The Apostles - There Can Be No Spectators (+Limited Extras Bundle) (2 x LP)

Artist:: The Apostles
Title:: There Can Be No Spectators (+Limited Extras Bundle)
Label:: Grow Your Own Records
Catalog#:: GY058
Format:: 2 x Vinyl LP, Compilation, Remastered
Country:: UK
Released:: 2024

Media Condition:: Mint (M)
Sleeve Condition:: Mint (M)
Stock Images:: Images are stock images, actual item may differ.

The Apostles smashed through the pacifist comfort zone of the early 1980s Anarcho-Punk scene like a brick through a police car window. These 25 hard-hitting but tuneful Anarcho anthems from the band's early 7" EPs plus extra unreleased tracks were professionally remastered from original studio desk recordings and have never sounded so good!

This double album on red & black vinyl includes a fold-out Crass style poster sleeve plus bonus 32-page compendium of the infamous Pigs For Slaughter fanzine “For The Militant Anarchist Punk”.

Our copies also have exclusive limited Edition extras. A hand sprayed + signed stencil print, A5 card and Crass booklet (facsimile)...it's a serious package!

£34.95

In stock

SKU

DISC32159076N1

FREE UK SHIPPING on orders over £75. Reserve & 'Collect In Store' available at checkout.

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Description

The Apostles smashed through the pacifist comfort zone of the early 1980s
Anarcho-Punk scene like a brick through a police car window. This album
collects together drummer Chris Low’s original studio desk tapes of the band’s most
collectable and long out of print 7” singles recorded over 1983-1984 plus previously
unreleased additional tracks recorded at the respective studio sessions. All
professionally remastered by Daniel Husayn and sounding incomparably better than
the vinyl releases or any other versions previously available.

There Can be No Spectators comes as a double vinyl LP (CD version to follow
shortly) pressed on red and black vinyl with fold-out Crass-style poster cover and
designed by Chris Low with immense help from Paul Davies in a graphic style true to
the visual presentation of the early Apostles Graphics. All copies come with a free 32
page compendium of the infamous Pigs For Slaughter fanzine ‘For the Militant
Anarchist Punk’ produced by Ian ‘Slaughter’ Rawes, a close associate of The
Apostles who went on to international acclaim as a Sound Artist for his work as the
London Sound Survey.

The Apostles formed in 1979 though didn’t play their first concert until 1981, shortly
after Andy Martin had joined as vocalist. Following countless personnel changes with
Andy and bassist Dave Fanning remaining the only stable members the 7” singles
remastered on this album were recorded over the years 1983 to 1984, during which
time fourteen year old Chris Low (formerly of Political Asylum and later to play with
Oi Polloi, Quango and Part One) had joined as drummer. All released were on the
band’s own Scum Records apart from the 5 th EP which came out on Conflict’s
seminal Mortarhate label.

The Apostles are best known for being one the original, pioneering Anarcho Punk
bands, co-running the London Anarchy Centres (Wapping and the Centro Iberico;
funded from the proceeds of Crass’ Bloody Revolutions/Persons Unknown single)
from where Anarcho-Punk got its name after the punk bands who rehearsed and
played at the Anarchy centres. They maintained close links with Crass and despite
declining the offer of a single release on Crass Records, collaborated with the band
again in the squatting and organisation of the legendary Zig-Zag Club concert where
The Apostles performed alongside a roll-call of the best known anarcho punk acts -
Flux of Pink Indians, Dirt, Amebix, Poison Girls, Conflict and many more. Crass also
produced a miniature booklet which was enclosed with initial copies of The Apostles

3 rd EP to show that: “despite political differences (both bands) can work together in
solidarity”. Industrial legends Coil’s first ever live performance was with The Apostles
who organised the gig together with Larry Peterson of Cause For Concern Records
at The Recession Club in Hackney.
The musical inspiration of The Apostles was drawn from from a diversity of acts
including Alternative TV, Crisis, The Pack, The Afflicted, Third World War, 12 Cubic
Feet, Alien Kulture, New York Dolls, The Electric Chairs, Hawkwind, the Pop Group,
The 4-Skins, Velvet Underground, Throbbing Gristle and Joy Division/Warsaw. An
eclectic collection of influences which only combine to give the band their
incomparable and unique sound. From heavy but tuneful punk anthems such as Pigs
For Slaughter and Mob Violence (and the first song after Discharge to ever feature
the iconic ‘Realities of War’ D-Beat in The Stoke Newington Eight) through to more
reflective numbers like 1985 and Swimmers in The Sea of Life and their typically
idiosyncratic take on pop songs (Hello You Bastard; Kings Cross Etc) They even
included instrumental pieces (After The Fact; The Phoenix) in their set, highly
unusual for a punk band at this time. However, this wasn’t the only way The Apostles
stood out from the crowd.

The band’s politics were infamously uncompromising and were announced to
the world in the chorus to the first song on their first single: Blow It Up, Burn It
Down, Kick It Till It Breaks! As well as promoting a violently pro-direct action, class
war and armed struggle brand of revolutionary Anarchism at a time the punk scene
was predominantly pacifist, The Apostles were the first Anarcho act to address
racism and advocate physical opposition against fascism and far right organisations
with members backing-up the rhetoric by working with East London Workers Against
Racism, a street-based precursor to the emergence of AFA and ANTIFA. This
confrontational position is articulated in the lyrics to Blind Discrimination and Alien
Asian: “Napalm the NF, Bomb The BM/The only good Nazi is a dead one”. Andy and
Dave were also the first openly homosexual figures within the Anarcho scene (Andy
had previously helped run the London Gay Youth Group in the late 1970s, covering
the Sex Pistols and 1977 punk explosion in their fanzine Metro) with Apostles songs
focusing on homophobia and the repression that motivates attacks on the gay
community (The Curse and Fucking Queer; “Boots and Braces in 1976/Some of us
carried knives, others had sticks/oppressed with guilt and fear, looking for a fucking
queer”} also contributing a track to the first JD’s Queercore compilation LP in 1990.
Shortly after this the band split up with members going on to launch other projects,
suffering mental issues or simply disappearing from the scene.

In recent years considerable interest in The Apostles has been generated through
American indie rock sensation Ty Segall citing them as one of his favourite bands
and greatest influences in several TV appearances and most notably when profiled
in Entertainment Weekly: “There’s this band called the Apostles, they’re an English
band, kind of an anarcho band, friends with Crass, friends with Peni. And I’ve been
pretty obsessed with that band. They’re really weird, like a combination of classic
rock, stoner rock, and anarcho punk. It’s fucking weird. This guy will be shredding,
like, Blue Cheer solos over like a Crass song or something.

Tracklist

	Blow It Up, Burn It Down, Kick It Till It Breaks EP
A1	Pigs For Slaughter	5:34
A2	Hello Black Flag	3:50
A3	Alien Asian	5:03
A4	Fucking Queer	2:27
A5	Proletarian Autonomy	1:47
A6	1985	5:03
	Rising From The Ashes EP
B1	The Stoke Newington Eight	3:44
B2	Skin Deep	3:09
B3	The Cripple	2:50
B4	Eric’s Detachables	1:47
B5	Swimming In The Sea Of Life	5:08
B6	The Phoenix	5:20
	The Curse Of The Creature EP
C1	Hello, You Bastard	2:54
C2	The Curse	4:01
C3	Blind Discrimination	3:00
C4	Stumped	2:19
C5	Kings Cross	3:32
C6	The Innocent Bystander	1:17
C7	The Creature	4:17
	Smash The Spectacle EP
D1	Mob Violence	4:21
D2	Anarchy, Peace And Freedom	4:19
D3	After The Fact	2:20
D4	A New World In Our Hearts	2:48
D5	Libertarian Youth	5:38

More Information

Genre	Rock, Punk
Credits	Design, Photography By, Graphics, Drums, Vocals, Voice - Chris Low (2) Graphics - Ian Rawes Guitar - Dan MacKintyre Guitar - Pete Bynghall Guitar, Bass - Simon Parish Guitar, Voice - Stephen Lewty Photography By - Larry Peterson Photography By - Nicholas Bullen Producer - Martin Daley Producer, Bass, Guitar, Vocals - Dave Fanning Producer, Vocals, Guitar, Bass - Andy Martin (2) Remastered By - Daniel Husayn
Notes	A2, B6, C1 Previously unreleased, recorded at the EP Studio sessions. D1 Complete studio version not on 7”. This album is dedicated to the memory of Ian ‘Slaughter’ Rawes. Thanks to Paul Davies, Kevin Thorne, Mickey ‘Penguin’ Baxter and to all those who fight fascisim, racism, homophobia and transphobia across the world. And put the boot in wherever it arises - HARD.