Welcome to Papaskin's lil corner of the internet

 UNIFIED PRIDE VIDEO and SKINFLINT PRESS proudly present SKINHEAD CROSS CULTURE...A documentary by and for skins.

 
From Skinhead Reggae, Ska, and 2 Tone to Punk, Oi and Hardcore...
Featuring: IRON CROSS, THE AGGROLITES, MURPHY'S LAW, THE DEAD END BOYS, THE TEMPLARS, BLUEKILLA, KEYSIDE STRIKE, and PATRIOT with additional music by MINOR THREAT, PERKELE, SKINFLICKS, DARKBUSTER and AML.

Shot on location in Baltimore, MD, Washington D.C., Chapel Hill, NC, Munich, Germany and Darlington, U.K.
Coming to DVD: 2009
Click image to visit official website (under construction) 

For a young Sarfraz Manzoor football meant racism and fear. For Cass Pennant, it meant a sense of belonging. They discuss Cass, a new film about his remarkable life

I was a teenager during the 1980s, uninterested in football and suspicious of the ferocious tribal loyalty it inspired. The football ground in my hometown, Luton, was located in the heart of the Asian community and on Saturday afternoons our parents would warn us to be home before the football match ended. The day would be meticulously planned, so that all the shopping and errands could be completed in good time, before quarter to five. We would then wait at the bus stop, willing the bus to arrive to take us safely home, desperate not to be stranded in town when the fans filed out from the terraces.

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A NON-POLITICAL CHANNEL FOR TRADITIONAL SKINS: Presenting video content that reflects the shared values of true skinheads around the world (regardless of race, nationality or religion). Celebrating over 40 years of Working Class culture!

The anti-racist group’s mentality of ‘work to live’ and not ‘live to work’ emphasizes their desire to ride scooters, dance, drink and chase skirts until they die.

“We stand and fight, back to back. We take no shit, we stay strong, we stick together and we deal with it. We use heads and not our fist unless we’re pushed....as one we’ll fight and win!” — lyrics from the song, “Back to Back,” by Underdog.

Tom Paszkiewicz’s MySpace page is littered with references to scooters, skinheads and the punk scene. His number one friend is listed as the Crusaders Scooter Corp., a page that is an homage to beer drinking, sectarian militancy and scooter riding. Paszkiewicz, member of King City Firm and the Crusaders Scooter Club, describes himself as not a regular civilian type, but a man deeply ingrained in a sub-culture of social outsiders.

Paszkiewicz’s unapologetic attitude is not to be confused with the white-power movement. He’s a non-racial skinhead, a small fraternity of pro-national, anti-society scooter fanatics, who ride vintage Vespas and listen to punk and ska music.

“Skinhead is part of the punk rock scene,” Paszkiewicz said. “It may have taken its name from the English, but it has definitely been influenced by the American punk.”

Mike Benjamin, 2006 graduate and former Lawrence skinhead, said the skinhead movement started with young English boys protecting their neighborhoods and became a backlash to the long-haired hippies of 1960’s America. Neo-Nazis adopted the name and haircut in the 1980s, forcing a rigid distinction between the two groups.

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Chris, the bloke who runs the myspace site "A way of life", has started his own skinhead website, more of a magazine site. He's done a few interviews including one with yours truly - if anybody is interested - link below: http://www.skinheadawayoflife.com/

Skinhead regards,

Shaz 

Thirty years after Rock Against Racism, some of its survivors join the younger generation to show how much – or how little – has changed

I've been mugged three times in London. Now, looking at it objectively, spread over 20 years of living in one of the world's most crowded cities, that's not a bad tally. The trouble is this: every time, the perpetrators were young, male and black. On the third and most serious occasion, I was clubbed on the head with a metal bar, dragged into an alley, and held with a knife to my neck by one guy while his accomplice raided £500 from my bank account.

What do I "do" with that? The progressive thing to do is, if not write it off as a statistical blip, at least place it in the context of wider sociological factors. But one's intellectual and visceral responses are two different things, and as a committed anti-racist I was shocked to find myself flinching every time a young black male (particularly if dressed in a particular fashion) passed me in the street. Maybe I shouldn't have thrown that victim counselling leaflet in the bin.

This is precisely why Love Music Hate Racism needs to exist. Will Self, answering a question about Martin Amis at a recent talk, opined that "everyone is a little bit racist", and if even someone as scrupulously egalitarian as myself can experience such feelings, then it doesn't take a genius to work out how the combined effects of anecdotal incidents like mine, tabloid hysteria about gang warfare, and irresponsible politicians using words like "swamped" might drive large sections of the white working class into the all too eager arms of the BNP.

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Iron Cross was an early `80s hardcore/Oi! act with links to the Dischord scene, a fairly groundbreaking band for skinhead culture in the US. Though they never actually had a release on Dischord Records, the band's close ties with Ian Mackaye landed them a spot on 1982's fabled Flex Your Head compilation. Their only other real output came in the form of a few EPs, the last of which came in 1983, with false accusations of racist leanings supposedly leading frontman Sab Grey to break up the band. So as far as anyone can tell, this is their first new material in almost 25 years. 2 Piece and a Biscuit is actually a split release between Iron Cross and Grey's other project, the Royal Americans, who contribute songs from their 2004 release, Third Left on the Right.

The EP opens up with "Pride and Freedom," and frankly, it feels redundant calling any of these songs "working class anthems" but that's exactly what this song is. And what do you know, it's a pretty great song. You'll find your fist pumping along with the cheesy, given "Oi!"s and singing along with Grey's oddly Springsteen-esque holler. The band is operating fully at mid-tempo, but it's not like they were ever the most speedy outfit anyway. None of Iron Cross's other songs here match the feel-good vibes of the first song, but the fact that "I Don't Love You Any More," "Running Riot" and "Catch Your Grave (demo)" is mostly a better produced and more professional sounding version of their younger selves is pretty admirable. Granted, there are some sure rock'n'roll vibes for the chorus of "Running Riot," but old fans -- and anyone who follows Oi!'s most popular followers -- might just get a kick out of these songs.

Sab Grey's last three with his Royal Americans band is a more Americana/Cash-type deal. The bizarro highlight is a downbeat cover of the Specials' "Skinhead Girl" done in the style of Cash; it's just weird. "Wasted in DC" is an Oi!-backed rockabilly affair and "Ship of Sorrow" another semi-haunting country shuffle in the vein of Johnny and June. Overall, these songs are alright, but I'd much rather hear a few more Iron Cross songs, or at least a more linear approach.

All told, not at all a bad comeback. A lot of people would definitely question the quality if early `80s acts like Minor Threat or Negative Approach tried recording new material so long after the fact, but at least one band of the era has managed some very competent new takes.

STREAM
Iron Cross - Pride and Freedom
Iron Cross - I Don't Love You Any More
Iron Cross - Catch Your Grave (demo)
Sab Grey and the Royal Americans - Skinhead Girl
Sab Grey and the Royal Americans - Wasted in DC