Friday, June 15

Borstal breakout


Were Sham69 the first real punk band? Punk Brittania reckons so: the middle class art school punks of '76 who'd kicked things off were already moving onto other things by the time Jimmy Pursey got popular on the UK's council estates.

What a great band though: super tight and with a chainsaw sound that still sounds fresh. And check out the jazz-handed, quiff-headed drummer.

Borstal? I knew a few chaps who ended up there and they all had the Ray Winston air of casual menace. Easy to forget, the late seventies were violent times.

1 comment:

WhitelinePsycho said...

Interesting contention, haven't had the show out here yet, used to think the name stood for Skinheads at Margate 1969 . . . finally realised I'd been swindled. I hear Pursey and co are gigging again.