Strength thru Concrete: The Foundations of Béton Armé

If you haven’t heard Béton Armé yet, you’re really missing out. I may be late to the party, but I’m fully on board now. Their sound combines melodic, classic Oi with prime Chaos en France-style vocals and the odd dash of hardcore. Everything stripped down to the essentials – a wall of sound like huge slabs of… well, reinforced concrete, which is what the band’s name means. Big singalong choruses and that raw, lo-fi sound we all crave. I saw them at Beach, Beer, Chaos in Badalona this year, and they absolutely floored me. Curious to know more, I sent a few questions to Oli (guitar) and Dan (vocals), and they didn’t disappoint.

Continue reading →
by Categories: MusicTags: , , , , 2 Comments

War off the Terraces: Football and Violence in Amsterdam

For what is probably the first time in the history of football hooliganism, a head of state is sending special aeroplanes to bring a group of ultras who drew the short straw back home safely. I’m talking about the fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, of course. Over the last couple of days, these poor dears have assaulted taxi drivers, attacked pro-Palestine protests, and threatened Muslims in the streets of Amsterdam. They chanted, “Let the IDF win and fuck the Arabs”, “There’s no schools in Gaza because there’s no children left”, and booed a minute of silence for the Valencia flood victims. Then they got their arses handed to them. The mainstream media now describes this as an “anti-Jewish pogrom”. However, Netanyahu, who is something of an expert when it comes to pogroms, has been quick to assist… A Dutch skinhead mate of mine who is an Ajax supporter attended the match, so I asked him what went down last night.
Matt Crombieboy

Continue reading →
by Categories: Football, PoliticsTags: , , , 2 Comments

Tremende times: the gritty ska grooves of Bologna

Creases Like Knives presents itself as a webzine dedicated to “reggae, punk, Oi, hardcore, soul, clobber, style” and “strong views” (that’s our description on X). But since the founder mainly listens to Oi, punk and glam/bovver rock, the articles tend to revolve around those genres. I figured it was about time to make space for other things as well. And what better way to start than with Tremende, one of Italy’s longest-standing ska bands, active since 1989, based in Bologna, and almost entirely female? Matt and I met up with their vocalist Antonella, who was more than happy to chat, at Serena 80, a club with a football ground and rehearsal space. Later on, the rest of the band joined us, and we got to watch some of their rehearsal.

Continue reading →
by Categories: Music Leave a comment

Trash the ZASH, or: When a Flag Is Victimised

Zionist Antifascist Skinheads (‘ZASH) has got to be the funniest trend since Russia’s Gay Aryan Skinheads (GASH). The contradictions are just as glaring: they call themselves anti-fascists but pledge undying loyalty to a country running the biggest ethnic cleansing campaign in recent memory. ZASH hail from Germany – where else? So far as we can tell, we may well be dealing with a two-man movement:

Continue reading →
by Categories: PoliticsTags: , , , , 14 Comments

Brooklyn Skinhead: an interview with Lou Morales

I met Lou Morales in 1988 while hanging out at the CBGB’s matinees. At the time, I didn’t realise he was only 14, as he was always mature for his age and seemed more level-headed than the rest of the crew he hung out with: the notorious Sunset Skins, a predominantly Puerto Rican group of skinheads from Sunset Park in Brooklyn.

Continue reading →
by Categories: Literature, Skinhead historyTags: , , , , 5 Comments

Take A Razor To Your Head: The Crazed

Here at Creases, we’re not afraid to dip a toe into other subcultures if the influences (and MA1s) fit. Last year one-time teenage Psychobilly Paul Wainwright published a book version of his at-the-time zine The Crazed, which carried interviews with the likes of The Meteors, Demented Are Go and Skitzo. The book itself, The Resurrection of The Crazed (Earth Island Books), is an altogether deeper dive into the subculture once referred to (by a compilation of the era) as The James Deans of the Dole Queue. Andrew Stevens dug out his dictaphone and recorded this with the author over a snakebite or several to hear more about stomping at the Klub Foot.

Continue reading →
by Categories: Literature, MusicTags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

Nabat, Force Majeure, Asedio and others: Record Reviews

Been a while since you heard from us, hasn’t it? Last December, we celebrated what had been an exceptionally productive year for Creases Like Knives. Then, as if to undermine any hopes we’d become a ‘proper’, ‘professional’, or regular publication, we only gave you one article in the whole first four months of 2024. The truth is precisely this: we aren’t professionals, nobody’s paying us, and we just happened to have lots on our plate lately. One thing’s for sure: Creases Like Knives isn’t ceasing operations – I think in some form we’ll always be around. But our levels of activity will vary, depending on what else life throws at us. In this sense, apologies to the good folks from Common People, Primator Crew, Une Vie Pour Rien, Hellnation and Ballroom Blitz Records who sent us most of the albums reviewed here – we made some of them wait for ages. All reviews by me this time.
Matt Crombieboy

Continue reading →
by Categories: MusicTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Classic Albums: ‘This Is England’ by Red London (1984)

Having already done Red Alert’s We’ve Got Power with the late Steve Smith in this series, it seemed entirely natural and would be remiss not to extend the same treatment to Red London’s This Is England. Thankfully bassist (and occasional Angelic Upstart) Gaz Stoker and mainstay frontman Patty Smith were quite game and dusted off 40 years of memories since the release of their still urgent debut. Matt and Andrew Stevens heard all about regicide on Wearside, life inside Durham Prison, urban riots, the Falklands, nightclub brawls and the bomb, so just the usual for an Oi album from 1984 then.

Continue reading →
by Categories: MusicTags: , , , , 1 Comment

In memory of Taï-Luc, by Jean-Eric Perrin

La Souris Déglinguée held a special place in the hearts of the first skinhead generation of Paris, particularly those notorious kids from the Les Halles neighbourhood. They weren’t an Oi band, nor really a punk band either – but they were cut from the same cloth as their audience. La Souris Déglinguée were also a significant force in French rock ‘n’ roll in general. The passing of their vocalist, Taï-Luc, last Friday, with the news only surfacing yesterday, has left a profound void. In tribute to his memory, we present an obituary by Jean-Eric Perrin, a co-author of the band’s 2016 biography, Week-ends sauvages – La Souris déglinguée, 1981-1990.

One of a kind. A true street icon. A genuine rock ‘n’ roll hero. A role model. A poet of the mavericks. A philosopher of outcasts. Taï-Luc, who tragically left us on 1 December 2023, was worthy of such praise, but he was too modest to accept it. The truth is he should be rightfully bestowed the honour as leader of La Souris Déglinguée (“the fucked-up mouse”, aka LSD), the band he led for so many decades.

Continue reading →
by Categories: MusicTags: , , , , , 2 Comments

Missing Words: Daniel Rachel and the 2 Tone Story

Author of a history on Rock Against Racism and all that came after, followed up by the co-written autobiography with The Beat’s Ranking Roger, Daniel Rachel has made a name for himself as a devoted chronicler and authority on the 2 Tone era. His latest, Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story is out now. It may well be the same old show, but Andrew Stevens just had to tune in to hear more about punks, teds, National Front, natty dreads, mods, rockers, hippies and… skin-heads!

When we last spoke you’d just covered the tricky gamut of music and politics from Rock Against Racism through 2 Tone to Red Wedge. Is this a book you’d always wanted to write before then and the Beat book or a natural progression from them? I can only think of George Marshall’s and Garry Bushell’s collected writings from the time which came out not long back.

There has never been a comprehensive book on the 2 Tone label beyond George Marshall’s one in the early 90s. That was great, but thin. So yes, I’ve always wanted to write the 2 Tone Records Story, but the timing was as much to do with getting Jerry Dammers on side.

Continue reading →
by Categories: LiteratureTags: , , , , , , , 4 Comments