ANgiE tAYLoR 🧷

Tag: Ari Up

  • RIP Ari Up

    RIP Ari Up

    The Last picture I took of Ari on Brighton Beack earlier this year.

    It was with a huge amount of sadness and shock that I heard about the death of my friend, Ari Up this week. I first met Ari in Aberdeen in 1978 when I was 14 and she was 16, fronting my all-time favorite band, the Slits. She was my hero back then, I totally looked up to her. I’m honored to say that she also became my friend, and what a caring, compassionate and life-enhancing friend she really was! She made me feel OK about who I was – a strange, bespectacled, gay, noisy, ugly-duckling with frizzy hair – not your typical girl!

    I had become immersed in the punk movement because it initially represented originality, individuality, anarchy, creativity, chaos, inventiveness but had become disillusioned when it all started to change into conformity to it’s own set of established rules. The Slits were a proud exception, they never conformed to the male-dominated, tribe-like constructs of punk. Instead they truly stuck to it’s core principles, ignoring it’s prescribed fashions and making it up themselves as they went along their merry, musical way.

    Ari and the other Slits had immense musical talent and originality which was sadly never fully recognized by the mainstream industry while Ari was alive. Their seminal album “Cut” is listed in many high-profile lists of all time top albums, and it received well-deserved critical acclaim. But their music was often too challenging, uncomfortable or simply unfashionable (a term often used to describe art that is ground-breaking). But they produced so much more that remains largely ignored, including the amazing Earthbeat with it’s wonderful tribal meanderings. Give their music another listen – I dare you!

    Ari at the last Slits gig in Brighton

    Throughout the last few years I got to know Ari better. We worked together on some filming I did for The Slits and Ari’s other band, the True Warriors. I still have footage that we always planned to get out there but I never had time to edit. So, keep your eyes peeled and watch this space. My next project will be to edit the interviews I did with Ari and cut some of the concert footage, as a tribute to my friend.

    A still from the videos I shot at the Underworld gig in Camden

    Ari was never afraid to stand up for what she believed in. She always stuck up for the down-trodden in society and accepted people whoever they were. She was always gracious and kind-hearted to her “fans” and made everyone around her feel special. She was truly on-in-a-million and I will miss her so much.

    Love you Ari – big style!

    Here’s a link to “Heard it through the Grapevine” that we shot at the Meltdown Festival a few years back.

    And FM from the Camden Underworld gig.

  • The Women of Punk 01

    The Women of Punk 01

    After receiving good feedback for my blog on the influence of punk on design, I thought I’d keep on subject and write about the women of “punk” who inspired me personally, not just creatively, but in almost everything I do.

    A still from the videos I shot at the Underworld gig in Camden
    Ari at the last Slits gig in Brighton
    The Last picture I took of Ari on Brighton Beack earlier this year.

    I went to see my old friends The Slits last week in Brighton Concorde 2. They were just as amazing as ever, I don’t know how Ari, Tessa and the others have the energy to get up there every night and do their thing, as well as travelling. I was lucky enough to work with The Slits a few years back, producing and directing a live shoot of their gig at the Royal Festival Hall, part of Morrisey’s Meltdown Festival.

    It’s funny, I was slightly concerned that it may be a mistake to meet my old punk heroes after so many years (I originally met them briefly in 1979) but I needn’t have worried, they were just as inspiring, revolutionary and refreshing as they ever were. Still continuing to break new ground and fighting against a music establishment that still considers it a novelty when women can write and play innovative and accomplished music.

    What I really loved about The Slits, growing up was their originality. They were unlike any of the other “punk” bands. They didn’t seem to want to conform to the usual punk stereotypes of girls in fishnets and bondage clothing, their dress sense and music was taken from a wide range of different styles and cultures, uniquely “Slitsy”.

    Their lyrics were confrontational, witty and anti-establishment in the most personal and positive way, they sang songs about the lives that “Typical Girls” led. They, like me, looked as if they would have had trouble “fitting in” before the punk movement came along, I could identify with them. And on top of that, I loved their music, a mix of reggae, dub, punk, soul and all sorts of other influences meant there was nobody else quite like them. Their rendition of Marvyn Gaye‘s “Heard it Through the Grapevine” is still one of my favorite cover-versions of all time.

    It was a funny old day, the day of the Brighton gig. I regularly take my niece out on a Saturday morning, we go down to our local beach cafe for breakfast and to talk about life, the universe and everything! And who should we bump into but Ari, Tessa and co having breakfast! So we sat with them and they invited my niece Frankie along to the gig that night.

    We all popped along there in the evening and had the best night out ever, The Slits were amazing, the crowd were lovely, lively and very friendly. Ari looked after us well, making sure that we got a safe spot, right at the front so that Frankie, and her friend, Faye didn’t get squashed.

    They have a new album out, Trapped Animal, which I haven’t yet heard but has got good reviews. And Island Records are re-releasing their brilliant, seminal album, Cut as part of their “top 50 Island Records”.

    So, it’s inspired me to start a series of blogs on women who have inspired me in my work. I’ll start with the ones considered to be “punks” and see where that takes me. Next week I’ll go back in time a little and look at some of my musical heroes from across the pond including Patti Smith and Nico.

    Read Part 5