I know we are not two ships passing in the night.

There's a riot goin' on and it’s all appropriately set to the tune of NS’s own Construction & Destruction,
featuring audio recorded by Mr. Corey Bonnevie at the recent instalment of our 5 Seconds Of Decision
series at Peppers Pub on July 23, 2011. Photo by Nick Cameron.

AUDIO: Construction & Destruction - Nine Houses

I suppose one might also call this posting Creative Violence Pt. 2, but I like the prescient sense of connectedness in that Construction & Destruction lyric myself. At any rate, for all intents and purposes there were two intimately entangled yet worlds apart riots taking place across England last week.

The popular kids' riot featured your friendly neighbourhood hooligan opportunists, puppeting themselves in a display of the worst social theatre, mainstream media coverage constructing and capitalizing on the banality of pillaging, practically encouraging them along. The now infamous Darcus Howe BBC interview is a perfect illustration of the systemic disregard that has only contributed to the fertilization of tensions. Watch that above link to the end; the juxtaposition of  the riots' effects on the world of sports is a nice patronizing touch Beebs.

 

Simultaneous to this and stemming from the genuine impetus for Tottenham's initial conflict, the murder by police of Mark Duggan during an arrest gone awry, these riots have an ancestry. Spreading quickly throughout Linton Kwesi Johnson’s Bitch Inglan following escalation from Saturday's peaceful local demonstration, the more potent purposes for these riots are not being completely lost in the knee-jerk villainizing. This is the latest offspring in a genealogy going back decades, to Notting Hill in ’76*, Tottenham itself in ‘85, demonstrations by and against the National Front, Inglan’s immigrant and marginalized communities continuing to be caught in the crossfire all that time.

Penny Red writes, "Riots are about power, and they are about catharsis." Both groups above are arguably exorcising the means of power and catharsis in their action, know it or not as Penny admits, however I would add a desperately important third qualifier to her position: purpose, principle. With great power comes great responsibility and all that**, and the public can wield a great and just power for seismic change when such times arise. The tragicomedy of public violence without purpose or principle might ignite the politics of a burning a nearly century-and-a-half old family business in the observant minds of some, but for most it will only validate the very caricature that such rioters themselves adopt in doing so.

Ensuring some principle in one's actions, some purpose to create something new and to spin some kind of social narrative, is imperative in justifying the severity of public violence. To leave this element of accountability out of the equation only undermines any constructive consequences such a destructive display of power and catharsis can bring about.

And whatta solid gold segue into Construction and Destruction, eh?

David Trenaman and the Big Bad Wolf,
compliments of Gillian Dykeman and
Shawna Waterall. Photo by Nick Cameron.

I have no extensive personal history with the dynamic duo from Port Greville to draw upon as I do with Mr. Chenier (although having met them I can say they're both real swell folk!), but I have enjoyed in recent years ongoing revelations of their strange performances and stranger records. Chugging, crawling, cascading, cradling, Colleen and Dave conscript musics from an impossible democracy of dirges designed for delicacy and/or dredging depths as desired.

I also just kinda really like how their songs swear pretty much any old time they fucking like.

But really kids, the music is just really rare junk and treasure, which I think you'll find right here with this live recording of Nine Houses. You got Colleen on drums and vocals, you got Dave on the axe, and you got a time, muscling up this already sinister number from 2009's Video et Taceo.

Stay tuned right here in mere days, not only for two - count 'em, two! - tracks, but also sage utterings from Mr. Adam Mowery himself, in the next exciting blogstallment, coming soon compliments of yer friendly neighbourhood 5 Seconds Familyhood.

*Before cannibalizing the band years later, Bernie Rhodes told The Clash to write what they know, so when the West Indies community's Notting Hill Carnival they were attending erupted in violence, they documented the event in the song White Riot, urging for a multiracial uprising with the same will to action they saw there. Photography from the riots is on display behind the band in the linked video, also having been used on the rear of their debut. Another is used for the cover of Black Market Clash. Police and Thieves was a contemporary, topical reggae single from Junior Murvin and Lee Perry which they hesitated to cover for fear of sounding 'naff', a term then applied to white blues singers, but they were well received. Strummer said it was as if they had brought their own records to the party.

** Geez Steve, ya drew the webs backwards.