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Rudementary Peni
Alternative Press - Editorial Intern on 3/11/09 @ 11:36 AM - altpress.comYEARS OF EXISTENCE: 1981-present
RECORD TO START WITH: Death Church (1983, Corpus Christi)
AFTER THAT, CHECK OUT: The EPs Of RP (1987, Corpus Christi)
GO DOWNLOAD: "Alice Crucifies The Paedophiles," "Flesh Crucifix," "Media Person," "The Cloud Song," "A Handful Of Dust," "Pills, Popes And Potions"
THE MUSIC, THE MESSAGE: Like many a young Briton in the late '70s, Nick Blinko and Grant Matthews were swept up in the burgeoning punk movement. Blinko (guitar/vocals/artwork) and Matthews (bass) quickly started Rudimentary Peni, bringing in Jon Grenville on drums and released their first material, a self-titled 12-song 7-inch, in 1981, drawing influence from Wire, Slaughter And The Dogs and Discharge. They followed up Rudimentary Peni with another EP, Farce (released on Crass' eponymous label), then hit the studio for their iconic debut LP, Death Church, released in 1983. Rudimentary Peni shared socio-political views with bands like Crass, but they were much darker with more than a little paranoia, couched in odd rhythms and manic vocals. Adding to their appeal is a brilliant balance of socio-political fare ("Dutchmen," "1/2 Dead"), religious skewering ("Blasphemy Squad," "Army Of Jesus") and animal-rights manifestos ("Flesh Crucifix," "Pig In A Blanket") with more introspective tendencies ("The Cloud Song," "Inside"). Rudimentary Peni have been extraordinarily innovative and perhaps the most intriguing of the bands deemed "anarcho-punk"; the instrumentation is as dark, eerie and sometimes just plain weird as the lyrics ( "Vampire State Building," "Radio Schizo"). The band dissolved a few times, including around the period of Death Church's release, when Blinko began work on his novel The Primal Screamer, and in the early '90s, when he was diagnosed as "delusional" and put in a mental hospital, which resulted in the 1995 LP Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric, a concept album revolving around his belief that he was a pope.
PUNK-ROCK RELEVANCE: Rudimentary Peni were a complete package, cerebrally tying together all aspects of the band. As unsettling as the music, lyrics and vocal stylings together are, so is Blinko's accompanying artwork, all black and white, disturbing and tortured (he also did artwork for other bands, including Icons Of Filth). They also transcended the anarcho-punk tag by injecting a healthy dose of ambiguous, disquieting thought into their music.
CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: The band recently put out an impressive 10-track No More Pain EP, which shows they can still rip it up. (However, as they were never much of a gigging band, don't expect any tours to support its release.) We lumped Rudimentary Peni into the anarcho-punk genre, but they've since abandoned the shackles of any precise sub-genre and, as No More Pain attests, aren't tackling as much socio-political ground. Matthews, the only member immersed in anarcho-punk during the band's career, caused this shift due to his modified view that music is no longer a primary tool for bringing about political change. -Janelle Jones
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