Helen Reddington and Terry, at Women in Punk event. Amsterdam 18 June 2022
This photo shows Helen Reddington aka Helen McCallum aka Helen McCookerybook meeting Terry at the Women in Punk in the Netherlands event on 18 June 2022 in OCCII in Amsterdam.
They have known each other since the 1970s, when they were bass players/singers in the Brighton, England-based Chefs and the Leiden, the Netherlands-based Cheap ‘n’ Nasty, respectively.
Tony Troughton of Punks Not Dead Radio Show!! in England has written that next week he intends to play the title track of the Covergirl EP by Cheap ‘n’ Nasty again, having played it earlier.
At Rocking Fox Radio, Fridays at 8UK time & Sundays at 2am UK time & Mondays at 8UK time.
Zounds Melkweg Amsterdam 8 November 1980 poster
This poster, by Campi for the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, announced a 8 November 1980 concert by British band Zounds. The first Zounds EP had just come out on Crass Records.
Not on the poster, but also playing that night, were Cheap ‘n’ Nasty. For the first time, Terry played her new song Covergirl on bass to Maarten, Maria, Kees and Herman. The band immediately picked the song up, and played it during their set, and as an encore.
In 1981, Covergirl became the title track of the Cheap ‘n’ Nasty EP.
Ruts, Bugs Paradiso Amsterdam, December 1979 poster
This 1979 poster from Paradiso announces a 7 December concert by the Ruts from England and the Bugs from Amsterdam.
The Pin fanzine Ruts interview of that day is here, p. 10f.
The (later) Pin Bugs interview is here, p. 10; the fanzine by then had been re-named So What.
That night in Paradiso, Terry and Herman decided to found Cheap ‘n’ Nasty, contacting drummer Maarten and guitarist Rob from Sassenheim.
This video shows English punk band Rubella Ballet live, with Zillah Minx singing False Promises.
Zillah is not only a singer, but also a filmmaker. She made the film She’s a Punk Rocker, about women in punk in the UK.
She, and her partner/drumming bandmate Sid Truelove, are making a new film, She Rocks Punk, about women in punk worldwide.
From the Netherlands, she interviewed poetess and fanzine author Diana Ozon and Cheap ‘n’ Nasty bass/vocals Terry for that film. She got to know Terry in 1980 when they both stayed at the Poison Girls’ place just east of London. There are plans to have Terry’s interview online soon. Sid Truelove is asking Terry for a singing contribution to the film.
You can contribute financially to this new film at patreon.com/sherockspunk.
Unfortunately, Zillah is now in a long recovery process from having two broken ribs. Sid wrote that receiving a bunch of flowers in Rubella Ballet colours, pink and purple, sent by Cheap ‘n’ Nasty vocalists Terry and Herman through a Leiden flower shop, cheered former florist Zillah up.
Cheap ‘n’ Nasty, 6 April 1980, Levendaal 101
On 5 April 2022, in a basement, two audio cassettes by Cheap ‘n’ Nasty were rediscovered: our second concert on 6 April 1980 in Levendaal 101 squat in Leiden, and another one where I don’t know yet what is on it.
The setlist of what we played in April 1980:
1. Back at square one. 2. Living in a middle-class neighbourhood. 3. I got rabies. 4. Thalidomide (song sent at the request of Crass to Crass Records for inclusion on the first Bullshit Detector sampler LP. Later, Crass Records decided to have only UK bands on the album). 5. Fool’s Lesson (written by Maarten, who could not play that night. Wim of Munk the Punk and his Flying Testicles replaced him as drummer. He didn’t know our songs and played at half speed). 6. No more violence on TV (only song of the set which would later be recorded on our Covergirl EP). 7. Test tube babies (not the song of that name by the Plasmatics).
Women in punk 18 June 2022 poster
Dr Helen Reddington aka Helen McCookerybook will be the interviewer at the keynote panel of the Saturday 18 June Punk Scholars Network Netherlands conference day in OCCII in Amsterdam. The theme of that day is Women in punk in the Netherlands.
She will interview four women, representing four punk waves in the Netherlands, from the 1970s beginning till today.
First, 1977, wave: Terry of Cheap ‘n’ Nasty. Late 20th century: Wick of Bambix. Early 21st century: Andrea Gálova of De Fatwa’s. Most recent, 2020s wave; Emma Paulissen of Moron.
Read, see and hear more here.
In 1979, the Clash wrote London Calling.
This video shows them playing the song live.
Now, in 2022, the surviving Clash members have given permission to Ukrainian band Beton (‘concrete’ in Ukrainian) to make a recording of their tune, with new lyrics by Beton on the military aggression by Russian Federation armed forces.
Titled Kyiv Calling, here is the Beton video.
Cheap ‘n’ Nasty 1981 Ipswich concert setlist
This is the setlist of the 7 August 1981 Cheap ‘n’ Nasty concert in Ipswich.
On that day, the tiny car of Cheap of Nasty bass/female lead vocals Terry went aboard the Hoek van Holland ferry to Harwich, England. That ferry was then owned by the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland company. Four band members fitted just narrowly into the car. Saxophonist Raphaelle Devins could not go along because of lack of space.
Terry drove us from Harwich to Ipswich, to play at the local Kingfisher pub. Local band the Adicts were among the audience.
Our setlist then: 1. Back to square one. 2. Sirens. 3. Living in a middle-class neighbourhood 4. Rock star. 5. I got rabies. 6. Leather jacket. 7. I don’t like it. 8. Forever (not the later Siouxsie and the Banshees and Maid of Ace songs of that name). 9. No more violence on TV (on our Covergirl EP). 10. Test tube babies (‘The Plasmatics song?’ Plasmatics guitarist Wesley Beech asked. No, a different song).
Encore: 11. Martian invasion. 12. Covergirl.
We spent the night on mattresses on floors of the home of the parents of Phil Cheeseman, then editor of the local Anti-Climax fanzine. Next day, we went to London, for our Sounds interview, for replenishing the Rough Trade stock of our Covergirl EPs, for replenishing Terry’s stock of hair dye from the hair dye shop next to Rough Trade, and a Ruts DC concert in the evening.
Film Stories from the She Punks, by Helen Reddington and Gina Birch
This is a poster for the British film Stories from the She Punks, by Chefs bass/vocals Helen Reddington and Raincoats bass/vocals Gina Birch.
It is one of quite some films about punk. Soon, a new movie from the Netherlands will be added.
Today, Amsterdam film-maker Sohna Sumbunu mailed me that the film she is making with her fellow film academy students Sarah and Sierra will be finished very soon. Its title is Punk For Life.
It is a short documentary including re-enactments of 1980 scenes about early punk in the Netherlands. Specifically, when Amsterdam guitarist/singer Karla aka Pebbles Willekes (of Motorboat, City Squad, etc.) came to Leiden for rehearsing with Cheap ‘n’ Nasty. There was a plan that Pebbles would join the band to play in England. But these concerts were cancelled. That trip to London did lead to Crass Records asking Cheap ‘n’ Nasty to contribute a song to the first Bullshit Detector sampler LP. And to meeting Zounds: which led to a joint Zounds/Cheap ‘n’ Nasty tour of Belgium, the Netherlands and Berlin in November 1980.
In the re-enactment scenes in Punk For Life, Cheap ‘n’ Nasty members don’t play themselves. Eg, Cheap ‘n’ Nasty bass/vocals Terry is played by young punk bassist/vocalist Emma Paulissen (one centimetre shorter than Terry).
Cheap 'n' Nasty 