PUNKCAST#349
Alternative TV
The New York Rel-X
CBGB, NYC
Oct 22 2003
sponsored by
WWWhatsup Online Pinstand
with thanks to CBGB and Bryan Swirsky


'action time vision'

Wednesday, the opening night of CMJ, saw Bryan Swirsky put on an 'Antifest' at CBGB. TV Smith and the Midnight Creeps , coming full circle on their cross country tour for their last show, played a blinder. One midwest college radio type later told me this was the best thing he saw on the whole of CMJ. Having already got them good in PUNKCAST#339 I propped up the bar for their set, and then got the camera out for Alternative TV. Mark Perry, creator of Alternative TV, might be better known for his seminal 77 zine 'Sniffin Glue', but the credit that impresses the NYC scene is that his label, Step Forward, was the first to release The Fall. In the late 70's and early 90's Alternative TV, virtually uncategorizable, were always ahead of the game, moving to dubstyle, and then postpunk, and on, before most of their contemporaries had fallen out of bed. Collaborator Alex Ferguson went on to found Psychic TV with Genesis P. Orridge. Mark P. did reform the band to come over and play the east coast a couple years back, but this time he had the added attraction of fellow Londoner and NYC favorite Dan Melchior on guitar. They did a fairly short set that still managed to span the varied output of the band, Audience requests for 'How Much Longer' and some other song were rejected. "We don't want to play that kind of hippie shit." said Mark. The songs you get here are 'Love Lies Limp' - their reggae influenced hit flexi, and the finale, 'Urban Kids' an original 77 tune. Mark dedicated it to his old mucker Gene October,

Rounding off the night were NYC's top local punk band the Rel-X, sporting a new guitarist since we saw them last, with a much wider, heavier sound. Here we see the audience sharing in their 'Paranoia'.









And yes i have knocked up a VCD of ATV's set, VCD3491 (11,41:29), but I screwed up on The Rel-X, only got the first 3 songs, and I'm going to save them for possible comp use later. You can get the ATV from the pinstand for $4 inc. mail ($5 foreign) - if interested email orders@pinstand.com with the subject=VCD3491, and I'll let you know the process, or just paypal straight in at that address,




capture captain: joly
date posted: 12/5/03

www.markperry.freeuk.com
WWWhatsup the new york rel-x

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