Amrik Rai fixes a Derby match with Anti-Pasti
Article published in NME, 5th June 1982
Anti-Pasti | No Escape From Twisted Reality | FOR MARTIN ROPER, Anti-Pasti was a natural progression from Twisted Reality, probably the premier provincial punk fanzine.
The excitement of Twisted Reality lasted a few brief months until, like the initial punk outcry it faded into an adaptable pose. It was then that a complement of punky Stu (bass), Derby skins Stan (drums) and Duggy (guitar) came together as the original Anti Pasti.
Three years on and Martin —the group singer — walks considerably taller, the gait develoeing frorn gangly shuffle to dignified strut with just a touch-of arrogance. The shock of pinky hair has long since been discarded for a richer mahogany sheen. He talks of being naive And young.
“Can you remember when the ‘Snuff Rock’ EP came out . . . it was by the Albertos? I brought it and for years I thought it was serious punk rock. That’s how naive I was . . . but then again that was what Anti-Pasti was all about, being young and green. I used to follow all the original punk bands around everywhere.
But it’s different now. I personally feel a hell of a lot more responsible.”
As we stroll across the park for photo-session, Martin whistles ‘Promised You A-Miracle’ . . . badly. What do you think about the charts?
“I’m really keen on the producers that make modern so listenable. That’s the main reason why the charts are so healthy at the moment. It’s nice to see good bands like Classix (Nouveaux), who’ve been around for years, hitting the charts.
“Funk’s about the only thing I ever listen to these days ‘cos I can’t stand all these crappy new punk bands. There’s a few decent ones but you really do have to dig deep through the shit to find them. Like The Anti-Nowhere League . . . they’re like the Albertos only they’re not taking the piss.”
But don’t you think that Anti-Pasti get exactly the same kind of audience as joke bands like that?
“We probably do, but that’s not through any doing of our own. We can’t really choose the audience —even though Anti-Pasti don’t want to be associated with bands like that at all. Anyway we’ve got a producer on the new album (‘Caution In The Wind’) who’s worked with the likes of Spandau, Penetration and UB40, and hopefully the new sound will change things a bit so we can start appealing to . . . not a different, but wider range of people.”
A lot of the Anti-Pasti lyrics include some form of serious anti-war comment. At a time when everybody and his uncle are ripping ideas off from CND leaflets, are Anti-Pasti really all that concerned with it?
Anti-Pasti | No Escape From Twisted Reality
“Every song we do isn’t about dropping bombs on someone — but we bear it in mind because it is worrying. Our lyrics tend to do it a lot more subtly than most anyway cos we concentrate on different aspects of a very important situation. But you better ask the Hoon-Bell-Hoon team about this . . . they write the lyrics.”
Will Hoon, a black-haired, Brylcreem-slicked anorexic coot cat, stepped in to perfect the menacing bass prowl from a now defunct local rockabilly outfit, The Egyptian Kings. His strong feelings against nuclear war manifested themselves immediately, as Anti-Past’s staid but unaffected proclamations of anarchy in the UK mutated gradually into a genuine sense of purpose.
Anti-Pasti braved the witchtrials of The Exploited‘s Apocalypse Now tour, emerging with a new-found respect from the music press. The success of ‘The Last Call’, their debut album, was justice for its brooding hybrid of teenage angst wrought with genuine emotion.
Now Will and the two guitarists —Olly Hoon and Duggy Bell — write lyrics presenting an increasingly mature depiction of the madness in your area.
Will: ‘The anti-war comment in our songs is something that, no matter how many other groups do it, is definitely worth saying. It’s not important that bands are nicking stuff out of leaflets or whatever. People are so stupid that they’ve got to hear something a million times before they actually realise what’s happening.”
Duggy: “‘Caution In The Wind’ – the title track on the new album— is about some tests that the U.S. were carrying out in Nevada 1954. They were exploding nuclear bombs and no one even knew about it — all these people whose lives are in danger from cancer or something. Things like that need saying, and the only way we can do it is by writing songs that people will listen to and hopefully take some notice of.”
Olly: “I can see what you’re saying — a lot of bands use it as a trendy thing to write about. But there’s nothing trendy about being killed.”
Will: “It’s like the war situation at the moment. Something breaks out and everyone immediately forgets about the disgusting state of affairs in this country. No one’s bothered about unemployment or housing or racism or anything anymore . . . all they care about is sinking 1930s battleships with nuclear submarines and saying they don’t want war while they go out and celebrate another victory. I hate all this new patriotism, the jingoistic-crap that sells newspapers and keeps the people quiet.”
Anti-Pasti | No Escape From Twisted Reality
Would Anti-Pasti play a CND benefit?
Will: ‘We already have done. We did the Brixton one. The next step is Rock Against Meatloaf. Anyone interested?”
The remaining member of the Anti-Pasti quintet has been noticeably quiet during this conversation. Kev Nixon (vital statistics: 19; drums) is more interested in how the photo-s will turn out.
“They better be good ‘cos the last time we did a photo session the bloke got us all standing there with half-eaten Cornish pasties. It was dead embarrassing . . .”
‘Caution In The Wind’ refines the dogged determination of the first record into a subtler but more striking rebellion. Breaking through the darker limitations of punk, Anti-Pasti play with fire, layering the sound with piano tracks and distilling a splenetic jump-boy beat. The difference is reminiscent of The Clash’s progression to ‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope’ — except that with Anti-Pasti it’s an improvement. There’s saxophone and violin . . . are we still talking about a punk band?
Kev: “We’re not trying to move away from punk. It’s just a natural progression.”
Duggy: “It wasn’t a case of ‘Right tomorrow we’re not going to be a punk band’ or anything like that.”
Olly: “Punk is really only an attitude rather than just music . . . and our attitudes haven’t changed that much. The last record was just our live set put onto an album. Whereas with this one we’ve started from scratch, worked with a decent producer (Neil Black) and really planned it out.”
Will: “It is a big progression for us but it’s not radical, like Cabaret Voltaire or something. It’s just that we’re not frightened to use something if we like it.”
Olly: “It’s not something that’ll change the live sound too much. The odd string machines on the album are just embellishments —the live show will still concentrate on guitars.”
A new album out the end of the month and headlining tour to go with it. It’s all starting to happen again. How do you feel about so much activity after a long lay-off?
Will: “The thing about Anti-Pasti is that we don’t have to live up to any image on stage. We’re not like some groups who’ve created an image as a selling point and have to live up to that image every time they play live. It’s really pathetic when you get bands doing songs like ‘Kill A Copper’ and all these kids go out and cheek some policeman . . . all they get is a cell for the night while the group are getting pissed in a hotel somewhere.
“I’d like to think that Anti-Pasti are serving a slightly more useful and less hypocritical purpose than that, in that we actually try to educate people a bit — not brainwash them or anything but just make them a little bit more aware of what’s going on around them.”
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