Christopher OwensWho’d have thought it?


Nearly forty years since Gary Mundy formed power electronics outfit Ramleh, the band are in better critical and (dare I say) commercial standing than ever before.

Taking its cue from industrial pioneers like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire as well as the avant-garde works of Lou Reed and Stockhausen, power electronics was designed to up the ante in terms of musical intensity and nihilistic ugliness.

While TG may have sung about the Moors Murders on one hand, there was always a pretty melody somewhere which would bring a little light to proceedings. When it came to power electronics, bands like Whitehouse and Ramleh were having none of that. The melodies went out the window, the noise went up to infinity and the imagery became much uglier.

It was also, by and large, distributed on cassette tape. While a lot of this was down to the DIY nature of the scene (as it was cheaper and quicker to make cassettes than vinyl), it also tapped into the then fledging cassette culture which would play a big role in shaping the musical underground as the decade progressed. Freed from the financial constraints of having to make records for someone else, bands could make a recording, put it out on tape and bypass the traditional record industry. Hence the most violent, nasty and noisy music soon found a willing audience.

So, it was about time that someone stepped up to the plate and delivered a tome that puts Ramleh and the scene in context. It helps that Richard Johnson (owner of the Fourth Dimension label) is also a fellow traveler in the scene and is able to contextualise it for the outsider.

Presented as a series of Q and A sessions with Mundy, as well as taking in accounts from the likes of William Bennett (Whitehouse, Cut Hands), Phillip Best (Consumer Electronics, Simon Morris (Ceramic Hobs), Grudge for Life is a book carefully crafted with love and affection. Each release is noted, the intentions behind them are discussed and recollections about gigs from the more drone-rock period to the present day are noted. 

Also discussed is how the early power electronics scene used far right imagery (Ramleh appeared on a cassette comp called ‘White Power’). It certainly looks incredibly dodgy in 2021 but, as Mundy makes it clear, it had nothing to do with supporting such vile ideologies and notes that most of the practitioners jettisoned this juvenile fixation for shock value as time went on.

Anyone expecting a debauched tale akin to Hammer of the Gods will be sorely disappointed. Gary Mundy has always run Ramleh alongside holding down a full-time job, so extensive touring has not been an option, plus the more obscure nature of the music (for the average chart music fan at least) meant that the audience was a much more selective (but no less intense) one. As a result, the narrative isn’t action packed with arguments, splits and ego, which may put off those with little to no knowledge about Ramleh or the milieu they emerged from.

For the fans, it is an absorbing and inspiring read, especially when reading about and listening to Ramleh’s more recent works due to them being some of the most ambitious and exciting of their careers. However, when one considers Mundy’s ‘can do’ attitude and endless enthusiasm for the arts (anyone who follows him on Facebook will know about his endless posts about music and films that he loves), it becomes apparent why this is the case and it makes the reader want to create something after reading Grudge for Life.

Possibly the best compliment one can offer an artist.

Richard Johnson, 2021, Grudge for Life - A Book About Ramleh, Fourth Dimension Publishing. ISBN-13: 9788394813826

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist. 

Grudge For Life

Christopher OwensWho’d have thought it?


Nearly forty years since Gary Mundy formed power electronics outfit Ramleh, the band are in better critical and (dare I say) commercial standing than ever before.

Taking its cue from industrial pioneers like Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire as well as the avant-garde works of Lou Reed and Stockhausen, power electronics was designed to up the ante in terms of musical intensity and nihilistic ugliness.

While TG may have sung about the Moors Murders on one hand, there was always a pretty melody somewhere which would bring a little light to proceedings. When it came to power electronics, bands like Whitehouse and Ramleh were having none of that. The melodies went out the window, the noise went up to infinity and the imagery became much uglier.

It was also, by and large, distributed on cassette tape. While a lot of this was down to the DIY nature of the scene (as it was cheaper and quicker to make cassettes than vinyl), it also tapped into the then fledging cassette culture which would play a big role in shaping the musical underground as the decade progressed. Freed from the financial constraints of having to make records for someone else, bands could make a recording, put it out on tape and bypass the traditional record industry. Hence the most violent, nasty and noisy music soon found a willing audience.

So, it was about time that someone stepped up to the plate and delivered a tome that puts Ramleh and the scene in context. It helps that Richard Johnson (owner of the Fourth Dimension label) is also a fellow traveler in the scene and is able to contextualise it for the outsider.

Presented as a series of Q and A sessions with Mundy, as well as taking in accounts from the likes of William Bennett (Whitehouse, Cut Hands), Phillip Best (Consumer Electronics, Simon Morris (Ceramic Hobs), Grudge for Life is a book carefully crafted with love and affection. Each release is noted, the intentions behind them are discussed and recollections about gigs from the more drone-rock period to the present day are noted. 

Also discussed is how the early power electronics scene used far right imagery (Ramleh appeared on a cassette comp called ‘White Power’). It certainly looks incredibly dodgy in 2021 but, as Mundy makes it clear, it had nothing to do with supporting such vile ideologies and notes that most of the practitioners jettisoned this juvenile fixation for shock value as time went on.

Anyone expecting a debauched tale akin to Hammer of the Gods will be sorely disappointed. Gary Mundy has always run Ramleh alongside holding down a full-time job, so extensive touring has not been an option, plus the more obscure nature of the music (for the average chart music fan at least) meant that the audience was a much more selective (but no less intense) one. As a result, the narrative isn’t action packed with arguments, splits and ego, which may put off those with little to no knowledge about Ramleh or the milieu they emerged from.

For the fans, it is an absorbing and inspiring read, especially when reading about and listening to Ramleh’s more recent works due to them being some of the most ambitious and exciting of their careers. However, when one considers Mundy’s ‘can do’ attitude and endless enthusiasm for the arts (anyone who follows him on Facebook will know about his endless posts about music and films that he loves), it becomes apparent why this is the case and it makes the reader want to create something after reading Grudge for Life.

Possibly the best compliment one can offer an artist.

Richard Johnson, 2021, Grudge for Life - A Book About Ramleh, Fourth Dimension Publishing. ISBN-13: 9788394813826

⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist. 

6 comments:

  1. "the most violent, nasty and noisy music"

    I fail to understand the attraction or maybe better to say I fail to identify with it. Taste, like thinking, is something society can't strip the individual from exercising.

    I read Hammer Of The Gods in the Blocks. Loved it. I have Richard Cole's in the house somewhere.

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    1. For me, it's a natural progression from (in order of me hearing them) the Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, AC/DC, Discharge and Napalm Death. I just wanted heavier and heavier music.

      Hammer... is a great read, although a good chunk of it is apocryphal, apparently.

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  2. I heard Sabbath before the Sex Pistols came along. I recall sitting in the summer sun in Magilligan in 75 listening to the loyalists blaring out Sabbath's Paranoid album. They were in the cage opposite and some of them were into that music. I need to find music intelligible and I never managed that with the death metal stuff which I always thought louder rather than heavier.
    Hammer I think was based around a lot of stories from Richard Cole. Zep say he spoofed. Cole was thick with Plant and came back from the US to the UK with him when Plant's young son died.

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    Replies
    1. Nothing wrong with intelligible music. For me, music like Ramleh is so enjoyable because it overloads the senses and produces a visceral reaction in the sense that it is so loud, so noisy and confrontational that it becomes euphoric.

      I think, with Zep, there's an element of truth when they complain about exaggeration. However, I also think there's an awful lot of downplaying for a variety of reasons!

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    2. These days I think the more mellow sound hits the sweet spot for me: pieces like Civil War's cover of Billie Jean.
      I'd reckon that's on the money about Zep. Despite all their criticism of Cole they invited him to one of their big events.

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  3. Well then what about the likes of John Fahey then:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReW9uUYm-DA

    ReplyDelete