slits reform (RIP Ari Up, Oct 2010)

She seems to have ditched "The New Crew" that she was playing with in NY last year (http://punkcast.com/) and has a new band - most of who still didn't appear to have worked out quite what the fuck to make of her!

She's still as extrovert and excitable and petulant and full of fun as a four year old: chattering interminably between songs, particularly about how proud she was of The Slits; taking off the shawl she had tied 'round her waist, and getting the backing singers to help her tie on a new one; dragging people up out of the audience to dance on stage; swinging her dreadlocks 'round her head like Tom Jones swinging a microphone....

They played a few old Slits songs (Love Und Romance, New Town, Shoplifting, Man Next Door and Grapevine for the encore) but most of it was new stuff (mainly reggae style but surprisingly 1 or 2 rather punky ones).

I bought a v. cheap CD of 'Cut' a cpl of months ago, but cldn't really get into it - I like that early biscuit-tin bootleg that Marcus bangs on abt, and the 'Peel Sessions' 12" is prob. their best semi-available recorded representation, for my needs right now

They were good but nowhere even near that good!

Last I heard (last Friday), it had gone the way of the Erase Errata, Dirtbombs and Oneida Brighton dates... cancelled. I'm getting fucking fed up of people calling this "The Slits", also.

Fortunately it doesn't look as if Tessa minds Ari using the name and I can't imagine Viv would and at least the band are doing some new material not just regurgitating the "greatest hits"....

..... you're right 'though: The Slits, sadly, they ain't.

I'd like to believe that Sean, I really would; but if that were the case why would she have ditched "The New Crew", got a new band who could play more than just a mangled version of Shoplifting and started using the name "Slits" again?

it's just what i heard, i knew nothin' about it, hence the question. i mean, i'm sure you're also pretty fed up of people referring to you as 'That Cunt', but I'll always ask why.

But when I saw the thread title it made me think of a newspaper headline, like "MP Calls For Slits Reform."

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0007Z0XO6.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

I believe she and viv are not in touch...

Ari Up's stepfather, Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols, once referred to the singer as "a total individual as I've ever seen." As well he might - Up formed '70s punk band The Slits as a 14-year-old in London, released two albums and a Peel Session recording, toured with The Clash and was lauded as a ferociously original trailblazer for women in music.

But that doesn't mean record executives are clamoring outside of her Kingston, Jamaica and Brooklyn, New York homes, begging Up to make more music. Her reputation as a no-holds-barred punk rocker, coupled with the dreadlocks she hasn't cut since the '70s and her time spent in the '80s living naked in the jungles of Borneo and Belize have caused music execs to turn their backs on her. Though a superstar in Jamaica who goes by the name Madussa, Up's new record, Dread More Dan Dead, is her first ever full-length solo album.

"This is only my first album because I've been recording all my life, it's just that no one's releasing anything. Everyone is scared of me, you know, people are frightened. I don't know why, I've no clue," Up says, her voice a hybrid of German, British and Jamaican accents.

"They're never really saying, 'The music's not good' or, 'You can't do anything,' it's never really like that. It's always an awkward moment where people just don't know what to do with me. They're like, 'Are you an alien from a different planet?' 'Which planet do you come from?' or 'What do we label you as? What label are you?' What are you, punk, reggae, what are you? What are we gonna say? You're not R&B, you're not hip-hop, you're not rock.'"

Indeed, Up - real name Ariana Forster - has always made genre-crossing music. The Slits fused punk with dub reggae and she describes Dread as an "album of sort of mixed stuff," from instrumental songs, vocal-only numbers, hardcore reggae and songs she says The Slits could have written. Much like her time with the band, where the biographical lyrics ranged from Johnny Rotten arguing with Sid Vicious over drug intake, shoplifting to survive and criticizing the expectations placed on women, Up shopped for Dread's content from the people and events surrounding her.

"Babymother" was inspired by stories she'd heard of New York mothers going out and leaving their children uncared for at home. "Can't Share" was written after Up learned about the large percentage of women having affairs with already-involved men. She resurrected "True Warrior" from her Slits days.

"We've had even a song that would have been like that on the next album we were writing for. We had a dubby song, it was even more dubby, and it was about warriors as well," Up explains. "It even had the 'True Warrior' words in there, I think. It's just that this version has totally different words and different melodies and beats but it's the same type of atmosphere, it's the same thing that was left off with The Slits."

Now, instead of concentrating on old Slits material, Up is working on a new version of the group, with bandmate Tessa Pollitt returning on bass. She's speaking from London, in the middle of the "very hopeful, very redeeming" reunion. Up and Pollitt are looking for new Slits members, "because it's not going to be like a get-together of a vintage, old-time thing. It's the new Slits, totally."

The reunion is timely. Cut, The Slits' 1979 debut, was voted #58 on The Observer's list of the Top 100 British Albums Ever last year. The album has recently been issued in North America, having previously been available only as an import. Up can easily explain this resurgence of interest in her old band.

"Because we were born ahead of time, so people have to return back to The Slits," she explains. "We're just getting in time now, I think. Maybe we're still ahead of time. A little. But not as much as we were then, so people are catching up now because for it to come out now, it doesn't sound like vintage, I wouldn't say."

New Slits material is expected to be released later this year. Having had a few words to say about modern music, Up is hopeful the new music can shake things up.

"People in current times, I think, are ruled by too many rules. That's what was so refreshing with The Slits, is that we were just completely spontaneous. Organized chaos, so to speak. Just very honest and no preconceived notion of how it should be done, or what politics should be involved and what do we stand for and what are we labeled as and what clothes do we wear, it was more instinctive. What's great about The Slits is that it's such a totally instinctive group."

Up sadly acknowledges that the poor treatment of women in the music industry hasn't changed very much in her eyes, but she knows what kind of change she'd like to see.

"Well, I'm doing it, innit? I'm continuing The Slits to maybe start changing that."

i did an 8-minute interview with ari up afterwards, which has to rank among the strangest experiences of my professional life.

(Apologies in advance if you're a well known writer around here, and I should know etc..)

"Slits Tradition" is the best new track and sounds pretty contemporary.

according to john lydon's website, ari up has just passed away.

what????????????????????????????????

I just saw. R.I.P.

Apparently she had a prolonged illness of some sort.

http://www.johnlydon.com/jltalk.html

October 20th 2010

Arianna RIP

John and Nora have asked us to let everyone know that Nora's daughter Arianna (aka Ari-Up) died today (Wednesday, October 20th) after a serious illness. She will be sadly missed.

Everyone at JohnLydon.com and PiLofficial.Com would like to pass on their heartfelt condolences to John , Nora and family.

Rest in Peace.

i was just coming up to post that link...

;_;

no!!!

oh jeez

This blows, the new Slits album was great fun, hoping to see what would happen next or see them play in the US. Gah...

i'm kinda freaked at how much this is fucking with me

seriously

like on the verge of real tears wtf

"typical girls" otm

God, no. Such an extraordinary person. Really, really sad.

Thoughts from Everett True -- I admit he was one of the first people I was wondering about after I took the news in:

http://www.collapseboard.com/ari-up-r-i-p

:(:(:( annoyed and sad that I never got a chance to see her - dodgy shows or not.

saw her do a real wacky solo show maybe 7-8 years ago. An iconoclast.

Amoeba video here is cool: http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2010/03/the_slits_record_shopping_amoe.php

"typical girls" blew 16-year-old me's mind and it (and nearly all of their stuff) still has a special place in my heart. RIP, and so young, too :(

she once came to my club, stood around looking nonplussed and then took over the dance floor when the slits version of "i heard it through the grapevine" was played. a true one off. most sadly missed.

so tough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:(

iconoclast is right, I just happened to listen to a bunch of New Age Steppers today without knowing this.

sad and unexpected.

see you later alligator
in a while crocodile

I found about it on metafilter.com. I was reading along with the description and then it hit me: Her former stepfather John Lydon announced that Ari Up died today following a lengthy illness. The first thing I thought in my mind was "No!!!!" During college I fucking loved Cut, even though I haven't heard it in awhile. It is just so unexpected. I really liked her voice, her band, everything. :(

Man, awful, so young, RIP Arianna.

This is awful news.

RIP

Too young. RIP

shocking news :(

RIP Ari

RIP

damn

RIP

Dammit! RIP.

RIP Ari. one of a kind.

listening to Cut & Return of the Giant Slits all day today...

Return of the Giant Slits!

The older I get, and the more musical phases I go through, the more I come to come to think that Cut is serious, top 10 or 20 of all time, desert island disc material for me. The way it plays with and rearranges musical convention (punk rock, reggae) and works within the band's instrumental and vocal limitations to create its art is, I think, absolutely inspirational and wonderful. RIP Ari.

a very special talent, very special band

RIP

48 is so young. Just awful.

Thread needs some music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOJs9oycX5E&p=7F9DDE3E43DCEA05&playnext=1&index=17

:(

^^^pretty magical video -- RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D8LmUHW48s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCr8V5wAroA

menacing kitties
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnwyULT3Uks

WTF!! This is so sad and unexpected. I didn't know she was ill.

This is great!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRbvkh9ONzg

anyone read Viv's book?

Yes. Recommend.

Anybody heard her album? http://cadizmusic.com/2007/index.php?location=/web/Catalogue/CADIZCD117

Album is great, full of wonderful turns of phrase, a different perspective on life and memorable tunes!