Saturday 4 October 2014

Spineless Violence


27 days 17 hour 28 minutes to go...

Mindless Violence

I met up with Colin Dredd on Thursday for a few drinks and reminisced about the old days in the Neurotics. I was recording the conversation too because I have a hankering for writing a book about playing punk rock within the oppressive Thatcher era and I am concerned that people or memories may fade away. I’m going to the same reminiscing with all the main players of our careers as we all remember different things. It is a revealing and sometimes shocking process, some gigs we journeyed a long way to, played, returned home and neither Colin nor I could remember a single thing about it. Was it that non-eventful or are we just losing recall? People are remembering things about me I can scarcely believe, most good, some not so good. I was told that early on in my song writing days I got someone else to write the lyrics and I just did the music!!! I have no recollection of this or any of the songs nor evidence of it happening at all. I don’t remember the guy who used to come up with lyrics (apparently while he worked over a lathe). As far as I am concerned, it didn't happen, but someone says it did and they were the person who introduced me!!!   

Both Colin and I subscribed ‘events’ to gigs that they didn’t happen at (we discovered this with a bit of cross referencing of gig dates and life events) and things happening in the wrong years and the wrong order.
But on the whole we managed to agree on a narrative for most of the concerts we played, which had us laughing our heads off on more than one occasion.
That was for the ‘pre Simon’ days and is now complete, next up is to get the three of us together to talk about the rest of our careers.

As I said earlier, Kick Out The Tories got us signed to CNT records and Mindless Violence was a double ‘A’ side with that very song. I remember this being an early song too, older than Kick Out The Tories and yet it is one I am still immensely proud of, succinct, melodic yet with the full power of the Neurotics behind it. It secured an excellent review in the NME and has always been a joy to play.
Also, we were listed by Q Magazine as one of Britain’s great power trio’s along with Motorhead, Muse, Cream, Manic Street Preachers, The Police, Stereophonics, Doves and the Jam and the song they used by way of illustration? Mindless Violence of-course! See image.
This song was about how politics creates the social pressures that sometimes
push people over the edge and unable to express the consequences of that in any meaningful way, they become violent and, feeling powerless to confront the powerful, pick on the innocent for no more reason than for being in the wrong place at the right time. 



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