I MEAN THE ASPECTS YOU CHOSE FREELY LIKE THE D.I.Y. WAY OF DOING THINGS PRESENT THE BAND, TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TIME TO THINK, AND SO ON.
Time To Think are based around two people, Peter Williams and Andy Martin. We basically started as a spin-off from the group Academy 23 as a project which we wanted simply to dedicate to the playing of hardcore/punk forms of music, although we have also branched into the experimental music side of things too. We like to keep everything as possible running on a d.i.y. scale, so we more or less have control of everything. I don’t see much point in spending time and money in expensive recording studios which a lot of time ends up being overproduced. We personally use a 4-track recorder in an upstairs room used as a practice room at Andy’s house. We feel this is adequate for our needs and are quite happy with the results that we get. The only time we have used a studio was only for the mixing of the tracks onto D.A.T. for the single. I am not saying, however, that people shouldn’t do into studios to record, this is just the way it works best for us; people should use whatever facilities they can to achieve results that they are happy with.
BY READING ARTICLES ON YOUR 7'' WE FEEL THAT THERE IS A LINK WITH THE APOSTLES AS ANDY SPENT 9 YEARS WITH THEM. CAN YOU ENLIGHTEN US?
Well I think after 9 years of being part of a group, people are bound to forge links with any future projects. However, the only links that can possibly be made are that Andy is/has been involved with these groups and that Andy’s somewhat unique songwriting abilities (I can’t actually think of any other groups playing totally similar types of music) rubs off on the concerning groups music, lyrics and literature that accompanies the groups releases.
WHAT IS ACADEMY 23?
The group Academy 23 was formed in November 1989 from a desire to perform both tuneful, melodic pop and electric folk music and to spread new (and not so new) ideas and theories in magick, science and related disciplines as a means of proving that working class people who had not gone on to further education were eminently capable of issuing for public interest and education, papers, magazines and music which were intelligent, original and finely crafted; we have entered a domain previously populated only by middle class intellectuals and as such we pose a threat to those who prefer to maintain a rigid belief in a class system based upon pre-ordained behaviour patterns. We also relinquish the stereotypical behaviour patterns previously attributed to people for our class by refusing to adhere to the tenets of that class.
Our main aim is to educate those who wish to be educated and to learn from those who wish to teach - this grossly simplified statement can only be justified by experience and ratified by qualifications, one such being that ‘teachers’ cannot currently be found in most of our society’s schools and colleges, however much they may ‘know’ about their chosen subject or discipline. Also, it has become apparent that there are virtually no independent pop groups who combine music with strong melodies, harmonies and classical structures with radical communist ideals... or any other interesting ideas except bland, meaningless repetition. Use of non-meaning of course is a valid concept and abstract music and texts have been used by many groups. I use Academy 23 to spread awareness of true Marxist-Leninism... Sean, Lawrence, Pete and Nathan however use the group for different reasons and we allow ourselves the freedoms this implies so that apparently incongruous or even conflicting ideas/views may be expressed on one record/in one magazine. By not preaching ,then, to an audience, we do not insult their intelligence and therefore we deserve more respect than blind dismissal or adoration. This should come as no surprise to anyone who hates popstars!
(answered by Andy - needless to say views expressed do not necessarily reflect my own)
WHAT IS THE AIM OF USING ‘LOGOS’ OF ANCIENT TIMES ( ) IN YOUR ARTWORK?
I don’t think there is necessarily an aim to using symbols with our work, they are mainly used in recognition of our ancient background in a celebration of our historical past. Our racial and cultural differences date back thousands of years and should be recognised and celebrated instead of being used to create barriers and prejudices against the worlds various types of people. The symbol you mention in the question is an ancient Celtic rune meaning possession or homeland and is used in relation to our roots in our homeland which we are told is Great Britain. Those two words mean very little to me except power, greed and the cause of much suffering not only in it’s own country, but in many regions around the world through its colonisation of other peoples countries and fucking the indigenous people over. I do, however, consider myself to be Welsh and do possess a certain amount of national pride, but do not see any people from other countries as inferior. We’re all on this planet together and we don’t need petty shit such as racism, sexism, homophobia and other such prejudices of ‘nature’.
This ‘homeland’ ( ) symbol has also been used by differing political groups. The majority of people see right-wing extremists bearing this symbol on marches, leaflets and propaganda, but it has nothing to do with the colour of ones skin or their sexual orientation etc. Some people may actually recall that Hitler and the Nazis stole the swastika which used to be recognised as an ancient peace/good luck symbol dating as far back as to the ancient Egyptians! The symbol has also been used by the left-wing Scottish National Party (although they turned it upside down i.e. ) which seems to represent the homeland meaning in the same sort of way as we use it (but I am not entirely sure on their use of it) although, again, I don’t support them (mainly because I’m not Scottish, don’t know what their policies are and anyway, I refuse to support any political party whose primary role is to have power over people for their own personal gains) but would actually be more comfortable with them in power than any right-wing party.
THE MINER’S STRIKE AND THE ANTI-POLL TAX MOVEMENT SHOWED THAT A POPULAR CONTESTATION IS POSSIBLE IN THE UK. EVEN IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS, PEOPLE HAD A CERTAIN ATTITUDE. THE UNITY DISAPPEARED AS FAST AS IT APPEARED APPARENTLY......
I wasn’t involved and don’t remember a lot about the miner’s strike, apart from the biased images that were shown on the television but what I’ve seen reported in sort of hindsight to that event did show a lot of unity and showed also how the ruling Conservative party literally smashed it up with its puppet police force. I do know a little more about the anti-poll tax movement as I was more politically aware and involved, and actually attended the demonstration/riot in Trafalgar Square and later on that year in Brixton. Yes, a lot of unity and connections were gained throughout the country and throughout the mainly middle to left of the political spectrum (anarchists included) which was really good until certain leftist political groups attempted to become leaders of the whole leaderless movement e.g. Militant and the Socialist Workers Party, left-wing fascists who think you’re okay as long as you agree with their politics and belong to their groups. After the riots, leaders of these groups were quick to stand up against the rioters and were ready to grass up or shop certain individuals to the authorities, quickly denouncing the anarchist groups amongst the demonstration for causing the riot to break out.
At the Trafalgar Square demo, tensions started to rise at a sit down protest outside the entrance to Downing Street, home of the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. The adrenaline was high on both sides which all of a sudden snapped with the crowd being charged by riot police. Looking back, the police lines seemed all to well orchestrated to put much of the blame on the demonstrators. The police were ready, waiting and looking for trouble. The vast majority of the people caught up in the frenzy of waving batons were not.
Brixton, for me, was frightening. A demonstration march from the official rally spot was led off to Brixton prison where Trafalgar Square prisoners were being held. All was fine, the police were there just in their ‘shepherding’ role. Once the march neared the prison, the police numbers swelled dramatically and were noticed tightening their chin straps obviously expecting trouble. All of a sudden the march stopped, then about ten minutes later the riot police were there once more wading into everybody and that day they really gave a hell of a lot of people a good kicking in.
For those leftist idiots to stand on their perches denouncing the violence and grassing up people caused a lot of mistrust in the movement. A little while after the Brixton demo I had little else to do with the movement so I don’t really know when all the unity started to fade out. Obviously, winning the battle against the poll tax did fuel a lot of it. Once the people felt the job was done, they just gave up and left any other political struggle behind them, forgetting that there were, and still are, so many things wrong that need to be changed. Maybe it was because nothing else affected their lives. So that there was no need to protest anymore. Shame!
Another reason that now springs to mind is the media’s standpoint. The Sun is one of the biggest selling newspapers in this country and is seen as (or should I say, they see themselves as) the typical working class newspaper. The Sun also support the Conservative party. I believe that this and other politically aligned papers attempted to, fairly successfully, dilute any working class anger by printing their own biased views on the topic in their papers, effectively, you could say, brainwashing a lot of it’s readers.
I’m not sure about the music business really. Some pop stars do come out with interesting views very occasionally, but why then do the majority of those play the capitalist game by recording for the big labels and filling the pockets of businessmen and women. Why also do these people have little much else to sing about than having feelings for the opposite sex. There’s much more to life than that, the majority of you reading this will know. Singing about love and stuff sells records, whereas politically and socially aware songs usually do not, but if they do, the message is usually ignored or overlooked by the listeners paying more attention to the music of the song than the content of its lyrics.
ABOUT SONGS: DO YOU PROFIT FROM 15 YEARS OF PUNK/HC, I MEAN, NOT WRITING THE SAME LYRICS, OR DO YOU THINK THAT, ANYWAY, YOU HAVE TO REPEAT LYRICS BECAUSE MOST THINGS NEVER CHANGE?
Well, I have been involved/interested in the punk/HC scene since I was a nieve 16 year old in 1986. It took me a while to, you could say, mature and understand what the lyrics were going on about. I then thought about what was being said then, taking a while to do so, began to create my own ideas and views on subjects. Punk has certainly influenced me for the better. It turned my life right around, and I now feel that I am a much better, worthy, truthful and honest (amongst others) person for it. It helped me to consider the aspect of vegetarianism which I adopted which I am glad for and for realising that a person does not need drink or drugs to get on with life or to have a good time. I became vegetarian in 1987 and gave up any form of mind warping or addictive intoxicant at the beginning of 1990. I’ve never regretted either of these moves. There must be many people like myself who have shared these similar experiences, so I think in this sense that punk has certainly achieved something. We must also recognise that punk must surely have played some sort of role in getting its ideas, e.g. animal rights, C.N.D., the state of the environment, into ‘normal’ society as punk has been voicing opinions on these and more subjects for many years and only now has it become popular to discuss these issues.
I do think that lyrics do need to be repeated, but in a way that it doesn’t preach on to the listener, like saying "...this is wrong, that is wrong, so DON’T DO IT!!", but instead in a way that the listener may think "ah, I didn’t think about animal rights in that sense" or "maybe drinking isn’t really necessary.." for example, depending on what the lyrics are saying of course.
New original ideas are the way forward, but how, I really don’t know! I must admit though, it is still really enjoyable to hear bands continuing to play stuff which sounds like early Discharge etc.., but thankfully there is a little more variation otherwise the music scene would get extremely stale.
One problem with punk/HC is that it seems to wait to be discovered by newcomers. It’s all well playing to the usual punk crowd and selling records to them, but how do we branch out to the people outside punk circles who would otherwise not know anything about the scene and think, "hey, this is interesting, lets check it out". I think maybe, it’s to do with the old media image of a punk going around being abusive, offensive and beating people up. That image must be strived to be eradicated, otherwise we’re still going to have the same old people around with a probability of things becoming stagnant and boring with people losing interest in the whole thing and just becoming drop outs.
If anyone has any suggestions on a way forward, then let others know, including me!!
FEEL FREE!
Firstly, I’d like to say thanks for the opportunity of expressing my views in this interview and for anyone who has read this far then I hope you have found what I have said of some interest. If anyone has any comments, then please write - all correspondence is most welcome. An I.R.C. would be helpful but is not necessary. Time To Think so far have released a 9-track 7" E.P. and two cassettes each comprising of nearly an hours worth of material with lyric sheet and colour cover. Academy 23 have released many projects also, including four cassettes, one 12" album and 7" package and a series of the magazine, ‘Smile’. The addresses are given below. Keep up the struggle!!!!
TIME TO THINK: P.O. Box 138, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 7RZ. England.
Academy 23: Box 4, 136 Kingsland High Street, Hackney, London, E8. England.
