In the early 1980s, possibly ’81, I saw a film on day time TV, what I thought was called “Cleaning Up the Streets”. It was a Canadian ..
I have just finished the book about Crass called “The Story of Crass” by George Berger. I saw Crass twice in the 80s. The first ..
When gigs turn out to be better, much better, than what we hoped it makes it all the more special to play together again. From meeting up with ..
In this interview Swanny talks about the connection with punk music and his life long love of Rockabilly music. He also talks about his introduction ..
I have had conversations with Kev over the decades about punk, music, politics, society, Carlisle, UK… etc. As he is a few years ..
It seems the Red Aligatorz have been let out of the asylum for another evening. This time they will be playing in Penrith/Cumbria on Friday, ..
As punk music changed and evolved over the UK, it also did in Carlisle in its own way. People who were one time Punks/Mods/New Wave formed ..
I have decided to add a new page to the blog. Up until now this blog has been my own personal interpretation of punk and local punk bands ..
Many people go to Amsterdam for many reasons. Three young lads from Carlisle in 1986 went to Amsterdam to play music, all else was secondary; ..
I joined the Red Aligatorz in November 1985, I knew there was a band already, I did not join from the beginning; but I never knew much about ..
During the Red Aligatorz (The Virginia Vagabonds) period Ellie and I were involved with another band that was very different to the structured ..
Line ups of the band were: Jan-88 to July 88 (rough dates) Dung – guitar and vocals Smoo – Guitar Will Greenwood – Bass ..
I had an interesting contact with Matt recently about the Carlisle band he was in called “Every Smiles A Lie”. As it is coming ..
Hidden away in Ellie’s cuboards were a few cassettes from the 1980s, I am sure there are more cassettes out there in attics all forgotten ..
The Reunion of the Red Aligatorz at the Old Fire Station was more than what we (the band) expected. The music, the venue were good but the crowd ..
Here is the recording from the previous blog where I mentioned The Red Aligatorz rehearsal, leading up to the reunion gig at the Old Fire ..
Here is a link to the on-line “Cumbria Live” What’s On in Cumbria Site, it features an article about the Red Aligatorz’s ..
Stars and Stripes, was a nightclub at the bottom of Botchergate, Carlisle. It was at the bottom of London Road, a long road heading south ..
Another find in the bottom of my cupboard is a poster featuring one of Carlisle’s well known Punk bands “The Beguiled” ..
Stars and Stripes was a place the Red Aligatorz played at regular intervals, not only on the Wednesday Jam nights (where no one turned up) where ..
It took me longer to cycle the 8 miles to Carlisle than it took Ellie to drive from Macclesfield, 150+ miles away, the recent heavy snow ..
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, ..
For the past 3 weeks Swanny and I have been playing a few songs in his kitchen; I can not call it a rehearsal as the songs have slotted ..
In December 14th 1985 I wrote in my diary that I was “going to see Swanny to play some rockabilly music in his kitchen”. A few days ..
I have been meaning to guy a new guitar for sometime; the old acoustic I have has a big crack down its body and does not stay in tune for long. ..
Swanny has been doing a lot of work with the Red Aligatorz reunion gig (which is still scheduled for the 10th March). In the past Swanny ..
Another surprise poster has come to light concerning a gig the Red Aligatorz did in 1987, brought to my notice by Swanny. It is of a gig they ..
A few months ago I did an interview for “Uncut” magazine about the punk scene in Carlisle (see the post below). At the end of the interview ..
I recently got a mail from Ellie, the double bass player in the Red Aligatorz. In preparation for the fourth coming reunion gig he sent ..
“I was hanging around the market street…” isn’t that how the Clash song goes, from “All the Young Punks”. ..
A writer got in contact via my “Carlisle’s punk bands” blog, called Peter Watts. He is seeking info about punk bands outside ..
I’ve been meaning to blog a bit after a while, especially after my talented friend and gem of a person, who is now an unemployed lawyer, ..
I had a black and white copy of the The Sex Pistols File: And in this one source of information available at the time on the group, there ..
Nick Scott – vocals / guitar Dunoe – vocals Liz – bass Simon Blackshaw – Drums I knew of the Wishing Chair when ..
I got sent these tracks by John Kemp, in response to Ed Butlers mail, which I enclose here: John writes: Chaos were Jav Turnbull (Vocals), ..
Did you ever make anyone (or yourself) a music cassette? If you did, did you take the time to design it? To spend time and thought into ..
Douchebag Awareness Ribbon by Kate Morris I wrote last week about the ways that dudes are unintentionally (or very intentionally) crappy ..
It feels a little weird to take to this site to post this, but it’s still my damn blog and I can do what I want with it. So. There’s ..
A few days ago I read the news of the death of Sid, the singer in the Carlisle band ‘D.O.S.’ (see ‘D.O.S. page’ ..
Ah yes, it’s come to this. I can’t pretend like I’m keeping this site up anymore. I started it in 2012 when I was working ..
It has been ages since I was at a punk gig, I can’t even remember when it was? The other week I went to see 3 punk bands in Carlisle’s ..
An update on the Red Aligatorz page: I recently met Swanny again after many years, the last time I saw him he was in London, now back in Carlisle ..
Just popping my head up from my underground lair to let y’all know that there’s a nifty local project going on: the Missoula ..
Jeff Deaf – vocals Norman Fright – guitar Morbid Electrician – bass guitar Paul Pimms – drums One of the early Carlisle ..
Sunday session of “Within the Walls” with local groups of Carlisle, was equally as good as Saturday. Here are some photos of the bands ..
Saturday 28th May, 2016. Carlisle city center had an assortment of local bands playing free for the general public. Organized by the city ..
hello! quick note to say that I am alive, and that it would be really feeble of me if I only ever posted on this blog to tell you about ..
Dung – vocals Dung – acoustic guitar Dung – electric guitar Dung – keyboards Dung – drums Dung – bass ..
If we are to believe the hype from the TV and various documentaries today about Punk in the 70s and 80s we would think punk had saturated ..
Peter Ostell – ? Ozzy – drums Kenyon – bass Tony Styles – guitar Wigy – Vocals Social Scum, in my mind, was a rival ..