Cringe With The Fringe: An Interview with Bristol Bashers Lunatic Fringe
Lunatic Fringe live at Trinity Hall in Bristol with Onslaught
Lunatic Fringe were yet another Bristol export known for creating a racket. Drinking mates with the likes of the Vice Squad/Chaotic Dischord and Disorder crew, the band was first documented on Riot City's brilliant 1982 comp LP, "Riotous Assembly." Curiously, unlike several other bands featured on the compilation, Lunatic Fringe did not go on to record a standalone EP for Riot City.
Instead, their debut 7" was put out in 1982 by Resurrection Records, a label started by Dave Bateman and Shane Baldwin of Vice Squad, who had originally been partners in creating Riot City Records. Entitled "Who's In Control," the record sold solidly and reached number 21 in the Indie Chart. It also helped to further cement Bristol's reputation for banging out noise for the boys.
After several demos in between, the Fringe released their second EP, "Cringe With The Fringe" in 1984 as the debut release on Bristol's Children Of The Revolution (COR) Records (who would go on to be one of the most popular mid-'80s hardcore labels with releases by Chaos UK, Sacrilege, Onslaught and more). This release also sold respectably, but it was to be the band's final output on vinyl.
Vocalist Bear Hackenbush would go on to do the brilliant zines Skate Muties From The 5th Dimension and Bugs And Drugs, while drummer Adrian (Age) Blackmore served time as the stand in drummer for Chaos UK's 1985 Japanese tour when their regular drummer, Chuck, was denied entry due to his criminal record. Age's drumming can be heard on Chaos UK's "Just Mere Slaves" album. John Finch went on to play guitar in Maggot Slayer Overdrive, and bassist Simon Hobbs played in Can't Decide with members of Ripcord.
In a brief interview with former guitarist John Finch, we asked about what it was like living the chaos back then, why Vice Squad hated Chaos UK so much, and more on the history of Bristol punk.
Your song "British Man" was included on the "Riotous Assembly" comp on Riot City. What type of exposure did being on this comp get you?
Looking back, I don't think it raised our profile massively. I don't recall any offers of gigs or offers of recordings coming our way as a result of being included on the album. In fact, although it was logical for Lunatic Fringe to be included on the compilation, it may have hampered us in that the band had a high profile in the Bristol area at the time, and our sole contribution to the LP may have got a bit lost amongst all those other bands. It was good though to have the opportunity to record in a proper studio and get a decent sound probably for the first time ever.
Several of the bands featured on "Riotous Assembly" later recorded singles for Riot City. Did you ever discuss releasing an EP with Simon Edwards/Riot City?
We never had a discussion with Simon Edwards about recording for Riot City. We never approached him ourselves, and as far as I'm aware, he wasn't particularly interested in our band. I recall signing a one-off contract with him for the Riotous Assembly track, but there was no discussion about releasing more material. I very occasionally still see him about. Maybe next time I'll ask him what his opinions were of the band!
How'd your EP get released by Resurrection Records? Can you discuss the Vice Squad connection, etc.?
The "Who's In Control" EP came about because we were approached by Dave and Shane of Vice Squad, who were looking for a band to record and release an EP for their Resurrection label that they were in the process of setting up. Vice Squad had some say over Riot City output, but I think Dave and Shane wanted to do something in their own right. They borrowed the money from Dave's dad, and I think they approached us because we all knew each other fairly well and it suddenly dawned on them that we had a high profile in Bristol but had seemingly been passed over by Riot City. A lot of the older Bristol punks used to socialise together at a pub called The Crown Tavern, a rather rough and run-down drinking establishment not too far from Bristol city centre, and so we knew all of Vice Squad through that connection. When they moved to Bristol, Disorder, Amebix and Chaos of Chaos UK also started drinking there. Vice Squad had already arranged a few support slots for us with them, and I guess Dave and Shane liked the songs enough to want to release a few of them on their label. They definitely saw "Who's In Control?" as the A side, but were also very keen on including the "Bristol Buses" song, which wasn't included on our demo, but which they were familiar with from our live shows.
How was the reaction to "Who's In Control"? Any idea how many were pressed?
The reaction to "Who's In Control?" was fairly low-key, as far as I am aware, although the release was well-known locally. Looking back, we didn't really do as much as we might have done to promote it, and for various reasons we were having trouble getting gigs at the time that it came out. It had a poor review from Sounds reviewer Garry Bushell, who seemed to think that it was actually some kind of side project band consisting of members of Vice Squad. Nonetheless, the EP made it to no. 21 in the NME Indie Chart, and, to answer your other question, it sold out of the first pressing of 2000, facilitating a pressing of a further 500 copies. Sound-wise, I think the band were all happy with the release, although there was some disagreement over the cover, I recall, not least because the band logo on the front came out completely wrong.
What are your feelings on the record all these years later?
I can't speak for the others, and of course Nick is no longer with us, but I am generally very happy with the recording. There are one or two minor mistakes which can be detected with a careful listen, but at least the tracks were recorded properly in a studio for posterity, unlike some other Fringe songs. There are a lot of moments during the life of the band which with hindsight we made mistakes or lost focus, but it's too late to worry about that now. Ultimately we were part of a very interesting and dynamic Bristol scene, and we played some very entertaining gigs, but I certainly feel that the band never realised it's full potential. At least the EP is there as a document, along with our other select few recordings.
Being friendly with both the Vice Squad guys and the Chaos U.K./Disorder camp, what did you make of the rift between them?
The thing is, it's easy to divide people up into clear factions, but the truth is usually more blurred. As I mentioned, there was a time when everyone socialised together, and got on as well with each other as with any of the other punks in Bristol. The later punk scene that evolved in Bristol which Lunatic Fringe, Disorder, Chaos UK and Amebix (plus any number of other Bristol bands) became associated with was much more DIY oriented (partly through necessity) and was more aligned philosophically with the Crass strand of punk than the more commercial UK82 version which I guess Vice Squad loosely came under (remembering that they were already established before any of us). I'd imagine that, plus the usual band rivalries that have no doubt always existed in any scene at any time led to this perception of two distinct camps. Having said that, I don't think Chaos UK or Disorder were very pleased with the Chaotic Discord spoof of their musical style when the truth was revealed, but looking back now, I almost regard it as a stroke of genius, not least because so many people fell for it (including of course Riot City head honcho Simon Edwards). At the end of the day, everyone had the same aims in that they wanted to play gigs, make records that would sell and enjoy a degree of success for their band. I could see pros and cons in the way that each band conducted itself, but I wasn't aware that there was ever any serious animosity between them. I certainly don't recall any fisticuffs. Hopefully, Shane Baldwin of Vice Squad's book on the history of Bristol Punk will be coming out before too long, and as all of the pertinent as characters involved were invited to contribute, we may soon be getting a more comprehensive overview of that part of the Bristol punk story.
(I didn't mention this when answering the questions as it would have sounded like a shameless plug, but if you haven't read them, the liner notes of the Lunatic Fringe
retrospective compilation "Eggsistential Crisis," which came out in 2016, offers up some more detail on the recording of "Who's In Control?" well as Resurrection Records, mainly being written by me, with a section written by Shane Baldwin.)
For a detailed history on Lunatic Fringe written by John Finch, visit:
All live photos and ephemera from the collection of John Finch and used with permission. Select live photos taken by Rich Brewer.
"Who's In Control" EP photos from former Aus-Rotten guitarist and lifer Eric Good.
"Cringe With The Fringe" EP photos from the collection of Negative Insight staff.
Thanks to Simon Hobbs of Lunatic Fringe and the legendary Ooch for their help with this feature.
