'Here To Be Heard: The Story of The Slits' at the British Film Institute

On Saturday night I went to see 'Here To Be Heard', a new documentary about The Slits, as part of the London Film Festival at the BFI on the Southbank. It's not only new, it was the world premiere.

I go way back with The Slits, to the first John Peel session when he played these weird and challenging songs with this odd lead singer. I taped it. Hearing 'New Town' or 'Shoplifting' whiz me back to my teenage years even now. Sadly I never saw them play live and didn't even see the Clash tour when they were one of the support bands (how did that happen?).

But I bought 'Cut' and, when the new version of The Slits got together in the '00s I bought 'Trapped Animal'. When I heard that Viv Albertine was back I supported her crowd-funder and contributed to her promo gig at the 12 Bar Club in January 2013 (sending a cheque to her home at the time). Then we had Viv's first album and book, with another book on the way. I even supported the original crowd-funder for this film on Kickstarter back in 2015. People need to know about The Slits.

The documentary takes as it's core a scrapbook kept by Tessa Pollitt as she leafs through the pages and provides a narrative, showing film clips from the time, photos and, of course, the music. There are some great clips from their early gigs - the sound isn't too good but that doesn't matter, it's astonishing that there's actually any film material at all. It's lovely to hear Tessa telling The Slits story, along with interviews with Viv and Paloma (Palmolive) thinking back to those younger days and their experiences. And Ari, of course, is never far from their memories.

Fast forward to the mid-00s and Ari and Tessa got a new version of The Slits together to tour and then release a new album. Ari wanted their last tour of America filmed so there's footage from this and then, of course, there's the news of Ari's illness and her death and the end of The Slits.

It was great to see some of the interviews with people like Paul Cook, Don Letts, Dennis Bovell and even with Budgie harking back to those wild days. It's a shame we didn't hear anything from Nora Lydon, Ari's mum, but you can't have everything.

After the screening there was an impromptu Q&A with the director and producer who then invited Tessa and Paloma onto the stage to great applause. Cue the usual 'it's all about me' questions and comments from the audience. It was livened up a bit by Dennis Bovell who was also in the audience (and, later, behind me in the queue for the toilet) - Dennis, of course, produced 'Cut' and I saw him play with Linton Kwesi Johnson a few years back at the Barbican. Sadly, Spizz was also there (sitting behind me for the screening) who did his usual 'it's all about me' thing and told everyone that Paloma was the drummer in his first band - I wanted to tell him to shut up and stop trying to steal their big moment.

I'm really pleased I got to see this film - and I'm pleased that it was finally made and released. There are many stories and angles to punk and music in the '70s and the story of The Slits needs to be included. It was also lovely to see Tessa and Paloma on the stage. The film should get a theatrical release in early 2018 and DVDs will be available in 2018. If you'd like to pre-order the DVD then go here: https://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/the-slits-here-to-be-heard. I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

Here To Be Heard - The Story of The Slits Kickstarter

I could so easily have missed this Kickstarter but luckily (and thanks to Amanda Palmer) I didn't. A documentary about The Slits is almost finished but needs funding to support editing and post-production - watch the video to see what this is about!

We see Viv Albertine, Tessa Pollitt and Palmolive of The Slits, Steve Cook of the Sex Pistols, Dennis Bovell, hear Don Letts, oh, they're all in that teeny clip. We even see Budgie and what a lot of hair he still has! Imagine what the full documentary will be full of! This will be required viewing after reading Viv Albertine's book!



What are you waiting for - click here and back it! It's important to keep this story alive for the future.

Viv Albertine at The Lexington

This evening was the long awaited launch of Viv Albertine's autobiography, 'Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys' which is a quote from her Mum when she was a teenager expressing all that she was interested in. I had an advance reading from the book - the chapter about the White Riot tour with the Clash - in January 2013 when I saw Viv at the 12Bar Club. Tonight was billed as a reading from Viv followed by an interview on stage by John Robb (punkster, punk journo, and Poly Styrene collaborator).

The evening was hosted at The Lexington at Angel and was part of the Faber Social series, Faber being the book publisher. Also on the bill were performance artists Anat Ben-David and Bryony Kimmings and DJing by Tessa Pollitt (of The Slits) with some heavy reggae beats to skank along to. I preferred Bryony because she was very rude and great fun although she did destroy a perfectly good bunch of flowers.

We got to the Lexington pub early to have some food and a drink before heading upstairs for the main event. While studying the menu the Faber people came in and so did John Robb, followed a few minutes later by Viv. She was sitting at the table behind me but I restrained my fanboy instincts and left her in peace before her big book launch.

Handing in the tickets, getting hands stamped for re-entry, books and badges collected, we headed upstairs for beer and collecting the various promotional postcards scattered around and waited for the show to begin. And waited. Both acts were late to the stage and everything seemed very laid back while I looked at my watch thinking Viv should be on by now...

Then the stage was set with four chairs and four microphones - why? Surely two chairs and mics are enough? Then John Robb got on stage to explain that Viv's Mum who is 95 is in a critical condition and Viv had left to be with her. She'd hoped to get back after visiting her Mum but that wasn't going to happen so they'd prepared an alternative for us. That explained the delays, trying to give Viv time to get to the nursing home and back but time had run out. Instead we were getting a panel of people who knew Viv to talk about their memories of her, interviewed by John. Tessa was there (of course), a friend of Viv's from school, Dennis Bovell and Viv's first boyfriend. It was lovely hearing Tessa talk about the early days with the Slits as well as Dennis who produced 'Cut' and played on Viv's album, 'The Vermillion Border'. Don Letts was expected on stage to say a few words but he didn't appear - I saw him in the bar earlier so he was there.

Despite the circumstances it was great fun to hear people who knew her talking about Viv. Tessa commented that The Slits always thought of Viv as 'the pretty one' in the band. She also bemoaned how people class The Slits as post-punk but they were there at the start of it all. Dennis had many stories of The Slits back in the day and how he added percussion to 'New Town' on the first album, percussion being a spoon, and ash tray and a box of matches. And how Ari Up carved her name into the new mixing desk at Jon Anderson's recording studio. Sometimes it's the details that matter.

The improvised panel discussion worked very well and they did Viv proud. John Robb did say that details of how to claim refunds and/or get books signed would be posted tomorrow but I think anyone who claims a refund is being churlish. We didn't have Viv but we had a damn good show anyway.

I do feel for Viv, though. This was her big night, little Viv from North London launching her book and she misses it at the last minute for the best of reasons. There'll be another day and another opportunity to big up the book. There was obviously a lot of love for Viv in the room and there was definitely an age thing going on with the majority of people being in their 50s, ie. the right age to know The Slits. That's where I originally know Viv from, taping the John Peel session and playing 'Newtown' and 'Shoplifting' to scare people. Then she reappeared a few years ago with a crowd funder appeal to make an album. I vaguely thought 'I know that name from somewhere' and, when it dawned on me who she was, I had to support her appeal. And everything else since. She's earned that loyalty.

Viv tweeted this evening to apologise for missing the launch and explained that her Mum was critically ill. She cares but she made the right decision. It's excellent reception will mean that there'll be another day for the book. In the meantime I'll read it!

Viv Albertine at The Purcell Room

Tonight was the long-awaited gig by Viv Albertine at The Purcell Room on the Southbank. This was the first time I've seen Viv properly headline a gig and it's nice that it was at a 'proper' venue like The Purcell Room. I supported Viv's PledgeMusic appeal to fund her excellent first solo album ('The Vermillion Border') and I hope there'll be many more.

I never saw The Slits back in the day but I've seen Viv play five times this year:

• Her promo gig at the 12Bar Club and I helped pay for the band (and was honoured to do so) and heard her reading an extract from her autobiography due to be published next year;
• As part of the line-up for John Cooper Clarke's great evening of entertainment at the London Palladium;
• Twice supporting Siouxsie at the Royal Festival Hall during Yoko Ono's excellent Meltdown festival.
• And now Viv headlining her own gig at The Purcell Room.

And she just keeps getting better! She's got a tight bunch of musicians around her that get the sound she wants to create and tonight was the first time I've seen her with lights to highlight (and lowlight) her songs. An excellent gig all round!

She came on in a noticeable shiny red latex top and launched into 'Don't Believe' after asking the women in her band if they believed in love - they didn't. I, however, loved the nod to the New York Dolls when she said 'L.U.V.'. We had a good selection from the album and 'If Love' from the ep, a well structured set that moved along nicely. Favourites tonight were 'Couples Are Creepy', 'In Vitro' and the show closers of 'I Want More' and a great version of 'Confessions of a MILF' (I love the line 'I chose being an artist over being a wife, now I'm going to lead a very lovely life').

Half-way through the gig she told us that in the old days she used talcum powder when she wore rubber but now it was a case of smearing lube on herself when she wore her latex top and it had started melting and coming out at the wrists. Brutal honesty never hurts.

After much clap clap clapping Viv came back alone saying the band had all headed for the beer and wine and she started playing 'Hookup Girl' during which the band appeared, one by one, to join in. I've never seen Viv play 'Hookup Girl' before so that was fun. She then went into 'Still England', one of my favourites, name-checking what she likes about England which bounced along nicely and in the musical break in the middle the glitter ball was turned on in a wow moment. I've not seen Viv play the whole song before, usually she ends at the musical interlude bit but this time continued. Viv took off her guitar and picked up pages printed with the names in the song and read them out as the bass turned into a disco riff for the remainder of the song, finishing with "Tosser, wanker, nutter, cunt" and the lights went off on the last word. Very dramatic.

Much more clap clap clapping and Viv came out again to tell us that she'd be doing a signing in three minutes. Cue me to scarper into the foyer to get a place in the queue to find I'm at the front, waiting for Viv to arrive. When she did she met a friend and was diverted so set herself up at the ice-cream stand! So I joined the hubbub around her to say hello.

When I met Viv I'm afraid I went all fan-boy. I saw she had the pages of names from 'Still England' so I asked if she'd sign the page that included Poly Styrene and she hunted through them to find that page and signed it for me. I said that I loved 'Disco Still England' and she seemed to be delighted when I told her I'd been at the 12Bar gig. I then asked for a hug to which she said of course so long as I didn't mind getting lube on me - as if I would. We hugged! 

Thanks Viv! Looking forward to seeing you again!

"... She's Not Working on The Checkout"

This afternoon my boss noticed my 'Poly Styrene' signature metal badge on my jacket, except she read it as 'polystyrene' with a puzzled face. I then had to explain who Poly was in increasing detail as she backed away realising that asking about my badge had opened the floodgates. Luckily this meant that my new, much younger, colleague could state that he knew about X-Ray Spex, had some songs by them and liked the current bunch of punk bands. Punk isn't a musical genre to me, it's part of my personal history.

That started me thinking about punk on the train home (and I've blogged about it before). Coincidentally, I was listening to Viv Albertine at the time.

As I left the train I remembered Chumbawamba's 'Girlsong' about Poly that includes the line, "She didn't understand why only boys were allowed to be in bands". She was brave. Poly started a band after seeing The Sex Pistols and started gigging. There weren't many women in bands and especially not fronting bands. Most women singers back then wore fancy frocks and sang ballads, playing the sex symbol and adding a bit of sparkle. They weren't rockers although there were always exceptions like the leather-clad bass player Suzi Quatro. Suzi opened doors and the punks kicked them wide open.

There was Poly and Siouxsie and The Slits all finding their own way, writing and performing their own music and creating the way for more women. There was Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde and Pauline Murray and, a little later, Pauline Black and The Selecter. Kate Bush was, of course, her own creation. They were powerful women and they probably didn't know the impact they would have. They just wanted to get up there and sing and play their songs.

Poly dressed in her own creations and sometimes dressed like her mum while Siouxsie wore stockings and underwear making it clear that it was her choice and you couldn't touch her. That was empowering and a powerful lesson. They dressed and acted as they wanted to, not because they fit in with a certain role. They were their own templates and role models because no-one had travelled there before. They did it for the first time.

I can't help but wonder where it went wrong, where women became objects again. Where Beyonce bounces her bum and Gaga wears a dress of steaks and Miley "twerks'. That's balanced, I suppose, by Amanda Palmer, Theoretical Girl and She Makes War.

The women of yesteryear did so much to carve a new path for women musicians and it's sad to see that restricted again. I was listening to Viv Albertine today (centre top in the photo below) and one of her songs, 'Confessions Of A MILF' includes the great line, "I chose being an artist over being a wife, I will have a lovely life".

This photo from 1980 shows Debbie Harry, Viv Albertine, Siouxsie and, in the front row, Chrissie Hynde, Poly Styrene and Pauline Black. Great heroes indeed!

The message of punk was always 'be yourself'. I always try to be me.

Viv Albertine - 'Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys'

Viv Albertine is writing her autobiography called 'Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys' after something her mother said to her about her interests back in the '70s. I was lucky enough to see Viv play a short gig at the 12Bar Club in January at which she also gave us a short reading from a draft of the book from her laptop. She read out the section of the book about The Slits supporting The Clash on their 'White Riot' tour in 1977 and mentioned their Newcastle gig. It was made even more interesting by Mick Jones (her boyfriend at the time) being in the audience.

It's nice to see progress has been made with the book and it's now listed on Amazon with a publication date of 1 May 2014. I'm not getting my hopes up since release dates often change (usually pushed back, rarely forward), but it's another step closer to it actually happening.

After seeing Viv's great shows supporting Siouxsie at Yoko Ono's Meltdown festival in June I'm pleased to say that I'm seeing her again on the Southbank in a couple of weeks time. This time she'll be playing the Purcell Room in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 17 October. If she does a signing after the gig I'll ask about the book. 

Viv Albertine @ the 12Bar Club

As you might remember, I backed Viv Albertine's PledgeMusic campaign to fund her first solo album and it was released in November 2012. I was more than happy to support Viv and was delighted with the result. Viv offered us the opportunity to support her at a showcase to promote the record and the autobiography to be published later this year and I jumped at the chance. The showcase was last night at the 12Bar Club on Denmark Street (also sometimes called Tin Pan Alley) in London.

After a long day at work I finally left for the gig and arrived at Denmark Street just before the start time, gave my name at the door, had my hand stamped with the date (it's a long time since that's happened) and the bloke on the door said to go straight on through. So I did. 

My heart fell slightly when I walked in since the place was dingy and small, but I went to the bar to order a Guinness to celebrate seeing Viv, my first Guinness of 2013. The bar staff just talked to each other in Polish paying no attention to customers so it get's a minus mark for service. Then I walked on and found a small maze of rooms with bare walls and walls covered in ska and TwoTone posters and found the gig room which is about the same size as my living room with bare brick walls and a teeny stage. I stood at the back, roughly in the centre so I'd have a good view.

At first I thought, 'o dear' but then I travelled back in time to the late 70s/early 80s and remembered this is exactly the kind of club I used to go to way back when - small rooms, brick walls - this one just seems to have survived over the last 30 years! It was perfect for a showcase for Viv and I felt strangely comfortable. The stage was about 3 feet tall and just big enough for four people. The room probably holds about 50 people and it was full. It was gloomy with a few lights on the stage and that was it, with the band setting up their instruments (keyboard, violin and a bloke sitting on a wooden box as drums).

Shortly after 7:10pm, someone got on stage in a coat and scarf, carrying a few bags, someone with shoulder-length brown hair. Off came the scarf, coat goes on the stage at the back with her bags and up stands Viv, putting on her guitar before turning round to say hello to the crowd. She wore a white pleated skirt, orange shirt with big collars and a tight suede jacket and said she hoped we didn't mind that she was dressed as a yummy mummy. I didn't mind at all.

The three-piece band came on and, just as they were about to start the first song, Viv's mobile phone went off! She said 'It's probably just Mick...' and crouched down to rummage for her phone and switch it off.

Viv and her band played four songs: 'Don't Believe', ' Becalmed (I Should've Known)' (a song for when you've cocked up big time), 'I Want More' (which is what Viv thinks about before bedtime) and 'Confessions Of A MILF' (I love the line when the little wife sings 'I chose being an artist over being a wife so now I'm going to lead a very lovely life'). They're all favourites so I was happy. I sung along and tapped my feet and nodded my head in time to the beat (man).

There was a slight moment of annoyance during 'I Want More' when a late arrival decided to push past behind me to get to the other side of the room and the bloke politely said 'sorry'. Co-incidentally, Viv fluffed the words and stopped the song to start it again and do it properly so I got the full song and could focus on it and thoroughly enjoy it, joining in to sing, 'No compromise, I want more!”. The bloke? O yeah, that was Mick Jones. I've never met a Clash before (I know it's not quite meeting, but y'know...).

After the four songs the three-piece band left the stage and Viv picked up her MacBook to read from her forthcoming autobiography. She joked that she'd increased the size of the text (and showed us the screen to prove it) to avoid having to go to Specsavers. She then read out the chapter about the White Riot tour with the Clash in 1977 with references to Mick Jones and how they split up at the end of the tour. It's remarkably honest and Viv is terribly brave reading it out knowing that he's in the audience. She also got a lot of laughs as she told the tale of Norman, the tour bus driver, refusing to drive if the Slits were on board and having to be bribed, of locking Ari Up in the toilet so she didn't dance in the aisle of the bus, and the support bands getting together on the final night of the tour to jam a version of the Velvet's 'Sister Ray'.

Part of what Viv read aloud was to do with the gig in Newcastle. Viv recalled it as being and looking poor and grey. My memories of Newcastle in the '70s are definitely on the grey side, lacking in colour and life, so I share her views. I found this blog about the gig (that I didn't attend since I wasn't a student but I bought the record) and it shares some of Viv's recollections.

Then it was all over. Viv said goodnight and we did the clap-clap-clap thing until the background music started playing again and Viv put her laptop away. People started moving away, space cleared and that was it. I didn't take any photos since it didn't seem right.

I moved to the side of the stage thinking, 'I'm not leaving without saying hello' and, of course, Viv was chatting to someone she seemed to know, then someone else came up and someone else for a hug. I'm standing there. Then I thought, if I don't say something I'll miss my chance so I said, 'Hello Viv, loved the show' and she started chatting to me. Asked my name and, after I told her she replied with 'O yes, you're one of my backers, thank you' – I was quietly delighted to be remembered!

I said I was pleased she'd played 'I Want More' since it's one of my favourites and that I agreed with what she'd said about Newcastle on the White Riot tour. She told me to pick up my freebies (that I think of as presents) from the desk at the front and told me to get a poster, a handwritten setlist and a CD single. I said 'bye' and she said 'bye'.

On the way out I had to squeeze past Glen Matlock. I think he's stalking me … After meeting him a few times at gigs over the last year or so I've decided he seems to follow me round (the cheeky fellow, but he obviously knows that I know the best places to go).

Then I went up to the front desk to pick up my presents, carefully rolled up the (numbered) poster to carry home as a trophy and left the club with a big smile on my face and lots of memories to cherish as I headed to Tottenham Court Road station. I felt a bit like a teenager again, seeing a hero and rushing home holding my trophies carefully. I listened to Viv on my iPod on the way home (a big difference from being a teenager), thinking and reminiscing.

Viv was fab. She sang songs, she did riffing, she did chatting, she did reading, she did laughing, she did intense honesty and she did loveliness. She is a hero. She's playing at Nambucca, a club on Holloway Road on 23 February so I've bought tickets to see her. It is my job as a fan.  As I've blogged before, it's the job of my heroes to tell me about new records, books and tours and it's my job to get them, attend gigs and tell everyone I can about them. It's a sacred deal, y'know.

A Present from Viv Albertine

I received a present from Viv Albertine today. I wasn't expecting it so that made it all the nicer to receive it.

I got a 'Confessions of a MILF' tee shirt, a signed copy of her 'Flesh' EP, an orange post-it note with a short message and a 'MILF' badge stuck through it. I also got an original "doodle"! I'm putting doodle in " " because this is far from a doodle, it's an original, one-off piece of art signed by Viv. And it's all mine. It's a little bit rude. I'm going to get it framed properly and will proudly display it on my living room wall. I shall also wear the MILF badge with pride.

I've said it before (and I'll probably say it again) but she's a very nice person.

Thank you Viv!