''Gerard’s right about the anarcho scene. At the time we got into it there were very blurred lines between the anarchos and the goths - because the goth bands were just bands they weren't corralled into a fashion - so a lot of the people who might see Crass and the Poison Girls might also see the Mob or Blood and Roses and might also see Southern Death Cult or Sex Gang Children. Then the journalist boyfriend of the singer of a band called Brigandage tried to lump some of these bands as a "positive punk" movement and it all backfired ludicrously so bands started to define themselves as anarcho bands or goth bands. But for a few months in 1982-3 there was a really lively scene and even after that the "anarcho" scene in London was a mixture of all sorts of people and I think, like the Mob, we fitted into that because we didn’t fit into it.” [from Flowers in the Dustbin site]
This is pretty interesting.
But just take a look to CRASS Records catalogue or the Corpus Cristi label...you will definitely find that kind of mixture of bands and style. Crass Records got the K.U.K.L. (post-punk from island with Bjork in it), Hitparade (wacky synth-punk outfit), The Cravats (amazing jazz-punk stuff) or the Lack of Knowledge (sort of anarcho Joy Division). Corpus got the UK Decay (they should be considered the first positive punk band amongst Sex Gang Children..imo), Very Things (Cravats spin-off) and Annie Anxiety (one of the coolest experimental dub lp).
The 96 Tapes label, is another of that kind...releasing only tapes...band like This Bitter Lesson, Flowers in the Dustbin and Blood & Roses were totally on the goth vein...
The Mob also were influencial in this flirting. Their label 'All The Madmen' released lot of great post-punk records. One of the best onthe label were Hysteria Ward, female fronted goth band with a tape and flexi single..mind-blowing.
Some other gems are the Spirit of an Old Age Anthem compilation tape, released by The Snipers. All the bands inside it are inspiring moving toward post-punk to a more conventional introspective punk.
War Toys were a band from North Devon and released some tapes, their demo of 1984 is simply amazing, the romanticism of goth band but the power of punk stuff.. To name other stuff...Youth in Asia released a demo in 1982, appears in Bullshit Detector 2, and played an outstanding post-punk sometimes more punk but got moments. The list could goes on & on, to name a more famous..the Rubella Ballet...but can we talk about the A.P.F. Brigade? minimal punk with drum-machine and their later big involvement in the cassette culture scene?? and the charming punk of Zounds?....
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