The slits

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The slits
The Slits 2007 in New York City
The Slits 2007 in New York City
General information
origin London , England
Genre (s) Punk , dub , post-punk
founding 1976, 2005
resolution 1981, 2010
Website theslits.co.uk
Founding members
Ariane "Ari Up" Forster †
Paloma "Palmolive" Romero (until 1978)
Kate Corris (until 1977)
Suzi "Gutzy" Webb (until 1977)
Last occupation
Ariane "Ari Up" Forster († 2010)
Tessa Pollitt (1977–1981, 2005–2010)
Hollie Cook (2006-2010)
Adele Wilson (2006-2010)
Anna Schulte (2006-2010)
former members
Viv Albertine (1977-1981)
Peter "Budgie" Clarke (1978–1979)
Bruce Smith (1980-1981)
Live and session members
Anna Ozawa (2009)

The Slits (Engl. The slots ) were a British punk band the first hour. The feminist rock band from London , founded in 1976, combined punk with influences from reggae and world music .

history

Prehistory (The Flowers Of Romance and The Castrators)

The Slits emerged from a loose group of teenagers in the Sex Pistols and Clash circles who were making music in a squatted house in Shepherd's Bush in the summer of 1976 . The core of the group were Sarah Hall (bass, 1978/79 with The Innocents ) and Jo Faull (guitar), friends of the Sex Pistols musicians Steve Jones and Paul Cook , who together with Viv Albertine (guitar) and Paloma Romero (drums) , the friends of the clash musicians Mick Jones and Joe Strummer , rehearsed in the basement to pass the time. The group was nicknamed The Flowers Of Romance by Johnny Rotten because of these connections , while Paul Simonon nicknamed the drummer Paloma the nickname Palmolive . Viv Albertine invited Sid Vicious to join in, but he took control and kicked Sarah Hall, Jo Faull and Paloma Romero out in October 1976 and through friends like Keith Levene (ex- The Clash ), Steve Walsh (later Manicured Noise ) and Steve English (later Sex Pistols / Clash Roadie) replaced. In early 1977 Vicious finally removed Viv Albertine from the band and The Flowers Of Romance collapsed without ever performing live. Vicious became a member of the Sex Pistols, which took over the only Flowers song "Belsen Was a Gas" in their repertoire.

In Chiswick , at the same time, art student Tessa Politt (daughter of advertising agency director Stanley Pollitt) and two fellow students formed a punk band The Castrators , which was reported in January 1977 in an article about female punks in the News of the World tabloid . Before the Castrators could even write their own songs or perform, Pollitt disbanded the band and became a member of the Slits.

Band formation and first punk phase (1976-78)

Angry about being kicked out by Sid Vicious, 17-year-old Paloma Romero decided to start her own punk band and teamed up with American guitarist Katherine Corris and 16-year-old bassist from Dorset Suzi Webb. On October 23, 1976, at a clash concert in the London ICA, Romero and Corris met 14-year-old Ariane Forster and spontaneously invited her to become the singer of the new band, for which Kate Corris found the name The Slits . A meeting and a first rehearsal took place the next day, the first song played together was Blitzkrieg Bop . On December 11, 1976, the first interview appeared in the British music press, but problems with Suzi Webb's alcohol consumption during rehearsals led the band to look elsewhere and offer the job to Tessa Pollitt, who joined in February 1977.

Only two weeks later, on March 11th 1977, the first appearance as opening act for The Clash took place, a second appearance followed on March 26th at the Roxy Club . Then guitarist Kate Corris got out and was replaced by Viv Albertine, so the classic punk line-up of the slits was complete for the next year and a half.

The first concert with this line-up took place on April 3, 1977 as the opening act for the Sex Pistols . In May 1977 the band went on a major tour of England with The Clash, and in September a BBC radio session made the slits known across the country.

In January / February 1978 Malcolm McLaren managed the band for two weeks and tried unsuccessfully to sign a record deal with Island Records for an advance payment of £ 100,000 . Allegedly, at that time, he should also have considered making a movie with the slits in which they were supposed to play a subversive disco band on a Mexican tour. But McLaren organized five concerts at the Gibus Club in Paris, one of which (January 26, 1978) was professionally recorded. This was followed by a long UK tour with the Buzzcocks (March 2 to April 2, 1978) and another BBC radio session.

A recording contract with Real Records in July 1978, which planned to release So Tough as a debut single, failed due to poor conditions.

Another tour in the support program of the Rich Kids (July 22 to August 5, 1978) followed. At the end of August 1978 the band played three concerts in Berlin with the Nina Hagen Band and back in London for three weekends at Acklam Hall (September 19 and 26, October 3, 1978). These gigs were the last with Palmolive, which (due to their lack of technical development on the drums) had to leave the slits.

Reggae and world music phase (1979-81)

The Slits began to work with Liverpool drummer Budgie , who did not become a permanent member of the band. Decca Records showed interest in the band, and Budgie's new song Typical Girls was recorded as a potential single at Decca Studios in West Hempstead. However, a record deal did not materialize.

From November to December 1978 followed a British tour in the opening act of the Clash.

In late February 1979 the band finally signed with Island Records for an advance of £ 45,000. Label owner Chris Blackwell saw great potential in the band and provided them with unlimited studio time for their debut album Cut . Work on it began in March 1979, with reggae producer Dennis Bovell, Cut was recorded in eight weeks, while Pop Group manager Dick O'Dell took over the management of the band in May 1979.

Drummer Budgie then left the band in July 1979 again and worked with Glen Matlock and then solid at Siouxsie and the Banshees enter. The remaining trio first rehearsed with a session drummer by the name of Ranking Rene, and in August 1979 shot a 30-minute promotional film Slits Pictures for LP with the directors Don Letts and Mick Calvert , which premiered on November 24th at the Scala Cinema in London. The album Cut was released on September 7, 1979, received consistently good reviews in the music press and made it into the British Top 40 album charts for two weeks, where it rose to number 30 on October 6, 1979.

A financially expensive tour of England with numerous guest musicians and accompanying bands took place in September 1979, the drummer was now Bruce Smith from the befriended Pop Group, who later became a permanent member of the band. On October 12, 1979, the band appeared with the album track "Spend Spend Spend" on the German television program Szene 79 . In November 1979, a dispute with the record company over production costs and advances led to the separation from Iceland. While bassist Tessa Pollitt was in the hospital with pills after attempting suicide, the band recorded a new single "Man Next Door" with Adrian Sherwood , which was only released six months later.

On December 31, 1979, the Slits played their first US gig at the New York nightclub Hurray , where they were supported by Keith Levene as a guest guitarist. The contact to the New York rap scene inspired the band to the next single "In The Beginning There Was Rhythm", the first release of the new label of their manager Dick O'Dell, Y Records , who later passed the management of the band to his assistant Christine Robertson submitted.

On April 30th and May 2nd, 1980 the band played two concerts in Germany. On October 17, 1980, the band was filmed and interviewed in the Leicester Polytechnic by the director Wolfgang Büld for his television film Woman in Rock .

In early 1981 Ari Up made a guest appearance on two LPs by New Age Steppers, a studio project by Adrian Sherwood . A second Slits album "Return Of The Giant Slits" followed in autumn 1981.

On June 19, 1981, the Slits performed at a feminist music festival in Berlin's Tempodrom . Another gig in Germany ( Uni-Mensa Düsseldorf , November 26th 1981) was one of the last of the band that gave their official farewell gig in London's Hammersmith Palais on November 30th, 1981 (although the very last gig took place in Sheffield the next day ) .

Reunion (2005-10)

In 2005 Ari Up and Tessa Pollitt reunited as The Slits and played a first concert with guests (Nadya and Adele on guitars and Anna on drums) on March 10, 2006 in London. A new single entitled Revenge of the Killer Slits was released on September 1, 2006, followed by a North American tour in October / November.

Singer Ari Up (born January 17, 1962 in Munich ) died of cancer on October 20, 2010.

plant

The Slits were initially known for their extremely rough and technically inexperienced sound, with which they managed to creatively implement anger and energy. The band quickly became relatively well known in early punk London, but it wasn't until late that they managed to get a record deal. Therefore, there are hardly any recordings from the band's "early punk" days, only two peel sessions broadcast in 1977 and released in 1988 as well as an untitled, semi-official compilation LP from live and demo recordings in 1980, either as Untitled , Official Bootleg or Bootleg Retrospective is called (1997 and 2005 live material appeared among other things from the early days of the band).

In 1979, almost three years after its inception, The Slits released their first album, Cut . Produced by Dennis Bovell, it was shaped by the newer orientation of the slits towards reggae and dub . The cover of the record also caused a stir - it showed the three women almost naked, only covered with a loincloth and obviously after a mud bath. Their second official album Return of the Giant Slits from 1981, which was strongly influenced by African music and was re-released as a double CD with bonus material in 2007, was widely accused of lacking the energy and freshness that had so far distinguished The Slits.

Discography

Studio albums

  • Cut (Island Records, 1979)
  • Return of the Giant Slits (CBS Records, 1981) (Reissued 2007)
  • Trapped Animal (Narnack Records, 2009)

Live albums

  • In The Beginning (Jungle Records, 1997)
  • Live At The Gibus Club (Castle Music / Castle Communications, 2005)

Compilations

  • Untitled ( Bootleg Retrospective / The Slits ) (Y Records, 1980)
  • The Peel Sessions ( Strange Fruit Records , 1988)

Singles

  • Typical Girls / I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Island, 1979)
  • Man Next Door (Rough Trade, 1979)
  • In The Beginning There Was Rhythm (split single with The Pop Group , Y Records, 1980)
  • Animal Space (Human Records, 1980)
  • Earthbeat (CBS, 1981)
  • Revenge of the Killer Slits (Only Lovers Left Alive, 2006)

literature

  • Zoë Street Howe: Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits (Omnibus Press, 2009)
  • Viv Albertine: A Typical Girl. A memoir . (Suhrkamp Paperback, 2016)

Web links

Commons : The Slits  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ How we made Cut (the Slits) on theguardian.com (accessed December 21, 2018)
  2. ↑ Zoë Street Howe: Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits. Omnibus Press, 2009, pages 10-12.
  3. ^ Gregory Mario Whitfield: Looking For Something . 3: AM-Magazine website May 2004.
  4. ^ Mark P .: Gossip / News / Crap . In: Sniffin 'Glue -Fanzine No. 4, Oct. 1976, p. 8.
  5. ↑ Interview with Steve Walsh. In: Jon Savage : The England's Dreaming Tapes. Faber & Faber 2009, page 374.
  6. ^ Paul Brooks: The Flowers Of Romance (band interview December 1976) in: SKUM No.1-Fanzine, early 1977.
  7. ↑ Interview with Steve Walsh. In: Jon Savage: The England's Dreaming Tapes. Faber & Faber 2009, page 378.
  8. ↑ Gregory Mario Whitfield: Earthbeat: In The Beginning There Was Rhythm. 3: AM-Magazine website November 2003.
  9. ↑ Vivien Goldman: Here Come The Punkesses. In: News of the World , Jan. 16, 1977, p. 3.
  10. ↑ Suzi Webb Myspace page Myspace.com/Suziwebbbass .
  11. ↑ pattismithlogbook.info Zoë Street Howe's Slits book incorrectly dates the encounter to a Patti Smith concert in May 1976; in fact, it was Patti Smith's surprising guest appearance at a clash concert in October 1976.
  12. ↑ Will Parkhouse: Not Typical Girls Not Trapped Animals: The Slits Interview. The Quietus website October 22, 2009.
  13. ^ Interview with Ari Up. In: Simon Reynolds : Totally Wired . Soft Skull Press 2010, page 4.
  14. ↑ John Robb: Punk Rock. An oral history. Ebury Press 2006, 228.
  15. ^ Vivien Goldman: The New Other Wave . In: Sounds December 11, 1976.
  16. ↑ Zoë Street Howe: Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits. Omnibus Press, 2009, pages 18-20.
  17. ^ Paul Marko: The Roxy London WC2. A punk history. Punk77 Books 2007, pp. 195-196,480.
  18. ↑ Craig Bromberg: The Wicked Ways Of Malcolm McLaren. Haper & Row 1989, p. 183.
  19. ↑ Jean Encoule: The Slits TrakMARX website in March 2004.
  20. ^ Thin Lizzy and Pistols open new London venue. In: Melody Maker July 29, 1978, page 5.
  21. ↑ Zoë Street Howe: Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits. Omnibus Press, 2009, pages 91-92, 109.
  22. ↑ Rich Kids Summer Tour ad. In: New Musical Express July 22, 1978, p. 40.
  23. ^ Alfred Hilsberg : Uff'n Kopp knock. In: Sounds November 1978, pages 26-27.
  24. ^ A b Adrian Thrills: Up Slits Creek . In: New Musical Express September 8, 1979, pages 28-29.
  25. ↑ Mark Paytress: The Slits Cut . Liner notes for the deluxe edition of the album Cut , Island Records 2009.
  26. ^ Platinum Discs Are Forever . In: New Musical Express February 24, 1979, p. 59.
  27. ↑ Zoë Street Howe: Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits. Omnibus Press, 2009, page 165.
  28. ↑ Simon Reynolds: Rip It Up And Start Again , 2007, ISBN 978-3-85445-270-6 , pp. 106-116.
  29. ↑ Gaye Slits . In: Melody Maker March 24, 1979, page 3.
  30. ↑ Ian Penman: Dub Is Tomorrow ... Orrow Row Ow W . In: New Musical Express August 4, 1979 pages 7–9.
  31. ↑ T-dec . In: New Musical Express May 19, 1979, p. 59.
  32. ↑ T-dec . In: New Musical Express July 21, 1979, p. 59.
  33. ↑ News Briefs . In: New Musical Express August 4, 1979, page 4.
  34. ↑ Slits in shops . In: New Musical Express August 25, 1979, page 3.
  35. ↑ TO Innocent: Pop Group In Ruins? Slits film premiere . In: New Musical Express November 24, 1979, page 11.
  36. ↑ Information according to the Officialcharts.com website.
  37. ↑ Multi-Culture Slits Package . In: New Musical Express September 8, 1979, page 3.
  38. ^ Slits Split Island . In: Melody Maker November 17, 1979, page 3.
  39. ↑ Zoë Street Howe: Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits. Omnibus Press, 2009, pages 176–177.
  40. ↑ Joe Stevens: New York Gig Guide . In: New Musical Express December 22, 1979, p. 56.
  41. ^ Meanwhile in New York ... In: Sounds , March 1980, p. 8.
  42. ↑ Tony Scrivener: Agents Of Anarchy. Kingsfleet Publications 1992, 94.
  43. ↑ Bands Form Label . In: New Musical Express February 16, 1980, page 4.
  44. ↑ Zoë Street Howe: Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits. Omnibus Press, 2009, page 173.
  45. ^ [[Diedrich Diederichsen (cultural scientist) |]]: To Act in 8551 Weißenohe, May 80. In: Sounds June 1980, pages 50-51.
  46. ↑ Deanne Pearson: Mirror Mirror On The Wall ... In: [[The Face (magazine) |]] No.8 December 1980, pp. 42-45.
  47. ^ First broadcast on Bavarian television on February 4, 1981.
  48. ↑ Sabine Korsukéwitz : Women's music with men. Discrepancies in Venus Weltklang. In: Sounds August 1981, pages 14-16.
  49. ↑ What's going on where? Dusseldorf. In: Musician Music News 21/81, Nov. 26, 1981, p. 32.
  50. ↑ George Gimarc: Punk Diary. The Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide To Underground Rock 1970-1982. Backbeat Books 2005, p. 549.
  51. ↑ Slits Frontwoman Ari Up Dead at 48 . Billboard.com
  52. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin No. 11, March 17, 2017, p. 17.