Children of a lesser guild: An anarcho A–Z

One of the fallacies concerning the anarcho-punk movement, diligently dispelled by the recent work of Ian Glasper and others, is that it was a self-limiting oeuvre, peopled by the non-descript and musically unadventurous. While there was unarguably some sheep farming north of the Falklands latterly, that was far from the case originally; specifically in terms of the output of Crass Records, whose symbolically attired monochrome 45s surveyed an astonishing breadth of musical styles and ideas. Approximately three decades down the line we have a chance to look at new ‘product’ from two supposedly ‘anarcho’ bands who were equally innovative but sounded as distinct from each other in musical ethos as it is possible to imagine. Originally recording for the Subhumans’ Spiderleg imprint, Amebix’s thunderous early EPs and Arise album (Alternative Tentacles) still sound as if souls were being cheese-grated live in the studio and were hugely influential in bridging punk to dark metal, crust and beyond. Conversely Zounds’ winsome charms were rooted in a neo-folk musical vernacular that had trace elements of 1960s pop. Alex Ogg spoke first to Amebix’s Rob aka the Baron and subsequently to Steve Lake, whose The Redemption of Zounds is out now through Overground Records. The interviews were undertaken in 2011 and a small number of quotes from these exchanges were published in an article for commercial magazine Vive Le Rock.