Tuesday, May 26, 2020

RIOT 111 - Subversive Radicals EP 1982

Wellington's Riot 111 were active from 1981-1983 and it consisted of John & Geoff (vocals), Nick (guitars), Mark (bass) & Roger (drums). In their lifespan they released two 7Inches. A bit info: "RIOT 111 appeared during the fractious Springbok tour of 1981 and can lay claim to being one of the first New Zealand punk bands to deal with overtly political content in their music and imagery. With members of the band active in the anti-tour marches Riot 111 was conceived following the infamous Molesworth Street baton charge on July 29. “Here's these people supposed to be protecting what's right and they're hitting old ladies over the heads with batons.” (Roger Allen With Geoff Ludbrooke on vocals as John Void, Riot 111 was formed along with Roger Allen on drums and Mark Crawford on bass. Nick Swan formerly of Life In the Fridge Exists on guitar was the only member recognised as having any serious musical ability and like his former band RIOT 111 was intended as more of a performance happening than a radio friendly unit shifter. Their first single 1981 was recorded in a couple of hours released on 7” as a pressing of 500. The song ‘’1981’’ is based on an English interpretation of Ngati Toa’s Te Rauparaha's haka 'Ka Mate', and made famous by the All Blacks. Shouted by Void over searing guitars and pounding drum beats. It is an anthemic call to arms that Void intended to be played as anti-tour protesters marched into battle with police and pro-tour rugby heads.Following the tour the single was repressed and entered the national charts at number 46. '1981' was recently declared the 12th most important song in New Zealand history by the documentary series, “Rocked The Nation”. The success of '1981' spurred them to play their first gig at an anti-tour party in late September. In keeping with their agit-punk ‘manifesto’ the band's set featured songs about police violence, drugs, state power and impending revolution. The second single, “Subversive Radicals”, released in early 1982 paints a grim picture of New Zealand, under then prime minister Robert Muldoon, as an Orwellian 'East Berlin of the South Pacific' with social freedom progressively eroded by a violent 'police state'. The single charted at 19 and the band's increasing popularity/notoriety saw them open for big overseas acts such as The Birthday Party and Having already shown their interest in creating sensationalist media stories RIOT 111 upped the ante in 1982 when TVNZ refused to play a video for “Writing On The Wall”. The band transported their gear along with a horde of Wellington's punks and skins out to Avalon studios in Lower Hutt. Parked at the front door RIOT 111 played a set off the back of a truck, besieging New Zealand's castle of state broadcasting with an aural barrage and raising the anarchist flag. RIOT 111's confrontational music and style made them a favourite with the boot-boy scene and gigs were often marred by violence in the audience and through police actions to break up shows. By the end of 1982 the Wellington punk scene filmed in Chris Knox's Terrace Scene documentary only a couple of years earlier as a co-operative, playful, avant-garde movement was fast disintegrating into a nihilistic mess. In Easter 1983, RIOT 111 played at Golden Showers, a punk gathering in Newtown, Wellington, featuring bands from around New Zealand. A live recording of the show was released the following year as Capitol Kaos with RIOT 111 contributing three songs to the mix. By October 1983 the band members had had enough, Roger took off to Auckland and Void recast himself as an actor based in Sydney." (source: upthepunks)


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