Palmolive at The Dublin Castle: The Slits & Raincoats Drummer on Her Forthcoming Memoir "Punk's Palmolive, Fighting Dragons In The Land of Concrete"

We spent a very entertaining Sunday afternoon at the legendary Dublin Castle in Camden courtesy of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Book Club in the company of Paloma Romero McLardy, otherwise known as Palmolive, the former drummer with The Slits and The Raincoats, talking about her forthcoming memoirs “Punk’s Palmolive: Fighting Dragons In The Land of Concrete”. After an introduction, Palmolive sat behind a laptop and treated us to a ‘Punk Rock PowerPoint Presentation’ with lots of rare and previously unseen photos from her childhood right through to her time in The Slits and The Raincoats. She started off talking about growing up in Spain under the rule of the dictator Franco and how she escaped to London, knowing that she did not fit in under such a harsh regime and not wanting to conform to the norms of society. She fell in with the West London squatting scene based around the Pub Rock band The 101ers and fell in love with their frontman Woody in the process. Of course, they were both galvanized by seeing the Sex Pistols and Woody soon became Joe Strummer, leaving behind the 101ers to join The Clash and the rest is their history. There are lots of anecdotes about this time – how Joe’s new bandmate Paul Simonon got to christen her Palmolive, how Joe was intrigued by her tales of Franco’s regime and the Spanish Civil War, a subject that would inform quite a few of his lyrics with The Clash. She talks about the impact that Ari Up had on her and how she was encouraged by Joe to form The Slits in 1976 with Ari as vocalist, Viv Albertine on guitar and bassist Tessa Pollitt, who was there among the audience on the afternoon to support her former bandmate. Palmolive talks about touring with The Clash and of writing some of The Slits early classics such as “Newtown” and “Shoplifting” which sparks off an amusing anecdote about her time as a petty pilferer. 

Palmolive left The Slits before the recording of their debut album “Cut” but did feature on the superb Peel Sessions, which to my mind are some of the best recordings the band made. She talks about the run-ins she had with Sid Vicious and Malcolm McLaren, kicking (sometimes literally) not just against the male dominated music business, but also against the patronizing attitudes and jealousy from some of her peers. Palmolive then went on to join the equally influential band The Raincoats, featuring on their self-titled debut album so beloved of Kurt Cobain, Bikini Kill, Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon among many others. A Q&A session followed, although some of the questioning drew some exasperated interjections from Palmolive’s friends and family in the crowd, not to mention the impressive contingent of Raincoats including Ana da Silva, Gina Birch, Shirley O’Loughlin, Vicky Aspinall and Ingrid Weiss, some of whom chipped in with their (sometimes contradictory) versions of events! I get the feeling that Palmolive may have to do some more editing before the book is ready. The floor was then open to questions so I asked Palmolive about The Slits sound and how I thought that The Clash, despite their “No Elvis, Beatles and Rolling Stones” war-cry and the Sex Pistols (without Johnny Rotten’s voice), were both rooted in traditional Rock & Roll music – you could see where their influences came from – but The Slits were truly unique, and I wondered how they arrived at their sound. She said it was more by accident than design, the fact that they really couldn’t play their instruments to start with and this chaotic, confrontational attitude were all components in the Slits sound, as she says “I didn’t play the drums, I hit them.”  

Photo Above: The Raincoats (l/r) Ingrid Weiss, Vicky Aspinall, Gina Birch, Ana da Silva, Palmolive & Shirley O'Laughlin. 

Palmolive has a wicked sense of humour with an infectious laugh, a twinkle in her eyes and some of her stories had us laughing out loud. She still carries that spirit of independence and creativity that the initial Punk explosion engendered as in the PR to the book she writes “I want to inspire you to make art, go on adventures, take risks, speak to power, believe in yourself and don’t let someone else write your own narrative.” Fine sentiments indeed. She was a thoroughly entertaining speaker, bursting with energy and I came away inspired and happy that pioneers such as The Slits and The Raincoats are still getting the recognition they deserve to this day. Palmolive and all her former bandmates that were present were more than happy to chat to fans after the talk and it was an honour to meet them and get our record covers signed. Palmolive now lives in America and lectures on Punk History, she will be appearing at this year’s Rebellion Festival which starts on August 1st. She has set up an excellent web-site Punk's Palmolive which is packed full of archive material, press coverage, merchandise and links to what she has in the pipeline. You can also sign up to her newsletter, so you don’t miss out on further news on the book’s release, it certainly promises to be a fascinating read.

For more information please do kindly take some time to investigate the highlighted links throughout the feature, not only Palmolive's great site but also Gina and Ana's sites as both are very much active with their own music and art. I'd also highly recommend the superb Slits documentary "Here To Be Heard", and Tessa's Slits Scrapbook which comes with a DVD of the movie. As for books, some of my favourites include Zoe Howe's brilliant biography "Typical Girls? The Story Of The Slits", Vivien Goldman's "Revenge of The She Punks", Viv Albertine's "Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys", Jordan Mooney & Cathi Unsworth's "Defying Gravity", Helen Reddington's "The Lost Women of Rock Music" and Julian Yewdall's "A Permanent Record" featuring photos of The 101ers, The Clash, The Slits, Joe Strummer and more.

All Photos Copyright Retro Man Blog, July 2024.

Here To Be Heard: The Story of The Slits - New Documentary Screening and Q&A with Tessa Pollitt

We recently attended a screening of Here To Be Heard, an excellent new documentary movie about The Slits at the historic Regent Street Cinema in central London. This was followed by a lively Q&A session with Slits’ bassist Tessa Pollitt, the movie’s Director William E. Badgley and The Slits manager Christine Robertson. “Here To be Heard” is packed full of exciting live footage of the band in all their shocking and colourful glory and it’s easy to understand what an impact and sense of danger they must have exuded in their early days. Throughout the film, the main voice of The Slits comes from Tessa and the story unfolds from the pages of her scrapbook. She’s wearing gloves to protect the book, almost like some sort of Punk Rock historian in a museum archive and as she carefully flicks through the well-thumbed pages there are fascinating glimpses of old music press cuttings, reviews and photos. The film really captures the fear that spread through the establishment at the emergence of Punk and of course the violence that this fear provoked at the time. Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten and Paul Cook were attacked in the street as were many less high profile musicians and fans and girls were not immune either. Tessa shows us a photo of The Slits on stage and she is wearing jeans with a big slash across the backside. In the voiceover, she tells us that they were actually Ari’s jeans and the cut was caused by a knife. Ari was slashed by some outraged nutter yelling words to the effect of “If it’s a Slit you want, I’ll give you one!” The only place they felt accepted was among their Punk and Reggae peers and they received some welcome support and help from Joe Strummer, John Lydon and Don Letts in particular. They toured with The Clash on the legendary White Riot Tour along with Buzzcocks and Subway Sect and appeared in “The Punk Rock Movie”. Although the early UK Punk explosion did pave the way for some amazing individual female performers and artists such as Gaye Advert, Siouxsie, Fay Fife and Poly Styrene it is still hard to believe that The Slits were pretty much unique at the time. There were not that many independent non-industry manufactured all-girl bands around back then. 

The Slits at Thames Polytechnic, Woolwich 4th March 1978 Photographed by Paul Slattery

The Slits were also more challenging and more chaotic than the majority of their contemporaries and I can imagine that the male dominated music industry and media must have been scared witless by them. Scared, not only by their attitude but by their music too. There was Viv Albertine’s spiky almost Avant-Garde guitar work, Tessa Pollitt’s fluid Reggae-inspired bass, Palmolive’s tribal drum beats and of course Ari Up’s fearsome voice and presence all topped off by her unnerving confidence. The movie highlighted an interesting reminder that this definitive all-girl line-up of the band never actually released any official records and were only captured on tape by the BBC for the John Peel radio sessions. In fact, The Slits didn’t get round to releasing their debut LP “Cut” until 1979 and by then Reggae had really taken a hold and they insisted on signing to Island Records and working with producer Dennis Bovell. In the movie, they admit that most Punks were disappointed that it didn’t sound anything like their raucous radio sessions and early live performances.

Viv in 1980 by Paul Slattery

It wasn’t just the music that had changed either. There were only three band members captured topless and mud-covered in Pennie Smith’s iconic album cover photo. Palmolive, who had left to join The Raincoats, was replaced by Budgie on the drums and they were no longer an all-girl band. The movie mentions the influence of The Pop Group’s angular Funk on The Slits’ sound even to the extent of them borrowing their drummer Bruce Smith to replace Budgie when he left for Siouxsie & The Banshees. The band certainly wanted to challenge people and break down genres and boundaries – touring Revue style with a revolving line-up of eclectic bands, taking in Jazz, Soul and Reggae. They would also become enamoured by Don Cherry’s daughter Neneh who would join the band as a vocalist before going on to a successful solo career in her own right. In 1981 they released an underrated album “Return of The Giant Slits” but the band were sadly to fall apart in 1982 and they disappeared off the mainstream musical radar. In the movie and the later Q&A Tessa describes the shock of suddenly finding herself out of music as akin to a war veteran coming back home, full of adrenaline with nowhere to channel it. She honestly admits that this sudden void was filled by a heroin addiction and she jumped at the chance to re-form the band when an opportunity came up in 2005. Viv and Palmolive declined the offer to re-join but Ari was back and her chemistry with Tessa was renewed.

Compere with Christine, Tessa & William E Badgley at the Q&A

They recruited Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook’s daughter Hollie as replacement vocalist for Neneh Cherry and started touring. They released an album entitled “Trapped Animal” in 2009 and played dates in Japan and Australia. In America, they opened for Sonic Youth and it was nice to see Thurston Moore was there at the movie screening. However, it was during one US tour where things started to unravel. The band were getting frustrated by Ari’s increasingly erratic, confrontational behaviour, decided enough was enough, and quit. Even Tessa could not handle Ari any more. In the movie Hollie gets quite emotional when discussing this period as in hindsight they realise that Ari must have known she was ill and her behaviour was possibly a defence mechanism. What comes across in the movie from the start is that The Slits all looked out for, supported and defended one another so it is sad that Ari could not discuss her health with the others and instead, pushed them away in her efforts to deal with her situation. In the Q&A session afterwards, Director William E. Badgley explained that the seeds of the movie were sown during this last fateful American tour. Ari had insisted that Jennifer Shagawat, the Tour Manager filmed everything along the way, it was as if Ari knew she did not have long to live. When Ari passed away in 2010, Jennifer passed the footage to him and asked him to make sense of it all. Luckily for us Badgley did just that and he has created a long-overdue portrait of The Slits that certainly fizzles with as much energy and excitement as the band themselves. The film also includes new interviews with Viv Albertine and Palmolive (now a contented Christian school teacher living in the States) and there are talking head pieces from a variety of friends, fans and contributors including Gina Birch, Budgie, Bruce Smith, Don Letts, Dennis Bovell, Adrian Sherwood, Hollie Cook and the later line-ups of The Slits. 

During the Q&A session I asked Tessa if she had ever considered picking the bass up again and she admitted that she had tried a couple of times but that it had been too traumatic losing Ari. They had such an unspoken connection and so far she hasn't been able to find that playing music and she gets more pleasure as a DJ nowadays. Some other topics covered included discussing how the dole and squatting scene in the 70's meant that people could be creative on little income which is far more difficult now. Tessa felt that music has lost it's vibrancy and she wouldn't want to be starting off as a youngster in the music business now. She's not really into any bands at the moment but did express her love Subway Sect when I mentioned their original guitarist Rob Symmons is still performing with Retro Man Blog favourites The Fallen Leaves. However she is still enthralled by Jamaican music and culture and talked about The Slits interest in exploring new ideas and inspirations from World music. Indeed their admiration for Japanese culture led to Ari singing in Japanese on "Earthbeat Japan". She explained that The Slits always wanted to move on and not become a caricature of a Punk band. Tessa also touched on Pussy Riot and how there was still much to be done for Women's rights around the world. If you enjoyed the movie and you are a fans of The Slits and Reggae then you may like to know that William will be working with the Here To Be Heard team again on a documentrary about Don Letts, which has just started filming.

Compere with Christine, Tessa & William E Badgley at the Q&A

I can also thoroughly recommend Typical Girls? The Story of the Slits by Zoe Street Howe, which was published by Omnibus Press. Faber have just published Viv Albertine’s second autobiography To Throw Away Unopened a follow up to the excellent Clothes, Music, Boys. You can read a report on Viv’s book talk at the Social in our Blog archive here. There is a Pledgemusic campaign running for the Here To Be Heard DVD release and you can check out William E Badgley's official web-site with details of all his movies here. With thanks to Paul Slattery for the excellent archive photos.

Viv Albertine - Report on book reading at The Social and news of forthcoming Autobiography

Viv Albertine in 1980 by Paul Slattery

The Bookseller have announced that Faber & Faber will be publishing the long-awaited autobiography by ex-Slits guitarist, Viv Albertine. Here's the new press release from the Publisher: "Faber and Faber has added to their growing music list by acquiring the rights for the memoirs of legendary punk, Viv Albertine. "Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys" will describe Albertine's career from starting a band with Sid Vicious, to her time with The Slits, and her later years as a filmmaker, wife and mother. Rights were acquired from Becky Thomas at WME Entertainment, and the book is set to be published in spring 2014. It follows books by rock critic Nick Kent and The Pogues musician James Fearnley, on Faber's growing music list. Publishing director Lee Brackstone said: "Viv's story is inspiring and it is a pleasure to spend time with her on the page. The heart of the book is, of course, the much mythologised punk scene of London in the late 1970s. "For the first time, we witness familiar events and characters, Sid Vicious, Lydon, Thunders, Mick Jones, Strummer, Ari-Up, Siouxsie etc from a female perspective". Albertine said: "The enthusiasm for this project from everyone at Faber has given me the confidence to keep writing and developing, to tell the truth, however painful. I have to write this book now, I've fought it for years, but it just won't stay in any longer." 



Viv Albertine at The Faber Social - Photo by Steve Worrall

When we attended the Faber event  at The Social, back in April, to mark the launch of James Fearnley's Pogues book "Here Comes Everybody", Viv was on the bill reading from her memoirs. Although at the time there was no official announcement that Faber were going to publish them, it seemed highly likely, so this confirmation is really good news. The passages that Viv read on the night were mainly anecdotes from her days right at the heart of the London Punk Rock explosion. She talked about her friendship with Sid Vicious and how upset she was to be sacked from their band The Flowers Of Romance. There was also a searingly honest account of the destructive fascination with Johnny Thunders. Thunders not only drove a wedge between her and Mick Jones, her Art School boyfriend, but also introduced Viv to Heroin for the first time too. In the short Q&A session after the reading, she was also brutally frank about the way she had repressed her love of music and creativity during her time spent out of the public eye as a wife and mother. But now with the unfortunate break-up of her marriage - "my Telecaster broke it apart" - she is at least, able to express herself again creatively. From the passages we were treated to on the night, this book promises to be a great, emotional read, and I am really looking forward to it's publication.

As well as her art and sculptures, Viv is currently working on her debut solo album. There is, however, an excellent E.P. available right now, entitled "Flesh", featuring four great tracks "Never Come", "I Don't Believe/In Love", "If Love" and "False Heart". This was released on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label and you can order copies via Viv's web-site. Also, if you are interested in the history of The Slits, then I would thoroughly recommend Zoë Street Howe's extremely entertaining biography of the band "Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits". (Published by Omnibus Press 2009).

Thanks to Paul Slattery for the great 1980 Viv Albertine Photo.