In 2017 I unexpectedly fell on hard times and had to take on a second job fast. It was a shit job, frankly, but one that had me walking all over London for long hours. By the end, I knew London’s streets, alleys, and corners, its whole geography, better than ever.
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‘People call us “skinheads”, we don’t call ourselves anything. This is our page and we can do what we like with it’. Thus went Paul Thompson’s introduction in Yell, the weekly skinhead page he edited for the International Times between November 1969 and February 1970. The page was intended as a springboard for Thompson to launch his own skinhead magazine, but the project appears to have generated little interest. Contributors drifted away, Thompson’s motivation waned, and the venture folded after just seven instalments. We’re pleased to present the complete seven-issue run of Yell, [available here as a single PDF], alongside Matt Crombieboy’s interview with Paul Thompson below..
Followers of Creases Like Knives will have come across Paul’s name many times. For the uninitiated: originally a mod from Blackpool, he moved to South-East London with his parents in 1968 and landed squarely in a scene that was just beginning to harden into something that became known as ‘skinhead’. Like most of his peers, he began moving away from that look sometime in 1970, though he still enjoys playing soul records and dressing sharp today.
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In the late ’70s and early 80’s, Barney St George was a young skinhead from the outer West London suburb of North Hillingdon. Travelling regularly into central London with friends, he became part of the scene around Carnaby Street. Here are some of his private photos and recollections of the skinhead scene, most of them taken in 1981. These pictures were never published before.
“I was more of a bootboy in 1977–78. I was also lucky as my mum worked in Brunel University in Uxbridge, West London and they had a thriving gig scene there. I had a ticket for the Sex Pistols but never went.
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Do you remember the days of 2014? The international ‘Oi’ music landscape was awash with overproduced pop/rock garbage, but then Crown Court came along with their aptly titled Trouble From London demo, delivering a sudden, well-aimed kick in the nuts. Tunes like ‘Hammer A Nail’ and ‘B.T.P’ delivered Oi music as it should be: raw, gritty, and oozing the grime of inner-city streets.
Subsequent releases easily lived up to the promise. What’s more, they contained beautiful references to Haringey/Tottenham, north London home to both Crown Court’s vocalist Trevor Taylor and Creases Like Knives. There’s ‘No Paradise’ off the English Disease EP, for instance – an ode to Trevor’s stomping ground near Manor House tube station. Or ‘Sammy Skyves’ off the Capital Offence debut album – a worthy monument to the legendary black lad who was a leading Tottenham Hotspurs bootboy in the 60s. Continue reading
It seems like every other skinhead event is presented by a clothing company these days, and this was Brutus’s turn. The brand managed to assemble a fine Oi! line-up to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Continue reading
