| Conflict are the world's foremost activist anarchist punk band. First heard on their mentors Crass's label, their 'to a nation of animal
lovers' EP inspired anti-vivisection, anti-hunt campaigns. Espousing direct action and numerous political causes, on their own mortarhate label they dominated the top of the singles and albums indie charts in the eighties. Gigs however, turned into full-scale riots, with over 130 arrested at just four gigs. Police then banned them from performing in
the UK, so they went underground and abroad. They went quieter in the nineties, but a resurgence of interest, helped by the 'straight-edge' punk movement, has reactivated them.
Conflict have been described as the world's foremost activist anarchist punk band. Presented as an organisation rather than a band, it's their politics - together with 'RIOT!' headlines after gigs, and the subsequent banning in the UK - that are more known than their music. This is how they want it. They've never posed for a group photo, and resolutely taken the independent, self-sufficient counter-culture route where possible, mostly on their own Mortarhate label. In the melee that they create, Conflict's music has often been overlooked. Fierce, tense, cajoling and militant, the reverberation alone is enough to provoke an emotional response. They can be looked on as an amalgam of what The Clash and Crass could have been - rallying protest, exhorting uprising, uniting crowds against common foes - all over a ferocious punk backing. Conflict are heard best on this singles compilation, issued to herald their reactivation as a live act and the threat of a new album planned. Their singles dominated the top of the indie charts in the 80's. After they were banned from the UK, they played at secret gigs and overseas, but became inactive in the late nineties. Now, revered by the US straight-edge punk movement and protesters from Seattle to Prague, they have come out of hibernation. The history of rock music has always been intertwined with that of rebellion and protest, from Marley to Public Enemy, the Stones to the Pistols, etc. This album documents the sound of the real underground rebels, who are not in any mood for compromise! Links: Conflict's web-site (http://www.conflict.org.uk) |
