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THE FUCKISTS - ART OR MUSIC – RAPED BY THOMSON

1974-2001 England / America Discography Albums: Cappuccino Writers (1975) Pause Evolution (1976) No-one fucks like a Fuckist (1981) Art Death (1983) Cave of Prawns (1985) Latticed Birds (2001) Singles: Art Lobster (1977) Fantasy Fantasy (1978) Strength of Colour (1981)

Key names: Sylvester Green, Eric Crampton, Will Self, Delores Glitterra, Charles Thompson, Jack Fan, Enrico Chandoa, Joel Zen, Jordan Clooney, George Lilac, Billy Childish, Dave Dirtbox

Underground art and music movement started in 1974 in the South of England, by singer/painter/guitarist Sylvester Green (“Sly”), bass guitar player Eric Crampton, writer/drummer Will Self and Delores Glitterra on occasional keyboards and ocarina. Charles Thomson would 25 years later steal and change the group name to create an alternative art movement in England’s Medway area, calling themselves “The Stuckists”. This is a claim he has constantly denied, but the obvious parallels exist between art and music.

At gigs – or ‘Actions’ as they became known, the group fashioned an art studio immediately in front of the stage where their performance would take place. Oftentimes they would play in front of the stage, at eye level with the audience, in order to communicate with the various painters, sculptors and dancers who were invited to lend their artistic nuances to the musical performance. In some of the more unusual ‘Actions’, Sly would leave mid-song and join the painters, sometimes creating huge, shapeless works of art in front of the audiences. Few of these painting still exist, but when they come on the market change hands for large sums of money – the last to do so was a 56” x 72” canvas called “Pause Evolution” (the name of their second album, released in 1976), which sold at “Auctions by the Bay” in Alameda, California for $85,000 in 2001. The painting came with a poorly shot video of an “Action” at the Deaf Club in San Francisco, recorded in summer 1979 and features interviews with Jack Fan and Enrico Chandoa, regulars at the club.

The Fuckists originally toured extensively across England, playing in what is now known as the heart of the Medway movement, plus across Europe, including a residency at ‘Das Kapital’ a Berlin nightclub, and jaunts to the West Coast of America, from 1974 up until early 1979, when Sly Green was imprisoned in Broadmoor for 18 months.

The group released an album in 1975. Charles Thomson would steal the album title “The Cappuccino Writer” and include it as a description of writers – including Will Self - in the Stuckist Manifesto, published in 1999. The group issued a second album - the aforementioned “Pause Evolution” on the now defunct London Mantra record label in 1976. Although a string of singles were issued over the next few years including “Art Lobster”, “Fantasy Fantasy” and “Strength of Colour”, which included a book, produced by the group on how to begin painting, no further official albums were released until the early 1980s.

When Sly was imprisoned, the rest of the band moved to America, where they teamed up with vocalist Joel Zen, a Jewish punk, who had been touring with The Lobsters during 1977/1978 but had recently been sacked for sexual misdemeanours. Will Self decided to return to England in 1980 and the “New Fuckists” found themselves temporarily without a drummer until Jordan Clooney (sister of Hollywood star George Clooney) forced herself on Joel Zen after an “Action” and he insisted she join the group.

The ‘New Fuckists’ played across the more seedy clubs on the west coast for several years, recording live album “No-one fucks like a Fuckist” and studio albums “Art Death” and “Cave of Prawns”.

Disappearing into obscurity by 1989……. the English members of the band (Eric Crampton and Delores Glitterra) returned to England penniless and lost contact. By chance they met at a poetry reading given by Lem Sissay at a Battersea arts evening in 1996. Also at the evening was original Fuckists singer Sly Green - now an Arts Council funding officer. After a brief chat they decided to reform the original line-up, inviting Will Self back on drums.

Will's career as a writer and raconteur had taken off and he was no longer interested in the art/music scene, so the group started a search for a new drummer. This proved harder than expected and the band toured using a local bongo player George Lilac until 2001, when the band finally folded after releasing their self produced, final album "Latticed Birds" on Echo Discs, a Camden based record company. The final link between the group and the Stuckists came in 2002 and 2003, when Billy Childish, one of the founders of the Stuckists with Charles Thomson, recreated Fuckists "Actions" by inviting local artists to paint the band during the Medway Arts Festivals run by a local arts, photography and music promotions company.

Sly went back to his job with the Arts Council, Eric and Delores married and moved to a farm in Hertfordshire where they breed free-range chickens; George disappeared back into the music business, currently working on a solo project with London based jazzer Dave Dirtbox. Singer Joel Zen lost contact with the band when they left the US and now is believed to be running a stamp collectors store in the Mission area of San Francisco.

The Fuckists - artists, musicians, poets, avant garde reactionaries. They were unique. Much copied but rarely acknowledged. (April 2012)

Barry Borax is a music journalist and has worked for Sniffin Glue, the NME, Sounds and Smash Hits.