Alastair Gordon | De Montfort University, Leicester, UK) (original) (raw)

Call for Papers by Alastair Gordon

The KISMIF Conference 2015 will be preceded by a two-day Summer School entitled Gettin’ Undergrou... more The KISMIF Conference 2015 will be preceded by a two-day Summer School entitled Gettin’ Underground Together! The Summer School Gettin’ Underground Together! will offer an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students, including those staying on for the conference, to attend specialist master classes and discuss their research work in seminars led by top academics in the field. It is also the possibility of deepening both theoretical and methodological questions in both proximity and dialogue with some of the main world references of the urban musical scenes.
This Summer School is the result of a series of developed works in the last decade within the framework of social sciences, namely Sociology of Culture, Sociology of Arts, Sociology of Youth, Urban Sociology, Sociology of Music, Cultural Economics, Urban Studies and Urban Planning. Hence, it is important to understand the importance, functioning, process, the agents, characteristics, genres and subgenres of the current urban music scenes. The music scenes invite us to map the territory of the city in new ways while, at the same time, defining types of activities whose relationship with the territory is not easily expressed. There exists a contradiction between the growing visibility of the urban music scenes and its persistent illegitimacy as a sociological object of investigation (and also in social sciences, in a broader sense). Such a contradiction is a research challenge to pursuit. This will lead to an insightful debate about its mains aspects and structuring guidelines.
http://www.punk.pt/kismif-summer-school-2/

Newsletters by Alastair Gordon

NEWSLETTER #01 || KISMIF Conference 2015 || CALL FOR PAPERS || Crossing Borders of Underground Mu... more NEWSLETTER #01 || KISMIF Conference 2015 || CALL FOR PAPERS || Crossing Borders of Underground Music Scenes || Porto || Portugal

NEWSLETTER #02 || KISMIF Conference 2015 || CALL FOR PAPERS || Crossing Borders of Underground Mu... more NEWSLETTER #02 || KISMIF Conference 2015 || CALL FOR PAPERS || Crossing Borders of Underground Music Scenes || Porto || Portugal

Books by Alastair Gordon

Agenzia X, 2020

Una collezione di saggi, ricordi, storie e documenti sul punk anarchico in Gran Bretagna negli an... more Una collezione di saggi, ricordi, storie e documenti sul punk anarchico in Gran Bretagna negli anni del Tatcherismo, selezionati e tradotti da Giulio D'Errico per il pubblico Italiano.
Con scritti di: Russ Bestley, Greg Bull, Justine Butler, Rich Cross, Mike Dines, The Free Association, Alastair ‘Gords’ Gordon, Matt Grimes, Alistair Livingstone, Chris Low, Willie Rissy, Francis Stewart e Peter Webb, precedentemente pubblicati in Gran Bretagna in:

* Tales from the punkside, edited by Mike Dines & Greg Bull (Itchy monkey press, 2014)

* Not Just bits of paper, edited by Greg Bull & Mickey Penguin (Perdam Babylonis Nomen Publications/Situation Press, 2015)

* Some of us scream, some of us shout, edited by Greg Bull & Mike Dines (Itchy monkey press, 2016)

* The Aesthetic of our anger, edited by Mike Dines & Matthew Worley (Autonomedia, 2014)

Una mappa dell'anarcopunk britannico che si estende oltre Londra, mostrando la varietà delle espressioni locali di una controcultura che, forse per prima, riuscì a raggiungere città e villaggi dell'intero territorio britannico; che si estende oltre la musica, dando spazio a esperienze personali, ad altre forme d'arte e ai molteplici modi di fare politica; che si estende oltre i Crass, che con il loro ruolo di padri fondatori della scena, rischiano di oscurarne le differenze interne.

"Londra, ma anche Belfast e Bristol, i centri industriali del Nord e la brughiera del sud'ovest. I dodici capitoli di questo volume, ciascuno scritto da chi ha vissuto la scena in prima persona, presentano per la prima volta tematiche spesso ignorate come il ruolo del punk nell'abbattimento delle divisioni confessionali nell'Irlanda del Nord, l'importanza delle zine nella formazione intellettuale dei giovani punk, le manifestazioni di Stop The City nella Londra del 1983, l'incontro/scontro con i minatori in sciopero, l'apporto del femminismo, dell'animalismo e i vicoli ciechi da cui non tutti sono riusciti a salvarsi.

Alastair Gordon and Mike Dines are seeking contributions from the inter-disciplinary areas of cul... more Alastair Gordon and Mike Dines are seeking contributions from the inter-disciplinary areas of cultural studies, musicology and social sciences, for an edited text on the global punk/DiY ‘scenes’ of the 2000s onwards; reflecting upon the notion of origins, music(s), identity, legacy, membership and circulation. Aiming to continue the work of George McKay – and, most notably his DiY Culture: Party and Protest in Nineties Britain (1998) – this volume will attempt to traverse the global as a means of mapping the existence of punk/DiY post-2000. As such, this volume will adopt an essentially analytical perspective so as to raise questions initially over the dissemination of the scene and subsequently over its form, structure and cultural significance beyond the 1990s.

Journal Reviews by Alastair Gordon

Now in its second year, Keep it Simple, Make it Fast (KISMIF) is probably one of the largest conf... more Now in its second year, Keep it Simple, Make it Fast (KISMIF) is probably one of the largest conferences of underground music/culture of its kind. Convened by Andy Bennett and Paula Guerra the conference, accompanied by the pre-emptive Summer School, was a week-long event with core themes revolving around the many global underground scenes and drawing upon an impressive international range of established subcultural scholars and postgraduate researchers. As members of the conference scientific committee, and as founders of the Punk Scholars Network, we were invited to deliver keynotes at the preceding Summer School, to chair panels and to convene on a number of Summer School sessions, offering ad hoc summative commentaries to those in the panel. The Summer School offered 'an opportunity for all students (bachelor, masters, doctorate, post-doctorate) to attend specialist master classes and discuss their research work in seminars'. Its inclusion, therefore, was based upon a clear pedagogical model whereby students could discuss, disseminate and contemplate their own research. More than that, it was also important in empowering students to gain control of the academic arena, often a space solely for the 'academic'. Here, postgraduate students presented papers that ranged from political activism to urban communities, from aesthetics to mediation , and from identities to authenticity. As an academic environment, the Summer School beat many a conference: papers were presented in an often-informal basis, with students helping and signposting each other towards unknown areas of research.

Punk Scholars Network 5th Annual Conference by Alastair Gordon

‘Doing metal, being punk, doing punk, being metal: hybridity, crossover and difference in punk an... more ‘Doing metal, being punk, doing punk, being metal: hybridity, crossover and difference in punk and metal subcultures.’

Punk Scholars Network 5th Annual Conference and Postgraduate Symposium.

De Montfort University Leicester, December 13-14th 2018
Hosted by the Punk Scholars Network in conjunction with the International Association of Metal Music Studies, the Journal of Punk and Post-Punk, the Journal of Metal Music Studies, Media and Communication Research Centre and Intellect Books.
Metal and punk cultures have long shared musical and cultural similarities. From Motörhead’s ubiquitous global presence, and the complex amalgam of Thrash Metal, Doom Metal, American Hardcore, Straight Edge, Japanese-based Burning Spirits, Black Metal, and DiY cultural production, one can see a plethora of hybridised and reinterpreted global music scenes. Indeed, the pervasive influence of metal and NWOBHM from the mid-1980s onwards has had an irreversible and notable effect on both punk and metal musical and cultural aesthetics (see Glasper, forthcoming, 2018).
In spite of their broadly separate academic literatures, from their competing inceptions in the mid to late-1970s, punk and metal music studies have shared common historical theoretical and methodological approaches; yet no significant critical reflection of these research crossovers has been undertaken to date. The principle aim of this interdisciplinary conference is to critically reflect upon points of similarity, difference and hybridity in global punk and metal subcultures.
The Punk Scholars Network and The International Association of Metal Music Studies would like to invite new and established scholars in punk and metal music studies to critically interrogate such similarities and differences and to share their research: not every paper needs to discuss both punk and metal but simply by presenting research on the same panels to a mixed audience will allow a unique opportunity for researchers to cross perceived genre boundaries and learn from each others methodologies and trajectories.

Topics of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:

Metal and/or punk histories
Genre boundaries
Cross genre authenticities
Gender, hegemony in metal and/or punk cultures
Ethics/moral codes: differences and similarities in metal and/or punk cultures
Ethnicities and contested identities in metal and punk
Geographies, crossover and hybridity in punk and metal music scenes
Crossovers between metal and/or punk
Aesthetic crossovers in local and global punk/metal scenes
Political narratives in punk and metal music
‘Negatologies’: bullying, marginalisation, drugs and violence in punk and/or metal cultures (Gordon, 2018)
Conceptual crossover and difference
The aesthetics of virtuosity and simplicity in metal and punk
The curation of punk and metal bands on festival bills
Legacies
Hybrid cultures, audience research and ethnographies of metal and/or punk cultures
The policy and political economy of metal and punk record labels
Musical production, instrumentation and aesthetics
Art and design in metal and/or punk

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to the following link by September 16th 2018

metalpunkDMU@gmail.com

Global Punk Call for Chapters by Alastair Gordon

Following the groundbreaking publication of The Punk Reader: Transmissions from the Local to the ... more Following the groundbreaking publication of The Punk Reader: Transmissions from the Local to the Global (now in its second edition through Intellect Books and the Punk Scholars Network) the series editors would like to invite proposals for a second volume in the book series Global Punk, to be published in early 2020. The publication will be part of an exciting collaboration between Intellect Press and the Punk Scholars Network, a partnership that has seen the development of a Punk Scholars Network imprint.

Please download the complete call for chapters below.

Punk Pedagogies Conference Call for Papers by Alastair Gordon

We will be hosting a 1-2 day symposium at Mansions of the Future in Lincoln (UK) on the 4th and 5... more We will be hosting a 1-2 day symposium at Mansions of the Future in Lincoln (UK) on the 4th and 5th of July 2019* on the subject of punk pedagogies as part of the Punk Scholars’ Network’s series of themed symposiums.

Since 1997 saw the publication of “Never Mind the Tagmemics, Where’s the Sex Pistols” (CCC 48.1 pp 9 -29) there has been an increasing interest in the way in which the ethics, attitudes and people of punk rock can inform, shape, critique and revolutionise teaching pedagogies. In part this is due to the rising number of punkademics and punk teachers, but it is so much more than that. It is also because of the value for education in approaches that centre on philosophies such as Do-It-Yourself, creativity and resistance; a framework of enquiry and a toolkit that potentially helps take cynicism to critique. In short, punk can offer pedagogical tools for interrogating the world around us. However it is a two way street, and punk can learn much from newly emerging pedagogical ideas and approaches within secondary, further and higher education. This 1-2 day symposium aims to provide a space to explore, in a supportive environment, those interactions and lessons. It seeks to ask questions such as what can be gained from using punk tools and approaches as a pedagogical approach within ‘the classroom’? What can experiences and innovations in ‘the classroom’ offer to the continuing development and learning of punks and the subculture of punk rock?

Punk Scholars Network Website Launch! by Alastair Gordon

IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY!!! And we want you to share in our celebrations. The waiting is over at last an... more IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY!!! And we want you to share in our celebrations. The waiting is over at last and we can now finally reveal the exciting news we alerted you to last week. The Punk Scholars Network is celebrating 8 years of punk scholarship by launching our brand new Punk Scholars Network website https://www.punkscholarsnetwork.com/

Please go visit the fantastic new website, where you can view all the interesting and insightful work the Punk Scholars Network has been involved in since its inception in 2012, including publications and events as well as our new blog that features announcements about new punk research and other creative work. You can even buy affordable PSN merch direct from the website to help support the not-for-profit Punk Scholars Network.

If you would like to share your punk related news and developments with us, or an insightful and interesting perspective on punk you would like to contribute to our blog, you can do so through the contact page on our new website https://www.punkscholarsnetwork.com/contact

Since its humble beginnings in 2012, the Punk Scholars Network has expanded its global membership and activities through conferences, symposiums, publications, talks and exhibitions, whilst seeking to maintain its original aim as an international forum for scholarly debate. The Punk Scholars Network has also held a long-standing commitment towards the nurturing of research, not only in terms of post-doctoral output, but also through pedagogical and academic support for postgraduate and undergraduate research students whilst encouraging and supporting non-academics to pursue and develop their interests in punk scholarship.

You can connect with us via our website and follow and like us on social media:

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/punkscholars/

Papers by Alastair Gordon

Intellect Books, Feb 19, 2020

This chapter sets out to answer three questions: how did people enter punk subculture, why did th... more This chapter sets out to answer three questions: how did people enter punk subculture, why did they become involved, and what was their experience of entry? It presents the case that subcultural entrance is primarily an investigative practice propelling the participant towards an authentically styled knowledge, based around the discovery of what is deemed to be authentic punk rock. The chapter pursues such questions primarily through construction of an explanatory model detailing the social role of music and peer group relations within punk subculture

Intellect Books, Jul 15, 2019

Agenzia X, 2020

* Tales from the punkside, edited by Mike Dines & Greg Bull (Itchy monkey press, 2014)

* Not Just bits of paper, edited by Greg Bull & Mickey Penguin (Perdam Babylonis Nomen Publications/Situation Press, 2015)

* Some of us scream, some of us shout, edited by Greg Bull & Mike Dines (Itchy monkey press, 2016)

* The Aesthetic of our anger, edited by Mike Dines & Matthew Worley (Autonomedia, 2014)

Punk Scholars Network 5th Annual Conference and Postgraduate Symposium.

Topics of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to the following link by September 16th 2018

metalpunkDMU@gmail.com

Please download the complete call for chapters below.

You can connect with us via our website and follow and like us on social media:

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/punkscholars/

Intellect Books, Feb 19, 2020

Intellect Books, Jul 15, 2019

This thesis examines how select participants came to be involved in DiY punk culture, what they d... more This thesis examines how select participants came to be involved in DiY punk culture, what they do in it, and how, if they do, they exit from the culture. Underpinning this will be an ethnographic examination of how the ethics of punk informs their views of remaining authentic and what they consider to be a sell out and betrayal of these values. I illustrate how such ethics have evolved and how they inform the daily practice of two chosen DiY punk communities in Leeds and Bradford. I show how these communities reciprocally relate to each other. I ask such questions as what do the participants get out of what is often experienced as hard work and toil, particularly where it is fraught with a series of dilemmas bound up in politics, ethics, identity and integrity. I offer a grounded theory of how and what ways those involved in DiY punk authenticate themselves in their actions. This will demonstrate how and, more importantly, why DiY punks distinguish their ethical version of punk over and above what are taken as less favourable forms of punk. What happens if previous passionately held DiY beliefs are surrendered? Severe consequences follow should a participant sell out. I present an account of these and suggest that what they involve is not the clear-cut question that is sometimes assumed, either sincerely or selfrighteously.

Punk & post-punk, Dec 1, 2014

This article examines the construction authenticity of a particular UK DiY punk scene. Using ethn... more This article examines the construction authenticity of a particular UK DiY punk scene. Using ethnographic data gathered in 2001, it examines members' reference to broader ethical ideological themes through an analysis of their interviews. I offer the model 'Distinctions of Authenticity', which identifies four key component strategies at work in the pursuit of selfauthentication that have purchase for future work on punk authenticity studies. This model challenges reductionism models of a singular punk authenticity. In doing so it presents an approach to overcome what are identified as key gaps in subcultural research left by both traditional (BCCCS) subcultural research and later post-structuralist accounts that do not fully take into account the workings of micro-discourse in maintaining and constructing subcultural punk authenticity.

Punk & post-punk, Sep 1, 2015

Review of “KISMIF Conference 2015 and Summer School: Crossing Borders of Underground Music Scenes... more Review of “KISMIF Conference 2015 and Summer School: Crossing Borders of Underground Music Scenes and Getting Underground Together!” Punk & Post-Punk 4(2) (2016) pp. 185-187

I always loved the simplicity and visceral feel of all forms of punk. From the Pistols take on th... more I always loved the simplicity and visceral feel of all forms of punk. From the Pistols take on the New York Dolls rock, or the UK Subs aggressive punk take on rhythm and blues. The stark reality Crass and the anarchist-punk scene was informed with aspects of obscure seventies rock too, for example Pete Wright's prog bass lines in places. Granted. Perhaps the most famous and intense link to rock and punk was Motorhead. While their early output and LP's definitely had a clear nod to punk (Lemmy playing for the Damned), they appealed to most punks back then with their sheer aggression and intensity. It's clear Motorhead and Black Sabbath influenced a lot of street-punk and the ferocious tones of Discharge and their Scandinavian counterparts such as Riistetyt, Kaaos and Anti Cimex. The early links were there but the influence of late 1970s early 80s NWOBM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) and street punk, Discharge etc. in turn influenced Metallica, Anthrax and Exodus in the early eighties. Most of them can occasionally be seen sporting Discharge, Broken Bones and GBH shirts on their early record-sleeve pictures. Not only that, Newcastle band Venom were equally influential in the mix of new genre forms germinating in the early 1980s. One of the early examples of the incorporation of rock and metal into the UK punk scene came from Discharge. After guitarist Bones left the band in 1982 leaving the Hear Nothing, See, Nothing, Say Nothing LP and the 1982 State Violence, State Control 7" as his intense legacy, the replacement of him with Pete 'Pooch' Pyrtle shifted the bands direction. Records such as 1983's The Price of Silence, The More I See and Her Majesties Government 12" ep clearly marked a shift in playing style with heavy nods to Ozzy Osbourne's vocal style and more rock style guitar and solos. Don't get me wrong, these records were killer, but still the importation and, dare I say, taming of the early, visceral and groundbreaking style was lost on these records. More on later Discharge in a bit. The circularity of influences in UK punk thus began to show themselves around 1983. Around 1984/5 I spent a lot of my time hanging around with Victim in Nottingham. Guitar player with Concrete Sox, he turned me onto a lot of bands like Metallica, Anthrax and also the mighty Japanese band Gism who were pioneering a heavy mix of metal and aggressive punk into their innovative sound on the first (1984) LP, Detestation. All were ace records and marked a widening of my musical taste. My only flirtation with British heavy-metal up to that point was buying Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast 1982 LP. I was intrigued by the flirtation of demonic subject matter and now admit the clear punk influence on their earlier Paul DiAnno period LP's but that was my total experience of metal in that period. Really it did nothing for me. The Metallica and Anthrax LPs were different. Metallica were clearly drawing on the harsher aspects of UK punk and throwing the Danzig period (1982) Earth AD misfits records into the mix. The power they displayed had me hooked in late '84. I'd met Victim hanging around the infamous Foresters Tavern Saturday afternoon punk drinking and gig sessions mid '84. We used to get pissed and watch the Seats of Piss with Hendrix Dead Boy singing into a traffic cone and pissing into pint glasses (another story). Other Notts bands playing these sessions were the Bloodsuckers and Concrete Evidence, Vic's band. Concrete evidence morphed into Concrete Sox shortly afterwards and Vic invited me down to their rehearsal sessions at the Nottingham Queens Walk Community Centre. This was a venue for loads of punk and anarchopunk gigs alongside the Narrow Boat after the Union and Boat Clubs had ceased putting punk gigs on. Vic (guitar), John (drums) and Les (bass) were clearly into all things thrash-metal alongside loads of brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk

Back in late '85 in a terraced house in Beeston, Nottingham I called in to see my mate Pat who wa... more Back in late '85 in a terraced house in Beeston, Nottingham I called in to see my mate Pat who was buying a few international punk records. Recently we'd been listening to a lot more stuff outside the standard UK anarcho punk canon which was starting to sound a little dated and hecktoring in its approach. The international P.E.A.C.E compilation on Radical Records really opened up the international scope of punk to us young 'un's. Kalv from Plasmidsoon to be Heresy-was also trading and selling a lot of foreign and USHC to us. Pat had bought a copy of Anti Cimex Victims of a Bomb Raid alongside the Septic Death LP. Both those records floored us but the Cimex was in a league of its own to us. Discharge had just released the Ignorance 7" and that was no big shakes. The 'Victims' 7ep just destroyed. We played a couple more times savouring the harshness of the thing. I remember the white label complete with dirty fingerprints spinning on the mono record player. I left that night with Jonnson's Swedish/English creole 'Wicktims of a Bomb Raid, Wicktims of a Bomb Raid' blasting through my sixteen year old head. Killer.

The 2015 Keep it Simple, Make it Fast (KISMIF) conference (…) offered academics from around the w... more The 2015 Keep it Simple, Make it Fast (KISMIF) conference (…) offered academics from around the world a truly salon-like space that put all emphasis on ideas and community rather than scholarly "products" or careerist networking. Whether situating topics in the past or present, all scholarship shared at KISMIF was not just of the highest, most rigorous quality, but also audacious and daring in its authenticity and passion. (…) In these ways, the mere existence of KISMIF, which will be in its third year by July 2016, acts as a kind of herald or clarion call. (…) The community that KISMIF brings together-at least for a few days-is unapologetically progressive. It is "punk" in the best sense of the word. It is heroic. (…) In sum, KISMIF's featured speakers, and their chosen topics, continued to inspire those listening. (…) it was especially impressive to witness the integration of the conference activities within the city of Porto itself. (…) Without any reservations, I can state that KISMIF is currently unparalleled in how it showcases excellent scholarship, creates an authentic, intellectual community, and integrates conference events into its host city's cultural life. (…) KISMIF has managed to reinvent and reinvigorate the academic conference for the twenty-first century. It is my sincere hope that their heroic efforts continue to be rewarded, that scholars of popular music keep attending and supporting the conference, and that KISMIF continues to thrive and enrich the academic community for many years to come.

KISMI 2015 conference review essa

Intellect Books, Feb 19, 2020