blah blah..Amebix..blah blah..reunion..blah.. (6 Viewers)

[the strange guy]

Personally, I think any band that places money above a love of the music they are playing shouldn't be playing music.

I don't want to live in a world untouched by 80's pop stars.
They didn't do it for the money.
They did it for the money, the pussy and the coke.
I wouldn't mind a slice of that pie.

Seriously though, most people in bands started off doing it for the pussy, not the money.
Is that still punk?

edit: HAHAHAHA Now that I think about it...
Cormac, Bob, do youse actually LIKE Amebix?

 

[Daniel]

Some Nazi punk band from the 80s

Ah yes, Complan started off as an Amebix tribute band before ye turned to a metal covers band. I remember now.

 

[XkucharzX]

Ah yes, Complan started off as an Amebix tribute band before ye turned to a metal covers band. I remember now.

.....but id actually pay money to see complan!, it would cost less and ive ave a better laugh!

 

[Cormcolash]

There's a difference between groups that everyone knows are part of the music industry and groups that are supposed to have come from a DIY background. That's the main issue here I reckon.
I haven't really listened to enough Amebix to say I like them or not, they stuff I've heard by them was pretty good though.

 

[the strange guy]

I haven't really listened to enough Amebix to say I like them or not

The thread's over lads, we can all go home.

 

[Daniel]

I haven't really listened to enough Amebix to say I like them or not, they stuff I've heard by them was pretty good though.

I've only heard one album and it was slow, so I say no.

 

[XkucharzX]

I've only heard one album and it was slow, so I say no.

BOO to you sir!, do not bash "slow" just cause one band lets it down!!baggyyyy

 

[kaltkrieg]

It's an issue which is causing them to cancel gigs and is obviously something that needs clarified to people. If they want people to think they are operating in a DIY manner, then they shouldn't have a problem enlightening people as to the actual money, costs, etc. involved in each gig they are playing.

I think the whole question here is whether Amebix are giving the impression of operating in a DIY manner when they actually aren't.
To me it's quite obvious they are trying to give this impression whilst operating in a much more industry-influenced manner.

Personally, I think any band that places money above a love of the music they are playing shouldn't be playing music.

Fair point.don't go and see em then.they did'nt toe the punk party politics line back in the day and they aint gonna do it now.nobody fucking owns them.thats about it for me.see you at neurosis.i'll lend you that score.Peace n love.

 

[the strange guy]

THE DIY PUNX AREN'T THE MASTERS OF THE MIGHTY AMEBIX

NO GODS NO MOANERS

 

[AnarchoBob]

I like Amebix, actually no, I love Amebix. That is why I am extremely fucked off at the way they went about things.

If they outright said it was for money, believe it or not, I wouldn't have had any problem because at least they were being honest. But to go about things in a seemingly DIY way then just go on and say that they want the cash really rubs the wrong way.

 

[Anarcho Munk]

But where exactly did they say they were going about the whole thing in a strictly DIY way?

 

[AnarchoBob]

They never said it wasn't a DIY thing for starters, secondly they certainly gave that impression.

 

[the strange guy]

Well, I assume they'd be booking the gigs themselves and managing the proceeds,
not handing it to a manager or record label, so that's DIY in my book.
There's different meanings to DIY, fair enough.
But when my dad says he's going to do a DIY job tiling the downstairs jacks I don't
assume he's going to call the lads around to for a few flagons and get stuck into
writing a few articles for his zine, leaving the tiles in a smashed mess on the floor.

 

[killy kill]

They never said it wasn't a DIY thing for starters, secondly they certainly gave that impression.

so, you and others assumed it was DIY because they didn't come out and say it explicitly wasn't? odd

why would or should they explain anything to you about their motives?
what do they owe you? did you have to eat dogfood or suck some dick in the 80s so you could get the cash together to buy the 'winter' 7 inch?

Neurosis have been banded about as a comparison, Amebix should never have split up in the first place. the punks would be happy and they'd be raking the grade in, no questions asked.

 

[AnarchoBob]

True, but in this context the term DIY is quite clear what it means.

Plus, as far as I know they went the usual way of relying on promoters rather than organizing gigs, so that argument is out of the window.
If they didn't want to give an appearance of going about this in a DIY way they would have said it quite clearly and relied on a professional promoting agency, not relying onto independent promoters.

 

[the strange guy]

There's an interesting parallel with celebrity culture in the mainstream society and
punk bands in the DIY culture. Many people on the street act like they 'own'
celebrities, there is a lust to know everything about them, every move they make,
every juicy morsel of gossip is in the public domain - there for the taking. Punk bands
are owned by the DIY culture, their lyrics absorbed and assimilated as a lifestyle, their
logos tattooed, their decisions scrutinised, and their drummers ostracised for not being
vegan - even if they don't particularly like the band but they identify them as part of
the divine DIY populous.

When individual punks stop acting like they are their peers moral overseers then maybe
I won't laugh so fucking hard at threads like this.

 

[Cormcolash]

I don't really think that's the case here.
I think it's more that there is a hypocrisy in the actions of Amebix when taken in the context of how they have always presented themselves as a band, and how they are continuing to present themselves.
There is a noticeable clash between how Amebix have presented themselves in the past and how they are conducting themselves now, and this is being pointed out.
The only moral side of that is the morals that Amebix have attached themselves to in the past, and it is quite clear in this case that their original material is critical of the system of capatilism that governs the world, yet their current actions are in line with the system they were so critical of.
It is hypocritical to tour in the manner they are doing whilst playing those songs, therefore, Amebix are full of shit, and it's their own doing.

 

[the strange guy]

I'm having a hard time mentally scanning over their lyrics and comparing them to a
band like, say, Crass, Conflict, Subhumans or any other stereotypical 'punk' band and
seeing where they said anything remotely close to 'being punk means a life of abject
poverty, sacrificing luxuries', like Steve Iggy and Dicky Luko preached. In fact, if you
sing their lyrics in a death metal growl it still works! I could very well be wrong as I
could not be fucked pulling out lyric sheets. Amebix were a different band, they may
have been adopted by many punks and played in the same circles but they were cut
from a very different cloth - that's obvious the first time you hear them. So how
exactly did they present themselves in the past? The kind of people that would be
happy for promoters to make a mint off them playing?

 

[AnarchoBob]

Where did I ever define myself as a punk? To be honest I cannot bother with the petty 'punk scene' bullshit.
But that is besides the point. As Cormac has said and as everyone knows, Amebix have presented themselves in a certain way in the past, to deny it would be silly. Their name became as big as it is not simply because people in the DIY culture adopted them but because Amebix did themselves decide to go along the whole DIY thing. It's not like they never wanted to be part of the DIY culture, it's quite obvious really.
Now, do you really think it's that correct for them to use the DIY culture and then throw it away when they see they aren't getting as much money as they want from it?

 

[nuke terrorist]

i haven't read read the last hundred pages of this but didn't the monolith LP come out on an EMI label is that what you're talking about ?

i only have a live tape and a cd-r of the early EP's and couldn't get into it.