Combat 84
Combat 84 is a band from the British Oi! Scene and comes from the London borough of Chelsea .
history
The group was an idea of John Deptford and Chris "Chubby" Henderson, who was already known in the punk scene. The decision to start a band was made in the Chelsea Drugstore on Kings Road. Music should be made for both skinheads and punks .
The first line-up for Combat 84 consisted of Chris "Chubby" Henderson (vocals), Jim (guitar), John Deptford (bass) and Jacko (drums). Jacko was soon replaced by Brownie because Jacko played too badly even for a band in the punk scene.
Most of the songs were written by Chris and John. Her first appearance was as the opening act for The Last Resort at "Walmer Castle", Peckham. At the time, their setlist consisted of just three tracks and they had to use the headliner's amps. Roi Pearce, the singer of The Last Resort showed interest in the band and they recorded their first two song demo; Combat 84 and Soldier .
With the demo cassette and the additional interest of Gary Hitchcock, manager of The 4-Skins , the band was contacted by Secret Records, which is home to bands like The 4-Skins, The Business , The Exploited , Infa-Riot and Chron Gen was. But the record deal with Secret never came off. The reason for this was the influential journalist Garry Bushell , who informed the label of the supposedly extreme right-wing views of Chris. Therefore Combat 84 signed a record deal with the Victory Records label, on which the band's first EP, Orders of The Day , was released. The recordings took place in a studio in Hoxton. The edition was limited to 10,000 pieces. The EP got a good review from Beki Bondage ( Vice Squad ) in Melody Maker . Victory Records itself was owned by Dave Long. Dave was the manager of Splodge and a group called The Case.
In 1982 the band was approached by the BBC with the intention of making a forty-minute documentary about the skinhead scene. On January 25, 1982, the BBC filmed a concert by the group which was held at the Benny Club in Harlow, Essex . The gig ended in a fight between a group from South London and a group from Harlow. The recordings were broadcast in the autumn of the same year. In the meantime, the EP has received numerous positive reviews from the alternative music press, even if the media coverage of Chris's political sympathies was more prominent than the band's music itself.
The music magazine Sounds wrote in a report on February 6, 1982: "One of the members of the band is notorious for his not inconsiderable political past."
Combat 84 later decided to replace drummer Brownie with John Fisher. Brownie was then seen for a short interlude with the then controversial and later Nazi group Brutal Attack . Soon after, the band was recording more material with their new drummer in the Alaska recording studio in Waterloo. This was released as a second EP, also on Victory Records, under the name Rapist . Based on the lines of the song Right to Choose :
"When you're on knees with a gun to your head, it's better to be dead than a fucking red !!" - "If you kneel to your head with a gun, it's better to be dead than a bloody red"
shortly before the new EP was to be released, the band was recruited for a recording contract by White Noise, the label of the British National Front . But because the text is supposedly positive about the American missiles or projectiles:
“We Want The Cruise!” - what is meant is the stationing of cruise missiles in Europe
this did not happen. This was unacceptable to the independent policy of the National Front. However, it is unclear whether the remark was really meant in the literal sense or whether it had a provocative background, as is typical for the punk scene, as Chris allegedly referred to the then very popular movie Apocalypse Now in the text .
In the fall, the BBC broadcast the documentary with the concert on January 25, 1982, including an interview with Chris. The BBC reported an alleged neo-Nazi in the band. As a result, the group's reputation was completely destroyed. The documentary was a death sentence for Combat 84. The fact that they refused to play at anti-racist concerts, such as Rock Against Racism , also made their position worse.
But Chris continued to speak honestly, openly and in a radical way about his political opinion. Even John, who was less extremist than Chris, commented in an interview but nationalistic . In addition, the band was positive about Margaret Thatcher's political line . This was at odds with the rest of the punk and Oi! Scene, which largely opposed Thatcher.
Combat 84 subsequently added 8 new titles. Her label Victory Records was afraid of problems with the press and sold the rights to the songs to Rock-O-Rama , also because of financial problems . Her first album was later released in 1984 by the said record label, which released material from neo-Nazi bands, entitled Send in The Marines . Eight tracks (the new songs mentioned) were recorded in the studio, five more are from older live recordings. The fact that they put out a record on Rock-O-Rama continued to worsen Combat 84's reputation with hindsight. One member later said that their album did not give a good impression of the band, as the album supposedly does not show any high quality. The lack of acoustic quality is typical of numerous Rock-O-Rama productions. Her first two singles, however, now achieve enormous collector prices.
Because of the documentation and its public image, it was impossible for the group to get performance opportunities. Therefore, after they made a tour as the opening act for The 4-Skins in Northern England, the group appeared under a different name (The 7th Cavalry) for several concerts. For example, they played in Tooting Castle, Kingston and the 100 Club . The new band name probably refers to a cavalry unit that George Armstrong Custer u. a. was defeated in the Indian War against Sitting Bull on Little Big Horn. Some live recordings under the surrogate name were later released on the split disc with The Last Resort under the title The Charge of 7th Cavalry .
Due to the lack of success of the band, which was due to the bad press, the riots and the political statements of some band members, it was dissolved. John Fisher soon played shortly after with The Warriors, a group with former The Last Resort members. After that band he was in a heavy metal band called April 19th. As mentioned, John was also briefly a member of The Exploited, which was also partly controversial. John Deptford and Jim became UK Subs roadies . After that they both played in an unknown street punk band . Chris was then active in the Chelsea Headhunters , a hooligan group of which he was among other things. During this time he and Colin Ward wrote a book called Who Wants it? . He later opened a bar called The Dog's Bollocks in Pattaya, Thailand with Steve "Hicky" Hickmont, another member of the Chelsea Headhunters . Steve Hickmont is the author of the book Armed for the Match .
In 2000 the band was re-formed with John Deptford (vocals, bass), Jim (guitar) and CJ (drums). With this line-up they recorded a mini CD. CJ subsequently left the group and was replaced by Suds. A split CD and a tour with the Washington Oi! Band Iron Cross were planned. But Combat 84 again disappeared from the scene of the Oi! Music landscape.
politics
The band argued that a band is not a political institution and that the political views expressed in public were only represented by some members of the group. In addition, a member of the group said later in an interview that politics and music do not belong together. Nevertheless, one of her songs had anti-communist content, which is in contrast to her supposedly apolitical opinion. Combat 84 was also active in the punk and Oi! Scene at a time that was full of contradictions. Numerous people openly admitted to hearing the then neo-Nazi band Skrewdriver , although they admitted that they would not agree with their views. Conversely, this took place with the Angelic Upstarts , which could be clearly classified into the left spectrum. In contrast, they were also very popular in right-wing fan circles.
Furthermore, the band stood up against rapists and muggers. In connection with rapists, the band advocated the death penalty.
Chris and John were the only ones to admit to being nationalistic, while the rest of the group never publicly admitted political opinions. Chris was also a member of a right-wing London skinhead gang.
Discography
- Orders of the Day EP - Victory Records
- Rapist EP - Victory Records
- Send in the Marines LP - Rock-O-Rama
- Tooled Up EP - 7th Cavalry Records