Exclusive Interview
 21st December - London - UK

Portal do Rock has great pleasure in bringing you this exclusive interview with one of the most brilliant punk rock bands of all times, british Angelic Upstarts.

Formed in South Shields, England in 1977, the Angelic Upstarts was one of the period's most politically-charged and thought-provoking groups; though technically a skinhead band, their records attacked the racism and fascism so prevalent throughout the skinhead community, and while also technically a punk unit, their music quickly evolved beyond the movement's limited scope.
It's attack on police brutality earned them an early patron in Sham 69's Jimmy Pursey, who chased a similar constituency of disaffected working-class fans.

The Angelic Upstarts launched their punk crusade with the independently released single 'The Murder of Liddle Towers' in 1978. The band paid for the recording and pressing of 500 singles which they released themselves and sold at gigs and local record shops. The single was then picked up by Small Wonder Records who released it nationally.

Influenced by bands such as The Clash and The Sex Pistols, the Angelic Upstarts are a meeting of working class ideology and musical aspiration. The original line up consisted of Mensi (vocals), Mond (guitar), Steve Forsten (bass) and Decca Wade (drums). The line-up today has Tony Van Frater (guitar), Gaz Stoker (bass) and Lainey (drums), and of course, Mensi on vocals (born Thomas Mensforth).

And it is Mensi who spoke to Portal do Rock and answered this interview.		  

Portal: When you hear the word "Brazil" what first comes to your mind?
Mensi: Football!!!

Portal: Have you ever had an invitation to play in Brazil?, have you ever had any friends who played there? If so, what were their comments about it?
Mensi: . I've never been invited to play in Brazil. I would love to play in Brazil so if anybody out there wants to book us for a couple if gigs in Rio or thereabouts I'll be on the next plane out there. A friend of mine Matty from the Blaggers went there but not with the band. He said it was brilliant.

Portal: What is the difference from the Angelic Upstarts first single (The Murder of Liddle Towers) to the latest album (Sons of Spartacus)?
Mensi: Not a lot really. Same sort of angry young men but I'm a bit of an angry older man these days.
 

Portal: . It is well known that the band was influenced in the beginning by bands such as The Clash and the Sex Pistols. What about today? What are your main influences? What kind of bands are you currently listening to?
Mensi: . I listen to a wide range of music. My favourite band at the minute is Smashmouth. I listen to a lot of Woody Guthrie and Billie Halliday at the minute. All people like that influence me, especially the older types of music.

Portal: What do you think of bands like Dropkick Murphys and US Bombs, considered by many to be the new generation of street punk? Do you agree with this or you consider other bands as such?
Mensi: . I think it's great that the likes of the Dropkick Murphys are carrying it on as long as they've got something constructive to say and they say it anyway they want, then fair play and I support them.

Portal: What bands have you most enjoyed playing together with during your career?
Mensi: In the early days I suppose playing with the likes of The Skids, The Exploited, UK Subs, Stiff Little Fingers. There's also bands that I would like to have played with, such as The Clash. I never actually got to play with The Clash but I would have loved to.
Portal: In the early gigs you use to have a pigs head on stage with a police helmet. Who would be the pig for you nowadays? And why all this hate against the cops?
Mensi: Well the police are still today politically motivated and that's why I hate them, because they are so right wing although they are trying to move towards the centre at the moment. They are just the bully boys of the fascists.		  

Portal: What was the relationship between Sham 69s Jimmy Pursey and the Angelic Upstarts? Where you really his protegees? What was the real importance of Pursey for the working class punk rock or the so called street punk?
Mensi: No I wasn't his fucking protegee. He just asked us to go down to London. The Angelic Upstarts existed long before Pursey started running about. I mean fair play to him, I think Sham 69 are a great band and although Jimmy went off the tracks a bit and is still off the tracks, I don't think he'll ever get back on. He wants to pull himself together and get some proper gigs done.
  Portal: You have experienced working with major labels such as Warner Bros and Polydor. What kind of lessons could you take from this experience? And what about EMI? I heard your contract with EMI was cancelled because of a snowball competition. What happened?
Mensi: Actually that was Polydor. It started off as a snowball fight for a bit of fun but then it became a real fight with me and a security guard. The company didn't like that and we got sacked. The snowball incident (laughs) Those violent days are behind me now.

Portal: you still called a "thug" rock band in Britain?
Mensi: No. I think people class us as being very close to a "love" band now (laughs) The violent days are behind me now. long gone.
Portal: You had many problems at early gigs which used to be stopped by nazi skins fighting and protesting aggresively. How are the gigs nowadays? What is the atmosphere like?
Mensi: . I'll just correct you there. If a gig ever got stopped it was because WE were fighting with them, not them fighting with each other. We usually attacked them and we still do. The gigs we play now haven't had any trouble and the atmosphere is really good.

Portal: Lots of your songs used to have elements from reggae and folk music? Did you give up using these elements? Are you back to punk roots? How would you define your music today?
Mensi: I still listen to a lot of reggae and a lot of folk music but I think early folk music especially the likes of Woody Guthrie and Billie Halliday, they were the original punks. I still think of them as punks even though the music is different. Punk to me is an attitude, it's not a style of music, it's a style of thought.

Portal: Any message for your Brazilian fans or any additional comments?
Mensi: Yes. Please get me out there as soon as possible because those Brazilian women haven't really seen life until they've seen me (laughs)

by Marcio Faveri

Paulo Vinicius - Artwork

Visit Angelic Upstarts Official Website

OTHER INTERVIEWS