| Anarchy In Caledonia "Police boss slams 'hatred' disc by Paisley anarchists" 'PUNK RECORD HITS AT TOWN'S 'FUNNY POLIS' PAISLEY SHOCK HORROR OUTRAGE SCANDAL: Paisley Rock Against Racism's second EP, 'Ha! Ha! Funny Polls' has caused a major scandal in the locality with plenty of local press front pages, such as reproduced here. The EP is aimed at the local police, whom Paisley RAR claim victimise punks and are unduly heavy-handed with youth. It features tracks by four bands: 'Fight' by Defiant Pose, 'Who Do You Hate' by the Urban Enemies, 'Lifted' by XS Discharge, and 'Mill Street Law And Order' by the Fegs (Mill Street is the name of the local police station). Said Fegs guitarist Joe McGlynn. "The polis are always getting on at us. If you stand in the town centre you get moved on and they've broken up our gigs. We want this record to bring attention to what's going on up here". Local police Chief Superintendant George Mutch replied "If these people have any complaints regarding the conduct of any of the police why don't they let us know about it? I wonder if they're really rebelling against anything or are they just publicity seeking?" Willie Harris of Paisley RAR hit back at the Police and cynical reviews of the EP: "The songs aren't a publicity stunt but we have deliberately chosen to exploit the media to show up the situation. There's a real antagonism between punks and the police, who are fuming incidently, in Paisley, and what this record says is deadly serious. Police harrassment may be 'last year's thing' but there's a good chance it'll be this year's thing and maybe next year's as well. Far from being 'the final thrashings of sour-faced country punks stuck in 1977' this EP is a natural development of a strong local punk scene which started in 1976 and is stiff going strong. "Already this record has been effective in bringing our case to the public's attention." One leading authority to come out strongly in favour of the Paisley punks is Mensi of the Angelic Upstarts whose single 'The Murder Of Liddle Towers' caused a similar fuss when it came out almost two years ago. Said Mensi: "Police harrassment is a fact of life all over the country. It's ridiculous to suggest complaining to the police does any good. What good did it do the families of Liddle Towers or Jimmy Kelly? When I was getting harrassed in South Shields the local inspector said my complaint wouldn't stand up even though I had twelve witnesses! It takes guts to stand up and be counted like these kids have. " 'Ha! Ha! Funny Polis' is on the Groucho-Marxist label arid is available from Rough Trade and similar independent outlets. THE WATCHER (SOUNDS 1979) (Reprinted from the Punk Rocker archives) |
