Author: Crombieboy

Classic albums: ‘L’âge de glace’ by Paris Violence

Paris Violence has never exactly played standard-issue Oi, but 20 years ago, Flav took things to the next level when releasing L’âge de glace – an album informed by his earlier ‘Chaos en France on a rainy Monday’ sound, but also by the eminently continental ‘cold wave’ genre and NWOBEM (New Wave of British ‘Eavy Metal). The result was arguably one of the coldest and strangest albums linked to the Oi genre, fully living up to its title: ice age.

L’âge de glace has just been rereleased by Common People Records. Matt Crombieboy sat Flav down for a song-by-song account. For an older interview we did with Flav, click HERE. Or else, just read on.

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HOXBLOOD: THE REDSKINS OF 80s WEST BERLIN

If you’ve watched Chasseurs des skins you’ll remember the so-called redskins from Paris, who liked to sport hammers and sickles, but whose vaguely libertarian politics didn’t really extend beyond anti-fascism. Elsewhere, though, there were those who took the ‘red’ in redskin a great deal more seriously. For instance, Ugly – co-founder of the Red Guards, a hardline Hoxhaite (pro-Albania Marxist-Leninist) skinhead youth league in 1980s West Berlin. 

Matt Crombieboy spoke to the chap who also co-founded the legendary Skintonic zine.

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Rimini skingirl: an interview with Betty Reazione

Ah, Rimini – one of Europe’s major tourist destinations, home to a sandy beach and over 1,000 hotels. But also the birthplace of important Italian Oi bands such as Dioxina, who were active from 1981–1986, and Reazione, who have carried on the flame since the 90s. Francesca Chiari interviewed Betty Reazione, founding member and long-standing bassist of the latter band.

Part of our Skingirls Italia series (click here for part 1 and part 2)

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Until the bitter end: The story of Daily Terror and Pedder Teumer

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Few readers, aside from fans of old-school European punk, will have heard of Daily Terror. Yet in the 1980s they were an important West German punk group – and later, they arguably became the best skinhead band the country ever produced, even if Böhse Onkelz were more popular.

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From the outskirts of Milan: Sempre Peggio

In Italy, like everywhere else, the live music situation is pretty dire at the moment. With regular gigs all being cancelled, sometimes the kids are lucky enough to catch bands playing acoustic gigs in parks and such. But in September, an anti-fascist benefit concert was organised outdoors at the CPA, a legendary centro sociale (occupied social centre) in the south Florence area. One of the three bands was Sempre Peggio, who are among the most cherished groups on the Italian Oi scene right now. Francesca Bologna had a chat with Martin, the singer of the Milanese band.

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Crophead record roundup #7

Tchernobyl: Consumé par le feu EP
(Une vie pour rien Vinyles)

Another new band from the Paris Oi scene – this digital EP (published in April 2020) is their second release. Their self-titled 2019 demo sounded like Brutal Combat: sluggish, brutal and a bit retarded. It did, however, contain some surprising minor key harmonies. With ‘Vengeance’, Consumé par le feu opens along similar lines, but then takes a sudden turn to frosty post-punk guitar atmospherics while maintaining its basic growliness. Although they hail from Paris, you could therefore say that the band distils the ‘best of Brest’. Or you could slam them for ticking all the trendy boxes du jour. But the truth is that Tchernobyl are bloody good. Better, in fact, that some of their sources from the 80s could have dreamed of becoming.

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by Categories: Music, Record reviews 2 Comments

Chicago area nazi skinhead: The life and times of Christian Picciolini

Christian Picciolini – where to start? Ex-member of the notorious Chicago Area Skinheads (C.A.S.H.), ex-frontman of bands whose names left little to the imagination: White American Youth, Final Solution. More recently, however, an established author, TED talker and anti-hate campaigner. 

Recently reading his first book White American Youth, which told a brilliant tale of tragedy, belonging and identity crisis, inspired our own Gareth Postans to ask him some questions. Enjoy the interview, where Christian touches on the Chicago scene in the eighties, his family, his white power distro, his bands, his love of punk, his friendship with Joan Jett… and some exclusive info on a famous metal musician! Continue reading →

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Tilbury Skins got it sussed: a chat with Dave Strickson of Angela Rippon’s Bum

You may remember that we were less than impressed with Adewale Akkinouye-Agbaje’s phony skinhead flick Farming that was briefly seen on British screens last year. What’s more, the director refused to answer any questions we subsequently tried to ask him.

But hey, that’s no big deal – we found a more reliable interview subject with Dave Strickson, ex-guitarist and main songwriter of Tilbury Oi band Angela Rippon’s Bum. His distinct advantage: back then, Dave really was a Tilbury Skin.

That is also the reason why Dave began to investigate into Adewale’s life after watching the movie. You’ll be surprised to read what he managed to find out. Matt Crombieboy was all ears. Continue reading →

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Genoa skingirl: an interview with Guendalina Buonavita

How do skinhead girls get involved in the scene? Is it the music, the look, or the culture that grabs their attention first? Surely, the reasons differ – it’s safe to say, though, that football doesn’t tend to be the initial spark. Except when you’re from Genoa and your name is Guendalina Chiari. Our correspondent Francesca Bologna spoke with the long-standing face of the Italian skinhead scene about her football and music recollections from the 1980s-90s.
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The Oi! wave that could have been

The sun is setting and the day is late, as they walk over this wasteland of hate. Their music is grimy and raw, just like their natural habitat. But sometimes, they feel the lure of a rather different sound – one that is cool and rational, if somewhat bleak; maybe a bit like the layout of their housing estate. Our guest writer Andrea Napoli, who runs the coldwave label Avant! Records, investigates the missing links between skinhead and post-punk.

When I was 16 or 17, I went through a skinhead phase back in my hometown of Como, a small Northern city in Italy mostly famous for its beautiful lake. However, if you’re into Oi – and I assume you are if you’re reading this – you may also know Como for local bands such as Asociale and Erode.

BLITZ_NEW+AGE-658598cI don’t remember how exactly I got into it, all I know is that I loved all the proper bands and the outfit was there too: cropped hair, Fred Perry polos, Gazelle trainers, oxblood Harrington jacket.

It only lasted one year, this whole full-package thing. I’ve always been kind of reluctant to buy into a full-on look or uniform, mostly because I felt like it didn’t allow for other sides of my personality to come out. How can one be a skinhead and listen to, say, the Gun Club or Pussy Galore, I wondered? Or Joy Division? Continue reading →

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