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Oi Polloi - show your appreciation folks


David Insurrection

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Man, what can you say about these folks? They've been such a firm favourite of mine for over 20 years and are still fucking with the man, still kicking out some awesome tunes. Great band. And Deek is such a great bloke. Caught 'em many times over the years - 15 I think both here in Scotland and in London. Shared bills with 'em too. If ya don't know OP, then check 'em out here: www.myspace.com/oipolloialba And should you be interested, you can pick up much of their back catalogue from Step 1 Music. Step-1 Music and Captain Oi! Records home of British Punk Rock, Oi! and Ska

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Some of their tour stories, i remember reading them ages ago and pissing myself.

I think a lot of the funniest stuff that has happened to us wasn't actually funny at all at the time but

looking back on it you had to laugh. Like one time we ended up playing as the "guest live band" at this under 18s fashion show in some disco and to try to get one of our mates in free we had told the organisers he was a backing vocalist. We thought they would just forget about him but they thrust him onto the stage with a mic just as we went on and as he didn't know any of the words he just staggered around the stage shouting out "Oi Oi!", the sound was fuckin appalling too and the bouncers didn't let any of our mates in so we ended up getting chased off the stage by trendies

pelting us with soft drinks cans and had to escape out the back door.

Another time in Estonia we ended up getting attacked by most of the audience and had to

fight our way out of the venue - the only folk who helped were the two Russian bar owners who were these guys who looked like Josef Stalin and just picked up these big lumps of wood to lay into folk. As we were driving away in our bus most of the audience seemed to be surrounding it trying to kick fuck out of it - fuckin horrendous.

Then there are a few kinda funny things that happened due to our involvement in the "crusty" side of things where you get some of these folk who really seem to think that it is cool or punk

to be as filthy as possible - some of the stuff that goes on with these folk is unbelieveable. One time in London we were playing in this squatted dole office and were going to stay in another squat nearby after the gig but when we went there before we found out that the folk that stayed there were real crusty types who had some dog they never looked after and the stench of shit was everywhere. There was dogshit all over the house - it was fuckin horrible - even when we

were looking through the guy's LPs there was dogshit on some of the record sleeves! After the gig we decided to stay in the gig place but then so did half the audience and then they started playing this really clever game of throwing darts in people's heads so after seeing a couple of folk staggering around with darts imbedded in their skulls we thought it might be better to go back to the house. We knew there had been one bedroom with a mattress and no shit so we thought

we would kip there but by the time we got back there was a huge piece of shit right in the middle of the mattress! Eventually we found another room and although the stink of shit in there was really strong we couldn't find it anywhere so we had to just crash out in the end. Next morning when we got up to go though our guitarist picked up his guitar case to find he had put it down on top of this huge pile of dogshit so it was all over it! Oh dear oh dear, I honestly don't know how folk can live like that.

It is sometimes even worse in Europe - we played in this Polish squat last year and when Cam asked this guy there where the toilet was the guy just looked at him like he was really stupid and said "Toilet is everywhere" - ah, right, very hygenic. The worst had to be in Cologne in Germany though. When we arrived to play in this squat there afew years ago this guy offered to give us a guided tour and started by saying "There are three kinds of people who stay here - there

are the political people and they are ok, there are the punks and they are ok - and then there are - the people with body lice" and we were like "WHAT THE FUCK?!!" and then he took us into this big hall just full of piles of rotting clothes and blankets interspersed with buckets of something black. "Don't go too close - this is where the people with body lice sleep" he said. Turned out the piles of stuff were like their nests and the buckets were full of shit and piss and they were black cos the tops were covered with a layer of floating dead flies - you had to see it to believe it. What is it with some people? Another time some squat gig we were doing in Luxembourg got stopped after only three songs cos the neighbours got really fucked off after some of the punks started shitting on their lawns. We have a lot more stories about shit but I suspect you have had enough.

We have some funny piss ones though - last summer in Finland we were playing in this place with a couple of really annoying folk in the crowd so we had mixed up these bottles of brutal Finnish homebrew mixed up with our piss and just gave this to them to drink. Then at the end of the gig I had a bottle in my hand that I had pissed into cos there was no toilet there and one of these idiots came up to me and said "give me your cider" - I was trying to explain that it wasn't really for drinking but he just took it out of my hand and downed it in one - classic. Actually another time in Finland our old bassist was really drunk and pissed all over this guy who was passed out on the front of the stage. When he woke up he thought it was really cool and when we got home we got a letter from some woman who had been at the gig who said she was a piss fetishist and that it was one of the best things she had ever seen on stage! Shit, piss - ah yes, vomit next!

One time we played in Wales at this gig put on by a couple whose relationship was on the rocks and the guy was really depressed and got really really drunk all night. The next morning when we had to go he demanded that we go to the pub with him so he could buy us a drink before we left. We were all a bit uncomfortable with it as it was really a very sad situation and there wasn't really anything we could do to sort it out but he was so insistent that we went along with him and his six month old baby he was looking after. Well, he had had a two litre bottle of white cider for his breakfast so he was really out of it already and after a couple more pints he was swaying on his chair and burping and we were a bit worried about his ability to look after the baby in his arms when suddenly he just went "Fuck - BLEEUUURGHH" and puked up all over the poor baby - it

was covered in vomit - oh man, one of the worst things I have ever seen. I don't think this exactly comes under "funny" as in amusing though unless it is a case of you have to laugh or else you'd cry.

I dunno, I could go on for ages - like when we arrived too late for one gig in Poland and these kids at the gig said "don't worry, you can play in my girlfriend's house" and asked us to follow them in our van to this house. When we got there they said they didn't have the key but that she wouldn't mind them going in through the window so they went in and opened the door and we were taking the stuff in and then started to notice that the house looked pretty normal with pictures of Jesus

and Mary and so on and when we asked where his girlfriend's records and posters etc were the guy got really evasive and we realised they had just broken into any old house to do a gig in the living room - fuckin insane. Another time in Poland we had to stay in this cheap hotel after the gig and a load of the organisers were there as well and they started making these home made molotovs and testing them in the rooms. The next morning half the stuff was burnt to fuck and THEN they tell us that the hotel is run by the Polish Mafia and that we have to jump out of the windows to run away - fucking nutters.

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They are indeed. Is so cool too that Brian Tipa's movie explores many other political events and concerns. Not a regular tour diary by any means.
Agreed. The fact that it was more a statement and a political ideology rather than just a story of getting pissed made it more watchable.

Also, strange to see faces I recognised, like Finchy from In Decades Decline and Calum who recently played at the East Neuk with Death Mold (he now lines in New York) and of course Colin from Edinburgh's House of Crust.

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Also, strange to see faces I recognised, like Finchy from In Decades Decline and Calum who recently played at the East Neuk with Death Mold (he now lines in New York) and of course Colin from Edinburgh's House of Crust.

A friend Mike appears too. Talks about the Unemployed Workers Centre. Mike has spoken in Aberdeen several times regarding the Zapatista struggle, and in particular regarding efforts in raising much needed funds for the building of a health clinic in Zapatista municipality the '16 de Febrero'. For more info visit http://www.edinchiapas.org.uk/

And regarding the Unemployed Workers Centre, here is some info gleaned from the ACE webpage:

Members of the ACE collective had been involved in the Unemployed Workers Centre on Broughton Street which ran as an unfunded, people powered campaign and social space. Using a variety of smear campaigns and outright fabrications, a few of the nastier of Edinburgh's ruling Labour elite tried everything in their power to shut the place down. When they were outvoted as trustees, they changed the locks to the building and shut everyone out. When the people broke back in, Spring 1992, and the centre ran smoothly on an all volenteer DIY basis they axed the lease on phoney grounds. When the vital services of the centre defiantly continued for 6 more months with 24 hour occupation, they sent in police by the van load.

For more info on ACE (Autonomous Centre Edinbugh) and its activities visit The Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh

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And if folks love the Gaelic punk rock sounds of Oi Polloi, then do check out Seattle's Mill a h-Uile Rud. Some folks may have caught their tour documentary on BBC Alba's Ealtainn '05. You may also have seen drummer Sine Anderson in another more recent show exploring the art of tattooing and where it sits in Scottish history and popular culture. For more info, check out their Wikipedia entry here: Mill a h-Uile Rud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Mill a h-Uile Rud, seen them in Glasgow, and they were terrible. Their act was exceptionally pretentious, and while it's nice they sing in Gaidhlic, it was all very boring rubbish punk music with nothign going for it other than that....it was American's speaking Gaidhlic.

Granted their music may not be to everyone's taste, and hey that's cool, but to talk of them in such terms - "it was Americans speaking Gaidhlic", does I think rather oversimplify their performance. But we can agree to disagree.

Did you catch the said television programme? Did Deek not have some hand in its production? At least this is what I've been told.

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Didnt see the TV bit. Yeazh, Deek had some hand in setting it up in some way, while he was living on Lewis and doing a radio show and annoying the locals handiong out fliers promoting male masturbation :)

But aye, not too big a fan of them, but each to their own.

Sure, do understand.

Yeah, I wasn't entirely certain regarding Deek's involvement. Heard that he'd produced the programme, but couldn't be sure. Thanks.

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And if folks love the Gaelic punk rock sounds of Oi Polloi, then do check out Seattle's Mill a h-Uile Rud. Some folks may have caught their tour documentary on BBC Alba's Ealtainn '05. You may also have seen drummer Sine Anderson in another more recent show exploring the art of tattooing and where it sits in Scottish history and popular culture. For more info, check out their Wikipedia entry here: Mill a h-Uile Rud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's pretty interesting stuff, especially as it brings the Gaelic language to new audiences that might have never considered it before.

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That's pretty interesting stuff, especially as it brings the Gaelic language to new audiences that might have never considered it before.

Definitely. And from Oi Pollloi's Wikipedia entry:

They see the use of Gaelic and other endangered languages as important to maintaining the biocultural diversity of life.

Oi Polloi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And regarding this very topic, do check out this out take clip from Oi Polloi The Movie:

Coming your way soon. For more information visit www.myspace.com/oipolloi_themovie
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