The White Nationalist Skinhead Movement

‘If You’re White’ never made it onto vinyl whereas the second song, ‘Who Cares?’, would appear some seven years later:

The back cover of the songbook features an advert for the National Front with the legend: ‘Your last chance…The NATIONAL FRONT.’ The songbook was available through the NF shop in Croydon.

Rare flyer for Skrewdriver and French RAC band Snix concert in Brussels, which went ahead without Skrewdriver after they were detained at the border.

Sunday, 10 June has gone down in nationalist folklore. For on this day a handful of nationalist skinheads along with a firm of Chelsea hooligans boldly attacked the Redskins, the self-proclaimed ‘kings of the left,’ who were playing the Greater London Council’s free open-air ‘Jobs For a Change’ festival in Jubilee Gardens on the South bank. ‘It was my idea to do Jubilee Gardens,’ claims Eddie Stampton. This is his story of that day in June:

About a month before the Redskins were due to play at Jubilee Gardens, along with John and Paul Burnley, I was on my way to a South East London and Kent BM meeting. These were held regularly on the last Friday of every month in the room above Welling library. We had gotten off the tube at London Bridge and I saw a poster advertising the gig. I was elated, this was our chance to introduce these middle-class commie fake ‘skinheads’ to a bit of skinhead White Power! I raised the matter at the meeting with the organiser, Mick McAndrews, now sadly dead. It was decided we would organise an ‘expeditionary force’ for the gig. The day of the gig finally arrived, Sunday 10th June and it was a lovely hot sunny day. Our group consisted of BM members including some of the ‘Ovaltinees’ and ‘Peter and the Wolf’ bands, a few skinhead friends from different parts of South London and some Chelsea hooligans that included ‘Chubby’ Chris Henderson, the singer of Combat 84. I even had my bird of the time, Lesley Newman from Erith with me. Looking back, we must have been nuts as our audacious plan could quite easily have been a suicide mission and a couple of ours did receive a fairly bad kicking after our attack. When you are young I suppose to a certain extent you are fearless and think you are indestructible. There were around 50 in our group mainly from South London. My group consisted of Paul and John Burnley, Simon Baker, Chubby, Scotch Eddie, Gary C, Tony M, Andy K, Chris W, Adam Douglas and a good few more, the names of which escape me all these years later. We met up in the Griffin pub that used to be just opposite Charing Cross station. The plan was to meet up with a similar-sized group led by Craney that would be coming from the Last Resort shop in East London direct to the festival. I had brought with me a large hand-sewed Swastika flag and my girlfriend was carrying it in a Sainsbury’s carrier bag along with a few bottles of lager. I intended to unfurl it on the stage. It’s funny really, because it seems like only last week and my memories of the day are vivid. Anyway, we had a few drinks then sauntered without a care in the world across the footbridge that traverses the Thames from the Embankment station to the Southbank. We assembled around the stage the Redskins were due to appear on and waited for the fun to commence. Rather stupidly, I was wearing a ‘Skrewdriver Great Britain’ T-shirt and I’d clocked a couple of lefties eyeing me up. A little while after the event, I remember reading the report in the ‘Red Action’ broadsheet and they actually mentioned seeing ‘a load of kids with skinheads, one in a Skrewdriver T-shirt’ and went on to say it was a mistake they wouldn’t make again in not attacking them due to their age!

Craney’s group had still not shown and by now the Redskins were halfway through their set. At one point their singer Chris Dean had likened the exuberance of the crowd dancing in front of the stage area to the storming of the Winter Palace (a reference to the ‘Russian’ revolution). That would all change pretty soon and the lefty crowd would then be more akin to the Soviet retreat at Smolensk!

The troops were getting restless and my little group which included Chubby and the Chelsea supporters wanted to commence the attack, but the BM members kept saying, ‘wait for Craney, wait for Craney.’ This went on until the band was halfway through their last song, aptly entitled ‘Lean On Me.’ If the BM had had their way, the Redskins would have finished their set without incident and we would probably have had the embarrassment of joining Craney’s group, when it finally arrived, in the attack of the Hank Wangford country and western band! They were insistent we wait for Craney. We had had enough of waiting, and Chubby and I were urging ‘We have to do it now.’ In frustration I threw a beer bottle directly at the stage. I’m glad to say that this seemed to act as a signal. Suddenly there was a surge and our entire firm rushed towards the stage smashing anything in the way. Only a few actually managed to get on the stage, Adam Douglas of Skrewdriver, Chubby, Scotch Eddie, Andy K from Mitcham and Gary C., the rest of us preoccupied with battering reds around the stage. Chubby and Gary were the first on stage. The security was piss-poor and melted. It went off absolutely mental. Gary C decked the singer Chris Dean and smashed another band member over the nut with a guitar!! I have a photo, which will be used in another book, of singer Chris Dean just after the attack with a cut under his left eye after receiving a clump.

There is an amusing story surrounding the photos from the day that appear in this book. A few years ago, when it was decided to write this and other books, I opened an account on the Redskins forum in the name of ‘Anti-fascist researcher’ and started a thread claiming to be doing research for a book about ‘the anti-fascist struggle in the ’80s.’ I appealed for photos from the Jubilee Gardens gig and lo and behold, Redskins bassist Martin Hewes sent a private message offering to email a few press pics that had not been used. I’m assuming they are from the photographer at Time Out magazine as one of the photos was identical to one that appeared in the mag as part of a report on the festival. One, not produced in this book, shows Chris Dean shitting himself with a cut under his left eye after being attacked on stage. I would hazard a guess there were more that weren’t sent to me because they were even more embarrassing for the working-class heroes.

As the fighting and stage invasion began, Chris Dean said over the mike, ‘Fuck off out of it, screw yourselves, out.’ Then as the infamous skinhead battle cry of ‘Sieg Heil’ broke out he continued, ‘You sound like Margaret fucking Thatcher, you sound like Margaret Thatcher’!!! Then a loud crashing sound could be heard over the speakers as Adam smashed another band member over the nut with a mike stand. The acoustics of the enclosure around the area in the middle of County Hall, where the gig was held, amplified our chants which must have made it seem there were a lot more of us than there actually were!

During the battle I got separated from my girlfriend and was gutted as I never got the chance to unfurl our glorious banner! It later turned out that she had dropped it in the melee anyway. When the thousands of reds realised how few we actually were, we came under a barrage of missiles and a mate was hit in the neck by a broken bottle. We made our escape behind the stage and off into Waterloo Road. We regrouped and headed towards the footbridge that crosses the road and leads directly into the station. Suddenly a mob of around two hundred assorted reds appeared not far behind us. A few of the faces I would see again in later encounters. There were only about 30 of us by this time as some had fled the attack in different directions. They were chanting ‘Red, Red, Red Action’ over and over again. Luckily there was some sort of paving work going on around the bottom of the footbridge and some of us grabbed large lumps of masonry and as the reds ascended the stairs we threw them down onto them. Me, Chubby, Chris W, Simon B, Gary C and a couple of others managed to slip away through the station and made our way to nearby St. Thomas’ hospital to get my mate’s neck stitched.

One young left-winger prepared to have a go at the fascists triumphantly making off also noted with great disappointment: ‘We urged those around us forward but their reaction shocked us to the core. Hundreds of lefties were simply terrified and even more terrified of the idea that we wanted them to join battle. Five minutes ago these people were song-a-long-a-revolution with the Redskins, now they were quaking in their boots.’⁴⁴⁴⁴

Right-wing skinhead David Webster was also present and witnessed the attack on the Redskins:

It was common knowledge that trouble was being organised for the event. I had heard many rumours that the National Front and British Movement were going to turn up in force to disrupt the event. I went along mostly out of curiosity and the fact that there were going to be so many skinheads in attendance. Turning up with a few mates from Hounslow and my girlfriend Jackie, we made our way to the front and stood to the left of the stage, where we had a good view of the stage. There really were lots of skinheads at the front, hundreds in fact! The Redskins came on stage. The audience all seemed to be having a good time dancing and cheering the band. The band had played about five or six numbers with no sign at all of trouble. Then as if it were synchronised all hell let loose. Punches and kicks were being aimed throughout by those dancing at the front. The right-wing skins had it planned to a T, sussing out who was who, mingling with the left-wing skinheads. Many of the Redskins fans were wearing red Harringtons which made them stick out. They were coming off far worse from what I could see. At this point the band was still on the stage. The next thing I saw was like nothing I have seen since. I had a clear view of the crowd and of the stage. The air was filled with bottles and other missiles being aimed at the Redskins, almost simultaneously right-wing skinheads had started to mount the stage and attack the group. Singer Chris Dean was most definitely punched and kicked as he and the other members of the band tried to get away. I saw a guitar being used as a weapon on one of the band’s crew. The drums were turned upside down. It was utter chaos for about five minutes. One of my skinhead mates [Dave O’Brian] was punched by some guy with long hair. The crowd was dispersing in all directions. And that included Jackie and I. The next day I was amazed to read in the newspapers that all the coverage was focused on a stage invasion of Hank Wangford’s set. There was hardly anything about the Redskins at all. I personally played no part in this disruption and was at the end of the day thankful to come out of it able to tell the story. There were many that took a real hiding that day.

Scotch Eddie, Chubby and Adam Douglas causing mayhem on stage at Jubilee Gardens

Indeed, some 15 minutes after the attack on the Redskins, a second group of skinheads led by Nicky Crane, who had turned up late, attacked the Hank Wangford group on the other stage in Jubilee Gardens. Chaos reigned again. Hank Wangford was badly beaten up. An acoustic guitar was smashed over the violinist. BB recalls: ‘I was at Jubilee Gardens. Hank Wangford was playing when we got on stage. There was probably a dozen of us, 20 top wack. During the fracas I managed to get the guitar off its player and do him on the canister with it, also managed to make it home with it.’ When a huge Rasta intervened, swinging a lighting safety chain above his head, the skinheads retreated but this time some elements within the crowd, including Red Action members and striking miners, quickly swung into action.

Some skinheads were caught and battered. Nicky Crane, according to one left-wing publication, ‘was felled by Peter C and only by using a young female anti-fascist as a shield, survived the onslaught with cuts and bruises.’⁴⁵⁴⁵

The fighting even continued in nearby St. Thomas’ hospital where the injured on both sides had been taken. Eddie Stampton continues:

On reaching the A & E department I saw what seemed like a never-ending convoy of ambulances arriving, offloading many of the injured. The SE London and Kent BM organiser mentioned earlier, Mick Mac, was among the injured — knocked out by a flying missile and then given a severe kicking by the ‘brave’ reds. I have to laugh looking back, as an ambulance man wheeled a trolley into the hospital with a seriously battered red on it. He had two mates with him, both wearing RCP (Revolutionary Communist Party) T-shirts. I approached them and warned they would not be leaving alive. Not five minutes later, 20–30 of Red Action’s main firm arrived and now the boot was on the other foot. I was sitting in a recess waiting while my mate was being stitched up. They approached and gave us a load of verbal abuse, wary of the now present hospital security. One sat down next to me and tried to hand me a copy of their newspaper, commenting that I was just a kid and didn’t understand what Nazism was all about. I remember they had one of the fattest and ugliest Negresses with them that I had ever seen. She was shouting all sorts of insults and Chubby told her, ‘Shut up, sit down and get your tits out, you fat slag’! I got up and walked into the room where my mate was being stitched up and when the doctor wasn’t looking, stole a pair of surgical scissors. I went back out and waved them at the reds as a warning not to come near me. To my surprise, the Negress and some of the others shouted to the security that I had a knife. They must’ve called the Police as ten minutes later the SPG arrived, dragged me out, put me in a van and drove off!

Thank fuck the police back then were ‘institutionally racist’ as a few minutes later the sergeant asked me what station I wanted to go to! I didn’t know what he meant and he told me they all voted NF, hated ‘Red Ken’ Livingston and it was his own fault for what had happened for failing to allow the police onto the GLC land where the festival was held! They took me to Lambeth North underground station and let me go! I later found out the same thing had happened to the others left trapped in the hospital with Red Action.

Later that night, the reds attacked the Aggy skinhead pub in Islington, looking for revenge. I wasn’t there and to be honest have heard varying different accounts of what happened. There wouldn’t have been many of our lot in there, with it being a Sunday night, but I did hear that the barmaid and Nicky Crane’s girlfriend of the time Jane (who strangely enough looked like a bloke!) got beat up. Nothing would surprise me when it came to the reds. I have two regrets about the day — losing my flag and not hanging around to see the Smiths play, as just two years later they became one of my all-time favourite bands!

Of course, the papers were full of the ‘Nazi interruption,’ with accompanying pictures of Nicky Crane and Adam Douglas causing mayhem on stage. BB recalls: ‘We were splashed across every paper in the country the next day. My mum came and slapped me round the head with a paper and said no need to ask where you fucking were yesterday.’ Jubilee Gardens remains one of Eddie Stampton’s proudest and most memorable moments in his life as a national-socialist:

This one event more than any other went down in Skinhead folklore. The icing on the cake was the fact that GLC leader ‘Red Ken’ Livingston had declared 1984 GLC Anti-racist year!! These days there are all sorts of bullshitters claiming to have been there, but there were only a brave few that day. No Remorse later went on to write a song about it, ‘Smash the Reds,’ with an excerpt from a bootleg live recording of the Redskins set, the beginning of the very last song, ‘Lean On Me,’ when we attacked. What I have quoted Chris Dean as having said can be heard, as can Adam Douglas shouting ‘Come on you wankers’ and I swear my voice can be heard above everyone else’s during the chants of ‘Sieg Heil.’ It was a great day, one I will never forget. We sure did lean on them commie arseholes! Ian Stuart himself was gutted he didn’t take part. He was away visiting his parents in Blackpool that weekend. In hindsight it’s just as well, as he was very well-known to the reds and he would have been attacked on sight as anyone with him would’ve been too. If he’d been there I doubt we would have been able to do what we set out to. Not long after, he changed the words to the Skrewdriver song ‘Streetfight,’ thus making it about Jubilee Gardens. Years later whenever the track was performed live he would dedicate it to us that were there.

However, ‘the great day’ did have far-reaching consequences which Eddie Stampton readily acknowledges: ‘Jubilee Gardens was the reason Anti-Fascist Action was formed.’ AFA would eventually start taking the fight to the fascists.

On Saturday, August 11, Skrewdriver, Brutal Attack, the Diehards and Public Enemy played a Rock Against Communism concert in London. The meeting place was Embankment LT station. Skrewdriver was not billed to play.

On Saturday, 1 September, Indecent Exposure supported punk band Chaos at the Moonlight Club, West Hampstead. Milky knew Jimmy from Chaos who used to drink in Hemel Hempstead.

In the autumn of 1984, Indecent Exposure self-financed and released a double A-side single on their own label, Index Records.⁴⁶⁴⁶ The two songs were lifted off the first demo recorded and produced by Mark Sutherland at his Café Music studio in East London. The single was issued without a picture sleeve. Milky explains: ‘2 Tone Records never released their singles with a sleeve. Well, if it was good enough for the Specials then it was good enough for us.’ There were two distinct pressings of the single. ‘The first lot we had done were faulty and we gave those away,’ recalls Sedge Swatton. Milky clarifies: ‘The single was pressed in the East End. I don’t remember how many copies were pressed, 500 or 1000. Well, they were warped and jumped when played. Even so we started selling them, but gave up because of the complaints. We bought them all back and returned them to the pressing plant who pressed out the centre piece so that they could reuse the vinyl. The centre pieces were given away as coasters.’ The centre piece artwork of a man exposing himself was drawn by Sedge.

Inspired by what had happened during the summer of 1982, ‘Riots’ is a political statement that blames the police and their strong-arm tactics for causing the summer riots, further cementing the growing reputation of the police under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of being more concerned with oppression rather than protection. ‘A Matter of Time’ protests against Margaret Thatcher and her callous Tory government of the time:

To explain, under Mrs. Thatcher and the Tories unemployment peaked at three million, nuclear weapons were purchased at the reported cost of £6 billion, the right-to-buy scheme was introduced which was seen as a major vote-winner for Thatcher, and Britain went to war over the disputed Falkland Islands, costing over 250 British lives, which helped to secure victory for Thatcher in the General Election of 1983. However, Thatcher’s time did come, but not for another seven years. By then, she had ‘outlived’ the band. The band thought the single was ‘quite good and relevant.’ It was. Milky advises: ‘Play loud for best results.’

A record deal with Rock-O-Rama records was forthcoming and the band had Mark Sutherland to thank; according to Milky, ‘he had told Herbert about us as he was already recording with Skrewdriver and had already cut the demo tracks.’ Unbeknown to the band, they may have received a helping hand from Bulldog Drummond: ‘I bought a copy of the Index demo tape off Milky at a gig for a pound, made a copy and sent it to the drummer of the German band the Body Checks who I used to swap tapes and fanzines with. He wrote back to say the tape was FANTASTIC and he had contacted Herbert from Rock-O-Rama to say he should bring it out as an LP.’ Milky was not particularly concerned by their choice of label because ROR was ‘not known as an extremist label, having released albums by Combat 84 and Bohse Onkelz.’

On Saturday, September 29, the White Noise Club organised a Rock Against Communism open-air ‘Summer festival’ at Nick Griffin’s father’s farm in Huntingfield, near Halesworth in Suffolk. Skrewdriver headlined with support from Brutal Attack, Public Enemy, Indecent Exposure, Buzzard Bait and Last Orders. Offensive Weapon from Belfast were due to play but had to pull out. They were replaced at the last minute by Last Orders. The bands played on an impromptu stage flanked by NF banners. Cliff Warby organised the PA for the festival and delivered it too from Bury St. Edmunds.

Buzzard Bait received a mixed reception, prompting one review of the festival to say: ‘Using only a guitar and a drum machine, they confused some sections of the audience.’⁴⁷⁴⁷ For Public Enemy, who had brought along a small band of supporters, this was only the second time that they had played with Brutal Attack and Skrewdriver, but they won over many new converts. Then Indecent Exposure took to the stage. They were well supported by two coachloads of friends from Herts. They proved the surprise package of the festival with a high-energy set packed of their own material, as well as a number of skinhead anthems, impressing the likes of Adam Douglas of Skrewdriver. Remarkably, Milky remembers nothing about their performance. Brutal Attack did not disappoint. Again the highlight of their set was a cover version of the Troggs’ ‘Wild Thing’ with politically incorrect lyrics. Opening with ‘White Power,’ the new look five-piece Skrewdriver played a set of old favourites and new numbers, in particular ‘Free My Land,’ which entertained the audience thoroughly. ‘Skrewdriver were the perfect finish to a really excellent festival’ concluded one review.⁴⁸⁴⁸ Steve Sargent attended this festival and recalls:

I drove up there with about a dozen lads crammed into my Mk 3 Cortina. I remember we got lost and was driving up and down these little country lanes with other carloads of skinheads passing us here and there obviously as lost as us. A few cars had pulled up at one spot, so we did and there was a VW camper van with Ken McLellan in it who seemed to know where to go so we all followed him to the venue.

The farm was a bit muddy but had been laid out with a stage and a few stalls dotted around. It reminded me of Rorke’s Drift, the lay out of it, funny enough. Someone (Griffin?) had stocked up on tins of Kestrel lager that were being sold for a pound a tin, but the tops of the tins all had rust on them I remember, so everyone was moaning wanting to use glasses or plastic tumblers to pour the booze into, but nobody had any, so loads of people had orange rust stains around their lips, not wanting to miss out on a beer.

I cannot recall any of the bands that played that day bar Brutal Attack, that being mainly down to the fact I took photos of Ken with a Union flag when he climbed onto a speaker there. There was quite a good crowd at the farm and McLellan’s showmanship whipped them right up, I recall.

I managed to get to the back of the stage and take a few photos when Skrewdriver played. There had been a bit of a kerfuffle before they went on as Mad Matty Morgan was roaring drunk and had said something to Ian, who had clumped him and sparked him out. More through the booze than the punch I think, but even so I was pretty shocked to see this as us younger lot were terrified of Matty and it was unthinkable that anyone would dare stick one on him. I had only really seen the social side of Ian before and never seen him turn nasty on someone like that. He was a very jovial bloke I always found.

If memory serves, when Skrewdriver came onto the stage a lad who had got on the roof of a nearby barn to take a photo promptly came straight through it with a giant thud, receiving the biggest cheer of the day. Skrewdriver were in their trademark all-black uniforms and rattled off number after number to the ecstatic crowd. By the final song I think most of the crowd was on the stage with the band, a very successful first RAC festival all in all.

An all-ticket event, the festival passed off without trouble and proved a mighty payday for the National Front, which also sold ‘R.A.C. Summer Festival Suffolk ’84’ T-shirts based on a Mick Furbank skinhead design. Ian Stuart was buoyed by the success of the festival considering that it was the first time that anything like this had been attempted and also by ‘so many bands coming from everywhere to play for R.A.C.’ It was the first of four such festivals held in Suffolk.

Andy Frain, who was now living in Reading, attended this festival and two subsequent festivals. He remembers going to one festival with the intention of beating up ‘Mad’ Matty Morgan and Nicky Crane in a disagreement between London and Reading skinheads. The last time he went he had grown out his hair, having turned casual in late 1986 because he had a thirst for football violence and wanted to infiltrate the away end without drawing attention to himself.

Shortly after the summer festival This Is White Noise fanzine appeared, which was probably the brainchild of Joe Pearce, White Noise Records and Ian Stuart. The editorial of the first issue read: ‘This Is White Noise fanzine is a new fanzine which has been produced to fill what we believe to be a void on the fanzine scene. There are plenty of skinhead fanzines around, both good and bad, but not many of these fanzines, apart from the left-wing ones which have very few readers, concentrate on the political climate of both the skinhead and punk scenes in Britain and, indeed, the White World. The fanzine is intended to reflect the views of the true skinheads and skinhead bands with their traditional Nationalism. Unlike Sounds, NME and other trendy left-wing papers which funnily enough are owned by large capitalist concerns, This Is White Noise will not glorify pretend skinheads who only cut their hair because their masters in the left wing want them to. Their orders being to pervert the spirit and the ideals of a movement which has stood proudly against the hatred of the capitalists at The Sun through to the communists at the music papers, and has still come through proudly flying the flag. Not the red flag of evil, not the white flag of surrender, but the red, white and blue of their land and their ancestors, the colours which will never die. This fanzine is yours.’

Ambitiously, the editor hoped that This Is White Noise would appear once every eight weeks. The first issue contained an interview with Skrewdriver conducted by Joe Pearce and a piece simply headlined ‘Justice?’ about the recent arrest and imprisonment of Nicky Crane after being framed by the police. The piece concluded: ‘Why should Nicky Crane, someone who is proud of his Race and Nation, be sent down for doing nothing while Blacks get let off or get light sentences for committing serious crimes? This is our country! We are British people. Where the hell is British Justice?’ This Is White Noise may have only lasted one issue.

For a band that went on to record an album and some compilation tracks, very little is actually known about Public Enemy. From Maidstone in Kent, Public Enemy started life as Young Blood in 1980. They played a few gigs after which their first singer Pete decided to call it a day. The band changed their name to Public Enemy sometime in 1982. Vicious Rumours and Public Enemy shared the services of drummer Martin Phillips until he decided to join Public Enemy full-time in late 1983. That same year, Public Enemy recruited a new singer, but it did not work out and so they played on as a three-piece. One year later, they released a decent-sounding four-track demo through Wonderful World Tapes, which featured ‘Fought for Our Freedom,’ ‘Sound of the Streets,’ ‘Skinhead’ and ‘Proud to Be British.’⁴⁹⁴⁹

Later still, Public Enemy became involved in the Punishment Block Organisation, described by English Rose fanzine as a punk/Oi movement which ‘stands up for the true voices of Britain.’⁵⁰⁵⁰ Punishment Block planned to release a compilation album featuring Public Enemy and like-minded bands, but failed to see it through to completion.⁵¹⁵¹

Public Enemy went on to record a new demo with two songs [date unknown], which was reviewed by Kent-based fanzine The Truth at Last:⁵²⁵² ‘The first track is called ‘Disco Nightmare’ about the multi-racial filth who go to discos. It sounds a bit like ‘Whites Unite,’ a previous song of theirs. The second track is called ‘Thatcher’s Britain’ with strong vocals, good lyrics and a good band to back it up. Darren and Public Enemy have got it right and I think you will be hearing a lot of them. Verdict: 8/10.’

1984 also saw more and more nationalist bands form. Last Orders, from Grimsby, formed in the summer of 1984 with a line-up of Craig Whaline on guitar, Gary Lea on drums and Pete on vocals. They ‘messed around for a few months’ before Mark Richardson joined on bass. He said of his journey to joining Last Orders:⁵³⁵³

The first band I was in was called Task Force in 1983. We couldn’t play a note or had the right gear but it was a start, me on bass, Steve on guitar and two other punks on drums and vocals. I had been a skinhead for about a year and it was around this time I joined the NF. I remember sending off for Skrewdriver’s ‘Back With a Bang’ 12″ from the NF and they sent me the ‘White Power’ 7″ instead. I was about to complain because I thought I had been ripped off, but that all changed when I played the record. Not so much the lyrics at the time but the power of Ian Stuart’s voice. To this day I regard Skrewdriver as one of the best bands I have ever heard. Anyway, I began writing to Ian Stuart through the NF about forming a nationalist band, and he replied with some good advice. I’ve still got the letter. The band split soon after I got my first bass and it was 1984 before the next band. We didn’t have a name and only managed to master one song when I left to join Pete, Gaz and Craig in Last Orders. They were already a nationalist skinhead band so this was perfect for me. I was still in the process of learning their songs when Joe Pearce of the NF rang up to see if Task Force wanted to be one of the bands to appear at the 1984 Summer festival with Skrewdriver headlining. I told him we were now called Last Orders and that we would play. So we practiced, went down in a dodgy car and played. That was my first and probably the most memorable gig I did with the band.

From Southeast London, Pride of the Lion formed late 1984. Their influences were early 4-Skins, the Last Resort, Brutal Attack and the Diehards. Songs included ‘St. George,’ ‘Justice,’ ‘Pride of the Lion,’ ‘Skinhead Return,’ ‘Old Man’ and ‘Today’ otherwise called ‘Nationalism Today,’ which was probably inspired by the NF publication of the same name. They also covered ‘Violence’ by Combat 84 and ‘Summer Lovin’ from the film Grease! On Saturday, 25 May 1985, Pride of the Lion played their one and only gig at the Pembroke Arms, Bournemouth with Vicious Rumours, Brutal Attack, the Diehards and the Belsen Horrors. They split up before they could be immortalized on vinyl.

Also from South East London was Pat’s Ensemble. The line-up was Pat on vocals, Rob on lead guitar, Danny on bass and Tom on drums. At the end of 1984, Pat’s Ensemble played their first and perhaps only gig, supporting the Ovaltinees at the Ghuznee, Gillingham, although they only did a few shambolic numbers. Changing their name to the Belsen Horrors,⁵⁴⁵⁴ they played the same Bournemouth gig as fellow Londoners Pride of the Lion. Among their repertoire was ‘Everything,’ ‘I Fell in Love With the Girl in the Dole Queue,’ ‘Moscow’ and ‘Solly,’ perhaps their best track, which was made famous or infamous by Nationalist Socialist skinhead band No Remorse.

Once described as ‘the complete opposite of the Redskins,’ the Blueskins first formed as Still Dying but split at the end of 1984. The original line-up was Terry ‘London’ on vocals, Micky on guitars, Bob on bass and Nig on bass. Terry ‘London’ was the editor of three fanzines — Cockney Express and White Riot, both of which covered Oi and football, and the National Socialist-oriented White Rebellion, which was his stab at Paul Burnley’s fanzine The Truth at Last. Terry managed to get a new line-up together, but that too fell apart. The Blueskins may have recorded a studio demo with Mark Sutherland. Hits included ‘The Day I Scored With Clare,’ ‘The Time Is Right,’ ‘What’s Happened?’ and ‘Skinhead.’ The romantic story of ‘The Day I Scored With Clare’ was about the time Terry ‘scored with Clare Sharp, a beaut’ skin bird who used to live up North London way’⁵⁵⁵⁵ whereas the lyrics to ‘Skinhead’ are:

Croydon’s Sudden Impact was born at the end of 1984.⁵⁶⁵⁶ Paul Dunbar, the original vocalist, said of the reasons for forming a band:⁵⁷⁵⁷ ‘At the end of 1984, we looked at the skinhead, nationalist scene in general, and influenced by bands like Combat 84, Skrewdriver and Brutal Attack, we decided to start a band. We were sick and tired of all of the queer, red and junkie scum on television, so we started to rehearse in a local studio.’

Paul had served his apprenticeship from 1982 as a bass player in ‘fairly successful’ punk band Malicious Damage, who had released a track on a compilation single for a small independent label. His new band suffered many line-up changes, though. Politics were very important to the band. Like so many other nationalist skinhead bands, they stated: ‘Without politics there would be no band as we could not sing anything we did not feel strongly about.’⁵⁸⁵⁸ Sudden Impact recorded and released several demo tapes, which the band admitted were poor quality, and started to gig from early 1986.

From Folkestone in Kent, the Betrayed formed in September 1984. The line-up of this skinhead band was Vince on vocals, Mark on bass, Terry on drums and Steve and Andy on guitars. It was a line-up that remained unchanged until Vince left in June ’86 and Andy took over vocal duties. Politically, the band described itself as anti-communist and patriotic, but not National Socialist. Despite their political stance, the Betrayed never aligned themselves to Rock Against Communism.

As a skinhead and nationalist band, gigs were hard to come by. They played their first gig in the summer of 1985, supporting a local punk band. Such was their performance that they received a better reception than the main band and were asked back a few times, but unfortunately ‘a bit of the old sieg-heiling by the crowd seemed to put the venue off a little bit…’⁵⁹⁵⁹ In February 1986, they returned to the local live circuit with support from nationalist skinhead band Razor Sharp. On Thursday, 28 August, they supported Condemned 84 at the St. Helier Arms, Carshalton in Surrey.

Turning to their musical output, The Betrayed released their first demo, self-titled, in 1985 which was followed by the ‘Forever England’ demo in 1986. ‘Forever England,’ although well recorded, lacks any real measure of musical distinction. Some lyrics are political. Some are not. ‘Judgement Day’ exposes the very real threat of communism and denounces homosexuality. Remembrance Sunday, the wearing of a poppy, and the sacrifices made by those ‘who get mugged on the streets’ is the subject of ‘Remember,’ which could equally have been titled ‘Lest We Forget.’ The title track, ‘Forever England,’ is patriotic to the core:

In September 1986, the Betrayed entered the studio and recorded a number of tracks which were released by Oi! Records on a split LP with Oi Polloi, a well-known anti-fascist band from Scotland. Gone were the likes of ‘Judgement Day,’ ‘Remember’ and ‘Forever England,’ replaced by the less challenging ‘United Oi!’ and ‘Knocking Down a Nation,’ but the English war dead are still remembered on ‘1916 (The Somme).’ The Betrayed struggled on for one or two more years before calling it a day.

Also from Kent, Razor Sharp formed in 1983 with a nationalist agenda. The first line-up of the band was Mike on vocals, Bob on guitar, Jon on bass and Penn on drums. Mike was replaced on vocals by Jason after some six months. Razor Sharp went on to record the ‘Proud to Be White’ demo of seven songs and a second demo of three songs with a buzzsaw guitar sound and hard-hitting lyrics debunking racial harmony and advocating repatriation.⁶⁰⁶⁰ For example, the lyrics to ‘White Revolution’ are:

The unsubtly titled ‘Fuck Off Commie!’ confirms the political persuasion of the band and yet Razor Sharp broke up after three years together because of political differences. During that time Razor Sharp only managed to play seven times. The most important was undoubtedly the 1985 RAC festival. Jason tried to reform Razor Sharp, but this came to nothing.

After Oi band Anti-Social from Blackpool folded, bass player Daz (real name Darren Mowbray) formed Skin Up who went on to record a demo, revealing their nationalist leanings. The four songs on this demo of distinctly average punk were ‘Hang the IRA,’ ‘Bulldog Breed,’ ‘Clockwork Orange Land’ and ‘Fight For Your Country.’ There was, however, another side to the band with such songs as ‘Jesus Was a Skinhead,’ ‘Stanley Ogden,’ ‘Catching a Dose,’ ‘Alcoholic Poisoning’ and ‘Get Off My Land’ (which was actually a reworking of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Get Off of My Cloud’). Like so many punk and skinhead bands which had gone before, Skin Up could not resist the temptation of writing about the police and their affectionate song was titled ‘PC Bastard.’ The band played mainly local gigs in their 18-month existence. [No details of these gigs are known to the author.]

RAC also extended across the border to Scotland. Named after a headline in NF youth magazine Bulldog, New Dawn was formed in December 1984 in Greenock by brothers Wullie and Wattie McClure and next-door neighbour Big Ronney Scott. The line-up was Wullie on guitar and vocals, Wattie on bass and Ronney Scott on drums. Politically, New Dawn were pro-National Front. In fact, Ronney Scott was the organiser of Greenock NF.

Before New Dawn, the three of them had played together in other bands: brothers Wullie and Wattie had both played in Intensive Care, and Wullie and Ronney had played in White Pact.⁶¹⁶¹ They cited their musical influences as Skrewdriver, Cockney Rejects and the Who. After contacting White Noise, they were invited to appear on the No Surrender comp LP and came down to London to record two tracks for the comp, which were ‘Free to Lie’ and ‘Master Race.’ ‘Free to Lie,’ which was played for the first time at the practice the night before it was recorded, was chosen over ‘Master Race,’ described by the powers that be at White Noise as a ‘bit fringy.’ For the comp, the band re-titled ‘Free to Lie’ as ‘Britain for the British.’ The lyrics are self-explanatory:

New Dawn played the 1985 RAC summer festival. In December 1985, Wattie left the band and was replaced by Steve Sharkey, who had played with Wullie in Krucifix. The band limped on into 1986, playing a few gigs before splitting. Other songs by New Dawn included ‘Sieg Heil,’ ‘Two Faces’ and ‘Blackmen.’ Big Ronney moved to Holland and was last heard to be dabbling in drugs.

Late in the year Kat moved into the Ferndale hotel in Argyle Square, which the reds were already targeting. She recalls: ‘On the picket days the police made us all stay away from the Ferndale so as not to enrage the reds. Looking back, what a liberty that was, making us leave our home for the day just to placate a load of IRA-supporting scum.’ Despite that, she enjoyed living at the Ferndale: ‘There were loads of us, from all sorts of different Aryan countries, all like a big family with a real sense of comradeship.’

On Saturday, 24 November, Ian Stuart attended the Annual General Meeting of the National Front in central London where, as the Central London branch organiser, he was presented with the Tom Lamb Recruitment Cup. [A photograph of a joyous Ian Stuart holding this cup aloft would later appear on the back sleeve of the Skrewdriver Blood and Honour LP.] Most, if not all of the Central London branch were skinheads whose politics were more national socialist than nationalist. It was an uneasy alliance between the party and the skinheads as one person recalls: ‘The Central London NF used to meet in a pub near the British Museum. Harrington and Holland were there. A guest speaker started to slag Hitler off. I was not having this and got up to walk out. I said to Ian: ‘Are you listening to this?’ He also walked out. I got Ian to walk out.’

On Saturday, 22 December Skrewdriver ended the year with a White Christmas gig at Commerce Hall, Newham, Stratford with support from Brutal Attack and the Diehards. This was Steve J. Drakos’ first gig as the bass player for Skrewdriver. He recalls: ‘They called it a ‘White Xmas gig.’ It was secret with invitation by word of mouth and the meeting point at Holborn tube station, Central line. It was also a very violent evening, with fights and stabbings in the crowd. The music event was great, but after the gig the bands’ crews had to help the organisers clean up the place from the thousands of beer cans on the floor mixed with small and bigger pools of blood. I wish I had taken photos of that because it was real cool, ha, ha.’

Steve J. Drakos was not exaggerating when he said it was a very violent evening. MJ recalls: ‘This gig was fucking chaos — West Ham vs. Chelsea loons stabbing each other. I was standing on a table towards the back of the hall. I remember a guy getting a near-full can of lager in his face before getting his throat cut right in front of me and falling back on the table I was standing on. His mate pulled his yellow Chelsea away shirt off him and put it up against his cut throat to stop the blood flowing. I was only 19 at the time, so any violence happening right in front of you tends to stay with you. It was not like it was going on throughout the gig, but a few sporadic fights broke out and the stabbing stuff was going on too, plus everyone at the gig seemed to think we had another Southall riot to deal with, expecting local Asians outside, but nothing happened after anyway.’

Milky of Indecent Exposure and his friend Billy attended this gig and as they arrived the very first thing they saw was ‘some poor cunt coming out on a stretcher with a scarf covered in blood holding his neck together.’

William from West London was also there. This would be the first of many, many times he saw Skrewdriver: ‘I went with a couple of older Hounslow NF members. I loved it. The crowd was massive and at the time everyone wore black bombers. We were an army! As a youngster it was great, but more than a little intimidating. Skrewdriver were out of this world, no other band could compare. Tufty, a member of Skrewdriver Security, had a fight and stabbed several people. It was a crazy night and initiation.’

Similiarly, a third person present recalls: ‘Tufty, a skinhead from Northern Ireland who was a real nasty cunt, stabbed four people in the audience. He was taking liberties. Because Skrewdriver Security were doing nothing about it, Gary Hitchcock pulled him on stage and started to hit him with a cosh. Scotch Eddie, a British Movement skinhead, joined in. They kicked the fuck out of him on stage. The following week, Adam Douglas beat Tufty up outside the Last Resort, even though Ian Stuart tried to intervene. Tufty later beat somebody to death with a cricket bat.’

1. Many sources state that the ‘Voice of Britain’ 7″ was released in 1983, however, the actual single is dated 1984.

2. Interview with Ian Stuart, fanzine The Truth at Last no. 9, late 1986.

3. Adolf Hitler, My Political Testament, 29 April 1945.

4. Interview with Ian Stuart, fanzine The Truth at Last no. 9, late 1986.

5. National Front News no. 57, June 1984.

6. New Dawn issue no. 3.

7. The author has always wondered if this song was named after the BBC series of the same name, which ran between 1976 and 1981, about a First World War veteran who returns to his poverty-stricken home in the northeast of England.

8. Ian Stuart interview, 1983.

9. The song may have been lifted from the Diehards’ first demo.

10. ABH did not split up until the summer of 1984; the band was very much alive when Peter Chilvers wrote to fanzine Combat Zone in early 1984 and the band was booked to support the Oppressed in July 1984, although they pulled out at the last minute. Also of note is that ABH once supported Skrewdriver, but the venue and the date are not known to the author.

11. Two tracks from the first demo, recorded in July 1982, appeared on the compilation LP A Country Fit For Heroes, Volume 2 (No Future Records). Also, long after the demise of the band, the song ‘Don’t Mess With the S.A.S.’ from the second demo, recorded in early 1983, appeared on The Oi of Sex compilation LP released by Syndicate Records in 1984.

12. Rocking the Reds, Bulldog no. 39, 1984.

13. Interview by Simon Beneteau, UK82 website, accessed 19 June 2012.

14. Interview with Ian Stuart, fanzine Pure Impact Skins.

15. Red Action, which had formed in 1982 from activists expelled from the Socialist Workers Party, had gained a reputation for violently confronting right-wing opponents on the streets. Even Steve Sargent of Combat 18 infamy would later admit that the combatants of Red Action were ‘game geezers.’ Red Action had strong links with Searchlight and the Irish republican movement.

16. Like the first single by Indecent Exposure, the nine-track demo has various dates of release. However, most sources agree it was 1984.

17. Steve Reeve in a piece by Jackie Douglas for a local newspaper, 1984.

18. One particular Internet rumour has it that Rock-O-Rama asked the band to change the lyrics to ‘England My England’ for the album. When questioned about this, Milky replied: ‘Bollocks. Nobody asked us.’

19. Bulldog no. 39, 1984.

20. Interview with Kev Turner, fanzine Welsh Leak no. 1, circa 1986.

21. Reproduced in Swedish fanzine Streetfight no. 2, circa 1986. ‘Murdered by Scum’ was recorded for Skullhead’s debut album White Warrior with slightly amended lyrics. The third line of the last verse appears as: It only proves that when we’re right we’re wrong.

22. Fanzine Unity no. 1. However, the date of Micky Johnson and Kev Tweedy leaving Skullhead has appeared as both 1985 and 1986 (see interviews with various members of Skullhead in fanzines Boots ‘n’ Braces no. 3, Hammer of Thor no. 4, Last Chance no. 2 and On the Frontline).

23. Leo Regan, Public Enemies, page 6–7, although the quote is not named.

24. Not signed, the article was certainly written by Andy Martin.

25. DG remembers playing the song to some ‘Skrewdriver Skinheads’ some time after its release and they were not convinced.

26. Interview with Mark French by Ainaskin and NS Revolt, 2013.

27. Interview with Skrewdriver, fanzine Chargesheet no. 5.

28. Interview with Holmes, magazine NADSAT Spring 2008. However, Holmes told Carl Booth that he did not have a bass and responded to an ad in Exchange & Mart. He went around to see the bass that was being sold and it turned out the seller had been in the Lurkers — he told Murray it had previously belonged to Suzi Quatro! [Research provided by Carl Booth.]

29. The landing from the Viking longship on the front cover of the album may have been inspired by a similar landing scene on the front cover of the children’s book The Time Traveller Book of Viking Raiders published in 1978.

30. How green were the Nazis?, page 131.

31. Pearce, The First Ten Years: Chapter 6 ‘Hail the New Dawn.’

32. Ibid.

33. Ibid.

34. Ibid.

35. Ibid.

36. Some record collectors state that the first press of the ‘Invasion’ 7″ came with a picture sleeve. Others state that there was only one press with early copies receiving a picture sleeve. We shall never know for certain because Rock-O-Rama never divulged pressing details.

37. Pearce, Chapter 6 ‘Hail the New Dawn’: The First Ten Years.

38. If there was a particular reason behind singling out The Sun newspaper (and Garry Bushell had not yet joined The Sun) that reason is not known to the author.

39. Pearce, The First Ten Years: Chapter 6 ‘Hail The New Dawn.’

40. Ian Stuart, letter to Nationalism Today, issue no. 25, November 1985. The letter was probably ‘tailored’ by the Official NF to suit their more radical politics and attack what they saw as the reactionary conservative BNP.

41. Interview with Murray Holmes, magazine NADSAT, edition Spring 2008.

42. Interview with Murray Holmes, Blood and Honour Australia, 2008.

43. Interview with Skrewdriver, fanzine This Is White Noise, 1984.

44. Beating the Fascists by Sean Birchall, page 95.

45. Ibid., page 93.

46. The single has various dates of release: according to the official Indecent Exposure Myspace page, the date of release was 1982 with it being reissued in 1983. According to Up Yours by Vernon Joynson, the release date was 1984. The actual single is dated 1984, though.

47. Review, fanzine This Is White Noise, 1984.

48. Ibid.

49. The author has an original copy of the demo tape on Wonderful World Tapes, which also contains a Public Enemy live recording from 27 October 1984. This same live recording appears on the ‘official bootleg’ Skrewdriver & Public Enemy — Live and Loud CD (MSR Productions), however the recording is dated 1986. Curiously, the demo-tape insert thanks ‘Joe and Skrewdriver,’ presumably a reference to Joe Pearce.

50. Fanzine, English Rose no. 2, 1985.

51. A record label out of Welwyn Garden City in Herts by the name of Punishment Block released the Intensive Care ‘Cowards’ in 1984. The author assumes that the Punishment Block Organisation, the fanzine and the label were run by the same person, Steve Farr.

52. Fanzine The Truth at Last no. 4.

53. Mark Richardson, via Carl Booth. Curiously, vocalist Pete recalls that Mark Richardson joined on bass in March 1985.

54. Curiously, an Edinburgh punk band used the name the Belsen Horrors circa 1978–1979, but the author doubts that this was known by those in London who formed the Belsen Horrors.

55. White Rebellion no. 1, circa 1985.

56. The band’s name may have been inspired by the 1983 American film Sudden Impact directed and starring Clint Eastwood.

57. Interview, fanzine White Noise no. 2.

58. Ibid.

59. Interview with Steve of the Betrayed, fanzine Offensive Weapon no. 1.

60. The two demos are available for download from the Glory Days of the RAC blog. The second demo, which shows greater musicianship, is of poorer quality and inaudible in places. The dates of the two demos are not known.

61. After Intensive Care broke up, singer Iain Kilgallon relocated to southern England and reformed the band there.