THE FIRST LADIES OF PUNK

Can you teach old punks new tricks? The question occurred to me at a recent London launch party for Zoë Street Howe's new book, "Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits", inspired by the 30th anniversary of the band's debut album, "Cut". The answer: why would you want to?

The setting, a plush, red-hued bar in Soho, suggested a mob boss's drinking den more than a punk-rock dive. Except instead of Ray Winstone holding court with a bevy of molls among the crushed velvet, one found various characters straight out of Jon Savage's "England's Dreaming": Don Letts, Dennis Bovell, The Raincoats, Vivien Goldman and two Slits, past and present, Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt.

Sidelined by much of the contemporary punk nostalgia market, The Slits are very much the first ladies of punk. The group formed in the mid-1970s and went on to perform songs that mixed reggae, punk and jazz with witty lyrics. Gigs were notoriously raucous, including one in which Ari Up (Arianna Forster), an original and current band member, urinated on-stage. After disbanding in the early 1980s, a couple of its members reformed the group in 2005 to create new work  and perform on tour, and they have remained an important influence on irreverent female musicians. Many Riot Grrrl groups look to them as godmothers. The Slits will release another album, "Trapped Animal", in October.

Street Howe took to the small stage to read from her book and tell a few stories about how The Slits came to be. The biggest cheer was reserved for a quote in the book about the band's name, which proved controversial and killed any hopes of radio play in those first years: “I personally am proud of my pum pum,” explained Ari Up, who could not be at the launch party. Her declaration, read by Street Howe, was greeted with howls of approval.
 
The Slits themselves cut a low profile at the party, with no speeches or performances. Albertine was meant to play a few songs, but she begged off owing to the flu (“Not swine flu!”). Pollitt, who has been busy recording the band's next album in Los Angeles, came with her daughter, who was dressed in a Slits T-shirt.
 
The book launch felt like a grand party, a celebration of survival more than nostalgia. Though some grumbled about punk's legacy. "In the 21st century it feels to me like punk never happened," groused Don Letts. "Western culture has become increasingly conservative, if not downright fucking stagnant, and it needs a kick in the arse. What happened to protest? What happened to revolution?"
 
"Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits" by Zoë Street Howe (Omnibus Press). Out now
 
~ VAL PHOENIX
 

 

Books  London  Music  Publishing  

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