Unpublished photos from The Varukers 1984 recording session at Rich Bitch Studio

In the early '80s, punks from all over the world were communicating with each other by exchanging letters, trading tapes, photos and flyers, and spreading the word about punk through a network of underground fanzines. Kalle Stietzel in Germany was one of the many enthusiastic participants in the burgeoning global scene. He co-edited a fanzine entitled Anti-System and had been writing to fellow punks in the U.K. In July of 1984, he decided to take a trip to the U.K. to visit some of his penpals he had been writing with. One of those was Tony a.k.a. Rat, vocalist of the Varukers, who invited Kalle to stay with him during his trip.

While Kalle was staying with Rat, the Varukers recorded three tracks at Rich Bitch Studios in Birmingham for the "We Don't Need Nuclear Force" comp LP to be released by the German label Mülleimer Records. The tracks recorded by the Varukers were done with the lineup of Rat (vocals), Damian Thompson (guitar), Tony May (bass) and Andy Baker (drums), and were a continuation of the sound established on the "Led To The Slaughter" and "Another Religion Another War" EPs, which were recorded by the same lineup (sans Tony May).

Kalle also brought his camera with him during this trip and took some excellent photos of the Varukers recording these tracks at Rich Bitch Studio. One of the photos includes a shot of five people: the four members of the Varukers plus a young Lynda "Tam" Simpson. A few months after this photo was taken, Damian Thompson and Tony May would depart the Varukers to form Sacrilege, which would be fronted by Tam. A year after that, they would be joined by Andy Baker on drums in time to record their seminal "Behind The Realms Of Madness" LP.

*L to R: Tam, Tony May, Damian Thompson, Rat, Andy Baker*

Here Kalle recalls the experience and how it all happened:

In the summer of 1984, I took a trip from Germany to Britain to visit with pen pals and check out some gigs. It was an awesome trip back then. I think it was July or August, not sure anymore. It was great traveling around Britain for four weeks with a British rail ticket and visiting all or many of my best punk pen pals. I stayed at their homes, sometimes with their mum and dad, etc. as well.

One of the friends I visited during the trip was Anthony a.k.a. Rat from the Varukers. We had been exchanging letters since 1982. I stayed a few days with 'em. While I was visiting, the Varukers were recording three tracks at Rich Bitch Studios in Birmingham for the "We Don't Need Nuclear Force" comp. I was in the studio while they recorded the tracks!!! I took a bunch of photos during the studio recording. Tam (of Sacrilge) was also with 'em. Of course I got a personal copy of that demo tape.

The photo of myself with the band was taken just before or after or the recording session by Tam. The rest of the photos were taken by me. There's also one that I took of Tam standing with the rest of the Varukers which is only a few months before they formed Sacrilege.