BLAGGERS I.T.A against the world...

For all the excitement that they generated in the early ‘90s, Blaggers ITA were a faultable band, a confused heap of musical stylings, alienating politics, and part of the great british mistake that led bands like Back To The Planet, Senseless Things, Herb Garden towards dodgy deals with large labels which granted them no favours and eventually ground them to dust. This era was a fledgling time for agit-pop. Chumbawamba were inspiring and fruitful, The Buzzcocks returned to pop bliss, and cultured music in general momentarily made it’s mark.

The guttersnipes of it all were the Blaggers, a gang of leftists who transformed a basic punk formula of blatantly robbed riffs into manifesto. Notoriously, their singer Matty had spent some time during his teens being accommodated at her majesty’s pleasure where he had time to re-evaluate his mis-spent youth as an enthusiastic member of the NF. The Blaggers formed circa 1988 and released a record, the rowdy and sometimes wonderful “ On Yer Toez “, on Roddy Moreno’s Oi Records (the label also responsible for Oi Polloi and The Oppressed, run by the man who brought SHARP to England). Like Chumbawamba, part of the Blaggers left wing bias was a support of the arms struggle in Northern Ireland, something that turned potential ears away from the band throughout their existence. As a 50/50 balance between music and politics, various band members were very involved in anti-fascist activities in the London area, and the band themselves were willing to match words with fists when boneheads appeared at their gigs. Notably, they were instrument in the setting up of a defence fund to pay legal aid for those arrested at the battle of Trafalgar Square in 1990 when protesters disrupted a Blood and Honour festival meeting point. The Blaggers soon became the anti-christ to the Blood and Honour crowd and a polar opposite to their fatted calves, Skrewdriver.

Over a string of EPs, and cumulating on 1991’s “ BLAGGAMUFFIN “, released on the Words Of Warning label, the band’s music underwent a progression that reflected thievery of gems from a multicultural environment, and a crossover into dance territory. With the introduction of a house DJ, the music broadened to incorporate elements of rap, reggae, funk, sampling and dual vocals. “ BLAGGAMUFFIN “ itself blatantly mish-mashed snippets of Madonna, The Farm, Tracy Chapman, Sham 69 and The Clash amongst others.

From UK RESIST FANZINE Summer ‘91 - “ Punk has always been against fascism and oppression. Now house has gone a long way to stopping the divide between people because it’s a multi cultural style of music. There’s never been a scene that has had fewer problems of discrimination. Discrimination was a big problem with the nightclubs in London. Since the rave thing has come along, they haven’t operated “ Black Quota “ door policies which used to be rampant “.

Following “ BLAGGAMUFFIN “ was the “ UNITED COLOURS OF THE BLAGGERS ITA “ album, which expanded the formula and attracted a colossal amount of attention to the band. A Words Of warning catalogue from the tail end of ‘92 summed up the bands rising power...
“ When you get the music weekly bibles telling us that the Blaggers ITA are a cross between the Clash and Public Enemy, and are destined for “ Levellers type popularity “, then you know things are verging on to scary proportions! The power and passion of punk combined with the drive and energy of dance, now with an extended brass section and a full-time sampler, the Blaggers ITA have produced a masterpiece... “.

And while the momentum was gathering, the band exposed themselves to detraction, downright opposition and contrary journalism. Although they continued to be slated over their support of the IRA, It was the band’s acceptance of an offer from EMI that caused most concern. Around the same time, an altercation between Matty Blag and an NME journalist drove a huge nail into the band - one that they would never fully recover from. The hack in question had cornered Matty and was drilling him about his dark past, and how it was hypocritical to now be a spokesperson for the anti-fascist concern. After continued provocation, the answer was supplied in the form of a series of fists.
From this point on, the NME, formerly advocats, completely blacklisted the band, and encouraged others to do likewise. Their gigs on NME stages at major festivals in England and Ireland were pulled, and the police took an interest. Backstage memos followed Matty around, reminding him that Scotland Yard had requested an interview. This was not what a band with an optimistic future needed.

The EMI deal went ahead and the underground punk community went to war with the Blaggers. Alternative Tentacles and BM Active issued a flyer entitled “ Only Stupid Bastards (Blaggers) Help EMI “, criticising the move outright and questioning the Blaggers motives and integrity...

“...Alternative artists that enter the commercial pop arena under the illusion that they can subvert the system or ‘Rip it off’ soon find that ultimately it is they who are being exploited along with the punters; The major label gains a bit of ‘hip’ credibility and the band looses theirs!...... “

“ ... The bottom line is that by collaborating with major labels, “alternative” bands are helping to trample on the hard pressed indie music scene that brought them to light....”

It is disputable however that the Blaggers never had any intention of selling records or doing anything but wasting EMI’s money... which they did quite well. With their advance, they took out full-page ads in the music press promoting anti fascist action. Tracks were then recorded for an alleged first single for EMI..... The band took the recording and passed it on to Fluffy Bunny records who issued the 7” bootleg “ Wildside / 10 men dead “, under the name RAMRAIDERS ITA. If condoning ram raiding (in the track “ Wildside “) as a re-distribution of wealth wasn’t likely to win popularity, then depicting the funeral of hunger striker Bobby Sands on the cover was simply looking for trouble. Both tracks had been on previous releases, but with regular features in the likes of Select Magazine, the subject matter was only now coming to light. The ram raiding theme continued on “ Stress “, their first single for EMI, and the album that followed “ Bad Karma “ was their most fluid in terms of the guitar based political dance pop sound they had strived for. “ Bad Karma “ was poorly received by the press, and although general consensus was that they had blown it, the singles - “ Stresss “, “ Oxygen “, “Abandon Ship ” and “ Mantrap ” were far from the bellowing of a band stuck for ideas. In commercial terms, the band were going nowhere, but notoriety afforded them a memorable appearance on CH4’s THE WORD, performing “Abandon Ship ”. Probably the least successful of the four, “ Mantrap ”, made curiously inventive use of the keyboard lick from Echo and The Bunnymen’s “ The Cutter “.

Although the band remained active, their temporary 9 strong ranks dwindled back to the core line-up as the agreement with EMI dissolved, no doubt the result of poor record sales. Having made a move unacceptable to the nether regions on the music world, the next couple of records were self-released. While the “ Rumblefish ” single had a tone that suggested something was wrong, the one sided “ Guns Of Brixton “ announced that “ Matty Blag has left the building... “, and marked the end of the bands public profile. Despite a surge of interest in Europe in the late ‘90s, and a number of reissues, the momentum was never regained.
In Feb 2000, a number of English music papers ran small announcements that Matty Blag had been found dead of a suspected drug overdose in his London flat. If the Blaggers had failed to single-handedly conquer the world with their raw politics and urban dance punk, then at least, the seeds of their influence were injected into numerous street music bands. For all their contradictions and disputable motives, the Blaggers held strong to their beliefs. Ugly notoriety has too often been traded in for a nice tune and twee lyrics by bands that operate with the genre of punk music, but a tradition of relentless protest, bolstered by The Blaggers ITA throughout their lifespan, still reverberates through countless factions in the European underground.

- BOZ

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