Join us for a listening party dedicated to Post-Punk Dub on Tuesday, July 22nd at Zizou in Lincoln Heights. In 1977, Bob Marley released the iconic “Punky Reggae […]
The Slits: The First All Female Punk Rock Band! (Documentary)
Watch a documentary on the iconic all-female post-punk dub band!
Originally released in 2016, Here to be Heard: The Story of The Slits is a documentary on the “godmothers of the musical movement known as Punky Reggae,” who were comprised of singer Ari Up, later of New Age Steppers, along with guitarist Viv Albertine and bassist Tessa Pollitt. It seems the film was previously only available via DVD, and just recently made wide available to watch for free on YouTube and Tubi.
The documentary traces the early days of the band touring with The Clash, bumping shoulders with The Sex Pistols, and performing on John Peel’s legendary radio program through interviews with Slits members Albertine and Pollitt, drummer Palmolive, who would leave shortly before the recording of Cut and join The Raincoats, and Don Letts’, DJ, documentarian, and early supporter of band. These intimate firsthand accounts tell the story of the ‘early ’70s UK punk movement through the eyes of The Slits, who were considered outsiders as the only all-female group of the time. Visually, Tessa Pollitt’s scrapbook of flyers, tour photos, and newspaper articles along with Don Letts’ crucial archival footage of the band at Island Records office, on tour with The Clash, and performing at Alexandra Place, bring these tales to life.
The film also features interviews with a beyond stellar cast of friends and collaborators within The Slits’ orbit including dub legend Dennis Bovell, vocalist Neneh Cherry, drummer Bruce Smith (The Pop Group, Public Image Ltd), writer/she-punk Vivien Goldman, Steve Beresford (The Flying Lizards), Budgie (Siouxsie & The Banshees), and many others.
Viv Albertine: “We started to branch out. We were no more just hanging out with rock bands, or whatever. We were finding our own way musically. We’d met The Pop Group. I started to go see improvised music with Steve Beresford.
Bit by bit, we tried to put together a tour of England, and we thought, well, we’re not just going to do a boring old tour; we go out playing the same old songs every night. If this tour is going to be paid for by us and it’s going to cost us money, why not make it an amazing learning experience for us?
We’ll get two other bands, Don Cherry and a reggae band Prince Hammer, and the three of us will rotate. No one had done that before, and no one had mixed those genres before.”
Rest in peace to Ari Up, who passed away in 2010, not long before the filming of this documentary.
