Musicians - Crass

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	Musicians - Crass

For information about the anarchist writer see Chris Crass

Crass was an influential English anarchist punk rock band.

Overview

Crass formed in 1977, based around Dial House, an 'open house community' near Epping, Essex, in England.

Whereas the Sex Pistols' anarchism seemed to be a self-consciously nihilistic prank, Crass's stance was more directly linked to the libertarian socialist or communalistic varieties of 20th century political thought.

Taking literally the punk manifesto of "Do It Yourself", Crass combined the use of song, film, sound collage, graphics and subversion to launch a sustained and innovative critical broadside against all that they saw as a culture built on foundations of war, violence, sexism, religious hypocrisy and unthinking consumerism. They were also amongst the progenitors of the anarcho-pacifism that became pervasive in the punk music scene (see also anarcho-punk).

Origins of the band

The band came together when Dial House founder and former member of avant-garde performance art group EXIT Penny Rimbaud (real name Jerry Ratter) began jamming with Clash fan Steve Ignorant, who was staying at the house at the time. Between them they put together the songs "So What?" and "Do They Owe Us A Living?" as a drums and vocals duo. For a (very) short period of time they called themselves Stormtrooper, before choosing the name Crass, a reference to the David Bowie song "Ziggy Stardust" (specifically the line "The kids was just crass"). Other members of the household began to join in, and it was not long before Crass performed their first live gig as part of a squatted street festival at Huntley Street, North London. Here they had intended to play a set of five songs; however, the "plug was pulled" on them by the organisers after four. Shortly afterwards they played at the legendary Roxy punk club in London's Covent Garden area. By the band's own account this was a drunken debacle, ending in the group being ejected from the stage, and immortalised by their song "Banned from the Roxy" and Rimbaud's essay Crass at the Roxy . Other early gigs included regularly playing alongside the UK Subs at the White Lion pub in Putney. These performances were often not well-attended; "The audience consisted mostly of us when the Subs played and the Subs when we played."

A while later, the band decided to take themselves more seriously, particularly paying more attention to their presentation. As well as avoiding drugs such as alcohol or cannabis before gigs, they also adopted a policy of wearing black, military surplus-style clothing at all times, whether on or off stage. They also introduced their distinctive stage backdrop, a logo designed by Rimbaud's friend Dave King (later of Sleeping Dogs Lie), as pictured below on the sleeve of The Feeding Of The 5000. This gave the band a militaristic image, which led some to accuse them of fascism. Crass countered that their uniform appearance was intended to be a statement against the "cult of the personality", so that, in contrast to the norm for many rock bands, no member would be identified as the 'leader'.

The aforementioned logo represented an amalgamation of several "icons of authority" including the Christian Cross, the swastika and the Union Flag combined with a two headed snake consuming itself (to symbolise the idea that power will eventually destroy itself). Using such deliberately mixed messages was also part of Crass' strategy of presenting themselves as a "barrage of contradictions", which also included using loud, aggressive music to promote a pacifist message, and was in part a reference to their own Dadaist and performance art backgrounds.

The band also eshewed any elaborate stage lighting during live sets, instead preferring to be illuminated by a simple bare light bulb. The band also pioneered multimedia presentation techniques, fully utilising video technology and using back-projected films and video collages made by Mick Duffield and Gee Vaucher to enhance their performances.

Crass Records

Crass' first release was The Feeding Of The 5000, an 18 track 12" 45 rpm EP on the Small Wonder label in 1978. Workers at the pressing plant initially refused to handle it due to the allegedly blasphemous content of the song "Reality Asylum." The record was eventually released with this track removed and replaced by two minutes of silence, ironically titled "The Sound Of Free Speech". This incident also prompted Crass to set up their own record label, Crass Records, in order to retain full editorial control over their material, and "Reality Asylum" was shortly afterwards issued in a re-recorded and extended form as a 7" single. A later pressing of the album on Crass Records restored the missing track.

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Musicians - Crass

Overview

Origins of the band

Crass Records

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