| The Ambulance Station | |
|---|---|
 The building as of 2014 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Address | 306 Old Kent Road, Southwark, SE1 |
| Town or city | London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Year(s) built | 1903-04 |
| Opened | 1984 |
| Closed | 1986 |
| Designations | |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Designated | 27 Apr 1989 |
| Reference no. | 1385738 |
The Ambulance Station was a music venue in a squatted building on the Old Kent Road in the London Borough of Southwark in the mid-1980s. It was set up by the experimental music group Bourbonese Qualk.
The building, designed by W. E. Riley, was built as a fire station by London County Council between 1903 and 1904. [1] [2] It was in use in this form until 1969 when it was closed after a new station was built on Cooper's Road. It is Grade II listed. [3]
Anarchist music group Bourbonese Qualk set up The Ambulance Station in the then abandoned five-story building at 306 Old Kent Road. The top two floors of the squat were converted into artist studios. There were living quarters on the middle floor. The first floor included a cafe and meeting places for local anarchist groups. The ground floor was a large performance space, a recording studio, and print workshops. [4]
Canadian hardcore punk band D.O.A played a benefit for anarchist prisoners there on 29 February 1984. [5]
The 1984 Stop the City demonstration was planned in a meeting at the building. The squat also organised a benefit gig which raised £300 and featured Flux of Pink Indians, Kukl and Flowers in the Dustbin. [6]
Scottish post-punk band The Jesus & Mary Chain played there on 25 November 1984, often given as an example of their early gigs ending with "riots", with support from The June Brides. It was the first time seeing the Mary Chain for Geoff Travis after which he signed them to Blanco y Negro. Members of The Go-Betweens were present, and possibly Morrissey and Johnny Marr. [7] [8]
C86 band Stump played their first gig there on 24 August 1985. [9] [10]
Other bands to play included The Television Personalities, Pulp, Felt, Conflict, Crass, Primal Scream, The Boo Radleys, The Butthole Surfers, Swans, Antisect, The Mekons, and The Wedding Present. [11]
Anarcho-punk is an ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcore punk, folk punk, and other styles.
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent record labels, by the 1990s it became more widely associated with the music such bands produced.
John Graham Mellor, known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British musician. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist, and lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, formed in 1976. The Clash's second studio album, Give 'Em Enough Rope (1978), reached No. 2 on the UK charts. Soon after, they achieved success in the US, starting with London Calling (1979) and peaking with Combat Rock (1982), which reached No. 7 on the US charts and was certified 2× platinum there. The Clash's explosive political lyrics, musical experimentation, and rebellious attitude greatly influenced rock music in general, especially alternative rock. Their music incorporated reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, and rockabilly.
Zounds are an English anarcho punk/post-punk band from Reading, Berkshire, formed in 1977. Originally they were part of the cassette culture movement, releasing material on the Fuck Off Records label, and were also involved in the squatting and free festival scene. The name of the band is derived from the old English minced oath "zounds", a contraction of "God's wounds", referring to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, formerly used as a mildly blasphemous oath.
Orange Juice were a Scottish jangle pop band founded in the Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. They became Orange Juice in 1979, and took inspiration by contemporary punk bands including Subway Sect, Television, and Buzzcocks but also 1960s acts, most notably the Byrds and the Velvet Underground. Musically, the band brought together styles and genres that often appeared incongruous, for example, country, disco and punk.
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Indie pop is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine, label, and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock, the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years, the definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop.
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The Television Personalities are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 by London singer-songwriter Dan Treacy. Their varied, volatile and long career encompasses post punk, neo-psychedelia and indie pop; the only constant being Treacy's songwriting. Present and former members include Chelsea childhood mates 'Slaughter Joe' Joe Foster, one time best friend Ed Ball and Jowe Head, with Jeffrey Bloom from 1983-94. The threesome of Treacy, Head, and Bloom formed the longest unchanged line-up and as a result is considered by many to be the definitive line-up, performing hundreds of gigs around the world and recording many of the band's most popular songs like "How I Learned to Love the Bomb", "Salvador Dali's Garden Party" and "Strangely Beautiful". Despite this, the Television Personalities are best known for their early single "Part Time Punks", a favourite of John Peel's.
Stop the City demonstrations of 1983 and 1984 were billed as a 'Carnival Against War, Oppression and Destruction', in other words protests against the military-financial complex. These demonstrations can be seen as the forerunner of the anti-globalisation protests of the 1990s, especially those in London, England, on May Day and the Carnival against Capitalism on 18 June 1999. They were partially inspired by the actions of the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp.
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Bourbonese Qualk were an experimental music group which existed from 1980 to 2003. The group were participants in the early 80s industrial & experimental music tape scene. Writing for CMJ, Martin Aston characterized Bourbonese Qualk as "post-punk, avant funk" along the lines of 23 Skidoo, A Certain Ratio, 400 Blows and early Cabaret Voltaire.
Dingwalls Dancehall is a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock, Camden, London, England. The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings that were put to new use in the 20th century. The original owner of the building, T.E. Dingwall, had his name painted on to the outside wall of the building, which was a common practice by businesses in Camden Town during the late Victorian era. The paint is still visible to this day, hence the venue's name.
Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977 who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestyle and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, advocating direct action, animal rights, feminism, anti-fascism and environmentalism. The band employed and advocated a DIY ethic in its albums, sound collages, leaflets and films.
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