The Mob – Trinity Hall, Bristol, November 1983
#
Indebted to Bob Butler for this recording of the last time The Mob performed in Bristol. Later on this month, in 1983, the band were no more…
Two interesting points to this audience quality recording. Firstly Captain Max does a version of Arthur Comix classic ‘Is God A Man’, secondly the track entitled here as ‘Smack’ is a totally unknown track to most Mob appreciators, including the writer of the song suprisingly enough! So give that a listen.
Loads and loads of other Mob live gigs and singles uploaded on this site, if you use the search function.
Captain Max from Paul Wilsons Site Pavlik
February 9th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
what a gem! I went down to this gig with the band.Got chased round trinity hall by the caretaker for skateboarding during soundcheck and got punched by dave ayres who later became bristols only tattooist by burning out all the others. Had a great time anyway.The journey in marks van inspired eat shits first song,cunningly entitled…..Marks Van
February 9th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Can’t remember the new song although I think I was at this gig as well if Trinity Hall is the place they played that’s on a fairly steep road (although there’s a lot of hills in Bristol!)l.
February 9th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
yeah,you were there,me and chris mizon came along with you and the band and jaffa drove chris’s van down.Trinity was / is at the top of a slope (hill by london standards),and opposite a large police station.
In the years I lived in bristol I worked there many times doing sound and light jobs,even went as a punter a couple of times.Funnily enough,the onstage power is run off a fusebox I had left over from london squatting days
February 9th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
the place on the hill you are thinking of is Picton St and the burn it down ballroom? Im pretty sure when i drove past trinity hall last week it was on the flat…..
February 10th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Well I have just listened to this and Max is great doing Isgodaman ,though ive got to say i dont remember it at all.The new song referred to i didnt remember either but after a second listen I think its called Smack and is about a subject that touched us all whether we did or whether we didnt .
February 10th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
mark,theres a slope leading down from trinity to the beginning of stapledon rd,I thought that mick may have mistaken this for a hill since he’s not used to bristol.
The burn it down/beetle centre,at the top of picton st,i didnt think that was squatted then,I know when we played there summer 84 we had to put the electric on first.Did you play there?
Bear&co squatted a corner house near the top of picton st late 83/early 84 as a “peace centre” after visiting rosebery ave for stop the city.Now picton st certainly is a hill,but mick may remember ninetree hill from returning from the favourite watering hole,The Highbury Vaults (just to make us highbury lot feel at home),as that rates as a fucking HILL.My attempts to get back down it usually featured falling over (not out) and a lot of rolling/vomit.
I will make sure to pack my inclinometer next time I go back to bristol.The only alternative is to get Luggy there to witness and I dont reckon you’d get him out of hackney with a big lever
February 10th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Thanks Mark Mobber for the info, will change the track to ‘Smack’. Glad you almost ‘remembered’ the tracks that you wrote in the first place! Also chuffed that you do not remember your old buddy take over the stage for three and a half minutes! Thats what this site is here for, jogging the old memory from 25 plus years ago…keep the comments coming.
Sean, Lugworm was spotted in ‘posh’ Barnet a couple of weekends ago supping with a load of ‘near to middle aged’ yuppies…
P.S.
THFC blah blah blah,
February 10th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Captain Max and Bobby Butler. Two iconic, punk rock dudes. Alive and kicking in my memory banks.
February 11th, 2008 at 12:08 am
I think we may have stayed at the peace centre after the gig. Perhaps it was the burn it down ballroom later.
Hi Sean. Im sure when i come down from Old Market, bear left past the massage parlours then take a right bend which leads past Trinity on the left and then bear left again to head towards Kingswood and home.I dont remember going up or down any hills. But bearing in mind im perpetually being told i have no memory as a result of prolonged misbehaviour maybe im wrong
And as for you Pengs,I can do without you joining in on the memory bashing as well
p.s i saw James last week and Max calls in from time to time.
Happy Birthday brother Paul and by the way fxxk THFC and highbury tambien
On second thoughts there may be a slight slope by the massage parlours. I suggest Luggy and the lot of us wander up and down it a bit and see what we think. I will report further on this vital anarcho fact x
February 11th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I think a concensus on this is vital to the credibility of this site.Take luggy to the top of disputed slopes and see if he rolls,I say
February 11th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Put him in a barrel first maybe?
February 11th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Thanks for the suggestions on how to punish me for my poor 25 years ago hill recollections!!
February 11th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
now thats one of the things I’ve always loved mick for,his ready gratitude
February 11th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I think Mark is right on this one – a very slight incline as you bear right and pass the Trinity on your left – bloody great venue that one !! Not sure you could actualy call it a hill though…
February 11th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Thats what I enjoy about this site….as well as punk recollections, I now feel as if I could walk up and down hills in Bristol…knowledge is power !
February 12th, 2008 at 12:35 am
Will there be a game of ‘Spaghetti’ played at the top of the incline?
February 12th, 2008 at 11:10 am
now that IS a good idea,it’ll keep mick safely in his barrel,while we all re live our youthful vigour on bristols disputed slopes
February 12th, 2008 at 11:28 am
At the risk of ridicule…What is a game of “Spaghetti ” ?
February 12th, 2008 at 11:35 am
explained on another thread,cant remember which…….tony,help!
much in vogue early 84 canonbury/highbury
February 13th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I give you your reply to Simon, deep into the comments on the Apostles live at Centro Iberico “sean/dirtbox/shocker Says:
February 4th, 2008 at 12:27 pm edit
Spaghetti,spaghetti,the game I like,spaghetti,spaghetti,better than tripe!”quoth the unsuspecting contestant,to which we would reply “spaghetti,spaghetti,1,2,3!) and enmesh them in a half mile tangle of rope,and if john had his way leave outside in it.I was just explaining the rules to my wife yesterday…..
As simon says,thanks pups,prime effort”
This was a Station House game.
Carl you can find out more of this game in the comments from the Apostles live post. My guess is it’s in Downloads. I found it by searching for ‘rope’.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Thanks Tony, I shall have a mooch around for it.
Sounds like its a game probably best left in the past !!
February 15th, 2008 at 4:03 am
Okay that’s it. So I’ve been looking around this site for the past week, where I’ve been accused of being dead, having bad taste in footwear, being ashamed of my punk rock background (okay I admit the bad taste in footwear, but hey Limahl and Bono all wore them so they can’t be all bad right?) but come on. I can no longer stand silent while the game of spaghetti gets dragged through the dirt. Spaghetti was genius and art, poetry and grace. Alright so it wasn’t, but if you were not the unsuspecting victim it was a good way to make everyone in the room laugh a lot. Oh and for the record the words were “Spaghetti Spaghetti, better than tripe, Spaghetti spaghetti the game I like” which when you think about it makes a lot more sense than the way Sean had it. Of course these are words that I can only say after a couple of decades have passed without the fear of 4 or 5 people jumping on my with a huge pile of orange rope. Seriously though Thank you all Tony, Al, Mick Lugs, Val and everyone else for putting this site up, it’s kind of like a friends re-united for people that at one point in their lives woke up with their pillow a weird shade of purple. Those were great times and other than some really bad music that I was involved with and the reminder that people aged 17 think they are a lot smarter than they actually were. I am really glad that as Mick used to say “I was there I dyed my hair” I have nothing but great memories of all of you and as a 17 year old kid that ran away from home could not have wished for a better group of people to have met up with. I doubt I would still be alive to write this without you all. Cheers everyone- John
February 15th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Nice one John. I had to be reminded who you were as I wasn’t 100% but remember for sure thanks to sean etc. Pixie boots and a mac – how does that stick in my memory so well when so much else has gone/been forgotten. Good to see your doing OK…
February 15th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Hey. John Apostle, great to hear from you..Im sure we all share the same feelings about this wonderful group of people.Your post made me smile all the way to work this am. Lets hope some more appear from the woodwork .. And lets spare a thought for Luke and Hazel and all those that never made it..
February 15th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Sean in the interest of putting things right I drove past trinity this morning and there is in fact a small incline towards Stapleton rd.Hardly a hill unless youre Dutch but a slope none the less.I stand corrected and Luggy can rest assured we dont need to push him down it to test the slope..
February 15th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Nice one ‘Pixie’, great to hear you ARE still alive, I must admit I was pretty shocked when the Vague one told me what he thought had happened (not spoken in years now) must have been a (Sid) vicious rumour I reckon. Always wondered how you were doing and where you might have ended up… glad it wasn’t up in smoke or in true punk style, a black bin bag on the pavement!
We all knew you hadn’t buried the past really, you were never the sort of person to be ashamed of anything anyway… even though maybe sometimes you should have been, especially on the hair front, ha, ha! Although I’m a fine one to talk, excuse for a punk, rebel without a clue, seen better hair on a toilet brush as you once said, etc etc…
Ditto your and Mark’s comments (big smile too!) about the people on here (the survivors) and those that sadly didn’t make it, learnt a lot about life from yourself and many others around you/us, didn’t necessarily listen! But there were many great (and not so!) characters along the way, and pointers that helped us get through our sometimes what seemed impossible teenage and later years. Great memories too and much respect matey.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Mark, I’m glad for micks sake that we’ve finally put that knotty bit of anarcho lore to bed.A real shame about the missed photo opportunities tho’,would have rated a whole new album on the photo section.
John,nice one mate.I suppose I should have wrote “it would be a shame IF he was ashamed” cos thats what I was meaning.But I am fick,innit.
I think you sum up nicely some of the feelings of a lot of us KYPPers (tee hee!) wether it be the ones making this happen,to whom thanks and respect,or us freeloaders who just chuck our (ill thought out in my case) comments on here.
spectacular to hear from both dannymac and yourself on the same day,you both had a lot to answer for in my twisted little world,but in a good way.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Ha, ha Sean, ‘you aint fick, it’s just a trick’… innit bruv.
February 15th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Thanks Mark glad to return the favor as all of your posts have been making me smile for days. I hate to be the bringer of sad news, but if we are pouring out that last sip of Tennants super mixed with scrumpy for our dead homies I have to report that I ran into Mick Bladder a few weeks ago who informed me that God told me to do it Bill died of a heart attack last year. Great guy and definitely missed, I didn’t know about Hazel, that’s a real shame (I’m pretty sure I did know about Luke, and I would have been surprised if Raymond was still around , though again sorely missed). I have a great Hazel story if anyone needs their memory jogged. One night at Roseberry Ave Hazel found a bottle of pills and being hungry wolfed down the whole lot and promptly passed out under the table. A couple of hours later the police kicked the door in and drug raided the place. There was at least a couple of vans worth of boys in blue and they turned the place over and generally hassled everyone. Hazel slept through the whole thing without any of them noticing and only woke up when Claire came in to the downstairs room saying “Has anyone seen my dog’s tablets”. You really had to hear Hazel tell it, lovely guy.
February 15th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Simon it’s great to hear from you, and great to hear from Danmac (hey how come he gets to escape the A-word last name tag?). Other than the Mark and the original KYPPers almost none of the people that are posting here knew me when I was in that band. You know how it goes .. A welshman is talking to his grandson and says, “You see that bridge I built it myself, on my own, but do they call me Jones the bridge builder? and that school house too, but do they call me Jones the school house builder? and that time the dam broke and I saved the village from drowning, do they call me Jones the village saviour? You shag one sheep…”
February 15th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
What, a real sheep? Not one of the ‘genuine fleece’ ones you can buy from http://www.livestocklovers.com – “What wellies were made for…” ? And what happened to the Welsh accent? Or is ’sheep’ slang for ‘wildebeest’ amongst members of the animal lovers front?
February 15th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Hey John
Great to hear from you.
I heard about Bill’s death a few month’s ago, thought he went into a diabetic coma rather than having a heart attack (although he always thought he was going to have an imminent heart attack when I lived with him in Aden Grove).
I hadn’t seen him for years, no-one ever seemed to know where he had ended up. Lovely, intelligent bloke even if he was a hypochondriac!
There might be a belated wake for him next week in New Cross. Will post if I get details.
February 15th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Bill RIP mate.I’ll never forget you presenting me with half a yoyo on my birthday and exclaiming “YO!”
see the old alchy far right in GTMTDI pic here >
http://s208.photobucket.com/albums/bb227/killyourpetpuppy/Puppies%20and%20their%20friends/?action=view¤t=KYPP161.jpg
February 16th, 2008 at 12:57 am
The first time I have ever googled Rosebery Ave & I find this. How strange & amazing. Thankyou Puppy’s. Quite a few names & faces that I recognise. Hello
It’s good to hear from some folk of those days. I moved into Rosebery Ave in the latter part of ‘83, was there for some months, lived at Molly’s for a while; various squats. So many stories, so many characters. Could go on for PAGES.
Sad to hear about Bill. He was a good bloke.
Here is a nice pic of him in his ex croupier’s jacket
(he was an ex croupier)!
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj297/Blibblable/Bill-1984040.jpg
I have some other pics & bits – will try & dig them out. In the meantime:
Me
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj297/Blibblable/Roz-1984-MollysCafe037.jpg
Tim & Martin
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj297/Blibblable/MartinTim-1984038.jpg
Nils & Napoleon at Molly’s
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj297/Blibblable/Nils-Napoleon-Mollys-84042.jpg
Spoons
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj297/Blibblable/Spoons-Mollys-84047.jpg
Monty & Bagpipes
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj297/Blibblable/MontyBagpipes-Bristol-84048.jpg
Bless everyone who has not survived, everyone who is struggling, & everyone who is surviving.
(Blessings of a non-jesusy, non-cosmic variety, you understand).
February 16th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Great for you to post onto this. And somehow warming that Google is recognising us.
Hey Roz, look to the right hand side and see comments. Work from there and you’ll find friends.
I’m loving your photos.
Will put them into the puppy gallery unless ….
February 17th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Hi Tony
Hadn’t looked at those pics in years. They’re not bad are they. I’m especially glad to have the one of Bill, since he is no longer with us. That was his fave outfit (dig the shirt) & he wore it till it pretty much till it decomposed. Think I have some cartoons of his – we did a Rosebery Ave comic – I must have that somewhere. by all means do add the pics to the gallery.
Will have a delve for some others, & a rummage around the site – amazing & laberinthine! (is a site map feasable? I feel like a need a ball of string incase I get lost in the catacombs)!
February 17th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Roz photos now up in Photo Gallery under Puppies and their friends, thanks Roz!
June 6th, 2009 at 8:31 am
This is one of the few gigs from my days in Bristol that for some forgotten reason I didn’t go to. Strangely, its sometimes the gigs and events that I missed that stay with me as a nagging lost experience – “Its better to regret something you have done than to regret something that you havent”, as The Butthole Surfers put it. So I’m grateful to be able to hear a recording of this gig.
There was something uniquely English about The Mob which to this day is difficult to define. A loose, understated eccentricity. A strangeness, fuelled by their association with free festivals and LSD. I can remember the porky prime cut messages scratched on the inner groove of their records: ‘Acid Punks’, ‘Take a trip down’, etc. Unlike most of their fellow Crass-type bands, they never offered any solutions or calls for action. They simply described how things were and how they felt. While Crass et al attempted to inspire through anger, The Mob inspired through being very truthful. While some put forward pacifism as an answer and others direct action, The Mob offered no answers at all and in this respect they were just like us because we also had no real answers. We all knew the world was wrong but none of us really knew what to do about it. It is this aspect of The Mob that makes them important (in the scheme of 1980’s anarcho punk rock things): They were the same as us. They were closer to us than most other bands, closer I imagine than they ever really knew.
Though the music they played was relatively simple, the sound they made was very big and it translated well from small to big venues, from small crowds (or just you alone in your bedroom) to large festival audiences. I always thought they could have been a hugely successful band in the sense of reaching out to a wide audience. They were getting better all the time, their last single ‘The Mirror Breaks’ even being covered by an Indie band the Close Lobsters (as posted elsewhere on this site). For some reason, however, they called it a day but in doing so they passed into legend.
The recording of this gig in Bristol cuts off near the end, just as ‘No Doves Fly Here’ begins. ‘Roger’ is also edited out. Maybe its due to the cassette tape being turned over and not being quite long enough to capture the whole set? For all that, its good that this recording exists and that there are a few people out there who are aware enough of its value to merit posting it up here.
June 6th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Alright John,
It’s Pete here – once of London, then of Bristol and now Prague! How’s things? Are you still in Bristol?
On another note, reading earlier comments on this thread, wasn’t it the Demolition Ballroom rather than the Burn It Down Ballroom? Or is my drink and drug-addled memory failing me?
June 6th, 2009 at 11:11 am
John, what you wrote is great, may edit it a little and place it on http://www.myspace.com/themobfansite which I also moderate along with Mark.
Pete, yeah Mark Mob’s memory in the earlier comment is slightly incorrect by around 180 miles.
June 6th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Hello Pete, nice to know you’re still around even if its in Prague. What are you doing there of all places? Hope you’re well? You’re someone I quite miss, actually, along with Roger, Ian Bone, Geoff and the Easton Cowboys. Im living in Amsterdam, have been for almost 5 years now. Its quite nice here! Keeps me constantly amused, at least.
Yes, it was the Demolition Diner – with the Ballroom above – on the corner of Cheltenham Road which was being referred to. Its quite funny reading through the debate about the so-called ’slope’ past Trinity Hall, dont you think?
And yes, Penguin, use any comment I post up for whatever you wish. Much respect to you.
June 7th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Bloody hell! Amsterdam eh? Hey John, if you want to contact me I give the KYPP folk full permission to give you my email address, it’d be good to hear from you!
Slope?!!! Pah! Slight incline, more like!! I think you’d have difficulty getting water to run down that! Totterdown – now that has slopes!
June 7th, 2009 at 10:26 am
I will swap your emails when I get my computer back. This is written on someone else’s.
June 7th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Cheers Penguin, here’s a proper Bristol slope for you!
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2045/2518243153_fc2cb8aee8.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/7705990%40N06/2518243153/&usg=__4VQgiVrt0qpj-gOnkk-eVPLY8P8=&h=375&w=500&sz=153&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=y34_o_1Ljm-G-M:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvale%2Bstreet%2Btotterdown%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den
June 8th, 2009 at 12:15 am
I presume this is Pete from Bristol as in ex Spite / In The Shit / Icons of Filth? Not One-Eyed Bastard Pete from Bristol who wants to torture me slowly for copping off with his wife that night? If the former then yes it would be nice to have your email address. If the latter then fuck off you cunt she was never happy with you anyway….
June 8th, 2009 at 1:59 am
I’m using every bit of restraint I never used to have but luckily have now to not post
“How dare you, I loved that woman”
and sign it
One-Eyed Bastard Pete from Bristol
Luckily I’m more mature now
June 8th, 2009 at 7:52 am
No, this is Two-Eyed Bastard Pete! Ex Spite etc.
Who the hell is One-Eyed Bastard Pete? I’m intrigued!
June 8th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I reckon the clues in the name!
June 8th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Yes, very funny – what I meant was, of all my 22 years in Bristol you’d have thought I’d have come across someone else living in close proximity called “One-Eyed Bastard Pete”!
Now I know a “One-Eared Slightly-Annoying Dave” and a “Three-Toothed Stingy-With-His-Roll-Ups Bert” but of all my time in Bristol I’ve never come across a “One-Eyed Bastard Pete”……
June 9th, 2009 at 7:08 am
Er… just in case there is a ‘One-Eyed Bastard Pete from Bristol’ who is out there Googling himself then suspects his wife has betrayed him, maybe I should declare that all events and characters are fictional and that any similiarity to events or persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Like it says on the missing last page of the bible….
June 9th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
What? The bible’s not real?
June 9th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
John, placed your text on the Mob myspace page with a little editing. Looks nice. Wrote this on someone else computer, my one still not well enough to be embraced back into my arms. John No Last Name, will read my emails when I get it back and sort out those email addresses.
The Bible IS Real, at least the parts that I was featured in are (in an earlier life you understand). Gabba Gabba…
June 10th, 2009 at 9:40 am
The pleasure and the privilege is mine, Mr Penguin.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Hi
I work for Trinity Centre and I am collecting images and people’s stories from past events.
We would like to add some of your Trinity pics to our archive space on our website: http://www.3ca.org.uk/archive/gallery
If you would like to send me a few that we would be allowed to use, or let me know if I can just grab them from flickr and we would be able to credit you for your images and link to your flickr site/website. Also if you’ve got a back story you’d like to share with us that’d be great too…
Any help you can provide would be much appreciated.
Kind Regards
Emma Harvey
Activities Coordinator
Trinity Community Arts Ltd
0117 935 1200
emma@3ca.org.uk
http://www.3ca.org.uk
February 18th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Was there really a Burn It Down Ballroom in Bristol in 1984? I was part of the Kafe Kollaps collective who squatted and opened the Kafe in Arkwright Rd in early 1983 before opening the Burn It Down on Finchley Road later in 1983 (Crass opened, Mob and Youth In Asia also played. We ran that and briefly a satellite squat venue up the Finchley Road for a while in 1984 and where we put on the first Class War benefit gig with Poison Girls and Chumbawumba headlining. Opened the Glasshouse squat venue and art gallery with Copy Art in 1985, and I think the Mob also played there. I know Olly who used to be part of the squat moved to Bristol late in 1987 or 88 and may have taken the name with him, but the only Burn It Down we knew of in 83 and 84 was ours in London.
February 20th, 2010 at 2:56 am
Never went to the Bristol one but went to gigs at all of your venues. Were you one of the blokes who tatted the Bingo Hall at Highbury corner when we got evicted?
February 20th, 2010 at 10:23 am
I vaguely recall going into a place in Highbury, which had been a venue of some sort. Didn’t it eventually become a part of the Forum or something? I remember helping to get the Ambulance Station going in South London and a place in Notting Hill which I can’t remember very well. My memory is not what it could be, doubtless due to the amount of (cough) passive smoking that went on back then.
February 20th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
The place is now The Garage, remember that you mainly wanted the push bar emergency exit fittings from there.
February 20th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Ah, that’ll be because we were having trouble with the spider gang of skinheads (+ Johnny Rubbish frae Perth) from West Hampstead. I recall that they started a ruck at a Flowers In The Dustbin gig. Getting them out of the door was difficult, and once they were ejected, keeping them out meant leaning against the doors until they got bored and left. Someone must have figured that the push bar emergency exit would have been handy. Can’t remember installing it though.
February 20th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Was that their gig at the place on Finchley Rd? Vaguely remember the trouble & getting dragged away from it by a comely wench!