OXFORD : The Cellar

Saturday 18th April, 2015

7:30pm

Event information

The Strummer Room Project Presents are proud to host a homecoming gig for anarcho/punk band Zounds.

The band were formed around the nucleus of Steve Lake and evolved from a number of jamming sessions with other musicians and friends in Oxford, taking in influences from the Velvet Underground to the Sex Pistols. The band began performing gigs in 1977/78.

The band met up with fellow anarchists Crass when, legend has it, their van broke down on the road. They made their way to nearby Dial House, where Crass were based, who helped them with repairs. The two bands became friends, and although musically very divergent, they shared many common political views.
Shortly afterwards they released their first EP, Can't Cheat Karma, on the Crass Records label in 1981.

The band released their first album The Curse of Zounds on Rough Trade Records in 1981, recording and mixing the LP within five days. The cover art, by anarchist artist Clifford Harper, featured a painting of fire fighters apparently trying to put out a blaze at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. However, the picture continued onto the back cover, which showed that in fact they are spraying the fire with petrol, thus feeding it.

The band split up in late 1982, reforming in 2007 playing sporadic gigs over the next two years including "The Feeding of the 5000" at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London and the Carling Academy, Birmingham.

In 2010 the band began playing more extensively across the UK and Europe.

In 2011, they completed a new album, The Redemption of Zounds, released on CD on Overground Records and on vinyl in the US on Brokenrekids.

The current line-up is Steve Lake - lead vocals, guitar;
Paul O'Donnell - bass guitar, backing vocals; and
Paul Gilbert - drums, backing vocals.

http://www.zoundsonline.co.uk/