I'm in the Band podcast, Season 3, Episode 1:  VIV ALBERTINE / THE SLITS

Viv Albertine, guitarist and lyricist for the Slits, along with her iconoclastic bandmates, came of age in the mid-late ‘70s original, London punk scene. Unconventional and irreverent in sight and sound, the band, which included singer Ari Up, bassist Tessa Pollitt, and drummer Palmolive, challenged traditional expectations of women, even within their own subculture. With almost no musical experience or role models, the Slits innovated with sound, structure and performance by “listening to the rhythms inside themselves.” They expressed themselves freely and provocatively at a time when being punk was dangerous, and their transgressions were often met with gloves-off misogyny and violence. 

Raised to be fearless by her patriarchy-hating mother, Albertine not only broke barriers in the musical arena, she has also reinvented herself many times, pursuing careers in film, art, aerobics, and writing. Living through childhood domestic violence, marriage, intensive fertility treatments, motherhood, cancer, divorce, and family loss, she has survived and thrived. Albertine details her evolution through a dynamic, creative life in her first memoir, Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys. In her follow-up book, To Throw Away Unopened, Albertine examines her own familial relationships and what led her to who she has become—a driven, independent, creative rebel who is unapologetically herself.

"I feel like anyone could do it," said Albertine about the do-it-yourself aspect of punk. "I had not got the talent to do any of it, and yet I've done it. That's what they brought, punks — that sort of attitude of saying it doesn't matter how technically good you are. One,  if you’ve got something to say, and two, are you passionate about it, ‘cause technique means nothing. And that is punk attitude."

In this inaugural episode of Season Three of I’m in the Band, Albertine discusses growing up working class in patriarchal, post-war London, channeling anger into creative expression, and writing (and graffitiing!) women back into punk music history.

I'm in the Band, Season 3, Episode 1:  VIV ALBERTINE / THE SLITS

shot at me you missed
way out in the sticks 
wasted all your clips
tryna take a risk
I don’t need your bitch
white like taylor swift
she listens to the smiths
slits all on her wrist



I don’t bang no set
come at me correct
now you wanna play 
you fuckin with the best
downtown I get no rest
out here breaking necks
met her on my trip 
now we havin sex 

slits all on her wrist 
Fuck I gotta admit
I don’t wanna quit yeah

slits

© Trypp Records®

Slits (Official Lyrics)

[Intro]
Woye
NYC
Yeah yeah
Yuh know we Mean & Bad (Oo)
Bad & Bad (Aye)
Yeah yeah

[Hook]
Nuff gyal on my ends
Nuff body
Nuff gyal on my ends
Nuff body
Jeans them fat up, I must catch a body
My money
Spill from hand like bloody

[Pre-Chorus]
Slits
Pon muh wrist
My Pockets them filled
Up Up
To the brim
Filled Up Up
Till me win
Must leave a legacy
Behind for the kids

[Chorus]
Me like champagne popping
I like the gyal them bubbling
Down
Gyal them bubbling
Done know man ah run town
Done know Trini where I from
Southside know we haddi ground
Aye
Woye
Done know
Mmm

[Verse]
Man ah run up on the scene
With the Gs
No degrees
Only fees
Like a Holiday Visa
My troopers from the block
From the top
Until the drop
Allyuh ready have it lock
It in a order
Chessboard choppy like water
Ocean
Send product crossover the boarders
Chart it
Hmmm
Man ah foreign, but me local
Blend in with meh accent vocals

[Pre-Chorus]
Slits
Pon muh wrist
My Pockets them filled
Up Up
To the brim
Filled Up Up
Till me win
Must leave a legacy
Behind for the kids

[Chorus]
Me like champagne popping
I like the gyal them bubbling
Down
Gyal them bubbling
Done know man ah run town
Done know Trini where I from
Southside know we haddi ground
Aye
Woye
Done know

[Hook]
Nuff gyal on my ends
Nuff body
Nuff gyal on my ends
Nuff body
Jeans them fat up, I must catch a body
My money
Spill from hand like bloody
Slits

Okay Pronto — SLITS (Official Audio) [M4ZE]

Ari Up talks about reggae in England in the mid/late 70s and how it's seen differently in Jamaica.  Full interview will appear at Perfect Sound Forever (http://www.perfectsoundforever.com)

Ari Up of the Slits- interview circa 2000

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