Thursday, November 08, 2018

Poison Girls, Punktuation and Joby and the Hooligans

This photo is by David Peacock and must have been taken towards the end of 1977: Poison Girls, Punktuation (Vi Subversa's 14-year-old son's band) and Joby and the Hooligans all playing on the same bill.
We were close to them; Sue, the bass player from Poison Girls, lent me her bass to play before I had my own. The bass had belonged to the Buzzcocks (Sue was from Manchester too), and Vi Subversa lent us her son on drums. Vi was a real encouragement to punk bands in Brighton (how could you not play in a band, if  40-year-old woman was fronting a punk band on guitar?) and she used to listen to Joby's views without being offended, and respond in such a way that she actually changed this mind on some things.
She taught me that sometimes it's really good to shut up and listen, not to judge, and then to respond thoughtfully after processing what has been said (maybe I need to remember that!).
She was very good at listening, and I don't think before I met her that I ever felt really listened to. She almost acted as a pressure valve in the Brighton punk scene and she was missed when she left for Essex with the band.


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