Anti-Nowhere League
Encyclopedia
Anti-Nowhere League is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 punk band, formed in 1980 by lead singer Animal (Nick Culmer), guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

ist Magoo (Chris Exall), Tony "Bones" Shaw on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 and Chris "Baggy" Elvy on bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

.

Early days

Their first gig was as a three piece at the 1980 Chaos Show at St Mark's Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...

 on 31 March 1980. This was a six band extravaganza of local punk credible bands including Le Nouveau Riche, The Vital Third, The Elite and The Audience. Chris Exall sang as well as played guitar, Graham Shaw (Bones) played drums and Chris Elvey was on bass. In 1981, Gooky (who left the same year), Hopper and Clive "Winston" Blake also known as Torki's Grass came in on lead guitar, drums and bass respectively, although Hopper was quickly replaced with PJ ('Persian John') (real name Djahanshah Aghssa). They managed to get a slot in The Exploited
The Exploited
The Exploited are a Scottish punk band from the second wave of UK punk, formed in 1979. Originally a street punk band, they transformed into a faster hardcore punk band with a heavy political influence. From about 1987 on they changed into a crossover thrash band...

's Apocalypse tour, along with Chron Gen
Chron Gen
Chron Gen were a British punk band formed in January 1978 in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.-History:Chron Gen initially comprised former members of The Condemned and Optional Xtras...

 and Anti-Pasti
Anti-Pasti
Anti-Pasti was a British punk band, founded by vocalist Martin Roper and guitarist Dugi Bell in 1978, featuring Kev Nixon on drums and Will Hoon on bass guitar. Later they were joined by a second guitarist, Olly Hoon. Their first album, The Last Call, spent seven weeks in the UK Albums Chart,...

. This led to them signing to John Curd's record label WXYZ Records, with Curd and Chris Gabrin co-managing
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...

 the band.

Later that year, after reportedly bribing drummer Rat Scabies
Rat Scabies
Christopher Millar , better known by his stage name Rat Scabies, is a musician best known for his tenure as the drummer for The Damned....

 in the toilet of an East End pub, they also opened for The Damned on a short tour round the north of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. November 1981 saw the release of their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

, a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s....

's "Streets of London
Streets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...

". The single peaked at #48 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 and spent five weeks in the listings. The profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...

-laden B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 of the single, "So What" later became the group's anthem. Copies of this single were seized by the Metropolitan Police's Obscene Publication Squad shortly after release, and the seized copies were reportedly destroyed. The event was reported in the music press at the time. "So What?" was covered by Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...

, being released as a B-side to the "Sad But True" single, and later included on the Garage Inc album; "So What?" would go on to become an in-concert standard for Metallica.

In 1982, ANL took part in the 'So What Tour' alongside groups such as Chelsea
Chelsea (band)
Chelsea are an English punk rock band, formed in London in 1976.Three of the four original band members went on to help found Generation X. More than two decades after its release, "Right to Work", Chelsea's debut single, was included in Mojo magazine's list of the best punk rock singles of all...

, Chron Gen and The Defects
The Defects
The Defects were a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, formed in 1979.-History:The band formed in 1978 with a line-up of Ian "Buck" Murdock , Marcus "Dukie" Duke , Geoff Gilmore, and Glenn Kingsmore...

. This year also saw the release of a debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, We Are...The League. It reached #24 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

, and spent eleven weeks in the chart. Also in 1981 the band joined the Apocalypse Punk Tour, with Discharge
Discharge (band)
Discharge is a British hardcore punk band formed in 1977 by Terry "Tezz" Roberts and Roy "Rainy" Wainwright. They are often considered among one of the very first bands to play hardcore punk, and to mix punk with metal...

, The Exploited
The Exploited
The Exploited are a Scottish punk band from the second wave of UK punk, formed in 1979. Originally a street punk band, they transformed into a faster hardcore punk band with a heavy political influence. From about 1987 on they changed into a crossover thrash band...

, Anti-Pasti and Chron Gen. The year finished with the 'Hardcore Storms America' tour with the UK Subs
UK Subs
The U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. They were also one of the first street punk bands.-Career:The U.K...

.

Gilly (real name Mark Gilham) joined the band in 1982 as an extra guitarist. The band went to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 to record a live album, called Live In Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia is a live album from the punk band the Anti-Nowhere League. It was recorded in Moša Pijade Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on April 24, 1983 and released and pressed later in the same year in England on I.D Records...

, but this was dogged by problems with the authorities insisting that references that Animal had made about the recently deceased president Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...

 be removed from the master tapes. The live album spent one week at #88 in the UK Albums Chart.

1984 to 1989

In 1984, PJ left the band, and they became musically inactive. 1985 saw Michael Bettell join on drums, followed in 1986 by JB (Jonathan Birch). During this time they signed for GWR Records
GWR Records
GWR Records was a record label active in the UK from 1986 through to 1991.By 1984, Gerry Bron's Bronze Records were in financial difficulty leading to a hiatus in recording activity for Motörhead...

, and recorded the The Perfect Crime
The Perfect Crime
The Perfect Crime is the second studio album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League. The sound of the band changed a great deal from their debut album We Are...The League album. The Perfect Crime features a blend of 1980s rock with a light punk sound...

album.

In 1987, Anti-Nowhere League disbanded. However, there was a belated 'farewell' show at the Victoria Hall in Tunbridge Wells, in 1989, which was recorded and can be heard on their live album, Live Animals
Live Animals
Live Animals is the sixth live album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League. It contains tracks recorded at various times at various shows, but all have either appeared on Live In Yugoslavia or Live and Loud.-Track listing:#Animal...

.

The comeback

In 1992, Animal was told by JB, that Metallica wanted him to guest at Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena is an indoor arena, at Wembley, in the London Borough of Brent. The building is opposite Wembley Stadium.-History:...

, when they did their cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of "So What". Animal put it thus on ANL's website. "As I waited on the edge of the stage waiting to go on it suddenly dawned on me I was just about to stand in front of 10,000 punters who didn’t know me from Adam and sing a song that I couldn’t fucking remember; all that kept running through my head was RUN you silly old fucker!". However, after the 25 October show, Mark joined that year on lead guitar, and 1993–1995 was spent playing gigs in the small venues the band had started out in. Michael Bettell died in September 1993, aged 41, from a brain tumour. In 1996, they signed up with Impact Records
Impact Records
Impact Records is an American record label, once a subsidiary of MCA Records. Today its back catalog remains part of Universal Music Group.Acts on the label are and/or have included: Jock Mitchell, Sass Jordan, The Fixx, Rythm Syndicate, and Joey Lawrence....

 and recorded their next EP Pig Iron. Beef also joined the band after Mark's departure.

1997 saw another personnel change when Winston left the band to be replaced by Jon Jon, and the recording of the album Scum
Scum (Anti-Nowhere League album)
Scum is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League and the first album of new material released since the original band's breakup ten years previously. A new lineup is featured, with only lead singer Animal and guitarist Magoo remaining from the band which recorded the...

. Winston Blake ot Torki's Grass returned to his former occupation of a roofer and lives in Frant, Kent.

Danny joined on drums in 1998, and the album Out of Control was released a year later in 1999. In 2001, Magoo quit playing live shows.

2002–present

Jon Jon, Beef and Danny all left, to be replaced by PJ (original drummer), Jez on guitar, and Shady on bass. This line-up released the band's fifth studio album, Kings and Queens
Kings and Queens (Anti-Nowhere League album)
Kings and Queens is the fifth studio album by English punk rock band, the Anti-Nowhere League.-Track listing:#"Degeneration" – 3:02#"Mother's Cunt" – 3:13#"Kings and Queens" – 3:33...

in 2005, which was released on the Captain Oi! record label. However, there were arguments over the omission of two songs from that album, namely "The Day The World Turned Gay" and "The Adventures Of Peter Vile". Lawyers for Captain Oi! refused to sanction the release of these two songs because of fear of litigation, so Nick (Animal) eventually relented and let the album be released with the two offending songs omitted.

In 2006, the band set up their own independent record label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

, Nowhere Records; with Pig Iron - The Album
Pig Iron - The Album
Pig Iron - The Album is the sixth studio album by English punk rock band Anti-Nowhere League. It consists of a newly remastered copy of their Scum album along with their Pig Iron EP and three new tracks.-Track listing:...

being the first release in August 2006. The album included the two songs omitted from the Kings and Queens album, as well as "Landlord", taken from the Out Of Control album.

In 2006, Anti-Nowhere League undertook a twenty nine date UK tour, and PJ left the band after the Glasgow gig in October 2006. His replacement was Dave Hazlewood (Nato), also from Tunbridge Wells, who had filled in before on tours. On 8 November 2006, the ANL began a three week tour of Australia and New Zealand. On 26 October, the band joined Angelic Upstarts
Angelic Upstarts
Angelic Upstarts are an English punk rock/Oi! band formed in South Shields in 1977. The band espoused an anti-fascist and socialist working class philosophy, and have been associated with the skinhead subculture...

, Sham 69
Sham 69
Sham 69 is an English punk band that formed in Hersham in 1976.Although not as commercially successful as many of their contemporaries, albeit with a greater number of chart entries, Sham 69 has been a huge musical and lyrical influence on the Oi! and streetpunk genres. The band allegedly derived...

 and The Damned for the Academy in the UK 2006: 30th Anniversary of Punk gig at London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's Shepherd's Bush Empire.

The Anti-Nowhere League supported Rancid
Rancid (band)
Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, both of whom previously played in the ska punk band Operation Ivy, Rancid is credited—along with Green Day and The Offspring—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the...

 at their Leeds gig on 8 November 2008. In December 2008, Jez was replaced on lead guitar by Johhny Skullknuckles. The League continued to tour and record, and now promote their new songs with videos.

After a mini European tour in late spring 2009, they embarked on an American tour in June and July 2009, before appearing at the Punk Rebellion festival in Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

.

After touring Germany and Holland in early May 2010, the band and Johhny Skullknuckles parted company and Tommy H (Tom Hunt), another Tunbridge Wells native who had previously been a member of the band's road crew, and filled in with the band on occasion, was drafted in on guitar. The band completed the rest of 2010s tour dates culminating with a special 30th anniversary Christmas show. The band have played Christmas shows in Tunbridge Wells for years and for the last few years these have been held at The Forum
Tunbridge Wells Forum
The Forum is a 250 capacity live music venue in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent.The Forum is an independent music and arts venue in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.-Location:...

.

During November 2011 the band along with the UK Subs
UK Subs
The U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. They were also one of the first street punk bands.-Career:The U.K...

 supported Motorhead on a number of UK dates.

Studio albums

Title Date of Release
We Are…The League 1982
The Perfect Crime
The Perfect Crime
The Perfect Crime is the second studio album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League. The sound of the band changed a great deal from their debut album We Are...The League album. The Perfect Crime features a blend of 1980s rock with a light punk sound...

1987
Scum
Scum (Anti-Nowhere League album)
Scum is the third studio album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League and the first album of new material released since the original band's breakup ten years previously. A new lineup is featured, with only lead singer Animal and guitarist Magoo remaining from the band which recorded the...

1997
Out of Control 2000
Kings and Queens
Kings and Queens (Anti-Nowhere League album)
Kings and Queens is the fifth studio album by English punk rock band, the Anti-Nowhere League.-Track listing:#"Degeneration" – 3:02#"Mother's Cunt" – 3:13#"Kings and Queens" – 3:33...

2005
Pig Iron – The Album 2006
The Road To Rampton
The Road to Rampton
The Road to Rampton is a 2007 album released on CD by the Anti-Nowhere League. It was also released as a special collectors editon in 2011 on both vinyl and CD.-Track listing:# Good As It Gets# Short, Sharp, Shock# Unwanted# Never Drink Alone...

2007

Singles and EPs

Title Date of Release
"Streets of London
Streets of London (song)
"Streets of London" is a song written by Ralph McTell. It was first recorded for McTell's 1969 album Spiral Staircase but was not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974...

"
1981
"Anti-Nowhere League EP" 1981
"I Hate... People" 1982
"Woman" 1982
"World War III" 1982
"For You" 1982
"Out On The Wasteland" 1984
"Crime" 1987
"Fuck Around The Clock" 1989
"Pig Iron EP" 1996

Live albums

Title Date of Release Notes
Live In Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia is a live album from the punk band the Anti-Nowhere League. It was recorded in Moša Pijade Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on April 24, 1983 and released and pressed later in the same year in England on I.D Records...

1983
Live and Loud 1989 Recorded at the reunion gig
The Horse is Dead
The Horse Is Dead
The Horse Is Dead is an album by Anti-Nowhere League.-Track listing:#"So What"#"Pig Iron"#"For You"#"Crime"#"Working for the Company"#"Animal"#"Nowhere Man"#"I Hate People"#"Let's Break the Law"#"Noddy"#"Snowman"#"Ballad of J.J...

1996 Later re-released as part of the Anthology and as Live: So What?
Return To Yugoslavia
Return to Yugoslavia
Return to Yugoslavia is a 1998 live album by English punk rock band Anti-Nowhere League.-Track listing:#"For You"#"Snowman"#"Scum"#"Reck-A-Nowhere"#"Get Ready"#"I Hate People"#"The Great Unwash"#"Woman"#"Fucked Up and Wasted"...

1998
Live: So What?
The Horse Is Dead
The Horse Is Dead is an album by Anti-Nowhere League.-Track listing:#"So What"#"Pig Iron"#"For You"#"Crime"#"Working for the Company"#"Animal"#"Nowhere Man"#"I Hate People"#"Let's Break the Law"#"Noddy"#"Snowman"#"Ballad of J.J...

1999 Re-release of The Horse is Dead
The Horse Is Dead
The Horse Is Dead is an album by Anti-Nowhere League.-Track listing:#"So What"#"Pig Iron"#"For You"#"Crime"#"Working for the Company"#"Animal"#"Nowhere Man"#"I Hate People"#"Let's Break the Law"#"Noddy"#"Snowman"#"Ballad of J.J...

Live Animals
Live Animals
Live Animals is the sixth live album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League. It contains tracks recorded at various times at various shows, but all have either appeared on Live In Yugoslavia or Live and Loud.-Track listing:#Animal...

2002 Combined most of Live In Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia is a live album from the punk band the Anti-Nowhere League. It was recorded in Moša Pijade Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on April 24, 1983 and released and pressed later in the same year in England on I.D Records...

and Live and Loud

Compilations and DVDs

Title Date of Release Notes
Long Live The League
Long Live the League
Long Live The League is the first compilation album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League. It consists of tracks made up of material from Live in Yugoslavia, We Are... The League and the A & B Sides of the For You/Out on The Wasteland EP....

1985 Combined tracks from Live in Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia is a live album from the punk band the Anti-Nowhere League. It was recorded in Moša Pijade Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on April 24, 1983 and released and pressed later in the same year in England on I.D Records...

with tracks from We Are... The League
We Are... The League
We Are...The League is the debut album by English punk rock band, the Anti-Nowhere League.-Track listing:We Are...The League is the debut album by English punk rock band, the Anti-Nowhere League.-Track listing:We Are...The League is the debut album by English punk rock band, the Anti-Nowhere...

with several other rare tracks
Best of The Anti-Nowhere League
Best of the Anti-Nowhere League
Best of The Anti-Nowhere League is the first compilation album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League. This album contains the full 12’’ of Out On The Waterfront and four tracks that were absent from the Live in Yugoslavia album....

1992 Contained the full 12" of "Out On The Wasteland" and four missing Live In Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia
Live in Yugoslavia is a live album from the punk band the Anti-Nowhere League. It was recorded in Moša Pijade Hall in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on April 24, 1983 and released and pressed later in the same year in England on I.D Records...

tracks.
Complete Singles Collection
Complete Singles Collection (Anti-Nowhere League album)
Complete Singles Collection is the third compilation album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League. It contains all the non LP releases up to 1995 on one disc...

1995 Is a reissue of all 7/12 inch EPs until 1995
Anti Nowhere League – Anthology 1999 2 disc CD. Second CD contained the entire album Live and Loud
So What
So What (Anti-Nowhere League album)
So What is the fifth compilation album by English punk rock band the Anti-Nowhere League. This album contains mostly well known studio tracks along with a mix of live tracks, once again taken from the Live in Yugoslavia album....

2000 Contained unreleased versions of "Woman" and studio version of "Noddy"
Punk Singles and Rarities 1981 – 1984 2001 Contained tracks from Apocalypse Punk Tour 81, as well as singles and demos of famous League songs
So What?: Early Demos and Live Abuse
So What?: Early Demos and Live Abuse
So What?: Early Demos and Live Abuse is a 2CD compilation from English punk rock band, Anti-Nowhere League. It combines the now-deleted compilation of early demos, Out of Control and the live album The Horse is Dead on a single release....

2006 Combined the live album The Horse is Dead
The Horse Is Dead
The Horse Is Dead is an album by Anti-Nowhere League.-Track listing:#"So What"#"Pig Iron"#"For You"#"Crime"#"Working for the Company"#"Animal"#"Nowhere Man"#"I Hate People"#"Let's Break the Law"#"Noddy"#"Snowman"#"Ballad of J.J...

with the studio album Out of Control
Hell for Leather 2008 Secret Records DVD from The Pitz Milton Keynes

Tribute albums

Title Date of Release
So What! – A Tribute to The Anti-Nowhere League 1999
Ya Can't Polish a Turd - An Australian Tribute to The Anti-Nowhere League

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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