Conflict

With the exception of Crass, no British anarcho-punk band was as celebrated (or as prolific) as Conflict. One of the most intense and passionate bands on the scene, Conflict played brutalist, no-frills punk rock with a tough, aggressive edge while their lyrics were furious broadsides against war and class division, and in support of anarchist principles and animal rights. Founded by vocalist Colin Jerwood, Conflict established their template on 1983's 'It's Time To See Who's Who', and though they experimented with relatively elaborate production and artful audio collages on 1986's 'The Ungovernable Force' and 1989's 'Against All Odds', their unapologetic attack ultimately changed little with the passage of time, as their musical ferocity walked hand in hand with their ideals. 

Formed in the South London community of Eltham, the first edition of Conflict came together in 1981, featuring Colin Jerwood on lead vocals, Steve Gittins on guitar, John Clifford on bass, Pauline Beck on additional vocals, and Francisco "Paco" Carreno on drums. After making a name for themselves on London's underground punk scene, Conflict got a valuable endorsement when fellow anarchist punks Crass arranged for them to release their debut seven-inch, a four-song EP titled 'The House Than Man Built', through their Crass Records label. Crass's affiliated Corpus Christi imprint issued their 1983 EP 'To A Nation of Animal Lovers', focusing on the evils of experimentation on animals, which included guest vocals from Crass vocalist Steve Ignorant. Pauline Beck had dropped out of the band by the time Corpus Christi issued Conflict's first full-length album, 'It's Time To See Who's Who', and by the time their second LP, 'Increase the Pressure', appeared in shops in 1984, the band had started their own label, Mortarhate Records. In 1986, Conflict issued a pair of live albums -'From Protest to Resistance' was a self-released non-profit LP benefiting a fund to bail anarchist activists out of jail, and 'Only Stupid Bastards Help EMI', released by New Army Records. 1986 also saw Steve Ignorant of Crass join Conflict on stage, trading off vocals with Jerwood, and 1987's 'Turning Rebellion Into Money' was another live set, this one featuring Jerwood singing Conflict songs and Ignorant performing material from the Crass songbook. Ignorant would also appear on the 1988 studio album 'The Final Conflict'; by this point, Colin Jerwood and Francisco "Paco" Carreno were the only original members still in the band, as a variety of players moved in and out of the lineup. 

 

1989's 'Against All Odds' was an unusual release, with the title track, over fourteen minutes in length, filling all of side one in its original vinyl edition, as five tracks of more conventional length appeared on the flip side. The prog rock influences that made themselves known on the epic-scale "Against All Odd" were also audible on 1993's 'Conclusion', a studio effort that found Conflict still in aggressive form while employing a more polished production, with heavy metal guitar textures. 1994's 'It's Time To See Who's Who Now' found the group taking a look back to their first album, re-recording twelve tracks from the debut. It would prove to be the last studio album of the 1990s from Conflict, though a steady flow of live releases and re-issues would keep fans occupied, and Jerwood and Carreno kept the band on the road, with the drummer also collaborating with the group Inner Terrestrials. American fans got a chance to catch up on their back catalog when the U.S. punk label Go-Kart Records struck a deal with Mortarhate Records to reissue most of Conflict's albums stateside. It wouldn't be until 2003 that Conflict would issue a fresh set of songs, 'There's No Power Without Control', which featured the controversial track "An Option," which was seen by some fans as calling for the U.K. to close its borders to Muslims, though others saw it as Jerwood assuming the voice of an unreliable narrator. It would prove to be Conflict's final studio set with Francisco "Paco" Carreno; he died on February 20, 2015. Jerwood continued to tour with various editions of Conflict in Carreno's last years, and continued to do so after he passed, though no new studio recordings emerged. In 2023, Cleopatra Records released 'The Serenade is Dead', a three-song vinyl seven-inch that included three classic Conflict tracks -"C.R.A.S.S.," "Might and Superior," and the title tune. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]