Anthrax

British anarcho-punk band Anthrax were formed in Gravesend in 1980 so they actually have a better claim to the name than their American thrash metal namesakes. However, the worldwide success of the latter has meant that most people only know one band with this name. However, despite their relative obscurity, take it from me, the British group are far superior.

After putting together their first demo back in 1981, Anthrax soon came to the attention of the legendary Crass record label. This led the band releasing their first tune "All The Wars" on the compilation album "Bullshit Detector Volume 2" a year later. This was swiftly followed by the EP "Capitalism Is Cannibalism". The title track is an authentic punk killer with its angry, feedback-drenched sound and catchy chorus. The band themselves weren't too happy with the end result though due to problems with Crass' production style. However the EP was a big hit in the indie charts and brought the group a lot of attention.

A follow-up EP "They've Got It All Wrong" followed the next year on Pete Stennett's Small Wonder Records. It was another powerful release, full of energy and once again was a success.

And then that was that. Apart from a tune here and there on a compilation, there was to be no album and the band split up, by then fed-up with a lot of the goings-on in the punk scene and the regular violence that was breaking out at concerts. The group therefore became something of an enigma in the years that followed.

Fast forward to 2007 and all the original band have reformed and put out a compilation CD "One Last Drop" which gathered together all their recorded output. They start to play gigs again and write new material. The interest is definitely out there as the compilation sold out and is now completely unavailable.

Amazingly, Anthrax never played in Bradistan in their heyday so it was a big treat for their northern fans to see that they were going to play at the legendary 1 in 12 Club, an event that happened earlier this month. I went down there to meet them and get some photographs for my Middle Aged Punks project. These portraits will be published in a future blog entry.

The band members were really friendly and I spent a lot of time chatting to them about numerous subjects. The gig itself was a success and it was great to hear the old classics played live. The crowd showed them a lot of love and even when one song was completely messed up, no-one really gave it much of a second thought apart from laughing it off. For me, "Capitalism Is Cannibalism" was the set's biggest highlight and it was good to hear them showcase some new material.

Here are some pictures from the gig and hopefully we won't need to wait thirty more years before Anthrax come to visit us again!