Introduction

[richardfamous]

Hi. This is a new forum board for all Poison Girl Friends.
In the 30 odd years since Poison Girls first got together, we have met and worked with a whole host of interesting people, and apparently touched the lives of many more that we haven't had the pleasure to meet in person.
Tell us about yourself. Tell us how you know of us, and why you are checking us out now! Tell us your story, your hopes and dreams. This could be fun.

[brixtondeb]

Hello everyone - my name is Debbie and I used to see the band when I was a teenager in the mid/late 1980s - my best friend Josh & I would try to get to every London gig we could.
Once I even managed to wangle a solo support slot at the Fulham Greyhound (I think), I remember I got paid a fiver & Richard set up my guitar for me! I'm sure I was terrible!
The last time I saw any of the band was on Vi's 60th birthday gig, that was a great night.
I have many, many fond memories of Poison Girls, always was and always will be one of my favourite bands of all time.
You were always very patient and kind to an over-excited little runt like me, and I will always appreciate that.
Still have the logo tattooed on my right upper arm too!
Big love to you all
xx

[sinogs]

Hi there, I'm Simon and I have huge admiration for Poison Girls. I first saw Poison Girls at the Bradford Sweatbox in Bradford (1981). It was such a memorable gig - life changing even! I spent the whole of that gig ligging on a speaker stack to the right of the stage - Richard was just stretched arm away from me - I scrounged a plectrum from him after the Poisons had finished their set (hey, I was only 14 at the time) - I wrote a poem about that plec'. I saw Poison Girls often - mostly when they played our neck of the woods (Bradford - twice with Crass, the No Nukes tour with The Mob/Southern Death Cult and little later a Bradford Peace Week event where the Poisons played 2 sets in the one night; the second covering for Michelle Shocked who failed to turn-up). I have a ropey tape recording of one of the Queen's Hall gigs and another from the Fforde Green in Leeds - I can make these available if anybody is interested.

I look forward to getting involved in this forum.

You may be interested in my blog:
si-site-nogsy.blogspot.co.uk/

There are loads of fanzines available to download - many of them featuring Poison Girls. And, with all the neck of a giraffe, I've posted the full run of The Impossible Dream.

Debbie, it's good to see you posting here. I saw your band performing on a few occasions. Last time I saw you was in the Notting Hill Tape Exchange - funnily enough, I was looking for a copy of The Impossible Dream.

All the best

[richardfamous]

Well hello to you all

Great to hear from you Debbie. Hope you are still annoying the neighbours and anyone else that gets in your face.

And Simon, I've been looking for that plectrum

Thanks for getting this thing off the ground, lets see where we can go with it

Richard

[kjelli]

Hi my name is Kjell Arne or Kjelli.Currently living in Trondheim, Norway. Been a big fan of the band for ages, saw you at Dingwalls, London when you played with the Mekons and (later) my friends in Angor Wat, must have been the 13 of august 1985 since I just turned 18.

Nice to see that we finally have a place to find more info about the band when its been so quiet over the years.

My web: www.nopunkhc.blogspot.no/2008/09/angor-wat-all-those-wasted.html

[pm]

I wasn’t a fan of ‘anarcho punk bands’ but loved Poison Girls as they were different to those bands and different to every other band of their era. ‘Where’s The Pleasure’ is still one of my fave albums, the first three tracks in particular are a great triptych! Looking back it amazes me the band managed to exist and create at all, they were way ahead of their time. I would not claim to always understand what Vi Subversa was on about but I knew she was a great lyricist and a front person of immense presence, just as Richard Famous was a great guitarist of the era (along with John McGeoch and Johnny Marr). I hope one day the band will tell their story comprehensively and this site is a start. Ultimately for me it was about the quality of the songs though the image and packaging were creative too. For me they were artists first and everything else second though I am sure they would disagree! Best wishes to Richard, Vi and Lance.

PS. I was at Dingwalls too on Aug 13th 1985, my 23rd birthday.

[richardfamous]

Hi pm

That Dingwalls gig seems to have been a good one!
Thanks for getting in touch, the compliments are much appreciated. At the time we were just doing what we did, if you get my drift. It is strange to look back at it all 25 years on (!!!) and try and make some sort of sense of it all. In the 80s we were professionally ignored by the mainstream business, and when we did brush up against them, it wasn't very productive. It was an 'in joke' with the band that we were either 10 years ahead of our time or 5 years behind, but we coulkd never quite work out which

Richard

[Farmhouse]

Hello all,
My name is Tracey (hi Tracey) and I'm a recovering Poison Girl addict.....Now they go and start a message board! Damn and blast. Spent a great deal of time in the 80's at Poison Girl shows. Either hitching to far outposts, sometimes travelling in the ambulance (sometimes pushing the beast). Had a blast every time I saw them, I can even look back on the Paris show now with some fond memories. I wasn't at that Dingwalls show with the Mekons but now play in a band with a couple of them. Hard to pick a favourite show, perhaps with Crass at the IOW. Perhaps way later the cabaret show in Brighton (Zap club was it?) with Tony Allen, the Poison Girl family and even Lee from Stockton. Whatever happened to him and Pete Perfect?
Looking forward to recovering a lot of long lost memories.
Love to you all,

Tracey.

[richcross]

Hi - I first saw Poison Girls at Exeter St Georges Hall on the Total Exposure tour on October 1981 (I still have the brilliant tour poster and booklet), and last saw the band at Nottingham Queens Walk Community Centre in late 1985 or early 1986 (I'd have to check), and many times in between. At the Exeter gig, I helped interview the band (with Heff and Clem) for what turned out to be a lengthy (and darned good) feature in Clem's 'Obnoxious' fanzine. Amongst my several Poison Girls adventures, I firmly remember legging it in the van from a Carlisle gig (with Rubella Ballet) in late 1982 when the smallish bunch of fascist meatheads (who the crowd had been able to see off earlier in the evening) returned mob handed as the gig was packing up. We stayed overnight with the writers of 'Kind Girls' fanzine, which Richard had introduced us to. There were lots of happier gigs too, especially several memorable ones in Birmingham and Nottingham during the 'Cabaret of Fools' and 'Big Brother' tours. (But, actually, dealing with the initial fascist incursion in Carlisle was quite inspiring and exciting too - and it was the event where I first met Raf from Acts of Defiance fanzine!) Really great to see a Poison Girls presence online!

[andyt]

Hi Richard,

Long time no see. Hope you and yours are well and happy?

I am still writing poetry and gigging. I've got a 7" single coming out on '1in12 Records'. Also an album/book coming out on 'All The Madmen'

Both are being printed/pressed as we speak and will be available late July.

Got back in touch with Lee Gibson last year too, we hadn't seen each other for 25 years. It's good that old friends are re-awakening. Even Howard is doing his brilliant thing again.

Cheers for now, Andy T. xx

[richardfamous]

Well who would have thought it! Hi Tracey, hi Andy and welcome Richcross.

Tracey, you know your addiction can only be cured one track at a time. You know the tratment is a success when you don't know the answer to the question ' who we are' and 'what we are' and what exactly 'is blown'. Good to hear from you again and glad to hear you are playing music.

Andy. Great to hear from you and its good to hear you are still writing and performing. I will look out for your 'product'. Funny you should mention Lee. I was just wondering what had become of him. I always imagined I might have written an episode of Shameless or maybe Hollyoaks(!!) or become the new Will Self. Any info would be great

Rich, I remember that Carlisle gig. I think it was the only gig we did that was stopped (by the management if I recall) because of skinhead trouble. They were weird times. I also remember that the Kind Girls fanzine was one of the best we ever saw. I think it had a print run of about 200! But that was what it was like back then wasn't it. I hope they went on to realise their potential, they did have loads.

Keep these comments coming
Richard Famous

[avi]

Hi, I'm Avi, and while the lot of you went to PG gigs I was a lonely punk in Israel, boohoo...actually, by 1986 or so I wasn't so lonely anymore and started my first band. Anarcho punk was a big influence on me, and while to many the 'genre' sounds all the same - thin buzzsaw guitars and militant screaming - I beg to differ and find it very diverse and it really opened me up both politically and musically. After being used to tough sounds from the likes of Sex Pistols and later on Exploited, GBH et al (don't get me wrong - still love all those bands), even an aggressive band like Conflict sounded relatively experimental to me. Then came Crass, Chumbawamba and of course Poison Girls., and Subhumans with their very musically advanced 'From The Cradle To The Grave". For me the sound is as important as the message - not only that it is the carrier wave of a message (I'd never get political if it wasn't for music), it IS the message, before one hears or understands a single word. I remember being extremely impressed by 'Statement' and 'The Offending Article', but my fave PG song is actually 'Other'. Thanks for setting up this forum!

[martinpond]

Hi Richard,
take yourself back to Ivy Road, Spixworth, living with Simon and Jude and trying to figure out Stones and Bowie tunes on our Epiphones; then in Hackney I was experiencing difficulties with officialdom and you guys were in your heyday (IMHO) with "Where's The Pleasure". I think we last met in about '88/89 when I was in Oxford and saw you perform at the (then) Co-op Hall; well I'm still here and would like to get back in touch (I now have much better guitars!). Take care.
PS. Do you still get the Rotring out now and then?

[richardfamous]

Well well! Hello Martin.

What a surprise. Great to hear from you. Spixworth was such a long time ago. The Epiphone got passed on a while back, but got replaced by a very nice Tanglewood Earth 2000 that feels just the same (played every guitar in the shop, Gibsons, Martins, Yamaha et al but the Tanglewood was the best by a mile) Still trying to get the ink off my fingers from them damned Rotrings!

Let me know a contact for you
See you in Samariland on the 32nd

[back2front]

AndyT haven't heard from you for ages - wasn't sure if the new album had been shelved so glad to see All the Madmen collective putting it out - hope the health has improved since last time I saw you too!!