Alternative TV

It’s got to be every rock fans dream. Stuck in boring job, love music, decide to write own music mag and self publish. Do it and coincide with a major music movement. Become part of the core of new movement and a well known face and mover and shaker, help form a record label and sign bands then leave to then form your own band and release records.

And so it happened to Mark Perry aka Mark P from Deptford who in July 1976 left his bank clerk job in South Kensington to start the punk fanzine Sniffin’ Glue.

Paul Morley: The utterly anonymous blank-bank clerk became Mark P, editor of Sniffin’ Glue, man of blunt mystique and influence, friend of the nouveau-stars, integral part of the punk movement, Spokesman for Punk to curious, repelled, amused onlookers. NME, 29.6.78

For a while Mark P bowed out of the Glue becoming A&R man for Step Forward and signing up bands like Chelsea, The Cortinas and Sham 69; bands who he would catch sight of at the infamous Roxy Club.

But for Mark P writing was not where it was at.

Paul Morley Perry will admit now that Sniffin’ Glue was really just a way for him to get into the music business. He was always more a frustrated musician then a frustrated journalist. ” I always wanted to be in a band”, he reflects, using a classically clichéd sentence with no shame. NME 29.6.78

That first band was the New Beatles which never made it out of rehearsals.

Mark P’s musical career would change however when he meets by chance a Scotsman called Alex Fergusson who had already been in a couple of bands.

Alex and Sandy quit their jobs and leave Scotland on New Years Day January 1st 1977.

Alex takes a Fender Telecaster Custom guitar and a H&H 100 watt combo amp on the Glasgow Stagecoach overnight bus to London to form a punk band. He is introduced to Mark Perry at the Roxy Club and they form [a] group. www.alexfergusson.com

Mark Perry I met Alex in a record store – Rough Trade to be exact – he had come from Scotland – he liked the Velvet Underground – it put us a step ahead coz we didn’t start falling into the old rock ‘n’ roll trap. Search & Destroy #3, 1977

Alex is ideal because he and Mark both shared the same view of where Punk was going. Alex is also a unique guitarist.

Mark Perry I was walking past a theatre with Harry – I really hate just sitting in dark cinema houses just being a spectator – and Harry said “It’s like Alternative TV.” it was such a sharp and weird thing to say….it stands out. Search & Destroy #3, 1977

However confusion over pronouncing the name ie ‘Tee TV’ instead of ‘To TV’ cause the band to shorten it to Alternative TV.

The name is an indication that the band are a little bit different. This is further strengthened when they hook up with avant garde noisenik Genesis P Orridge who lets them use his band Throbbing Gristle’s rehearsal rooms Martello Street Recording Studio in Hackney. Songs worked on would include ‘Love Lies Limp, Alternatives To Nato, Street Fighter, Still Life, Never Saw The Blitzkrieg and Life.

Already the band are experimenting with tapes, extended spoken word pieces and challenging playing with Mark P sometimes strumming 20 times a single note deconstructing guitar professionalism.

Not surprisingly Miles Copeland (owner of Step Forward, Illegal, Depford Fun City record labels) had by default become the bands manager and he approached EMI with the possibility of a deal. How did this sit with Mark P who had lambasted the Clash for signing with CBS?

Mark P: On the one hand I wanted to stay independent but on the other, being an old rock fan, I sot of got a kick out of the idea. Sniffin’ Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory

The band take up EMI’s offer of free studio time and record tracks in Manchester Square – How Much Longer, Life, Love Lies Limp and You Bastard. They also don’t have to ponder the rights and wrongs of an EMI deal. The label reject the demos but in a nice gesture give the band the masters.

Genesis P Orridge in his diary from the time (just after the demos) reflects that ATV were on a knife edge of becoming something genuinely dangerous and exciting. For him it was the ‘strange uncontrolled parts’ that hit the nerve of a band whose ‘whole quality rests on its unselfconscious integrity.’

He then summed up ATVs future in a couple of sentences.

…do you agree to under as an honest outsider, a small but revered gem in a sea of shit, or do you pretend you can compromise and do a little of what THEY want hoping in the end to slip in a disguised version of what YOU want.

For a time all was well as the band gig and write with Alex providing the music and Mark the lyrics. Tyrone Thomas joins on bass and Chris Bennett on drums and there’s some sort of stability. The band are now rehearsing in Miles Copeland’s office in Oxford Street across from The 100 Club.

In September the last Sniffin’ Glue is issued complete with free Alternative TV flexi disk featuring Love Lies Limp. Originally according to Genesis it was going to be How Much Longer which would have been a nice way to finish the mag with the questioning and abrasive statement on Punk. It would however have typecast the band straight away with that songs obvious straightforward Punk delivery.

How much longer will people wear
Nazi armbands and dye their hair
Safety pins, spray their clothes
Talk about anarchy, fascism and boredom
You don’t know nuthing but you don’t really care.

Limp would definitely have wrong footed yer average Glue buyer. The mag sells over 10,000 copies and is a great introduction to the band.

However there’s friction beginning. Mark P doesn’t’ want Alternative TV to play gigs.

Mark P I wasn’t gonna fuckin’ take that circuit of the same stamping ground all them other dreary soundalikes take. Y’know, Red Cow, Vortex, Nashville. They are all sudden death and make ya sterile as shit. Zigzag #79, Dec 1977

The band did however manage a short tour of Scotland supporting Chelsea.

In the seventh month history of the Alex Fergusson ATV the band managed 20 gigs much to Alex’s disgust. “I think eighteen gigs in six months is farcical. But we always disagreed on the venues.”

They also disagreed on the approach.

Mark P I saw us going to be just a nice band. Well I don’t want to be cosy and have singalongs. I hate singing. All that lalalal (mimes a Roller) Zigzag #79, Dec 1977

And so the antagonism grew with Alex occasionally unplugging an unknowing Mark P and Mark P becoming increasing sick of Alex.

Mark P He actually took my lead out once, in Edinburgh. I turned round after this great solo and found that noone had heard a thing… it used to be very hard to travel with him… it got to the point where I couldn’t even talk to him. Sounds, 9.12.78

Finally after playing Erics Club in Liverpool Mark P decides to leave the band. In the classic ‘let’s get rid of a member but not tell him, the band split and yet reform playing the Speakeasy less than two weeks later with Tyrone moved to guitar and Denis Burns in on bass. Also added on second guitar was Kim Turner (later to become The Police’s road manager) who would appear on their records and stay until May 1978.

Links – Sniffin’ Glue | Mark P Facebook

OK so Mark P had despaired of Punk and while the band moved towards its more avant garde self its next release strangely was the Alex penned double of You Bastard and How Much Longer in late November 1977. Confusing because How Much Longer was passed its sell by date really as punk had moved on, the tunes were Alex’s and lets face it pretty straightforward Pernk rock and lastly though reworked, some singles did inexplicably feature the original Nick Mobbes produced EMI demo versions featuring Alex!!! Confused? The record was on Miles Copeland’s Deptford Fun City Records as would all future Alternative TV releases. Perry had always sworn he would never record on Step Forward, the label he A&R’d for.

In Feb 1978 the band released the jaunty reggae style ‘Life After Life’ more indicative of their new direction before confusing all again with the Alex penned straight forward punk rocker ‘Action Time Vision‘ in May as a precursor to their first album ‘The Image Has Cracked.’

The album divides the critics and the song Splitting in Two was an apt description of the album. A combination of live and studio songs (often in the same song) and a combination of Alex’s compositions with newer more challenging pieces. Also sent out to reviewers is a song guide that minutely details the composers, who plays what and what the song and various sounds means (this will also happen for Vibing Up The Senile Man). This guide arguably tries a little too hard to emphasise the avant garde aspects of their music just in case anyone would miss it. Perry also maintained in interviews that audiences will really have to listen to understand ATV’s songs. They would not have the benefit of the guide.

And so the band continued to challenge accepted norms of Punk part of whose rhetoric was to frequently slate the hippies) choosing to tour with the more psychedelic, hippy based Here & Now, playing Stonehenge and releasing a split live LP with the band. Having lambasted hippies in How Much Longer it came as a shock to Perry, the urban noise anarchy guerrilla, that here was a group of people opted out of society and doing things for themselves on the hard end of life.

Mark P: I remember when we went to Stonehenge. Can you imagine, this muddy field with hippies everywhere and I had to sleep in this tent which I dreaded because I hated tents. And in the morning I said, “Where do we get something to eat?” and they’re all laughing at me, these hippies. “Cook it yourself, man, what’s the matter with you?” I said, “Where’s the nearest town?” “About a four mile walk.” And I said, “Where can I get a taxi?” ….they thought we were such softies. They were used to it. They’d been travelling around on a bus, playing fields, begging for money. They’d been living the life. And we turned up in our van straight from home!! Sniffin’ Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory

ATV then released a split album with Here & Now contributing four tracks of which two were Fergusson compositions. To confuse matters even further the next single was again Fergusson compositions – the old EMI demos Life and Love Lies Limp as the B side. For a band leaving the past behind, it was certainly taking its time establishing itself.

By December 1978 the band had also had numerous changes with Perry as the only original member. Gone was Tyrone Thomas apparently thrown out for getting too drunk and gone was an upset Chris Bennett, a drummer perceived to be holding the band back and who contrary to the rest of the band liked synthesizers! In effect, the band consisted of Perry and Burns.

The band were now featuring songs like the Good Missionary and The Radio Story and had buried the Punk Fergusson past at last. A second album Vibing Up The Senile Man Part 1 was released featuring 8 tracks and earnt a zero rating in Sounds review.

..He’s [Perry] has pulled all structure out of his music, but the warmth remains in his abstraction. Tapes, wordless vocals, broken piano, bass, guitars and violin were used randomly to create unsteady, indulgent, abrasive textures over the next three pieces. It was clumsy, often moving and continually embarrassing. Paul Morley, NME, 31.3.79

Reaction to the band and change wasn’t always positive either as the audience wanted the ATV classics. A gig at the Greenwich Theatre ended with the promoters pulling the plug after half an hour, the band destroying their piano and members of the audience creating a mini riot trying to smash up the amps and PA.

Were they a live band where the songs, band and audience could spontaneously create anything or were they a studio band free to experiment?

Dennis Burns I want to make Alternative so it isn’t a band…I want to lose the name ATV…but I want to break the idea of ATV being a group. It isn’t really a group, there’s only two of us…we don’t want to play live…we just want to work in the studio. Jamming #6, 1978

A final single was released in April 1979 featuring Anno from Here and Now on vocals and deep-meaning lyrics such as.

Death defying moments of art against time
Kat’s had a vision just like mine
All this attentions is strangling me
But the food’s hot and admission is free

Mark P: There’s too many bands already playing their greatest hits on stage without A.T.V doing it as well. I mean it would be taking advantage of people if we went on playing stuff like Action Time Vision and getting away with it. We thought that audiences would appreciate the fact that ATV were trying to progress and we’re trying to write new music on stage.

Except that wasn’t the end of ATV. In 1981 Perry and Fergusson reconvened ATV for an album of more poppier songs under the title of Strange Kicks.

The album sold poorly and that was the end of Perry’s relationship with Miles Copeland. Perry found himself back working for a living and found it hard.

Mark Perry: Probably the only time I felt that, was. . . you know I said that in 81, I split from Miles? I’ve never been very good with money, I split from Miles Copeland and had a big fight with him when I found out he hadn’t paid my tax and insurance. Well I went from being quite a well known person on the rock scene – even in ’81 – and this was a comedown for me. . . within a couple of months I was selling newspapers in WH Smiths on Waterloo Station. I needed a job, a part time job. And that was gutting. I’ve always been quite a strong character, I’m an only child, I’ve been through some self-examination. I can look after myself and I know what I am. I know why I was doing it, to pay the rent.

But I was very upset, because at the time, it was a little thing but it did hurt me, John Tobler (a music journalist) came through and saw me there. Two weeks later, it’s in the NME. “How the mighty have fallen…Mark P seen at WH Smiths.” I was so disgusted; I thought “just because someone is doing a regular job, ” I thought it was fucking disgraceful. Tobler blamed Danny Baker [Perry’s former Sniffin’ Glue partner who was then at the NME], he said he’d said, “Look who I saw, your old mate.” But to put it in the fucking Teasers in NME. Jamming

Of course like all good old Punk bands the story doesn’t end here. In fact it all comes full circle as it should do. In 1984 Perry reformed ATV to play then split the band up. Now throughout the years Perry has reformed ATV plays the hits and does Punk festivals. The irony I suspect for him is that having been the instigator of Sniffin’ Glue and a commentator on Punk in 1976-9177 he now finds that role reprised with the ever ongoing onslaught of films and books about punk demanding its talking heads. The role of ATV in Punk has been largely forgotten. Perry however bigs Alternative TV up.

Mark P: Our first few gigs were brilliant…we soon got a reputation as being one of the original bands in punk…I feel that we kept the punk spirit more alive than anyone else. And God Created Punk

However, one thing you can’t escape from with the rock template is money. Essentially the band were bankrolled by Miles Copeland and Deptford Fun City Records but there have to be some sort of commercials to keep the ball rolling and there’s a cruel irony in Perry’s journey (artistically and financially) into the avant garde from Sniffin’ Glue supremo to ATV to the Good Missionaries to solo album to selling newspapers at Waterloo station.

But there’s always a suspicion with the avant-garde that there’s not as much as there the creators would like to make out. Perry stated that the audience would have to really work hard to understand Alternative TV songs. Maybe that’s true. Maybe it’s not. One of music’s strengths, like any other art, is that often the meaning of the creation becomes divorced from the creator and to the audience. Another trouble with avant-garde is people suspect the ’emperors new clothes’ syndrome. On the Image album page have a look at the meanings ascribed to the song Red and sometimes you wonder about artists and critics alike.

At the end of the day, Alternative TV’s overriding legacy will be their punkier offerings like ‘Love Lies limp’, ‘How Much Longer’, ‘Action Time Vision’ and the album ‘The Image Has Cracked.’ You may disagree but that’s the beauty of rock’n’roll!

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Love Lies Limp (Sep 1977 Sniffin’ Glue Records)

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How Much Longer / You Bastard (Nov 77 DFC)

Note to all you young kids/millennials used to phones and Spotify and Netflix. The picture cover above shows cutting edge audio visual equipment. The thing on the left plays vinyl in glorious mono; That’s round hard black things that physically exist. The thing on the right is a TV. It had 3 channels and the tube at the back stuck out 3 feet!

Originally had five verses! The last two concerning Teds and Hippies but was deemed too long by Perry! PLUS – Two versions exist of the single. The songs were originally done as demos for EMI who didn’t take up the option to sign the band and let them have them. The songs were re-recorded for the single’s first pressing but Perry preferred these rawer versions and persuaded Miles Copeland to use these for the second pressing.

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Life After Life / Life After Life Dub (Feb 78 DFC)

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Action, Time, Vision / Another Coke (May 78 DFC)

A spirited version of Action Time Vision by Mark P and band in 1996 at Holidays In The Sun

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Life / Love Lies Limp (November 1978 DFC)

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The Force Is Blind / Lost In Room (April 78 DFC)

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Two John Peel sessions and both highly recommended – the latter morphing into the Good Missionaries. The second session is also recommended for those who find the Vibing Up The Senile Man album a bit hard to take (like me) and is a bridge as they morphed from structured to free form. Really good versions.

12.12.77 – Action Time Vision, Still Life, Love Lies Limp and Life After Life
12.7.78 – Nasty Little Lonely, Going Round In Circles, Release the Natives and The Good Missionary

The Image Has Cracked (DFC May 1978)

Given Mark P’s musical influences and tastes, you’ll not be surprised that the album isn’t a straightforward punk ramalama. It’s interesting and challenging, which is exactly what Mark P wanted.

Mark P: I think we all got a bit mixed up. What we really should’ve done was make an album of that group. I think it was wrong that we like pop stuff on one side and very wimpish attempts or something strange on the other. Sounds 9.12.78

Mark Perry: Yeah, I don’t think I’d change anything on that album.  Maybe a little but not overall.  It’s pretty impressive as a debut album.  I’m quite pleased with it. February 2001*

Mark P himself has had changing views of the album.

Mark P I think we all got a bit mixed up. What we really should’ve done was make an album of that group. I think it was wrong that we like pop stuff on one side and very wimpish attempts or something strange on the other. Sounds, 9.12.78

Mark Perry: Yeah, I don’t think I’d change anything on that album.  Maybe a little but not overall.  It’s pretty impressive as a debut album.  I’m quite pleased with it. February 2001*

Interestingly at the time the album when going out to journalists included a crib sheet explaining the songs and the who played what instrument on them.

Alternatives (Perry/Fergusson) Studio – Mark Perry, Voice, Lead guitar/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums, Backing Voice, Guitar/ Kim Turner, Guitar/ Jools Holland, Synthesiser.
Live – Mark Perry, Voice/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums / Kim Turner, Guitar.

The opening theme was recorded in the studio using 3 synthesiser tracks, 2 guitar tracks, bass guitar, drums and various voices. It is an introduction. When the theme is over the piece then transfers to a live recording from the 100 Club gig, Also in this section there is a clip from the Other Cinema’s Open Door programme on BBC2 TV, on which Alternative TV appeared live in concert. The full piece concerns the presentation of ideas to the audience, and an attempt to break down spectacle/spectator barriers, by allowing audience participation. It works to a certain extent but the conclusion – chaos – is inevitable.

Action Time Vision (Perry/Fergusson) Mark Perry, Lead Voice, Lead guitar/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums, Backing Voice, guitar/ Kim Turner, Guitar.
Meant as a very basic introduction to the band. It uses the standard two guitars/bass/drums/voices line-up. Used as our new single, its a studio recording.

Why Don’t You Do Me Right (Zappa) Mark Perry, Voice/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums / Kim Turner, Guitar.

The only non-original to be included on the album. Uses same instrumentation as ‘Action Time Vision.’ It has been played in the ATV set live, since June ’77. Written by Frank Zappa ‘Why Don’t You Do Me Right’ is our idea of rock ‘n’ roll. So this is our ‘oldie.’

Good Times (Perry, Bennett, Burns, Thomas) Mark Perry, Voice/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums / Kim Turner, Guitar.

The track is preceded by lots of various sounds meant to show us all speeding down the 100 Club. The track is a live recording. The song concerns people’s ability to keep smiling and generally say “what a great year for rock music it’s been” when the world is going to the dogs.

Still Life (Perry/Fergusson) Live – Mark Perry, Lead Guitar/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums / Kim Turner, Guitar. Studio – Mark Perry, Voice, Lead guitar/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums / Kim Turner, Guitar, 2nd Bass Guitar.

The song is in two parts. The first part, recorded at the 100 Club, is the band limbering up in order to enter the second part. The first part is an instrumental in which everybody exercises their instruments. On the first part there are two guitars/bass and drums. The first part ends with a shrill guitar break which takes us into the studio for the second part where the rhythm guitar is replaced by a very strange bass guitar. The two bass guitars generally make the song more stable and less flowing. The lyrics concern a young man who has been struck through the heart by little Cupid and his arrow. Playing little Cupid is none other than the evil young woman who is determined to spoil the young man’s life. Our hero, the narrator, tries to help the young man by constant abuse but after much chaos he admits to himself that he is also a “jerk.”

Viva La Rock ‘n’ Roll (Perry, Bennett, Burns) Mark Perry, Lead voice/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums, choir / Kim Turner, Guitar/ Jools Holland, Piano.

This track is the first of two tracks concerning France. The piece opens with traditional boogie woogie piano from Jools Holland which is elbowed out of the way in no uncertain terms. The song itself takes on the subject of how wonderful France. Paris is, and it’s wealth of art and great happenings. We don’t agree. The piece ends with full Egyptian choir and a wonderful piano accompaniment by Jools.

Nasty Little Lonely (Perry, Bennett, Burns) Mark Perry, Voice, Lead Guitar/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums / Kim Turner, Guitar, Piano

The second of the French pieces. This concerns love in a hotel room and the pain and frustration derived from it. When the height of passion is too much the piece bursts into a confusion of guitars in an attempt to demonstrate the pain of frustrated love. The subject is still getting nowhere when the guitars crash to a halt. A very emotional track.

Red (Perry) Mark Perry, Guitar

This track is just a red room with a red ceiling, red floor and red walls. It is a film set. This is the soundtrack, it could be any length. It was recorded by one guitar using two tracks.

Splitting In 2 (Perry) Mark Perry, Lead Voice, Lead Guitar/ Dennis Burns, Bass Guitar/ Chris Bennett, Drums / Kim Turner, Guitar, Backing Voice

This track is recorded live. It was the third time we’d ever performed it. It is a noisy track because of the subject matter – about an individual in a completely confused and nervous state. The first part of the piece which is the song, relies on basic rhythm structures; when the vocal finishes the person involved tries to escape but finds an endless riff taking him nowhere. It ends in repetition, He is trapped.

Mark Perry May 1978

Its all interpretation though and journalists, especially the intellectual ones like Paul Morley, liked to wax lyrical. Take the song/soundscape Red (as described by Mark P above) which is directly influenced by the Black Sabbath track FX from their album Volume 4 and as its title is a guitar through an effect pedal (s).

Paul Morley Red…is short section of solo improvised electronic guitar constructed tenderly and inquisitively out of blocks of chords and silence. It is a hesitant, almost shy contribution to the prospects of confronting definitions: a whispered start to what could be ultimately Perry’s major exploration. NME, 29.6.78

Mark P Believe it or not, the instrumental piece (“Red”) is actually from Black Sabbath Volume 4. The guitarist does something with a lot of reverb so it was from that. No one knew though. I was a rock fan and I liked good music.  I wasn’t going to say it was shit just for whatever. February 2001*

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Some reviews from the music weeklies of the time…

Record Mirror – Chris Westwood

THUS FAR, faulty products have been spoon feeding the (already bloated) major companies – Sham 69 to Polydor, the Cortinas to CBS and Squeeze to A&M – but they ain’t received one iota of credit in return.

So it’s with great pleasure that I announce this: ‘The Image Has Cracked’ is (and I joke not) one God almighty hotsy of the first degree, a 100 proof no bull killer which shows the second raters just where to get off. and this time the glory goes to Nick Jones, Mark Perry and company, not some product minded people who couldn’t careless. What’s more, this album establishes ATV as the most important band on the scene at the moment, and if you think that sounds hype, just wait until you hear the damm thing pally. . ..

Let’s be honest about this: as far as this writer’s concerned, Mark Perry’s long been one of the punk wave’s fine figures – not merely for ‘Sniffin’ Glue’ but because he and ATV had the audacity to actually experiment when so many punk clones were still into riff conservation and belting out Ramones’ Mach 93 and buzzsaw axe drone. Besides which, anyone who can pull off something like ‘Life After Dub’ and ‘How Much Longer’ has just got to be an all important musical source:

And now ladeez arid gentlemen, all our suspicions / expectations are confirmed. The goods are delivered. Reasons why this album is so astounding . . firstly the material scored highly both on the content / presentation axis, and on its great diversity. On the one hand there’s the highly moving (and adrenalin pumping) metallic surge of ‘Nasty Little Lonely’ a dramatic hotel – room – love saga; on the other, the up front drive of `Action Time Vision’ and Zappa’s ‘Why Don’t You Do Me Right’. Then there’s the raucous chaos of the closing ‘Splitting In Two’ the nervous paranoia of the lyric being truly reflected by the rabid assault of the musical backdrop.

The album also turns the half live 7 half studio ethic on Its nut and Mark The P Goes pretty much to town phasing and interspersing the two; classic examples of this occurs in the album opus namely ‘Still Life’ the intro of which is live cut, though the main body of the song is studio work either.

I ain’t gonna herald Mark Perry as a genius (he’d probably despise me for doing so) neither am I gonna nit – pick about the socio political overtones of ATV music. What matters is that ‘The Image Has Cracked’ ain’t been off the turntable since I got it and it’s probably the most significant British release this year.

I’m real pleased Deptford Fun City are gonna gain a whole lotta credit from this mother ‘cos it’s a great record and only bozos ignore great records. ‘Action Time Vision’ says it all really. It’s been a long time coming, but thePe is action and vision aplenty in them thar grooves.

+ + + + CHRIS WESTWOOD, 10.6.78, Record Mirror

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Zigzag – Danny Baker

You know them “artists” and “reviewers’, they ain”t never gonna stop.

Nick Kent bit. I know almost everyone on or concerned with this album and how, where, why most of the tracks were written.

Danny Baker bit. I paid for it and 1 can say what I bleedin” well like.

The main reason for this album being so next-to-nothing is because it seems as though Mark (Perry) is surrounded by people who say “okay” too often. There’s nobody to say that’s awful or the track “Red” is the most pretentious bit of indulgence since the Moody Blues’ solo albums. If Mark had such a person around, the many cracks in his particular image could have been polyfilled with better ideas, more guts and less reliance on repetition of tired heavy metal. As it is ATV have settled to make an LP of easy exits and extended bluffs.

The album opens with an intentional pompous fan fare of guitar and R2D2 synthesiser that drags it’s overblown weight “cleverly” into `Alternatives” recorded live at the 100 Club. The idea of the cut is to hand the mike over to the audience to “use this soapbox” to “say something”. A mistake because if they had something to say they wouldn’t be in the audience in the first place. What you get is an embarrassing slanging match between the reluctant crowd and two or three would-be seers. Alright ATV aim to show how “we all don’t know nothing” but if that’s the case I thought they’d already said it on “How Much Longer”, besides this misguided bit of eaves-dropping barely stands up to one play and goes on for far too long.

“Action Time Vision” follows and is the album’s bright spot. Particularly noticeable are some excellent backing vocals. It is unique on the album because it lasts only as long as it should and certainly undermines its stable mates on the rest of it. I can’t make head or tail of the lyrics but that’s never bothered me before.

Back in the real world comes a version of Zappa’s “Why don’t you do me right’?” which though triffyk when slipped in live, has only Mark’s voice to make this distinguishable from any AC/DC-type plod.

Another live cut that doesn’t cut comes next, “Good Times,” is thrown away because of the corridor-like atmosphere of the 100 Club, which it doesn’t deserve if only because of fair lyrics that dynamite the old “romantic” Deptford Fun City crap.

The words of the unfortunate and distressingly-dull “Still Life” are shabbily buried beneath what is without a doubt Alex Fergusson’s least-inspired song”. “Still Life'” was even inspired by one-time “Sniffin’ Glue” attendant Steve Mick.

You are sitting in vour small room But Your mind is like a ballroom

However I can understand how it could be trivial and baffling if you don’t know the full gossip, but then again there’s an odd chance that you don’t care.

“Viva la Rock ‘n’ Roll” runs the title on side two’s opener and so it should.

The curious “Nasty little lonely” starts off subdued and echoey rather like those old sinister Alice Cooper tracks, where he descends into Hell, which this does in the form of binding, grinding heavy metal, that Ozzie Osborne would be proud to flex the old gait across. All dead weight and solemn. Nothing at this point had prepared me for the irredeemably bad ‘Red’ As far as I can see the rest of the album can be put down to mistakes, but if “Red” is the direction ATV are taking then they may as well turn it in here and now. Being subjected to unaccompanied, directionless guitar whackings at the expense of everyone in earshot is not my idea of £3.75. This track alone makes the new Ringo album look positively packed with intriguing ideas.

Now where did I put that filler’? “Cracked” finishes with “Splitting in Two”, another good idea that winds up lasting about a month and a half.

But remember what Lenny Bruce said about Hitler and the information, lads. You need the Deviants. But how much longer will the Deviants need you’?

Danny Baker Zigzag, July 1978

What You See … Is What You Are – DFC September 1978

“TO TREAT this album as even a semi-serious outing would immediately render the reviewer open to all
manner of obstacles in his attempts to ‘justify’ its existence: and the reason I say that is I can’t envisage any single consumer ‘getting off’ on both Here And Now AND Alternative TV.

Latterday hippies meet the face of ’78…and the result is this; a collection of Mickey Mouse’ cassette recording laced with the inherent sound-nasties typical of many bootlegs, while for Star Quality, Alternative TV just carry off the goods, 2-1.

Ah yes, that Mark Perry. I admire his work a whole-lot. About as unpredictable as Bowie, his music knows no bounds.

Alternative TV, alas, are not invincible. That debut album was magnificent, but to expect that kind of delivery time-and-again would be asking for trouble. Their side of the album equates two oldies with two hitherto unreleased goodies, the best of which is undoubtedly `Going Round In Circles’: centred on a knife-edge repeat/stop riff, it ploughs a bracing three minutes, replete with feigned jerk-finishes, and a vocal-line which constantly disappears in the depths of the mudmix. ‘Fellow Sufferer’ is also promising, sound like a lyrical biggie. It does, however, feel unnecessarily lengthy.
‘Action Time Lemon’ is brash, chaotic and wonderful to a fault. As always.

Which leaves ‘Splitting In Two’, which has Perry undertaking a definitive, wall-of-sound death trip, complete with what sounds like a whole battalion of mad-Muppet drummers. It’s kitchen-sink rock, clumsy and indulgent as it ever gets. It’s also good fun, I think.

The Here and Now Band occupy side one, and provide the album with its title-track, plus `Dog In Hell’ and ‘Addicted’. unfortunately, the entire operation sounds lodged securely in the dim, dark past, coming – as it does – with a typically high quota of typically high quota of extended solos/jams, synth bleeps and psychedelic whoops circa ’71.

Mind, at £1.75 from proper record shops, or £1.50 from Faulty products, I can’t see why the self respecting street hipster can’t at least investigate.”

+++1/2  Christ Westwood, Record Mirror, 30.9.78

Vibing Up The Senile Man (DFC March 1979)

Mark P I rejected punk’s restrictive format and took ATV into a direction that was more like free form jazz than the three chord thrash. Some critics despised the change, a few applauded it. I didn’t give a shit. As far as I was concerned, it was my band and I could do what I wanted with it. Miles Copeland (my manager at the time) still talks about the day that I first played him ‘Vibing…’, he sat there aghast thinking it was some sort of joke until he realised that I was deadly serious. ‘Vibing …’ had, and still has a clarity that I could never achieve within the confines or the traditional rock sound.

Punk inspired me but I could never let it constrain me. ‘Vibing …’ is all about me and my life – weird, stark and sometimes even embarrassing. I wanted people to like the album because I guess I wanted them to like me. The real me, not Mark P Punk prophet, but me that lurks behind all the bullshit. I thought that people would appreciate my honesty but most rejected it, preferring the safe world of pop-punk. I still think that ‘Vibing …’ is a classic punk album because it takes it into truly chaotic territory – witness the brooding ‘The Radio Story’ for proof. To me, punks only boundaries are the ones that have been set up in peoples closed minds. Punk became the new rock music. 1991

Commentary by Mark P on Vibing Up The Senile Man from Ripped & Torn #17, March 1979

Release The Natives (Perry) Mark Perry-Voice/Dennis Burns-bass. Mick Linehan-guitar/Genesis P-Orridge-percussion.

This is the oldest song included on the album. I’ve no idea what the song is actually about, it’s a lot of different ideas all tied up into one piece. There was no set music for this piece, each musician was given an ‘Idea about what he was supposed to represent on his instrument and we recorded it in one take. The background noise is an electronic effect caused by utilizing a faulty lead. It is a great “live” experience.

Serpentine Gallery (Perry/Burns) Perry-percussion,voice; Burns-percussion,voice. P-Orridge-percussion, voice.

The words of this song were written after a visit to the gallery of the title. The music had to be spacey so we left spaces, lots of them. The basic idea of the type of music involved comes from listening to ‘Decay Music’ by Michael Nyman. It started out as a rough experiment but we achieved the desired effect straight away. Good film music I think.

Poor Association (Perry) Perry-piano, voice/Burns-recorder, voice.

This is the first part of ‘Smile in the Day’. A boy is very sensitive, he is a worrier and an artist. One day he freaks out, says something wrong, doesn’t trust his mouth anymore so he cuts his tongue out in a fit of anxiety. They take him, lock him up and cut him off from the outside world. All he can see through the bars in his cell are the tops of some trees and a bird. He is very confused.

The Radio Story (Perry/Burns) Perry-radio tapes, sax, voice/Burns-bass.

very simple direct piece. Works well on stage, excellent for improvisation. It is almost our “New York” number, I mean that it’s very Patti Smith, Suicide etc. It seems to be a favourite with our friends and lovers. The guy in the song dies with the radio, he used to drown with the radio but now his life just fizzles out. It’s
slightly sad, slightly overacted and very noisy,

Facing Up To Facts (Perry) Perry-pianos, voice/Burns-bass.

This is the only straight love song on the album. It’s very personal and, to me, very sad. I wrote it one night and recorded it the next day. Musically it’s very simple – just two pianos and bass. I think it could be the future of our sound. I am incredibly excited by this track because it haunts me at night.

The Good Missionary (Perry) Perry-piano, guitar, voice/Burns-bass, recorder. Linehan-guitar

This song was written in a restaurant hence the opening lines, it is a complete ramble, both lyrically and musically. found myself writing the last few lines before I understood what I was doing. It is my favourite lyric on the album. This song is a very bad trip. It told me what was going on in my head, I’d like to play this song forever and ever.

Graves Of Deluxe Green (Perry) Perry-guitar,voice; Burns-bowed bass, P-Orridge-percussion.

‘Graves’ was written for a friend of mine called Tony Stubbs. The guitar sound comes from ‘Red’ on ‘The Image Has Cracked’ album. it was the only track that we slightly rushed. It is here so I suppose it is on the right albumi Perhaps it should have been on ‘The Image’. I think it would have been much more at home there.

Smile In The Day (Perry/Burns) Perry-violin, piano, voice/Burns-recorder, bass, bowed bass, voice/Steve Jameson-voice.

The second half of ‘Poor Association’. The boy is now in his cell. He talks about his life in the prison and then he drifts off to sleep. in the night he has a nightmare about Delius. It takes the form of a mock-opera song because the boy hates opera even more than he hates rock music. He listens intently to the words of the song and realises the message straight away. He understands that, even though he has no tongue, he can still find a way of communicating to people – through music.

Later in the year it is hoped that the story will be continued. ‘Vibing Up the Senile Man (Part 2)’ will probably be recorded live in April for release in the summer and a further studio album will be recorded for release in November: All these projects will include pieces by and about the boy.

Yes, he does exist.

Mark Perry. Jan 1979

While we at Punk77 find this album a trifle too much, its useful to get the view of someone who obviously liked it. Where do you stand?

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A neglected bridge, January 26, 2000 By Glenn Duck Amazon review

The post-punk fall-out of ’77 – ’80 was a magical time for British music, with bold and courageous new ideas and styles flying out of bedrooms and basements with unstoppable force. Bands such as The Fall, Throbbing Gristle, Dome, The Door + The Window, Doof, Nurse With Wound (to name only a few) were springing up out of the manure like little mushrooms that tasted sweet and refreshing, like hope. Of all the acts to emerge from the D.I.Y. underground scene (in all it’s numerous facets) Alternative TV were perhaps the best example of a working unit intent on smashing the constricting codes of the punk movement which spawned them, and rebuilding a new and unfamiliar landscape from the rubble.

‘Vibing Up The Senile Man’ is a record rich in adventurous, experimental spirit. From it’s opening refrain: ” ‘old on – wats appnin?” right through to the Residents-like mock-free jazz finale, it sinks it’s fangs firmly into some strange smelling meat. Mark Perry’s knack of writing off-kilter narratives (‘Release The Natives’, ‘Graves of Deluxe Green’, etc) is at it’s sharpest, fusing mundane observations of boredom, frustration, and the agony of everyday life, with surreal and fantastic flights of weirdness, in ways that perhaps only Mark E Smith could do better. The arrangements and instrumentation are also several very large steps away from any definition of the expected. Decidedly non-punk tools such as piano, chimes, bells, and flute scrape and clang against the contours of each song, and are pinned down only by Dennis Burns’ simplistic yet memorable bass guitar lines.

 Perry’s interest in the avant-garde is a clear indicator on this LP, with a guest appearance from Genesis P Orridge, and various tried and tested studio techniques, (John Cages’ ‘Radio Music’ gets the Perry thumbs-up on ‘The Radio Story’), and the whole thing is abound with flourishes of unconventional glory. ‘Vibing Up The Senile Man’ also boasts some subtle, yet devastating tape work and production touches. The intro to ‘Facing Up To The Facts’ being an exact replica of the intro to ‘Splitting In Two’ from the first LP (‘The Image Has Cracked’) played on cassette from somewhere in the studio one would suspect. Details such as these may be lost on initial listens, and the general despondence and gloom of the LP may well prevent many from venturing any further into it’s undergrowth. Those who persist however, will be rewarded with a bounty of tiny, yet beautiful gems that offer themselves to you in exchange for your attention.

It took a band of tremendous courage and foresight to produce a record of this nature, and at a time when they did – effectively alienating a massive percentage of their following, most of whom were after another ‘Action Time Vision’. Over twenty years later and the scars are still visible, although very slowly the tables are starting to turn. A new generation of bands and musicians have risen up out of the underground, all very informed by this LP (check out the British band The Shadow Ring as a good example), and rightly so – it’s a blueprint that’s worth reproducing. This is one apple that’s been ripening up nicely for some time now, if this sounds like the kind

This family tree appeared in Zigzag #78 (November ’77). Normally would have been done by Pete Frame who owned Zig Zag and who was famous for his detailed family tree histories. This was by one Mark Perry who did not a bad job of it!