Mike Darby, head of Bristol-based record label Bristol Archive Records, recently answered a few questions from Room Thirteen about the label and the Bristol music scene.

R13: What was the inspiration behind releasing music by old Bristol punk bands and what did you hope to achieve in doing so?
MD: The Archive started in 2001 when we released ‘Western Stars The Bands That Built Bristol’ on CD, featuring acts from 1978-1981. The record didn’t sell very well so there was no follow-up until a friend of mine Dave Bateman, Vice Squads guitarist, died two years ago. It started me thinking that somehow there ought to be an historical account, library of all the people that have made up the Bristol music scene. To me Punk or Post Punk was the starting point and therefore there must be a record of how it all started and who was influential at the time.


R13: Were you already aware of all the bands and records that you have released or have you had to do a lot of hunting around?
MD: All the recordings from 1977 onwards that were released originally on vinyl I had copies of, but there are loads of rare previously unreleased material that we found on cassettes under people’s beds or up the loft. There are also lots of recordings taken from quarter-inch tape that Simon Edwards has kept for 30 years in his office at home.

R13: Does the label mainly release punk rock music from Bristol or are other genres included?
MD: All genres of Bristol music are released on the Archive. We also move through the decades from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. It’s a never ending mission to catalogue the history of the Bristol music scene and as many people as possible that were involved. We start in 1977 with The Cortinas though and there is no better place or band.

R13: At the end of the ‘70s, punk rock made a huge impact on the whole country. In comparison, what was the punk scene like in Bristol at the time?
MD: I was in a band in 1979/1980 and the gig scene was amazing, you could catch 3 or 4 gigs a night. The scene was very much a crossover between the Black and White parts of the city as they were in those days. Reggae and Bristol reggae bands were at the top of their game with Talisman and Black Roots being the biggest and the best.

R13: Did you have much involvement in the scene back then?
MD: As I’ve said I was in a white reggae band called The Rimshots, we played with the Beat, Hazel O’Connor, The Body Snatchers and all of Bristol’s finest. Our second single released in 1980 is just about to be rereleased by www.1977records.com in Japan.

R13: Apart from yourself, who else has been involved in Bristol Archive Records?
MD: Steve Street - Legendary Bristol recording engineer from GBH, SAM Studios.
Mike Crawford - Singer in The Spics, The Viceroys, The Nitecaps and Apache Dropout guitarist.
Simon Edwards - Head of Heartbeat Records and Riot City Records.
Thomas Brooman CBE - Head of The Bristol Recorder, Wavelength Records, WOMAD and drummer in The Spics, The Media and The Sidneys.
Shane Baldwin - Vice Squads drummer.
Paul Whitrow - Recording engineer from Channel House Studios.

R13: Who were the most important Bristol bands to come out of that scene and who were your personal favourites?
MD: The most important from 1977 - 1980 were:
THE CORTINAS
THE POP GROUP
GLAXO BABIES
TALISMAN
BLACK ROOTS
ELECTRIC GUITARS
SHOES FOR INDUSTRY
THE X-CERTS

My favourites were:
THE VARIOUS ARTISTS
ELECTRIC GUITARS
TALISMAN

R13: Do many of the old venues still remain from back then?
MD: Here’s a list of some of the famous or not so famous venues. Evidence of the destruction of the inner city and the venues that we all enjoyed in the late 70’s:

1. Exhibition Centre, Anchor Road - SHUT DOWN
2. Colston Hall - STILL OPEN
3. Brunel Technical College - STILL OPEN BUT NOT PROMOTING LIVE MUSIC
4. Locarno - SHUT DOWN
5. Barton Hill Youth Club - STILL OPEN BUT NOT PROMOTING LIVE MUSIC
6. Students Union, Bristol Uni - STILL OPEN BUT NOT PROMOTING LOCAL LIVE MUSIC
7. Granary - SHUT DOWN
8. Tiffanys - SHUT DOWN AND KNOCKED DOWN
9. Hope Chapel - STILL OPEN
10. Ashton Court Festival - STILL GOING STRONG
11. Stonehouse - SHUT DOWN AND KNOCKED DOWN
12. Hillfields Youth Club - STILL OPEN BUT NOT PROMOTING LIVE MUSIC
13. Romeo and Juliets - SHUT DOWN
14. St Mathias - STILL OPEN BUT NOT PROMOTING LIVE MUSIC
15. Bristol Bridge Inn - STILL OPEN BUT NOT PROMOTING LIVE MUSIC
16. Trinity - STILL OPEN
17. Arts Centre - STILL OPEN BUT NOT PROMOTING LIVE MUSIC
18. Carwardines - SHUT DOWN
19. Redland Site, Bristol Poly - STILL OPEN BUT NOT PROMOTING LIVE MUSIC
20. Crystal Theatre Warehouse - SHUT DOWN
21. Avon Gorge Bar - STILL OPEN BUT NOT PROMOTING LIVE MUSIC
22. Green Rooms - SHUT DOWN AND KNOCKED DOWN
Dockland Settlement - SHUT DOWN

R13: A new compilation album ‘Bristol The Punk Explosion’ is to be released soon. Is the album meant to provide an overview of the whole scene?
MD: It’s meant to plot Punk from 1977 - 1983 in Bristol and all the great bands that have come out of the city. There are fantastic sleeve notes written by Shane Baldwin following interviews with members of all the original bands • 4000 words and loads of great pictures.

R13: What is your opinion of punk rock music these days, both within the UK and outside?
MD: Punk for me was a 1977 thing which evolved into New Wave. The 1980 Punk scene in Bristol was more squat punk fuelled by Cider and other substances. I see modern day Punk as Rock and I’ve released many of these records on my other label Sugar Shack Records.

R13: Do you think that the Bristol punk scene of the past has had much of an influence on the city’s music in more recent years?
MD: That’s the point really! Bristol is known worldwide for Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, Smith and Mighty and Roni Size, quite rightly because of their global success. The scene though has produced many fantastic bands that would have influenced some of the above bands, but they remain largely unknown. Many of the musicians who play in the bands listed started off because of the Punk scene and played in bands in 1978 and onwards.

R13: Although Bristol has become known for other types of music recently, do you think there is much of a punk scene there now? If so, what do you think of the bands that there are?
MD: There has always been a great underground Rock/Punk scene, but there hasn’t ever been a guitar band to make it on a global level like Massive have. Many of the Sugar Shack bands come from this scene: Redefine, Two Day Rule, Grebo, Mea Culpa, Left Side Brain, Anemic.

R13: Bristol was recently named “Britain’s most musical city” in a survey. Do you agree with this statement? If so, do you think that the punk scene had an effect on this?
MD: There is a web, a jigsaw of musicians that make up the scene now and from the 70’s. It has always been a great place to live. Too much weed though to make bands active enough like other less attractive cities. But yes, it might be reasonable to call Bristol “Britain’s most musical city”.

R13: You also run another label, Sugar Shack Records. What is the history behind that?
MD: Started in 1985, still releasing records but not anywhere near as prolific as in the mid-90’s and into the 2000’s. Our biggest success is still Redefine, although our best selling records were Septembre (ex-Vex Red) and Crashland.

R13: What bands on Sugar Shack should people be looking out for at the moment?
MD: LEFT SIDE BRAIN
DARKHORSE
FULL SCREAM AHEAD

‘Bristol The Punk Explosion’ is due for release on 14th June. Check out both of Mike’s labels here:

Bristol Archive Records
Sugar Shack Records