Anarchy And Peace, Litigated

INTERVIEWS BY ANDY CAPPER
ARCHIVAL PHOTOS COURTESY OF GEE VAUCHER AND PENNY RIMBAUD
CAPTIONS WITH ASSISTANCE FROM GEE VAUCHER

Pete Wright, Phil Free, and Joy De Vivre enjoy the sun at an outdoor antiwar protest, circa 1980.

Vice: Crass—and EXIT, your first group—weren’t traditional bands. It was kind of anti-rock-’n’-roll, and anti-music.
Penny Rimbaud: But not many.
The Guardian What did you do in that period?

This is the blue Sherpa van Crass would tour in. The gigs were all fund-raisers, and anything they could scrounge went back to fixing the van, buying food for the audience, and fixing the van again.

What made you two friends?
How did you hear about Dial House?
How long was it until you started making music?
What influenced you?
What was your job at the time?
Reality Asylum What was the first lineup? Was it just you and Steve?
And so the final lineup was you two, Pete Wright, Gee, Andy Palmer, Phil Free, Joy De Vivre, and Eve Libertine.
And that record was The Feeding of the 5,000, which was meant to include a song on it called “Reality Asylum.” That caused some trouble, right?

Gee Vaucher, Joy De Vivre, and Eve Libertine at a motorway service café circa 1982.

Yeah, the night that Scotland Yard came to Dial House. How was that?
And didn’t the label refuse to release it?
Feeding And that was the birth of the DIY punk ethic that people still talk about all the time today. You created an iconic movement.
What didn’t you like about musical convention? I imagine the business side of it wouldn’t really appeal to an avowed anarchist.
Feeding Didn’t EMI try to sign you guys for loads of money?
Steve Ignorant:

Steve Ignorant in a contemplative mood at Dial House.

And so you self-released Stations of the Crass on Crass Records.
Penny Rimbaud: Feeding How much did you sell the record for?
Where did you throw it?
What was the motivation to set such low percentages?

Sound check at unknown venue, circa 1980. From left to right: Andy Palmer, Steve Ignorant, Pete Wright, sound engineer known only as “Dave,” Penny Rimbaud, and Vi Subversa.

What was the reason the band folded?
What happened?
Steve Ignorant: A lot of “punk” was being proud of falling in the gutter. People would pretend to do it even if they weren’t drunk. What made Crass different?
So it was anti everything that rock ’n’ roll stood for.
Did that ever happen to anyone in Crass?
Haha. But that’s what you signed up for. Do you regret that?

Penny Rimbaud and Steve Ignorant mid-set, 1980.

And now you’ve decided to perform Crass songs again live, right?
Feeding What did Penny say? Penny Rimbaud: What made you change your mind?
Well, I’m glad you two are good now. Let’s go back to Crass ending and what happened then…
What did you think of that demand to push it to CD?
As Crass broke up and the records continued to sell, the logo became a commodity, didn’t it? People would bootleg it. How do you feel about that?
Reality Asylum There were Crass shirts in Wal-Mart?

Andy “NA” Palmer and Steve Ignorant on tour in 1981.

And now you’ve remastered all the albums and Gee’s done new artwork and Southern is going to release it, but that’s all caused a bit of a hullabaloo, right?
Acts of Love Who has the house now?
You nearly didn’t?
How was the task of digging out all the old material and remastering it?
Ten Notes on a Summer’s Day You remastered off the original tapes?

Gee Vaucher and bovine pal at Dial House farm.

You’ve done it all now, then. You’ve done new artwork and bonus tracks and put all the original artwork in there too.
Ten Notes Feeding Did you remix any of it?
What was the thinking of including new artwork and old photos of the band?
The Crassical Collection Yes Sir, I Will When you played it for me in your study/shed it sounded really brilliant. So, this is all fine and dandy, but the rerelease project has caused a huge shitstorm that could end up in Crown Court, right?
Why do you think Pete is so opposed to the rereleases?
Such as?

Crass pictured postshow in Glasgow, circa 1980. Note the police officer at the right-hand side of the stage. Many fans had broken chairs at the venue during the show, but when the police turned up there was nothing much to report.

Where does the opposition to the remastered material come from? Is it ideological or aesthetic?
What’s your communication with him?
How did that happen?
A heckler?
Did you confront him about it later that night?

Penny Rimbaud with his hand in the bush, Dial House, 1983.

What’s Pete been doing since he left the house?
That you and Gee are Judases?
So are you going ahead with the rereleases or not? You said there were lawyers involved and the court involved. It seems crazy that Crass could be going to the Crown Court, which is essentially asking the Queen to intervene in the band. And this is a band that was never really a huge fan of the Queen, to say the least.
No contracts were ever signed.
So as of now the nine members get an even split?
I’d really like to hear Pete’s side of it.
And you’re meeting with a lawyer?
And Pete’s going to be there?

Crass posters at the Roxy, Covent Garden, London. Crass played two shows here, the second of which resulted in them being banned from the venue, which resulted in the song “Banned From the Roxy,” which appears on The Feeding of the 5,000.

When was the last time you saw Pete?
What do you think the outcome is going to be?
Surely going to court and bringing in lawyers is going against everything that Crass was set up for?
Yes Sir Steve Ignorant: Penny Rimbaud: