
Britain
was in turmoil. Punk rock had shaken the foundations of a
withered and corrupt political and social aristocracy.
In the
winter of 1977, Mick Jagger found himself without a home.
Sixteen years old and living on the hostile streets of Berkinghamshireton
with nothing but a pair of Dr. Marten boots and an electric
guitar to his name, he sought shelter with school-mate and
aspiring bassist, Thom Davis. The two dreamt of a world where
the working classes could regain their pride of old. Music
was their only weapon against the evils of the government,
the stifling oppression of poverty and the tired rhetoric
of the elders.
Mick and
Thom conceived of Bayonet U.K. that spring, along with drummer
Benny Lonsdale. They gave the repressed a voice, the homeless
a home and the ignorant a place in public discourse. Bayonet
U.K. made a name for themselves with an unrelenting sonic
and poetic assault on the prevailing culture and a mercilessly
violent, loyal presence in the streets and gutters of their
home town. The movement was building. It seemed no one could
stop the bricks and bottles of the working class.
Following
the independent release of their debut EP, Bayonet U.K. were
courted by greedy capitalist record companies. Punk Rock had
become big business and everyone was looking for a piece of
the pie... the money-pie. It threatened to tear the band apart
but Bayonet U.K. stayed strong. A lifetime in poverty had
instilled in them not the opportunism of the alley cat, but
the stalwart pride of the mighty lion.
For nearly
thirty years, the band has toured tirelessly throughout the
greater United Kingdom, breaking periodically to record. Though
fame and fortune were never in the cards, and Thom Davis is
now partially brain-dead from a quarter-century of knife fighting
and alcoholism, their mission has never been more clear. To
Bayonet yer arsehole!
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