Art Attacks – Outrage & Horror LP

Black vinyl edition of 250 copies

Formed by Edwin Pouncey in the Spring of 1977 “because there was a talent night at the Royal College Of Art”, their first gig ended (like so many of their other gigs) in a fight, to disguise their lack of material. Someone there offered them a gig for money so a set of 10 songs was quickly cobbled together.

More gigs followed. Ricky Slaughter left to join The Motors, Robert Gotobed went to Wire and the line-up stabilised to include the nucleus of Edwin Pouncey, Steve Spear and Marion Fudger.

A hippie guy and his stripper girlfriend who ran a record shop in the basement of Kensington Market decided to start a label and approached the Art Attacks. They released the 7,500 selling “I Am A Dalek” b/w “Neutron Bomb” single, but the relationship terminated when the stripper appeared on stage semi-naked and decided to whip an unamused Edwin.

Their next foray into the studio was to record the classic “Arabs In ‘Arrads” for the first ever punk rock compilation album, “Streets” on Beggars Banquet.

Suffering from stage fright, Edwin would only appear on-stage when inebriated. Each performance was unpredictable. Aside from the frequent fights, there was one occasion when Edwin climbed inside the kick drum and refused to perform, and once when he invited a tramp to ramble meaninglessly into the microphone, rather than sing himself.

Tours with The Lurkers, Generation X, The Motors and Rock Against Racism followed, as did two live tracks “Animal Bondage” and “Frankenstein’s Heartbeat” on the “Live At The Vortex” album. The pressures of finishing their degrees terminated the band and the posthumous “Punk Rock Stars” b/w “Rat City” single was released.

This 13-track compilation features all their recorded tracks that appeared on vinyl, plus the post-Art Attacks project The Tagmemics single. Packaged in a sleeve designed by Edwin Pouncey (AKA Savage Pencil) there’s a bonus insert packed with information and memorabilia.

Track listing:
I Am A Dalek / Neutron Bomb / Punk Rock Stars / Rat City (Fresh Version) / Arabs In ‘Arrads / Frankenstein’s Heartbeat / Animal Bondage / Chickens In Funland / Rat City / Chimneys / (Do The) Big Baby / Take Your Brain Out For A Walk / Chicane Bootleg