Honey Bane "You can be you" Ep, 1979

It is a little-known fact that the first band to have a record on Crass Records, outside of Crass of course, was Honey Bane in 1980. But then, it would be a little misguiding to call Honey Bane a "band" anyway.

In fact, Honey Bane was the nickname of the singer of Fatal Microbes, a band that did a split with Poison Girls in 1979 as well as a full Ep in the same year on Xntrix, a label run by Poison Girls. Fatal Microbes belonged to the first generation of anarchopunks and, beside Honey Bane, had Gem and Pete among its ranks who happened to be... Vi Subversa's children! Later on, Gem would co-found Rubella Ballet while Pete would be part of Omega Tribe (and Rubella Ballet as well at some point). Fatal Microbes were a band that combined pretty upbeat pop-punk music (in the British sense) and Honey Bane's really energetic and high-pitched vocal delivery, and garnered some good reviews at the time. Besides, it must have been uncommon to see a 14 year old girl sing about serious matters and not Christmas carol in 1979. But anyway, the story has it that Honey Bane was living at Crass HQ, aka Dial House, after the demise of Fatal Microbes, apparently running from the Social Services as she had been in a juvenile detention facility just before.

The Poison Girls connection probably made the idea of a record possible for Honey Bane and since she was living with Crass, one could say that she was part of the family at that time. If you have never heard that brilliant Ep, the first listen will result in something like: "Well... it's great but it sounds a lot like Crass!", or even: "OMG it's SO Crass!!! XD" if you happen to be born in the 90's and spend far too much time on facebook. But in any case you wouldn't be wrong, since the backing band was... Crass. This "You can be you" Ep was basically Crass with another singer and songwriter (and they haven't fooled anyone by calling themselves "Donna and the kebabs" on the inner sleeve). So even though it was technically the first non-Crass record on Crass Records, it was nonetheless a pretty incestuous affair.

You will also notice that this Ep doesn't have the famous gatefold poster sleeve though it does have the stencil-style lettering. Musically it is a fantastic offering, half-way between Fatal Microbes's indie inventiveness and Crass harshness. It is not completely orthodox punk-rock either since there is some piano on "Porno grows" and some acoustic guitar and (unidentified) horns (I think!) on "Boring conversations". This was recorded just after the incredible "Stations of the Crass" double Lp and you can hear that the band was really tight and still focused on playing top punk songs, albeit in a Crass fashion. The groovy precision of the bass, the militaristic drumming and the distorted, trebly guitar give so much energy to the songs that it is hard not to tap your feet. Honey Bane's vocals are amazing too, somewhere between Dirt and Action Pact, tuneful, potent and yet a little screechy when need be. The instant hit on this one is obviously "Girl on the run", a poignant song about a teenage girl running from home and wandering in London's dark corners. This truly is an unsung punk classic. The song "Porno grows" is a feminist number about the sex industry and pornography while "Boring conversations" is more of a teenage rant on boredom. As was to be a rule for Crass Records, the Ep was produced by Penny and engineered by John Loder from Southern Studio where it was recorded.

Following that Ep, Honey Bane tried to go for a proper career in the music industry, released some danceable pop music on EMI and even had Jimmy Pursey as a manager at some point. Ironically, Honey Bane's Ep was supposed to be "a big piss off to the music-biz" and the small text on the backcover is a radical statement for liberation and a life outside the system (you've gotta love the anti-Sex Pistols rhetoric though!).

You can be you!!!!!

 

The Astronauts "Restricted hours" tape 1979

I am not going lie: I used to absolutely hate the Astronauts. I thought they were just ridiculous and fell under the terrifying category of "non-punk bands". But then, we didn't really meet under the best circumstances.

In 2003, I spent a year in Manchester where I got introduced to the marvellous world of crust-punk music. I had heard of a band called Hellbastard and I soon became obsessed with finding one of their records so that I could at last listen to them. I found the website of "Acid Stings", a label that had actually put out a Hellbastard cd subtly entitled "In grind we crust". So I wrote the label an email to see if they still had it. Two months after (or something equally ridiculous by today's standards), I finally got a reply and I ordered the cd. When I received the parcel, I noticed that there was a tape accompanying the Hellbastard cd. A tape of an unknown band called "The Astronauts".

Needless to say that I overplayed the Hellbastard cd, carefully skipping the "Natural order"'s songs though, and that my obsession with UK crust was only increased by the record. So when I played the Astronauts for the first time, I was appalled. I thought it was absolute rubbish compared to the filthy and heavy sound of Hellbastard (getting both at the same time, I couldn't really help comparing them). I mean, THERE WAS NO DRUMMER!!!! What kind of punk band doesn't have a drummer?? I was almost outraged and quickly proceeded to confine the Astronauts' tape to the "shitty music I don't care about" realms.

Years later, La Vida Es Un Mus reissued the Astronauts' Lp, a name until then tied with the notion of musical nightmare. But I gave them another shot and I found myself liking the music. It must have been because by that time I had listened to a lot of early anarchopunk bands who were keen on experimenting with music (Poison Girls, The Mob, Zounds, Apostles, Flowers in the Dustbin, Chumba, The Ex, Blyth Power...).

In fact, technically, this tape is not even a proper Astronauts' recording. The two songs "Getting things done" and "Still living in a car crash" were recorded in 1979 under the name Restricted Hours, who were the Astronauts under a different name, and were originally released as a split Ep with The Syndicate on RARecords, a label that also released an Ep by the fantastic Alien Kulture. The label Acid Stings, probably an Apostles-run label which also explains the Hellbastard connection (one of HB used to play in the Apostles as unbelievable as this might sound), reissued the two songs on tape along with two other songs recorded in 1980, a live version of "Protest song" and the brilliant "Moderation is boring".

As you can see, the artwork is really beautiful and illustrates the psychedelic nature of the Astronauts. Musically, they are certainly hard to pinpoint, but experimental music of an acid-fuelled, psychedelic nature (you know, Hawkwind and all that) blended with some mid-tempo punk-rock and an anarcho perspective might be close. I must admit that I don't know many bands in the punk world who sound like them though it can be said that some bands had the same kind of ideas and drive to make unique and different music. The lyrics are smart as well and you can understand what's the singer is on about without too much effort, which is a nice change from the usual racket.

I eventually got to see the reformed Astronauts a few months ago and I really enjoyed the music live, probably more so than on records (funnily enough, it is the exact opposite with Hellbastard) so give it a try, especially if you are on shrooms.

Astronauts!