Vice Squad

Vice Squad is a punk band formed in 1978 by the explosive Beki Bondage, here on the picture. She's been on the punk scene for more than 30 years and she's been called a jewel in the crown of England's glory...
After she left Vice Squad in 1983 she joined another punk band called The Ligotage and then in 1986 she formed The Bombshells.
It's only in 1998 that Beki reformed with Vice Squad and they've been touring ever since, specially in east europe.
She is often cited as being the first punk pin-up featured on the front cover of a number of influential music tabloids such as Melody Maker, NME, and Smash Hits.



It's with great pleasure that I went to see her play in Brighton at The Royal Albert. They were playing with The Derellas which is another punk band from London. The venue was quite intimate and it was packed.
She played a lot of old Vice Squad songs, she had a lot of energy and looked like a 25 years old punk singer still, after all those years she kept a kind of eternal punk youth.
She was raw and straight, talking to a mostly male audience, dominating them all by her jokes and answers that no one else could have think of.
Their drummer never rehearsed with them before, the original drummer had a problem and couldn't make it to the gig so they were lucky to find one quite quickly just before the gig. No one would have noticed he wasn't an original member if she didn't say because he was really good. (reminded me of my own situation in Paris at the Sentier des Halles gig )
They played a long gig, and they did it in a punk atmosphere, talking to the fans after the gig...

here are some more pictures i took of the gig :









Once a groupie, always a groupie ! ;)





and to finish on a rock'n'roll touch, my picture with Tim, bass player of The Derellas and also ex bass player of Nurotica.

Rock'n'Roll Losers (edited)

Bubblegum Screw were recording their album this week in Old Street at The Fortress and it's with pleasure that I took part to the experience for one day to do some backing vocals for them with Genna.
It was raw and inspiring, loved to sing "filthy little bitch" for them and all the rest of it included their great track Rock'n'Roll loser.
We sang on seven songs, can't wait to hear the final mix.
It's an honour for me to be on their album, they've always been one of my favourite London band, they make great punk'n'roll and their lyrics are just wonderfully dirty.












Mark, singer in Bubblegum Screw...



Zuri, bass player... and great guide for those vocals, so was Mark who recorded his vocals same time than us which was nice. :)










Magda and the boys in the break room...



Great experience, I say it once again.
The recording studio is a whole little town in itself, it gots a bar, rehearsal studios and a roof where you can go and take some fresh air or smoke, whatever the choice is.
In the bar section they have some pools tables with a DJ installation and some art and pictures are projected on one of the wall with some Psychedelic Furs in the background.
Here are some shoots I particulary liked :














Then Mark and me decided to play a bit with our poses and shadows, mixing the whole lot with the artistic background.
We had some nice shoots, with a few drinks behind ! ;)
Here are some of them :















My turn to be a bit crazy and pseudo artistic... ;) The Velvet Underground and all of the glam 60's movement a la Andy Warhol are one of the first to have invented art concept into the music. Our little session that night was just a laugh.

Detox

Inspiration time, going away for two weeks, eating healthy food, looking up at the beautiful skies and get away from the drugs.

So here I am, a true healthy junkie, or should I say healthy ex-junkie.
Those holidays were more than great, and now I feel like a monk.

Enjoy the pictures and take your mind away from the worries for a bit...






my famous home made hair creation... try it if you can !









blond as i've never been for a long time...







let me reach the moon....





"born with a spoon in the mouth..."



on the way back to England :