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Considering the main reason for this blog was to inform people of the punk bands that were around in the late 70s and 80s in North Cumbria, especially Carlisle and Penrith, some level of success has been achieved.
When I first tried to find Carlisle’s Punk bands on-line that were around in the 80s I was surprised to see nothing was available. Now at least there is some recognition to the people and bands that were giging at the time before the internet.
I for one, wanted my music heard outside of Carlisle; and although I had done demos and gigs, I did not achieve that goal, but perhaps now that goal has been achieved also. Looking at the countries that are viewing this blog, it has certainly given people from all around the world a chance to hear what Cumbrian’s were doing to shape the local music scene back then. OK it is retro, it is in the past, and we should be concentrating on the present and future bands, but I still believe what we created back then was worth while and should still be out there for people to hear it. It was not all bad, some of it was, but so what, it still deserves a listen.
The majority of hits to this site have been from the UK and the USA; probably because of British being the written communication for this site; I had comments from some Skins from California wishing Carlisle punks solidarity etc. So this music is still reaching some out there and bring people together as it did in the 80s. The songs are also sung in British (or Cumbrian!!) so a non-British speaker might find it a bit daunting to continue further into the blog.
The next group of visitors to spend some time visiting the various Cumbrian bands were from Sweden, Spain, Italy, Columbia and Australia. I wonder if this reflects the punk scene in those countries?
Canada, Russia, New Zealand, Poland, Greece, Czech Republic, Nederland, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Chile, Belgium, Philippines, Finland, France, have been the next group of visitors, perhaps not visiting all the pages but at least taking a look.
The last group of visitors have been from Indonesia, Hong Kong/China, Bulgaria, India, South Korea, Dominican Republic, Denmark, Romania, Qatar, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Turkey, Ireland, Croatia, Morocco and UAE; these countries had a quick glance!
But it means that the local bands from northern Cumbria have been listened too, and people know about us musically, as once upon a time they did not. If I were to look again for bands that I knew, or who I was involved in, from the 80s I would have a reference point to start from, perhaps the blog could be more detailed, but it at least it is something.
This blog has also been used by other people/sites to publish their own agenda. I do not mind this, as my aim is to publish the bands from this region. But it is a bit sad and selfish when I see them claiming it to be their work only. I was taught in ethnomusicology to “reference to your source” this is good practice, and it is a sign of the times that this is not practised via the internet. If punk is a sub-culture (as I believe it is) and also rooted in anarchist principles of being responsible to yourself and to ones community then egotists “stealing” in the name of their own self-importance, is far from being punk at all. There is an Anarcho-Capitalist philosophy that says “what you write is also what you own” and the question of ownership should belong to the community who live it.
Lastly, I want to say a thank you to the people who have left comments on the pages. My intention was to make this a community site, for the people who were involved in the 80s punk scene in Carlisle to have a platform to say how good, and bad, it was back then. Some have done so, and I hope you will continue to do so. If you want to write something I will include it. Also I welcome comments from people living in other towns/cities/countries if they find similarities or differences to their musical past, this is a good place to share it.
Where to go now with this site? As the information has been uploaded, there is not much to do. I still find things tucked away, some people leave comments, photos are found…but generally there is not more I can do with the site. I did think of including a “spoken word” page, a oral history of those times, but this is not easy to do as soon as you put a microphone in front of someone it becomes a bit awkward; maybe I will do it myself… who knows? I am beginning to re-record some of the songs from the bands I was involved with, these will probably get included somewhere too.
