. then the arsehole who did it converted into a peace lover. it was a weird crassmass great memories i have not thought about this for years well done.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Soldiers of Fortune were indeed based in Berlin. I have the Autonomia single here in front of me but I am having problems with the turntable so cant rip it at the moment.
March 19th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
I used to have in my possession the entire recordings collected over five cassettes back in say ‘90 or thereabouts, compiled and released by Steve BBP. To have attended would have been a dream come true with a near who’s who of the then movers and shakers of the anarcho community.
March 19th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Mr M
I’ve got the D&V bootleg from that gig if you want it. I’ve got about 9 other bands from that day but the rest are all available on this site it seems
Mick Slaughter
March 19th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Hey that’d be cool Mick. Thanks. Should I get my address to you?
March 21st, 2010 at 5:50 pm
David
You can e mail me at mslaughtaa@aol.com
Mick
March 21st, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Thanks Mick.
March 22nd, 2010 at 11:32 am
Nuzz Says:
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:14 am
Used to have the Soldiers Of Fortune single, thought they were a fine band. The only info I have on them is that they may or may not have come from Berlin. Penguin If you’ve got the single, look at this as a request.
Nuzz I will have this single on my blog sometime this week. My good wife Di will scan the sleeve for me at work tomorrow.
March 23rd, 2010 at 6:28 pm
http://theroguetrooper.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/soldiers-of-fortune-autonomiastars
April 7th, 2010 at 7:43 am
re above. link updated for the single in question