Riot/Clone – Everything Else Was Just Noise 1982-2021

(Riot/Clone)

LP | CD | DL

Out Now

A retrospective of EPs released by Riot/Clone across 4 decades tracks their anarcho punk sound from youthful singalong punk to a solid hard-hitting machine spewing out polemic. A prime example of two approaches to anarcho-punk says Nathan Brown.

Riot/Clone don’t get enough credit if you ask me. Their 1995 double album Still No Government Like No Government (featuring Paco of Conflict/I.T. on drums) was a masterpiece but those who never dug deep into anarcho-punk may have missed out. I was lucky enough to see them a few times in the early years of this century and they always made a strong impression on me.

This updated version of a limited vinyl compilation of the same name, which originally only stretched as far as 2018, brings together Riot/Clone’s EPs. The Expanded CD version has 30 tracks (the vinyl holding 19): too many for me to give a song by song run down.

The first EP (There’s No Government Like No Government, 1982) is fairly typical of the era, constrained by the budget and technology of the time but still shines out as a prime example of good, fast, anarcho-punk with words spewed out at an alarming rate. Bands like Riot/Clone didn’t need fancy production, their raw exuberance exuded through the stylus and out of your speakers. That year also saw the second EP (Destroy The Myth of Musical Destruction) with the singalong H-Block as a strong stand out tune. Alongside the bouncy bass lines, the tunefulness on these first offerings reminds me of contemporary output from Anthrax and early Subhumans singles.

1984 saw the Blood On Your Hands? EP with a darker and fuller sound on the animal rights themed Why Do You Have to Eat Me? Running, however, is quite folky, reminiscent of The Astronauts. A live recording of Society has all the chaos you’d expect from a gig interspersed with shouts of “Riot Clone”.

As the album covers nearly 40 years, there is a noticeable shift in sound halfway through, becoming far more recognisable as the hard hitting Riot/Clone from the albums they released in the late 90s and early 2000s. They were now in similar territory to Conflict. That’s not bad, getting comparisons to Subhumans, Anthrax and Conflict in the same review. But truth be told, Riot/Clone have their own sound and it’s probably more a case of arriving at a similar destination from similar influences. Atop the well played music, Dave Floyd repeatedly crams enough words into each song to set out an angry anarchist or animal rights manifesto. Despite this feat, he still manages to inject a little wavering tunefulness into his more gravelly strident delivery on these later songs.

The Mad Sheep Disease (Redux) EP, was re-recorded in 2021 having originally come out in 2004. The original 2004 recordings, which the band do not like, feature later on the CD as bonus tracks. The studio engineer had panned bass and guitar hard left and hard right, something you find on Beatles records – and the Ramones debut. The songs assembled on the Cameron Symphony EP from 2017 takes a well aimed shot at the Tories and what they were doing to vulnerable people and communities.

If The Oceans Die EP was recorded in 2021 for a series of singles to benefit Sea Shepherd that unfortunately never materialised so this is the first outing for those tracks. The bonus tracks are boosted by The Acts of Floccinaucinihilipilification EP from 2000 along with the aforementioned original recording of Mad Sheep Disease.

Amusing notes in the booklet from members Dave Floyd, Pete Spence and Rat give background to each song alongside the lyrics and tell the story of how the releases came about. It’s got the self deprecating vibe of hearing gossip from a mate.

This is a great collection from a band who got the balance between anger and tunefulness just right and it’s nice to hear their sound develop over time on one CD. They grew from youthful singalong punk to a solid hard-hitting polemic machine.

Digital downloads can be obtained from bandcamp and anyone wanting CDs or vinyl is advised to message Dave from the Bandcamp page.

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Words by Nathan Brown. You can read more from Nathan on his Louder Than War archive over here.