The Day the Country Died: The Second Sitting [Video Screening] Exhibition

Second Sitting: an updated version of the history of the Anarcho-Punk scene in the UK (1980-84) by Roy Wallace

This is an updated version of the original work ten years after release: A documentary history of the Anarcho-punk scene in the UK during the early 1980’s. Not so much the definitive history but rather a video document, which acknowledges and facilitates discussion around the problematic concept defined as Anarcho-punk. This project seeks to explore how people embraced and engaged with anarchist politics in the UK while assessing the impact of the Anarcho-punk movement, socially, politically and personally through conversation with some of the scenes prime motivators and activists. This version includes interviews with: Penny Rimbaud (Crass), Colin Jerwood (Conflict), Colin & Kevin (Flux of Pink Indians) Dick Lucas (Subhumans), Zillah Minx (Rubella Ballet), Gary Buckley (Dirt), Steve Lake (Zounds), Mark Wallis (Liberty), Gee Vaucher (Crass), Dave Hyndman (Hit Parade), Rodney Relax (Alternative), Stringy & Snout (Erratics) and Gerard Evans (Flowers in the Dustbin), and Roy Wallace (Toxic Waste) all of whom help situate a complex mosaic of meaning which underpins the concept of Anarcho-punk in the UK from its conception to present. Contributors recall key events and developments whilst providing a framework of internal and external contradiction through political correctness, which dominated the scene through its formative years. The online video does not seek to provide a ‘grand narrative’ or define a ‘theoretical position’ but rather works to provide a platform for dialogue and ongoing debate inside and outside of the Anarcho-punk scene. Produced, directed and edited by Wallace, the work adheres to the core punk-punk philosophy of ‘Do It Yourself’ as he researches, shoots, edits and produces his own works, informing the filmmaking approach which endeavours to point us toward underlying political deficiencies and hypocrisy in contemporary society. Not so much, a nostalgic retrospective which celebrates the passing of Anarcho-punk but rather an overdue catalyst for further research, dialogue and documentation of the UK’s most influential yet under-represented music scenes. Ignored or derided by the mainstream media, anarcho-punk has always relied on itself to produce its own artefacts and in true anarcho-punk tradition; Wallace brings forth one such visual document. The music and poetry used in the work provides us with a soundtrack to the anarcho-punk lifestyle, which is complex and contradictory often veering to the limits of taste and acceptability as a means to provoke and disturb any comfortable interpretation of a coherent music scene. Soundtracks include: Crass, Conflict, Subhumans, Liberty, Toxic Waste, Chumbawamba, Sacrilege, Inner Terrestrials & many more.