Although not as uncomfortable to wear as that Genital Deformities one, my Coitus shirt remains one of those punk garments that I avoid to sport during family reunions, at work or on Valentine's Day. Nothing wrong with the design itself (I mean, who doesn't crave for gasmask-wearing skulls?), but having "Coitus" and "Fucked in to oblivion" written on a shirt might somehow send the wrong message socially as heads are bound to be shaken in disbelief whilst eyebrows rise judgmentally and loud sighs of disapproval are openly breathed out. However, when one consider that the first incarnation of Coitus, in 1989, was called Eternal Diarrhoea (and apparently had Lippy from Antisect on the bass, the choice of instrument being almost as surprising as the band's moniker), one can be thankful indeed for the terminological change to Coitus as an Eternal Diarrhoea shirt could only have been worn safely at all-male events like goregrind gigs, which is pretty narrow. But let's skip the fashion talk already and switch to the band Coitus, a powerful raw hardcore unit that any self-respecting crusty punk should be, at the very least, familiar with.
Battered copy because of too many moves (additional punk point)
As foreplays to Coitus, drummer Alien and guitar player Martin had played in the legendary Sons of Bad Breath in the mid-80's, a cult band made up of members of the so-called Hackney Hell Crew, basically a bunch of drunken punk squatters looking like Mad Max rejects making a bloody noizy racket that made Chaotic Dischord sound tame and bourgeois. This tight connection to the punk squatters' scene, especially in London but also abroad, was part and parcel of the identity of Coitus and, as their chapter in Ian Glasper's Armed With Anger can attest, they have unsurprisingly more than a few crazy squat-related stories to tell, in particular when it comes to the brutal tactics used by the police against squatters. at the time. The third member of the early Coitus was Skinny on the bass, an Irish punk who had previously served in Paranoid Visions which accounted for the band's frequent trips to Dublin to record and tour. Martin was quickly replaced with Pato in 1991 for the band's first tape, In Two Minutes You'll Be Smokin' in Hell, that comprised two recording sessions, the first one done in March, 1991, in North London, the second in May, 1991, in Dublin. Pato then left the band and Mik was recruited on the guitar and the classic Coitus lineup was in place.
If Coitus can arguably be considered as one of the most striking UK punk bands of the 90's and certainly as one of the very best and unique in their field, like too many bands of that decade, they sadly do not really enjoy the cult status they deserve. While swarms of internet-crazed punks idolise any 80's band that barely lasted 18 months and recorded two and a half songs before turning new wave, crucial punk as fuck 90's bands, who kept the flame of DIY punk alive, recorded genuine classics and contributed in the making of networks of punk scenes that we still witness and rely on today, are neglected. Not cool, kids. The first time I read about Coitus was on the distro list of the Nottingham-based Missing the Point sometime in the early 00's. The Coitus' retrospective cd Necrocomical, released on Inflammable Material, was then described, and I am quite sure that those are the almost exact terms, as "Antisect-influenced punk aaarrrghhhhh". Since I was already well into Antisect at the time, almost unreasonably so actually, I promptly ordered the cd but must admit I was a little disappointed, or rather, taken aback by their rocking metallic sound which I did not relate to Antisect at the time (I had only heard In Darkness by then), and it took me to dive into Out from the Void and Peace is Better than a Place in History to understand and enjoy Coitus properly and be able to grasp the significance of their sound. So why - I rhetorically hear you ask - should you need Coitus to make your life crustier then? Well, it is well-established that a flawless and knowledgeable adhesion to the Antisect mystique is a required predicate for the healthy development of one's crust identity but, given the harsh competition in the field, it no longer suffices and it is therefore strongly advised that one also becomes highly proficient in those bands displaying a prominent Antisect influence, like SDS or, in this case, Coitus. And anyway, they were so good that you don't really need a reason, right?
Multinationals, politicians and the army literally raping the Earth in case you didn't get the subtle metaphor.
Whereas SDS (especially in the early 90's) openly used precise sonic and visual references to Antisect in order to create their own aesthetics and situate their band in terms of relations to the influence of Antisect, Coitus' driving take was very different, much more organic and spontaneous, without referentiality. Coitus took the more rocking, groovy, sweaty side of Out from the Void-era Antisect and built on it with their trademark thundering bass sound, an emphasis on the crunchy dirty metal parts, an obsession with Celtic Frost and a two-fingered attitude. I like to think that if Antisect had kept going in the early 90's and played the same London squats Coitus did, they would have sounded really close indeed. The Darkness on Streets... Ep, released in 1994 on Tribal War Records (UK), was recorded in December, 1992, in Dublin with help from Deko Paranoid Visions, at the same time as their When we Depart... Let the Earth Tremble (tape only) Ep and, in my opinion, this recording sessions stands as the defining Coitus moment (the Submission/Domination tape is stellar too) and an absolute UK crust classic, although the band, to my knowledge did not claim the crust tag. The Ep opens with the anthemic "Darkness on streets", a claustrophobic number of brooding and heavy metallic punk, somewhere between late Antisect, Hellbastard and a squatter version of Motörhead, which is followed by "Total collapse" a beefy mid-paced scorcher that sounds like an old-school crust band covering Poison Idea and, finally, the ultimate Frost-worship song, "Mind right?", which manages to recreate the threatening glamorous groove and the rocking aggression of the Swiss while adequately soiling their sound because that's what punks would do. The production is absolutely perfect for the brand of dirty, rocking and powerful heavy metallic punk the band set out to achieve and I would not change a thing to it. You can almost smell the music on Darkness on Streets... and it is a rotting cocktail of sweat, anger and beer. The band was tight by then - and it really shows - and I especially enjoy how the different vocals - Alien's on side one and Skinny's on side two - blend with and enhance the powerful music but still manage to sound vindictive, desperate and strangely nihilistic and hedonistic at the same time (the long Bukowski quote makes much sense in that regard), like a mad punx choir or something. As Coitus' existence epitomised and as their dark tortured lyrics reflected, punk life was tough but it was both a fighting answer and a means of survival to the urban paranoid oppression and alienation-fueled madness, and few bands could convey this idea as brilliantly as Coitus. In our era of mass tastelessness and punk blandness, (re)listening to the band is strangely comforting.
Following Darkness on Streets..., Coitus recorded the Real Cold Fear Ep, produced by Lippy from Antisect and released in 1996 on Inflammable Material, it was another cracker with the desperate-sounding eponymous song easily breaking the catchiness detector. Skinny moved back to Ireland and was replaced with Keith from Dread Messiah as the two bands often played together, but the band eventually split as the heavy touring took its toll. Mik went on to form The Restarts, Skinny joined Cold War (he died tragically in 2009), while Alien played in Mush with Keith and in Dirty Love with Martin. In 2010, Dublin label Underground Movement released a double-cd discography, Fucked Into Oblivion, including everything the band recorded (apart from the early In Two Minutes tape) and it goes without saying that you should rush to get a copy as it is an essential piece of both UK punk history and crust evolution as well. The last incarnation of Coitus reformed in the 2010's and released two convincing records since, the Fed to Wolves cd in 2015 and a split Lp with the excellent Bulletridden from Bristol in 2018.
Play fucking loud.
No comments:
Post a Comment