Shaun
Okay, indulge me. It was 1994, my last year at college, and the Beastie Boys released their huge crossover album Ill Communication. It was the one where they go, “Look, I know we did (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party), but we are all grown up now.” Someone in the student house started wearing snowboarding gear all year round as that was the boy’s style at the time1. I was listening to it one day and something caught my ear. Looking through the lyric booklet (remember them) I came across the following lyric in the track The Scoop.
So I’ll say it like the group Huggy Bear
There’s a boy-girl revolution of which you should be aware
What, you mean that band who always seem to be playing at the Richmond2 have been name-checked by the Beastie Boys? Get away. Yes, because for a very short time, the hippest band in the country was from Brighton. Huggy Bear were a Riot-Grrrl3 band from Brighton. They released two albums and a handful of EPs of politically leaning indie rock. Their fame reached its peak when they were thrown out of the studio while they were appearing on The Word. Something kicked off between them, Terry Christian and Henry Rollins and they were dragged away screaming. Two days later I saw them play the Richmond again and got a free 7inch single.
Anyway, thirty years on the band have put together a book documenting their time together. KILLED (OF KIDS) is put out by The Grass Is Green In The Fields For You, an independent publisher concerned with the unsung corners of sound and music culture. The book reproduces all seven zines made by the band during their lifespan alongside photos, correspondence, flyers and ephemera from their three-year existence. This archive is joined by new text drawn from two years of interviews with the band members, carefully assembled into an extensive dialogue about intention, surprise, distress, and encouragement.
If anyone wants to send us a copy to review? Hint, hint.
