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The Strike are an oi band, originally from Cannich, which is the Highlands of Scotland some 30 clicks outside of Inverness. Significant to the punk scene they wrote some of the greatest punk anthems which were brought to life on a series of oi compilations. They are particularly known for "Gang Warfare" and "Skinhead" which appeared on the "Strength Through Oi" comp. Garry Bushell first encouraged the band by listing one of their demoes in his top 10 oi list for Sounds Magazine and then by getting the, on this compilation. Fergus Macleod, the lead singer and bass player, goes into this story in the interview.
Fergus broke the Strike up in 1983 over musical differences. He moved to Toronto and then to Vancouver where he would form Emergency with Nick and Mike from the Subway Thugs. There is a great write up on Emergency found at Ghetto Rock which gives the background on the band and their recording history all while reviewing the full length that was released at the time "1234". Since then Longshot Music released two of the songs from an earlier demo as an ep. The band was able to record one of the Emergency's songs "What You Gonna Do".
More recently, Fergus re-located to Ontario and lives in Midland. He got in touch with Peter Lambert over some record trading. Peter started out drumming for NFG when they first started out and left around the glam phase of 63 Monroe. Peter moved to London England and played with many bands including the Angelic Upstarts. Peter recorded on their "Reason Why?" LP in 1983 and you can see his credits at this discogs page. Peter asked if Fergus was ever interested in starting up the band again and he was. Peter then sought out Chris Crash.
Chris Crash has his own interesting stories, but some of his history starts as far back as playing in Slander, which is one of Hamilton's first recorded punk bands. Chris would go on to play in the Hammer Boys, an all skin hardcore band. He runs a punk store called Crash Landing now, but was very familiar with the Strike's material. When Peter approached Chris about playing in the Strike, Chris couldn't believe it and started playing "Skinhead" on guitar to verify that it was the same band they were talking about. Peter knew he had the right guy for guitar.
Randy from Rebel Time Records put us in touch with this new version of the Strike and after weeks of figuring out scheduling we were able to record this session. The Strike have played a show at This Ain't Hollywood. Tonight they recorded the following songs :
We did an interview that was recorded in two parts (Part 1) and (Part 2).
Thanks to Ian Wilkinson for recording and mixing everything. Thanks to Aldo and Candy for video taping the session.
The Angelic Upstarts are one of my all time favourite punk bands. My brother had a copy of "Angel Dust" when we were kids that I listened to the grooves out of. When I found out they were coming to town I worked every angle I knew trying to get an interview. Even on the day of I still wasn't sure that the interview would happen. The Prowlers and AFA brought the upstarts here at the end of May this year and the promoter (Ewan) had told me when to show up to the club and wait around. he was a huge help in introducing us to Mensi and Mensi agreed to a sit down that was recorded. I was super nervous about meeting this singer that I have so much respect for and have held onto many of his lyrics so it was a dream to be able to ask him about songs that I had only ever wondered about. For the show I live mixed in songs from the Upstarts back catalogue that get asked about in the interview. Hope you enjoy this retrospective look at these fascist fighting oi boys from the north who dared to stand up to Thatcher and her tory vendetta to break the miners.
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - I'm an Upstart (Warner Brothers)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - South Shields: Born and Bred (Insurgence)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - We gotta to get outta this place (Warner Brothers)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Kids in the Street (EMI)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Teenage Warning (Warner Brothers)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - England (EMI)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Liddle Towers (Warner Brothers)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Police Oppression (Warner Brothers)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - I Understand (EMI)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Machine Gun Kelly (Picasso)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Never 'ad Nothin' (Warner Brothers)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Two Million Voices (EMI)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - King Coal (Warner Brothers)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Heath's Lament (EMI)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Flames of Brixton (EMI)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Rude Boy (Picasso)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Joe Where are you know (Gas Music Limited)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Capital City (Warner Brothers)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Nazi BNP
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Student Power (Warner Brothers)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Guns for the Afghan Rebels (EMI)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Blood on the Terraces (Chameleon)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Soldier (EMI)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Interview (CIUT)
ANGELIC UPSTARTS - Still Fighting
We have already said our thanks to Ewan Exall for stickhandling things at the gig, but we also want to thank Sylvain from the Prowlers for booking the Upstarts in the first place. And if it wasn't for the technical work of Lenora Taylor and Mike Gorman we would have had a crappier audio file which you can download here.