Do It Yourself
Tuesday, 21st Feb 2012 21:37

Keith Haynes is back and looking at Swansea City through his own eyes

Following our beloved Swansea City is very much about opinions, no matter the line we walk as people out there in the big wide world, its the results that matter to us all. We all come from a plethora of different backgrounds, no matter the job, study, benefit or tax you rely upon one thing remains true, the success of our football team brings us together. We cant all get along, just because we follow the same football team, and to be honest, Im pretty thankful that is the case. But that can change, especially when the ball hits the back of the net ( at West Brom a bloke I have never met before - or since - embraced me like he was having an ecstasy fit ) and a moment like that brings us all together, albeit for a brief few seconds we are brothers and sisters united. Its what we like best ( in our case football ) that brings us together, however you really wouldn't choose some your football mates, football chooses you to have those friends, by virtue of the team you follow, your age, gender and location - it happens in many cases.

This reminds me very much of the solidarity I first encountered as a very young man hailing from those blinkered West Wales borders and discovering the legend that was punk rock. Yes, I consumed everything that was The Sex Pistols, Stranglers, Buzzcocks, and Damned including their clenched fist and uncompromising attitude towards society and values, for me though these were the musical catalysts for far better things. It led me on to discovering real street punk bands like the UK Subs, Discharge ( who I would later proudly be a member of ) The Varukers, Chaos UK and so many more bands, and yes, I could spend the rest of the day listing many, many more. Wales too had some decent input from The Oppressed ( Cardiff ) The Partisans ( Bridgend ) Venom ( Swansea ) and my very own Picture Frame Seduction, a life's work still unfolding. As a spiky haired studded punk clone of Exploited persuasion I often ventured to the ' big city ' meaning Swansea, and of course for most punk rock gigs it would be Cardiff where you would take your life in to your own hands at the Top Rank, or worse still the smaller venues hosting the anarcho bands like Conflict or Crass. The divide then was skinheads and punks who would regularly battle it out on the dance floor as Stiff Little Fingers or Chron Gen played their challenging sets of music. This is well documented, even in Wales where I recall seeing The Dickies at The Troubadour in Port Talbot as the huge crowd fought out a Swansea / Cardiff  war that raged all night. It was, not to put too much finer point on it - ferocious. This was 1979, and the country had been trying to go bang for two whole years. The Clash said ' Hate and War ' and I agreed.

For me though I found a certain friendship in Swansea away from football, mixed up at the market by the bus station were a host of skinheads, punks and anarchists who tolerated each other because they too, like all of us ' alternative types ' back then - were outcasts. Local Swansea band Pseudo Sadists were often sighted outside the bus station, hanging around and sniping at all the passers by. Later on they would feature quite cleverly on a punk compilation album ' A country fit for heroes ' on the Crass label, cementing their place in the punk rock world. The mixture of football and music at the time was pretty hardcore. the skins eventually moving on to a bar called The 4J's in Northampton Lane where we all met prior to games and sang our hearts out to Sham 69's ' Hersham Boys ' replacing the ' Hersham ' with ' Swansea '  That song often echoed around a violent and uncompromising Swansea north bank most Saturdays. The smell of beer and fags, the chatty and non stop talking of a speed driven punk rocker ( not my scene , but for many a must ) very excited about the football mob coming down from afar. Those Swansea streets were well scouted for foreigners and that really added to the expectancy. The train station trawl for stragglers, music, Oi, punk and acne all added to the day. It wasn't that we condoned this sort of behaviour, but we were growing up, peer group pressure and many other things all added to the testosterone mix. We were always well hung over from a Saturday night of our own making back in Haverfordwest where we took as many casualties as we made in pursuit of our own lifestyle, and to protect our own identity, and self preservation at times. The small town small mind mentality in Pembrokeshire meant a civil war most weekend nights. Local ' trendies ' not tolerant of the shaved hair, blue mohicans and green flight jackets saw us as immediate targets. Growing up in a grey back drop of council housing and a town called Milford Haven six miles away was hardly inspiring, but in a way it inspired me to get off my backside and pursue a musical career that I can still enjoy today. It shaped me, and allowed me freedom of expression, I can at least thank John Lydon for that much.

Swansea only ten to twelve years before a town, did feel like the younger statesman back then compared to Cardiff the City, and the walk across the Kingsway up to the station and back, through the market and over to the Quadrant to the Vetch had certain rough edged links. The whole ' Town Centre ' presented a Scratch and Sniff of burgers and Saturday morning perfume, young girls in black harrington's confusing style with Boy George, laughing at the young hot blooded skinhead army searching and often finding its quarry as Chelsea and Leeds greeted them and never disappointed. Pure adrenalin from a bygone era, growing up and getting older, learning things that no school can teach. Swansea punk band Venom blaring out Snakeys wild vocals that were often heard on the 4J's jukebox and across the North Bank as well. I recall well their Townhill College gig that went sideways and exploded and almost certainly ended their musical careers, and they were possibly one of the bigger Welsh Oi / punk names. Garry Bushell championed them on compilation albums and their single on the huge ' Secret ' label ( and I do not jest ) titled ' Where's Dock Green ' signalled their departure from pure punk and rubber stamped their hooligan street punk credentials.    A compilation album called Sex, Violence and the Eternal truth later surfaced and championed better than anything Gary Bushel could write - the true Swansea punk spirit.

For me, that mixture of chip fat and hot dogs, the sense of fear and trepidation almost every time you hit the streets - doc martens in tune with your heartbeat mixed up with last nights double diamond and vodka was my reality. As a kid we make many choices, often the wrong ones, and most of us come out the other side intact and better for it. The glamour of today's reality TV was never our driver, nor the desire to be celebrities or rich for the sake of it. From all sides we came from, and from all towns west we crawled from. By train and bus for the gigs, the scene, the football and the .... the girls. It wasn't that bad. So the next time you hear someone say ' I don't like
him ' or ' He's a right idiot ' ask yourself this.  'Are they really any different to you ' ? And have a guess what ? Take the time to speak to them and get to know them, and you may find you have more in common with them than you ever could imagine. No matter what they do, where you come from or indeed, what both of you think.

Its your roots that shape you, and its your mind that makes you the person you are today.

Now where's that Sham 69 album, you know - the one with Angels with dirty faces on ....................