The Book of Lies

Which is also Falsely Called BREAKS. The Wanderings or Falsifications of the One Thought of Frater Perdurabo, which Thought is itself Untrue. Liber CCCXXXIII [Book 333]

 

I had this one ready to fire up when a request came in from Brother Jonder for this very item. As I sez to him: "great minds think alike". However, this is entitled Book of Lies, so...

This band was on the Perdurabo compilation. I had totally forgotten their music after the late 80s & the Rough Trade years. In fact what would probably have been their breakthrough release, Tracksuit Vendetta got hung up in the debacle that ended RT. It ended coming out on a small label & I don't recall it from those days. Unbeknownst to me, the band came back in the Aughts & have been going strong ever since. There is something of the spirit of Mark Stewart or Jackie Leven in Johny Brown's delivery & the bands vitriol/vigor blend that really speaks to me.

Formed from the ashes of an unrecorded 77 punk band, Speed, Band of Holy Joy's initial musical forays were largely in the domain of industrial bricolage & occasional bursts of madness.
In the early 80s, Johny Brown was living in a squat in New Cross, South London, with members of the pioneering industrial group Test Dept. Inspired by the DIY freedoms of the post-punk era, Brown began to create his own experimental music.

Johny sez:
         "We all played everything; everyone was either a musician or painter, and we all mixed and matched, so it all comes from that period of just doing it. It was all done on a Tascam 4-track Portastudio and a Nagra tape recorder that Test Dept. had. We would record and loop with loads of overdubs."  

The result was the wonderfully entitled Favourite Fairytales For Juvenile Delinquents, self-released on C-45 tape in 1983.

By the time they began releasing records under their own name in the 1980s, the band's humanist tendencies came to the fore, with astounding portraits of people on the periphery, resulting in such classics as "Rosemary Smith", "Mad Dot", & "Don't Stick Knives In Babbies Heads". The sharp sensibilities of founder & leader Johny Brown eventually led to a star-making deal with Rough Trade. There were a few near hits, then career momentum shattered when the label collapsed mere days after what might have been the band's breakthrough album was recorded.

 

Band of Holy Joy's story is not stuck in the past of Margaret Thatcher's Britain, despite their songs of hope through hardships being a fitting soundtrack to that era. Following a tour to New York in 2008, Band of Holy Joy came back more prolific than ever with a series of albums for their Radio Joy label, on Exotic Pylon Records, & Tiny Global Productions.

Slowly, a new Band of Holy Joy has blossomed. Still inspired by the possibilities which burst forth after punk, the band's expression takes many forms. Visual artist Inga Tillere plays a large role in shaping the band's aesthetics & live events. Another element is Johny's musical foil co-writer/arranger James Stephen Finn who has remained the other constant in the group since 2011.

Johny's poetic vision transcends expectations without resorting to desperate reaches into esoterica. Now the band focuses on a literary examination of the malaise set forth by Brexit, Trump, the rise of the far-right, & a general disenfranchisement from most post-war liberal values. They rarely names any names & the music is far from strident, but it's undeniably political in the broadest sense.They have emerged fully reborn with renewed purpose of sound & vision.

 

 

The Band of Holy Joy - More Tales from the City,
Flim Flam Productions HARPLP1, 1987.
all decryption codes in comments

Side 1 -        
Who Snatched The Baby
Mad Dot
When Stars Come Out to Play
The Aspidistra House
The Tide of Life

Side 2 -
Don’t Stick Knives in Babbies’ Heads (trad.)
Leaves that Fall in Spring
Cities
Fishwives
Goodnight, God Bless, & Goodbye

 

 

 

 

This one was scheduled as BoHJ's third full length from Rough Trade, but before its release, Rough Trade went into recievership. After overstretching on the US market the label/distribution group ran into financial difficulty around 1990. The US branch was shut down & the German branch ended up in the Zomba Music Group where the name was eventually abandoned. In the UK One Little Indian provided financing. They took over the label with original owner Geoff Travis initially in charge, but he soon left to start the Trade 2 label with Island Records.

This would in all likelihood have been the groups break-out release, but because of the situation, it was released on a small label with little fanfare & ended with the dissolving of The Band of Holy Joy v 1.0.

 

 

Holy Joy - Tracksuit Vendetta, Ecuador EQCD4, 1992.

Ragman
Casual 983
Well You've Met this Boy
Tracksuit Vendetta
0898 Intermission
Claudia Dreams
By the Light of a Magical Moon (T-Rex cover)
Kitchen Emigre
Marvin in Ostende
Soulstress
Trafalgar Square

 

 

 

In the early 2000s Johny revived the band. Here's one they self-released & offered during their first ever US tour summer 2008 after regrouping. This was prior to the 2011 arrival of James Stephen Finn... 

 

 

The Band of Holy Joy - Punklore, Band of Holy Joy self-released, 2008.

Denmark Street
Punklore
Cold Blows the Wind
Ipswich
The Fortune of War
Hypersecurity

 

 

 

Here's the last part of a thematic trilogy which began with the 10'' Brutalism Begins at Home & continued with 2017s Funambulist We Love You. If you enjoy the likes of Jackie Leven, I recommend this one. One of my favorites, grim & honest but ending with the uplifting ''We are Sailing to the Island of Light''

 

 

The Band of Holy Joy - Neon Primitives, Tiny Global Productions PICI0021CD, 2019.

Lost in the Night    
The Devil had a Hold on the Land    
So Sad    
Ecstasy Snowbirds    
Take Heed Calumniators    
Some People Have Winged Fortune    
Urban Pagans    
Electric Pilgrims    
We are Sailing to the Island of Light

 

 

 

Lastly, taking up the mantle of the deceased Mark Stewart's "Jerusalem", from this year...

The Band of Holy Joy - Scorched Jerusalem, Tiny Global Productions PICI0066CD, 2025.

Born to Sin  
Stay Toxic    
Nihilistic Ends    
Existential Kills    
Scorched Jerusalem    
Dead Romantics    
Breivik Island    
French Riots    
Palace Commune    
When the Tulips Bloom the War Will End    
Playing at Being Sad

 

 

 

Look what the spice dragged in,
NØ