On this day 41 years ago, Menace released their debut single, ‘Screwed Up’ b/w ‘Insane Society’.
Menace formed at North London’s Hope & Anchor in 1976, emerging from the ashes of a pub rock band with the Spinal Tapesque name Stonehenge. They were a bunch of Irish kids who’d grown up in the seedy area around Kings Cross decades before it became gentrified. Like Sham, Sparrer and to some extent Chelsea, they were one of those transitional punk bands whose grittier ‘street’ stance pointed towards Oi. Continue reading
“I’ll never forget, there was a Chinese restaurant in Chislehurst called the ‘Hong Kong Garden’. Me and my friend were really upset that we used to go there and like, occasionally when the skinheads would turn up it would really turn really ugly. These gits would just go in en masse and just terrorise these Chinese people who were working there. We’d try and say ‘Leave them alone’, you know. It was a kind of tribute”.
Creases Like Knives 