Zounds are an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

anarcho punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, har ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

band from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, Berkshire, formed in 1977. Originally they were part of the cassette culture movement, releasing material on the Fuck Off Records label, and were also involved in the squatting and

free festival Free festivals are a combination of music, arts and cultural activities, for which often no admission is charged, but involvement is preferred. They are identifiable by being multi-day events connected by a camping community without centralised ...

scene. The name of the band is derived from the old English

minced oath A minced oath is a euphemistic expression formed by deliberately misspelling, mispronouncing, or replacing a part of a profane, blasphemous, or taboo word or phrase to reduce the original term's objectionable characteristics. An example is "gosh ...

" zounds", a contraction of "God's wounds", referring to the crucifixion wounds of

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

, formerly used as a mildly blasphemous oath.

History

The band were formed around the nucleus of Steve Lake from

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

and evolved from a number of jamming sessions with other musicians and friends in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, taking in influences from the

Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionist Moe Tuc ...

to the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

. The band began performing gigs in 1977/78 with a line-up of Steve Lake (vocals/bass), Steve Burch (guitar) and Jimmy Lacey (drums), adding Nick Godwin (guitar) at their second gig – adopting the name 'Zounds', chosen from a dictionary by Burch. Soon, Burch left the group and was replaced by Laurence Wood. After this the band slowly became more politicized owing to troubles with

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

and unfolding events of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, and became more and more involved with free festivals, alongside The Mob, with whom they developed a close association. The band met up with fellow anarchists

Crass Crass was an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977 who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestyle, and a resistance movement. Crass popularized the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, ...

when, legend has it, their van broke down on the road. They made their way to nearby Dial House, where Crass were based, who helped them with repairs. The two bands became friends, and although musically very divergent, they shared many common political views. After undergoing several line-up changes Zounds shortly afterwards released their first EP, ''Can't Cheat Karma'', on the

Crass Records Crass Records was an independent record label that was set up by the anarchist Punk rock, punk band Crass. Overview and history Prior to the formation of Crass, Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher had published their creative works via their own D ...

label (although drummer Josef was replaced for the recording by a session drummer) in 1980. The EP featured possibly their most well-known track "Subvert", a call to arms against the grind of daily life. The release of this EP and association with Crass led to an increase in the band's profile in the embryonic

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, ha ...

scene, touring with both Crass and the

Poison Girls The Poison Girls were an English anarcho-punk band from Brighton. The singer/guitarist, Vi Subversa, was a middle-aged mother of two at the band's inception, and wrote songs that explored sexuality and gender roles, often from an anarchist pers ...

, as well as performing several squat gigs in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

. The band released their first album ''The Curse of Zounds'' on

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...

in 1981, recording and mixing the LP within five days. The cover art, by anarchist artist

Clifford Harper Clifford Harper (born 13 July 1949 in Chiswick, West London) is a worker, illustrator, and militant anarchist. He wrote ''Anarchy: A Graphic Guide'' in 1987. He is a long-term contributor to ''The Guardian'' newspaper and many other publications. ...

, featured a painting of fire fighters apparently trying to put out a blaze at the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

. However, the picture continued onto the back cover, which showed that in fact they are spraying the fire with petrol, thus feeding it. The band released three more singles on Rough Trade, ''Demystification'' (a

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

-influenced track backed with "Great White Hunter"), ''Dancing'' and ''More Trouble Coming Every Day'', as well ''Le Vache Qui Rit'' (initially intended for a split EP with The Mob for an anti-

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

benefit in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

). The band split up in late 1982, Steve Lake disaffected with the anarchist music scene in general and the band worn out from touring. Bass player and vocalist Steve Lake and guitarist Laurence Wood continued to work together for a while as The World Service with original Zounds member Nick Godwin, whilst drummer Josef Porter joined The Mob and later

Blyth Power Blyth Power are a British rock band formed in 1983 by singer and drummer Joseph Porter, formerly of anarcho-punk bands Zounds and the Mob. The band's music shows strong influences from punk rock and folk music and Porter's lyrics often centr ...

. Lake continued work as a solo artist recording two albums with Nick Godwin and Brian Pugsley. Zounds occasionally reform for benefit gigs with a line-up augmented by Protag (formerly of Instant Automatons,

Alternative TV Alternative TV (sometimes known as ATV) are an English band formed in London in 1977. Author Steve Taylor writes: "Alternative TV pioneered reggae rhythms in punk and then moved on to redefine the musical rules". History Alternative TV were fo ...

and Blyth Power) and drummer Stick (previously of Dirt,

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (1934–2020), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitche ...

and

Extreme Noise Terror Extreme Noise Terror (often abbreviated to ENT) are a British extreme metal band formed in Ipswich, England in 1985 and one of the earliest and most influential crust bands. Noted for one of the earliest uses of dual vocalists in hardcore,Bonn ...

). A remixed version of the band's song "This Land" was released in 2001 as a CD single benefit for the McLibel support campaign. In 2005 the ''Go All The Way '' EP was released with tracks from an aborted second album, with tracks commenting on the USA's War on Terror. In 2007 Zounds reformed. Steve Lake recruited Paul O'Donnell (bass) and Paul Gilbert (drums) from The Evil Presleys, a "primal rock n roll" band that they were in together (with guitarist Andy Parker). The reformed Zounds then played sporadic gigs over the next two years including "The Feeding of the 5000" at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London and the Carling Academy, Birmingham (both with guitarist Dominic Dominion). In 2010 the band began playing more extensively across the UK and Europe, completing two short European tours. The first was for a week in April (the Netherlands and Belgium) and the second was from 17 September to 3 October mainly in Germany, plus gigs in the Netherlands, Poland and Italy. In 2011, they completed a new album, ''The Redemption of Zounds'', which was available for download from 10 July, on CD from 26 July on Overground Records and on vinyl in the US on Brokenrekids from September that year.

Current line-up

*Steve Lake – lead vocals, guitar *Joe Davin – bass guitar, backing vocals *Paul Gilbert – drums, backing vocals *Dominic Perez-Silva - guitar

Original band line-up

*Steve Lake – vocals, bass guitar *Laurence Wood – guitar *Josef Porter – drums *Artwork – "Dr Inadequate Phuck"

Discography

*"Zounds! You Can't Cheat Karma" (EP, 1980,

) *''The Curse of Zounds'' (LP, 1981,

) *"Demystification / Great White Hunter" (Single, 1982, Rough Trade Records) *"Dancing / True Love" (Single, 1982, Rough Trade Records) *"Le Vache Qui Rit" (EP, 1982, Not So Brave Records) *"More Trouble Coming Every Day/ Knife" (Single, 1983, Rough Trade Records) *''The Curse of Zounds'' ( CD reissue, including all other tracks previously released as singles or EPs by the band, 1993, Gap Recordings\Rugger Bugger Records) *"This Land" (CD remix single, a benefit for the McLibel Support Campaign, 2001, Active Distribution) *"Go All The Way" (EP, 2005, ZNDS Records) *"The Curse of Zounds Discography" (CD, 2007, Album and singles "remastered" by the band, Active Distribution) *"The Redemption Of Zounds" (LP, 2011, Overground/Plastic Head Records)

References

Cassette culture 1970s–1990s

External links