Vi Subversa was part of the Soho anarchist scene of the 1950's. She took part in the original CND march to Aldermaston, was a "counter-culture drop out" of the 1960's and by the mid-1970's was a leading influence in Brighton's burgeoning underground music scene .
There, along with Richard Famous, Lance d'Boyle and Bella Donna - all attached to activities at Brighton's Resources Centre (an old Presbyterian church with a rehearsals and gig space in its vaults) she formed Poison Girls.
After relocating to the Burleigh House squat near Epping and eventually recruiting Bernhardt Rebours on bass, Poison Girls first music release was 1979's Piano Lessons / Closed Shop on their own Xntrix label in collaboration with Pete Stennett's Small Wonder Records. (Bauhaus, The Cure, Patrik Fitzgerald, Crass, Cravats, Anthrax....), a local shop-based independent record label.
Later in 1979 followed HEX. Recorded at Southern Studios, produced by Penny Rimbaud and engineered by John Loder, HEX is a 12” 45rpm mini-album, again released with the help of Small Wonder Records
Poison Girls were a force of nature. Spat out of the belly of the UK punk scene, they paired up with the band down the road called Crass. The two bands played 100 shows together in the span of three years.They bonded on a conceptual and artistic way to approach punk. HEX was subsequently reissued by Crass Records in 1981.
HEX is an extraordinary punk record. With additional vocals by Eve Libertine of Crass and including contributions by Vi Subversa's children; Pete Fender and Gem Stone, the album lays out the band's vision in Vi's searing lyrics against a backdrop of deep, beautiful and sometimes frightening music. Vi channels the anger and frustrations of any mother living in what was (and still is) a mans’ world.
From the opening salvo “If I had my time again, I’d like to come back as a man!” to the final “Reality Attack, Reality Attack Reality ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK” the record bristles with a fiery passion and intensity. The lyrics explore the expectations of normality, political correctness, pressures of conformity, pain and mental illness and the horrors of war. The music is diamond hard but with a tender edge, and the whole soundscape is overlaid with ‘found’ recordings of everyday life.
