3. CrassStations Of The Crass
Whenever this came out – I would’ve been about 13 – a friend of mine told me that I had to come round to his house to listen to a record, and it was this.
They actually played at a place in Winsford, which is really local to where I grew up, and we went to see them. Obviously we were the youngest there…there were like seven people on stage, and slogans, and banners. It was really eye-opening; I became a vegetarian through this record. I always liked the idea of them being a gang who lived together, shared a space together – and I loved the idea that there was an equality in who shared the vocals.
About 30 years later I followed it through to spending time at Dial House with Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher, and it felt like the trust that I put into them as people who made music was realised when I met them – they were still living the anarchist lifestyle, still living very modestly, and still had an open door policy where people could just walk in and walk out, as long as they contributed and as long as they were vegetarian. There’s nothing worse, I don’t think, than somebody shouting, and when you confront them they kind of wither. You know, you gotta carry on shouting. Shouting more. And Penny’s still doing that. Well… he never shouted – he did it passively, but beautifully.
