Skinheads in the Hong Kong Garden

On this day 40 years ago, Siouxsie and the Banshees released their debut single, ‘Hong Kong Garden’. In a 2005 interview with Uncut magazine, Siouxsie had this to say about the song::

hong kong“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”. Continue reading →

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This ugly old world: a chat with IENA

Remember hearing Rixe for the first time? It felt like a lightning bolt instantly pulverising a world of facile pop-punk ‘Oi’ bands – within seconds, any notion that they had a ‘right’ to exist was put to rest.

The debut EP by IENA hit us in a very similar vein. Although not actually a skinhead band, IENA certainly sound like one. That’s partly down to Marco’s vocal delivery, which one may describe as more domineering than punk singing – more “one step closer and you’re dead” than “fuck you, I won’t do my homework”. Continue reading →

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Skinhead Farewell – an interview with Mark Sargeant

In all possibility, you may think that when it comes to Richard Allen and the New English Library Skinhead titles there’s little more to be said, almost 50 years on. And like the steel-toed kick in the balls you’d clearly deserve, you’d be wrong, very wrong. Mark Sargeant (Sarge) has written for Scootering since the 80s – many post-decimal currency readers wouldn’t even know the name Richard Allen without the contribution of his spadework in bringing Skinhead to a new audience during that period.  Continue reading →

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Children of the Sun: an Interview with Max Schaefer

First things first: Andrew Stevens originally did this interview in 2010 for another website, but he figured there’s no harm in reprinting it (with permission) here, as the book and author haven’t really been heard of since.

Children of the Sun was the debut novel of Max Schaefer, acclaimed when it was published in 2010 for its methodically well-researched tackling of 80s South London nazi skins, Nicky Crane, and the bizarre dabblings of the more well-heeled members of the far right. Continue reading →

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Crophead Record Roundup #5

Reconquesta & Codi de Silenci: La força de la raó Split EP (Disco Nightmare)

Codi de Silenci and Reconquesta hail from the Lleida and Barcelona regions of Catalonia respectively. Both are skinhead bands of a Catalan separatist persuasion, and just as Catalan separatism has reached boiling point, these bands are on top of their game with their new split-EP, La força de la raó. Continue reading →

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The faces of a football hooligan

Nowadays it’s all prawn sandwiches and latte, but there were times when people went to football carrying meathooks… Interview with ‘Peter’, a 17 years old Park Lane boy from a “housing estate in the heart of the East End”.

From the Sunday Times, 21 September 1969. Continue reading →

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Hardcore Hegelian: an interview with Stewart Home

The likes of the Cockney Rejects and East End Badoes have penned entire albums recently on the subject of East End gentrification, but for Stewart Home it’s a cause to fight. A one-time Neoist but always a novelist, a quick scan of his books since 1988 reveals a range of titles from The Assault on Culture to The Nine Lives of Ray the Cat Jones, via Blow Job and Cunt, naturally. Andrew Stevens met the crophead chronicler of pulp and punk at the foot of the Barbican and repaired to a nearby Spoons to talk Marx and mods. Continue reading →

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Paris Violence in our minds: an interview with Flav

It wasn’t so long ago – five years perhaps – that I stumbled upon the name Paris Violence in a blog about the classic French Oi band Komintern Sect: “Paris Violence should be right up your alley”, was a commenter’s advice to frog-Oi loving Anglo-Saxons.

But then, the sounds I found on YouTube weren’t quite what I had expected. Although the Fred Perry-clad lead singer’s vocal style clearly placed the band in the skinhead camp and the melancholic overtones evoked Chaos en France-era memories, there was something else going on too. Continue reading →

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Cropheads Between the Covers – Books Roundup #1

9781138202115Skinhead History, Identity and Culture
Kevin Borgeson and Robin Valeri, 2017 (Routledge)

Skinhead History, Identity and Culture is published by academic imprint Routledge in their Crime and Society series and at £110 a pop you may be tempted towards criminal enterprise just to afford a copy. Continue reading →

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Another Rebel Thread: an interview with Roger K. Burton

Having dressed film stars (Quadrophenia, Absolute Beginners, Young Soul Rebels) and countless music videos, it’s unsurprising that Roger Burton sought to not only document his time in the business but also the vast attire he’s amassed along the way. Rebel Threads (Laurence King Publishing) is that book, spanning the range of British youth subcultures from the war onwards and delving into the fashions which gave them their name. Continue reading →

by Categories: Clobber, Literature, Skinhead historyTags: , , 4 Comments