Peter Irving is a legend in many circles. Pro MMA fighter who is antifascist and anarchist, coach and most importantly great person. Interview originally appeared in Polish language in Alerta zine #4.
You are without a doubt a very accomplished fighter. When did you start your martial arts journey?
I started late, at 20, or 21 years old. Too late to become a great fighter. I was okay, a good fighter, but was never going to be a great.
Since being a small child I had dreamed of being a commando. I was convinced that I was going to be an elite soldier. I used to get camouflage gear and army surplus equipment, read everything I could find about warfare, camp out in the woods and train myself in survival and all that kind of stuff to prepare myself for going to war. Childish boys stuff. Once I hit the teenage years where you start to realise that the world is more complex and started to question things, I realised of course that we’re not ‘the good guys’.
I think it started when I watched the old BBC documentary ‘World at war’. It’s a very good series that’s stood the test of time, narrated by Lawrence Olivier. It was the first frank, un-romanticised account of WW2 I had seen or read, and documented the war crimes of the RAF and the psychopathy of Bomber Harris, amongst other complexities of the conflict that challenged the ‘Goodies vs. Baddies’ narrative that characterises the popular view that still abides today in British culture. Of course I was forced to abandon that ambition once I took a pacifist stance, and I think the weight of those realisations and being unable to pursue what I had thought was my destiny left me a bit depressed and directionless. It took a while to find a way to fill the void, but being a prizefighter seemed to offer the same lifestyle of discipline and the chance to be considered elite in some respect. Prizefighting is about the most honourable way one can reconcile with the ignoble parts of our natures. Essentially, I just had an irresistible urge to hurt people, and finding other people who were agreeable to the idea seemed the only moral course.
What would you say were your greatest achievements in martial arts?
I dunno, I stopped a Heavyweight in my last MMA fight, that was probably my biggest ambition fulfilled. You know, it’s all history. Every bout seemed to matter so much at the time, but they’re all relegated to obscurity now. It was a great time, but it’s dangerous to stay living in the past. That goes for anyone, but it’s real easy trap for athletes, and generally leads to the bottom of a bottle.
The best advice I got came a little too late. “Nobody actually gives a fuck about YOU. What they care about is how you make them feel about themselves.” Obviously that’s not a universal truism, plenty of people genuinely care for me, but specific to sports and particularly fighters, it’s absolutely true. When you lose sometimes, or when it’s all over, it becomes painfully obvious. That’s why you have to let it go as soon as you can bring yourself to, otherwise you’re just inhabiting the corpse of a dead man, and experiencing the decay.
Now my job is to coach, and hopefully the greatest achievement will be that I’ll have some lasting impact on some individuals – take them to real success, and leave them as well rounded people without taking too much out of them along the way there. I’d love to sell some trite line about selflessly paying it forward to others being the greatest reward, but honestly I’m not that big of a man. It’s the runners up prize. All I really wanted was to beat Georges St.Pierre haha!
I know that you also suffered some serious injuries during your career. If you could do it again, would you do anything different or would you still do everything same way you did?
The things that happened in actual bouts, there’s not much I could have changed. I got partially blinded by a thumb in the eye in the semi-finals of an 8 man tournament at Cagewarriors. The cornerman I had didn’t have the right level of experience. I had to tell him to put the endswell on the eye when we got back to the dressing rooms. Somebody started talking to me while he was doing it and I was distracted from directing him. By the time I realised he was pushing the iron towards the eye rather than away from it, it was too late. The eye swelled shut like Rocky, and the Doctor at the emergency room refused to treat me because I stupidly admitted that I had been prizefighting.
I got some fractures from headbutts around my eye socket that turned my face numb on one side. I fought a guy with loaded gloves when I was kickboxing abroad, and I got vertigo after the bout, perhaps from concussion or perhaps due to a perforated eardrum. Obviously it would have been better if I had defended myself better, but I did the best I could manage, and it’s par for the course. If those potential penalties weren’t there, then the thrill wouldn’t be either. Anyone could do it. I only really got the bad injuries in sanctioned bouts from foul blows and illegally wrapped hands.
The majority of the damage I sustained was from the schedule I tried to keep, and I probably gave myself overtraining syndrome. I had a few illnesses, glandular fever, swine flu. I nearly died from a botched weight cut that resulted in organ failure. I should have taken time off and healed, but I was immersed in the ‘mind over matter’ notion and thought I could push through and keep competing. Ultimately I just shortened my career by years and underperformed.
The culture of excessive hard sparring we had back then took a few years off me too. There was little division in the weight of training partners that we worked with, and the light-heavyweights and Heavyweights didn’t moderate their force against the lighter guys. It made us tough, but it was a very counter productive culture with respects to longevity or delivering teammates to the bout uninjured. There was far too much stock put on the pecking order within the gym, and teammates would deliberately injure others given the chance. One guy was in my corner, worked me over in the warm up room, and made an injury I had going in to the bout worse, costing me the match. One big guy spiked me on my head out of red mist, and I was never the same again. They were fucking arseholes to be honest. If I could go back and do it over I would have found better educated training partners I suppose, but they were the best fighters around in my area, so it seemed like the best thing to do. A lot of them were schooled in Thailand, and learned how teammates were treated there, without perhaps appreciating that the Thais disliked them for being ‘Farang”, and wanted to prove that foreigners were inferior, or at least didn’t want to teach them. A lot of them were neglected or abused by trainers, and thought it was normal behaviour and passed it down the line. It was similar for me at times in Brazil, before the BJJ tourism boom happened, just as Muay Thai tourism became business in Thailand.
We talk a lot more about brain injury these days, and there’s a little more known about it, but truthfully there’s not a great deal more knowledge. We’ve always known. The only real difference now is that we say ‘CTE’ instead of ‘punchy’. We just didn’t care. I didn’t think I was destined to live this long and so I never anticipated having to pay the piper. In the end though, there are plenty of sports to play that don’t involve getting hit, and if you can’t handle the heat – get out of the kitchen.
You spent some time living and training in Brasil. I recall reading some awesome tales from your time there. You seemed to have shared mats with some top fighters as well. I understand that it might be a difficult question to give short answer to, but can you tell us some more about your time there? How did you end up there in first place?
I had started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu already, so I told my friend, a Brazilian guy I knew from the Punk scene. Turned out hew was a blue belt with Crezio de Souza, from the legendary Carlson Gracie team of the 80’s/early 90’s. When Crezio came over to visit him I couldn’t believe this little guy had fought Dan Henderson, and even fought Heavyweights. I suppose I had little man syndrome, and that was the appeal of Jiu-Jitsu to me: the promise of being able to beat the bigger man. Crezio was my hero instantly because of that, and I told him I wanted to come and learn from him. Looking back I think he just thought I was talking shit, but he kept his promise when I arrived. I never really understood why he bothered with me. I had no money and no talent, but he trained me for free and made all the arrangements to help me stay and train.
Recently he made a video telling stories about Carlson Gracie, and welled up a bit when he told the story about Carlson sharing his food with him. He was from the favela, so he had no money, and he hadn’t eaten for some days. I can only assume he helped me because Carlson helped him. I got a lot of help from strangers in Brazil. Their hospitality was just incredible. It changed my whole outlook on the world. Actually learning to fight was the least valuable part of my time there. I had no faith in humanity before that time, and I don’t think I would have recovered it without the people there.
It’s a country with some horrendous social problems, famously so. Corruption and inequality that’s even bad by South American standards, but I challenge anyone not to fall in love with the place. I often wish I had never returned to the U.K.
You are running your own MMA gym. Do you manage to survive during the pandemic somehow or is there a danger of your losing your business? It seems like despite all this madness going on you managed to prepare your fighters to win in Bellator etc. How did you manage that?
It’s a precarious situation, but we’re surviving thus far. Fortunately my guys could prepare for Bellator as they’re brothers that live together, so they had nothing else to do but train and had a training partner on hand.
The guys from the gym have continued to financially support as much as they can to ensure the facility is still there when we can return. It’s been a revelation how much people are actually dedicated to the gym.
Moving to politics- did you always consider yourself an anarchist and antifascist or did it come later?
I was interested in Anarchist theory from being a teenager, and read whatever literature I could get my hands on. That was a large part of the reason I was attracted to Punk rock. Actually though, once in the Punk scene here it was quite apparent that the political aspect was mostly confused or lacking, and the shouts of ‘Anarchy!’ were just sloganeering in lyrics, or just referred to a melange of nihilism and apathy rather than any sort of real anarchist thinking. I left that life very disillusioned and struck out more or less ignoring politics.
When I got deeply absorbed into fighting I was pretty much hiding from the world, or rather just interacting with the world on the strict terms of training and combat. It sounds odd in some respect, in that it’s a very hard way of life, but it rather provided me with an easy way to exist without having to confront real, complex, greater problems in the world. By creating an essentially artificial set of problems that are very personal and immediate, I had a very clear way to deal with and solve problems each day. Being absolutely single minded in a sport like this, being so consumed by it, was a great relief from the pressures of the real world.
In the end I got what I needed from fighting, and feeling stronger from it I was able to see fighting as simply an occupation rather than an entire life, and was able to look outwards again and express my ideological views a little more without fearing disagreements or repercussions.
You are not hiding your politics too much- did you ever have any problems in the martial arts circles because of it? Any serious clashes?
Surprisingly, nothing at all yet. I rather feel it’s overdue, so I’m trying not to be complacent. It’ll come one day, but you know, I’m always ready.
Most likely if the gym is attacked, it will be during the night when nobody is there. That’s just a chance you take by being open, and if it happens we can rebuild. It’s more things like refusing to work with Khadyrov’s ACA, things like that, that will make some fighters choose other gyms. That’s okay, not a big problem for me.
You seem to be a regular visitor to Poland, refereeing at Freedom Fighters, giving seminars etc. How did this cooperation start?
Through Kamil Siemaszko. He just got in touch with me. I think I came to his attention when I was objecting to Nikko Puhakka’s scheduled appearance in Ireland. He invited me for the Freedom Fighters tournament, and I just had no idea what it would be like. They picked me up from the airport and drove me down to Rozbrat. I was in the back of the van with all these big, hard looking Polish guys, and we turned off the road and down a dark lane. It occurred to me, ‘shit, I don’t know if these are really the guys from the crew or not. They could be taking me into the woods to put a bullet in my head for all I know.’ When I saw all the punk rock stickers all over the armoured gates I breathed a sigh of relief haha!
When they said it’s in a squat, I had a very different vision of what it would be like. It’s a really beautiful place, it has this ‘genius loci’, all creativity and energy. It’s really something special. I just love it there. Every time I go back I feel like I only left yesterday, even though the visits are a year apart. It’s kind of a magical quality the place has.
What do you think about movement in Poland as far as you can tell?
I’m very impressed with the level of and broad scope of activity, and the connectivity and cooperation between crews from different cities and regions, and neighbouring nations. I love the way that the movement is really embedded in the community in some sense. There’s a lot to learn from studying the Polish way.
What is your opinion on the Red Gym scene in UK? Do you see a potential in it?
It’s a tricky one. Of course, I feel I should be positive. I love to see training groups being formed, tournaments being arranged etc., I’ve met some great people this way both abroad and in the UK. However, I am a fanatic about martial arts, an elitist. I expect excellence, or at least the pursuit of excellence.
In terms of teaching and training, I am all in favour of grassroots, DIY self organisation, from an ideological standpoint. As a professional though, it’s an art and a craft that needs a good professional to just teach someone how to stand, how to breathe, then how to move, long before you ought to get involved in experimentation and self guidance. You can ruin someone’s potential by failing to build a solid foundation. Unfortunately many won’t have access to a good professional trainer and team locally, at least without compromising ideals and principles.
When it comes to competing- fighting is a hard, hard pursuit, and it’s simply not for everyone. There is often something to be said for staying in your lane, and there are many facets to anti-fascism that some people are better suited to and should not fool themselves that they have any business getting between the ropes, or in a cage or on the tatame; or worse still – an actual street confrontation. It takes a long time to become proficient at martial arts, a lot of hours and effort and pain, just to acquire the bare basics. Some people will never have what it takes to fight well, and it’s better to know that than to play games and kid yourself you can have a go. I see a great value in holding tournaments of boxing, Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, of course. But if it’s going to be effective it has to be actual fighting. I’m not a supporter of semi-contact style, no decision bouts. If it’s to be an effective tool, it must be done hard and real.
There was an HBO T.V. series produced maybe 15-20 years back, called Rome. It wasn’t exactly ‘I Claudius’, but not bad soap opera-esque entertainment. The main protagonists are a duo of Roman Legionaries, who find some acclaim on campaign, and arriving back in Rome find themselves employed as the bodyguard of the young future emperor Octavian. There was one particularly memorable scene, when the bodyguard arrives to give Octavian his daily training in fencing. Octavian refuses to train, and his trainer offers up some encouragement about his potential. The future Caesar tells him : “At best I’ll be a middling swordsman”, and Pullo tries to console him: “It’s better than nothing.” Octavian corrects him:
“There you are wrong. The graveyards are full of middling swordsmen. Best not to be a swordsman at all than a middling swordsman.”
Fighters know this to be true. A lazy, or tired jab is worse than not punching, as you open up your defence and will be counterpunched. Playing games with fighting is an insult to the artistry of it, and an own goal if it is seen. Any imagery that is released of Antifascist fighting has to be a source of intimidation to our ideological enemies. Misguided efforts and low-level training can and will be seized upon to characterise us as the ‘cuck soy boys’ of the right wing imagination.
Can you elaborate a bit more? It’s definitely an interesting point, but also somethingI can’t agree with fully. In my opinion training can always be useful, even if it’s not perfect.
To clarify my sentiments on training martial arts – when I suggest ‘staying in your lane’, that’s not intended as an insult. I’m really talking about playing to your talents. After all, we live in the Information Age, and the biggest ‘fights’ of anti-fascism are the battle for discovering an illuminating truths – gathering intelligence, monitoring and exposing fascists, dispelling misinformation, organising, spreading good ideas and so on. Actual physical confrontation is in some sense reserved for when those other efforts have been incomplete or unsuccessful, and is the least preferable option. The end game for anti-fascism is of course not to have victories over ideological enemies, but to ultimately have no enemy to combat. Of course that means pushing the current crop out of the picture, but essentially hinges on killing their recruitment and leaving their ideas and leaving their ideology discredited and in the past where it belongs as a monument to human fallibility. That takes a multi-layered strategy, only a small part of which is the physical. You can see it as the tip of the spear, or the foundation, depending on your perspective, but it’s still the smallest part.
It’s important not to romanticise or fantasise about combat, especially if we’re talking about outside of sport. It’s an ugly thing, just a job that needs doing; not a thing to be glamorised or valued over the more mundane jobs. It’s just a learned skill like everything else, and like everything else some people have greater or lesser predisposition and for it and potential to excel at it.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t paint unless you’re the next Mattise, but you probably shouldn’t open a gallery either. You shouldn’t stop cooking for yourself just because you’re not Pierre Gagnare, but you might not want to open a restaurant if you’re not great. The same can be said for fighters. Health, fitness and strength, and the acquisition of skill ought to be part of everyone’s life, and most certainly belongs in an anarchist lifestyle. It’s just important to know what you are actually attempting to accomplish and being certain of one’s own capabilities. For some people that is always going to mean staying behind the lines, hiding behind someone bigger at the appropriate moments, knowing when to run, and maybe wielding a camera or a computer instead of your fists in the moment of truth. Martial arts is after all, when practiced properly, not the art of throwing fists and feet but the art of strategy. The practice of martial arts should illuminate greater truths about strategy in general. For our purposes it must be chess, not chequers.
I want to be clear that I don’t mean to be discouraging. Whilst not everyone is cut out for physical combat, any experienced trainer will tell you that it’s often the most unlikely people that become the champions, and the most promising prospects that are the biggest disappointments. I have one friend that lost her first few bouts and used to burst into tears in the dressing room, and went on to become a great champion. I had one student that ended up with a top ten ranking in MMA, boxed professionally for several bouts, fought Thai opposition in Thailand etc. He told me years afterwards that he used to stand outside the gym for five or ten minutes each day, feeling sick and nervous about what was going to happen to him in sparring with us. He made it in the end though, because he had the stuff. Something deep inside of his nature. It’s really up to you. All I mean to communicate is the gravity of the undertaking.
I got to ask you this question. Tell us what you think about Jeff Monson? A lot of people in the West still seem to think he is some sort of committed antifascist fighter.
Well, the back story to my problem with Monson is this – He was booked for seminar with our friends from Greece, and received an advance on expenses to purchase his own flights at his end. When he cancelled, he failed to refund the advance, and eventually cut off contact after promising to reschedule or give recompense. This was all years ago.
I pursued him a little through social media, but it’s hard to know which accounts are actually ran by him, or if they’re managed by assistants, or just fan pages. I’ve heard a few stories of him doing similar things, some which just paint him as unreliable, others as dishonest. After watching his departure from any pretence of Anarchist ideals and entry in to mainstream Russian politics, I just thought ‘fuck him’, and when I discovered some active social media accounts I just trolled him a little bit. Asking politely had got me no response, so I just took a few cheap digs about his steroid use and hugging Putin’s nuts etc., just to provoke him to reply. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t that hard to push his buttons.
He claimed that he had never been in touch with our Greek comrades, and that it was all the work of a manager that had also defrauded him personally. I can’t prove or disprove his claims, though the story didn’t add up. Honestly though, if it were me, and even it had indeed been the work of an unscrupulous manager, I would have taken the sum out of my own pocket and repaid it just to save my reputation. In the grand scheme of things it wasn’t an extraordinary sum of money. It was quite apparent early on that he had no intention of compensating the Thessaloniki crew, but I just worked my ticket with him to expose him a little, and to amuse myself if I’m honest.
In the end, my take on Jeff is this : A lot us were very excited that we had a leftist icon at such a high level, with that amount of exposure in a sport that is dominated by the right wing- from athletes, to fans, to promoters. Seeing a guy headlining UFC events, disputing world titles, then facing down riot cops at protests, and projecting an image of serious strength all the while sporting an anarchist black and red star – that seemed to promise us collectively a space in a sport that is such an easy fit for, and is dominated by the right wing, and equally presents ideological challenges for us. I’ve never been a real fan of heavyweight fighting, as a matter of personal taste, but I was as happy he was out there as everyone else in the scene. Ultimately, I think it was unfair of us both collectively and individually to project our values and our hopes on to Jeff as a person, but it was hard to resist. I don’t think he was ever a particularly astute individual, nor perhaps that well schooled in political theory. After all, he sported the Hammer and Sickle all along next to the Anarchist star. I don’t know if he ever was ever able to comprehend the contradictions or not, but he did give a talk at an Anarchist venue in Manchester in the early 2000’s, opposite the SBG gym, and it was rambling, inconclusive affair. His response to an audience question about reconciling anti-capitalist values with working for a corporate entertainment entity like Zuffa was to say the least, lacking much insight, and belied his lack of education or consideration on these matters.
I don’t know him personally, but I understand the dilemmas and challenges facing pro fighters of our era, and I think he’s embraced whoever offered him what seemed to be the best opportunities with largely good intentions, though perhaps with some great naivety. I’m not intending to get some publicity by setting myself up as having some beef with Monson. There are real, authentic enemies out there that need our time and energy spent on them, rather than pursuing what is ostensibly infighting. I’m just sad that he wasn’t the man I hoped he was, and that’s as much my fault as his for looking at a tattoo and assuming it meant the same to him as to me. I would say that it appears he may indeed be a devout Soviet communist, but certainly not an anarchist, and if anyone is still a fan of him on the assumption that his tattoo is a representation of that, then sadly you too, like me, need to turn in your cards.
It’s like when you are a child, or a teenager, and you’ve committed some transgression so bad that your mother or father refuses to even get angry- and the punishment therefore is worse. ‘I’m not mad – I’m just disappointed’.
You know BJJ scene pretty well. There is no hiding that there are some people with incredibly dodgy politics and world views there. Would you say it’s mainly USA and Brasil that suffers from it on such scale or is it an issue everywhere else as well?
In Brazil the history of Jiu-Jitsu is steeped in class division, and has always courted the Military elites, high ranking Police and Politicians. That was in some respects purely economics, trying to get paid for the knowledge from those who might benefit either practically or in terms of image. Perhaps there’s a connection with the Samurai culture of militaristic elitism and such that was imported from Japan along with the techniques.
The organisation of `Jiu-Jitsu with it’s ranks and uniforms, it’s very purpose of taking control of another person against their will – it’s all a perfect fit for the right wing. All the more reason, I rather feel, not to let them have it. Whatever the reason, I think it’s more prevalent in Brazil and the USA, but it exists to some extent in Jiu-Jitsu circles in the UK. Not in terms of actual, out and out fascists, but in the more subtle way. There’s very little in the way of proper committed fascist belief amongst people in Jiu-Jitsu or MMA circles, certainly not amongst anyone notable or influential. There’s plenty evidence of flirting with and approving of the sort of opaque, nearly photo-fascist Trumpist, or alt-right adjacent figures and ideas. Because these notions are so deliberately vague with built in obfuscation and plausible deniability, it’s hard to pinpoint.
Take for example the case of the Nazi from Leipzig having his UFC contract cancelled, and the ensuing outcry from fans and other athletes desperate to forgive and accept his proclamation of ‘a reformed character’. Or the self-monikered ’Swamp Nazi’, the guy who appeared at an IBJJF tournament and his Swastika prison tattoo was exposed. The ensuing discussion on the prominent UK BJJ forum started with a rake of offers of alternative symbology, the old ‘perhaps it’s a Hindu peace symbol. Did you know the history of the symbol…..’ Haha! Then it was followed by a heap of folks who were desperate to accept his reformed character excuse, because everyone deserves a second chance, and ought to be forgiven for their youthful indiscretions. His supposed reform was based on the word of his instructor, a man unknown to all. A quick search revealed the ‘White House BJJ’ was ran by a former US Army sniper, who’s BJJ website advertised him as having served in ‘The war on terror’. He’d then got into law enforcement, and whilst working as a cop had been in the news for crashing into a static car in the parking lot of a strip club he was fleeing over a disputed bill in the early hours of the morning.
It turns out that the BJJ competitor in question – he’d done jail for an unprovoked gang beating of a young Latino man, whilst shouting “White Power!”, and had a penchant for driving his confederate flag flying pick-up truck around town to broadcast white nationalist rhetoric through a loudspeaker system.
Undeterred, the discussion moved to ‘but the left are worse! Let’s check statistics on the holocaust vs. the Gulag/cultural revolution etc. etc. You know the same old Facebook shit. The percentage that were outraged was particularly small, and even amongst a good percentage of those who we can quite safely assume to be perfectly non-racist, were comfortable enough with the inclusion of a Nazi, even with his crimes revealed, on the grounds that ‘sport and politics don’t mix.’ The understanding that allowing Nazi’s to participate in sport legitimises them as a credible political viewpoint has somehow been entirely forgotten.
Really I would have to say that MMA, Muay Thai and BJJ gyms here in the U.K. have a pretty typical representation of the country’s political outlooks, almost all mainstream regardless of the leaning. What the response to the Nazi in BJJ or MMA stories tell us is not really anything about the direction of the martial arts scene, but rather the general tilt of the British public’s thinking. It’s not that there is yet acceptance of Naziism as a legitimate stance, but just this odd desire exists to forgive and offer second chances to white supremacists; whilst at the same time supporting the stripping of citizenship of the groomed 15 year old girl that ran off to Isis; which in turn meant the abandonment of her infant, who subsequently died while the mother was left stateless. In general folks have bought lock-stock into the right’s co-option of the ‘Freedom of speech’ clarion call, and this backlash against perceived ‘cancel culture’.
We have as a nation lapsed from the understanding that Nazi’s are not intellectuals to be reasoned with, but fucking kid murderer shitbags that need slapped and silenced.
I wouldn’t say it’s doom and gloom by any stretch though. On balance I feel that wherever gyms may somehow be a vehicle for influencing people toward the right, there’s a greater number of people that are mixing with and forming friendships and respect with other racial and cultural backgrounds and it generally fosters understanding, solidarity and peace. Although there are few deliberately ‘red gyms’, it’s a very universal experience in most gyms I see. One gym I used to fight for was founded in the same town that gave birth to the National Front. Racial tensions between black and white and traveller communities there have always ran high there and continue to do so. I really believe the gym was pivotal in diffusing many incidents. There were boys there that became teammates that could well have been stabbing each other on the street were it not for the gym. This is a classic story that you see in towns and cities all over the world.
Moving away from the martial arts- I have seen pictures of you with a giant mohawk, singing in some band. Tell us more about your punk past.
Yeah! I played in a couple of punk bands. My first band really sucked, but we did support acts for Oxymoron the UK Subs and Oi Polloi, and some others, which was great fun at the time. I was in another band that opened for the Damned. We were called C.S. Gas, and the local newspaper published a headline shortly after we cut our first demo tape, that read ‘Police use C.S. Gas to end siege’, after someone took some hostages at gun point in our neighbourhood. Obviously, all our friends came round with a copy of the paper, held it up and said – “The cops only had to play the first two songs off your shit album and the poor bastard came out with his hands up!” Hahaha!
Anything you would like to say to readers of ALERTA?
Just some clichés – train hard, never give up, and thank you all for fighting the good fight.
Thanks a lot for the interview Peter.