Band Information

From Southsea, England

Article from the fanzine IQ32:

ACID ATTACK are a pretty good band from Southsea, near Portsmouth. (I've got to say that cos Jacko, the singer, said my fanzine was one of the best he'd ever seen - obviously a gentleman of good taste.)

Formed in November 1980, their first gig several months later ended in a total riot after pricks in the crowd decided it would be funny to throw cans at the band.

Since then, they have gone through numerous line-up changes and soon had a completely different set up from the first gig.

Unfortunately, the band is drummerless at the moment, but they hope to be back in circulation soon.

"The main idea behind Acid Attack", say Jacko, "is to be a punk rock group not stuck in any neat little categories, e.g. Crass-punk or Oi-punk, as this restricts you to a certain limit. Punk is supposed to be a non-conformist thing, which is exactly what it isn't anymore. Each member of the group has their own musical opinion, and when writing songs it helps us to get out of one particular vein."

The band have put together a 12 track studio recording cassette LP which is worth a listen. The quality is a lot better than yer average biscuit-tin demo tape, and most of the tracks are good solid bouncey punk tunes with an individual sound and intelligent lyrics.

The band's name refers to LSD (something all good boys and girls know nothing about) rather than "don't spill the bloody stuff on my hands" acid, and the first track, the band's anthem: "Acid Attack", is a slag at out-of-touch acid heads. Its the best track on the tape, and after a slow start, breaks into a powerful, speedy tune that is so catchy that you'll be whistling it all day after a few listens. This is then followed by the also excellent "Fuck the Bomb" and a string of others including "Suburbia's Dream", "Who Do They Think They Are?", and "Nothing Doing".

After the 12 studio tracks, there's a few live songs (including a manic version of Devo's "Mongoloid") which are good, too. You also get a free badge and a booklete with the lyrics and lots of pictures of spikey-haired punk rockers thrown in for good measure. The tape is definitely worth getting so send £1.25 plus SAE to JACKO, 40 COTTAGE GROVE, SOUTHSEA, PORTSMOUTH.

Watch out for this band, I think they've got something.

Acid Attack's official web site.

Discography