 "Photo: Blue Ghost Publicity")
In 1976, then 14-year-old Ari Up met Palmolive at a Patti Smith concert and the pair agreed to form a band. Thirty years later, Ari and her band, the Slits, now considered one of the most seminal punk acts of all time, are cruising across the country on a reunion tour, which makes a stop in Austin this Saturday, Nov. 11, at Emo's. Catching up with the gang as they sat in their cramped tour van, The Daily Texan had an opportunity to speak with Up about where she'd been the past couple of decades.
"Living in Jamaica and making my solo records, of course!" she said, which makes sense as the Slits' mixture of reggae, dub and brash punk had as much a Jamaican vibe in the '70s as it does today. Even now, when listening to the Slits' fantastic debut album Cut, regarded as one of the greatest punk albums of all time, there is a timelessness to the attitudes conveyed by Up and fellow band mates Palmolive and Tessa Pollitt.
"When we made that album, we listened to all kinds of music but especially reggae, which was very popular in England in the '70s," Up said. "But the thing about Cut is it was an album born in revolution!"
Indeed, Up and the Slits, with their brash brand of punk have long been connected with the punk revolution.
When the Slits first started touring they opened for a little-known band called The Clash on its White Riot Tour in 1977. During the band's heyday, the Slits were notorious for its raunchy, abrasive rock and even after retirement, they stayed involved in the music scene. Former members of the band went on to perform in other influential rock acts such as the Raincoats and Siouxsie and the Banshees while Up befriended then-rising star Jimi Hendrix and married Sex Pistols' front man Johnny Rotten. Now having stayed out of the limelight for so long, why reform now, 30 years later?
"Well, one day Tessa called me from England and said we should get the Slits back together, so I agreed," Up said into the van's speakerphone.
The band talked about visiting Texas in the past and gave its thoughts on the political climate around election day here in the U.S.
"I think we were in Texas like 30 years ago," Pollitt said, with Up laughing in the background. "But as far as politics go, I never thought of us as a political band. We're more just socially aware. Political thinking is really limiting groups right now, what with political correctness and all."
Indeed, while bands like the Sex Pistols were about everyone's power over you, the Slits brand of punk was about the power of yourself and your own humanitarian nature. This message, like the Slits' raucous dub and punk music, never truly ages and just gets better with time. See the all-girl punk band that started it all, this Saturday at Emo's.
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